Corsair Nautilus 500 Radiator Modifications Improved Cooling

[Apoptosis]

I've been using the Corsair Nautilus 500 daily since I reviewed the unit and just recently I've had the urge to 'upgrade' my entry level water cooling kit. I called up the folks and Danger Den and placed an order with them last week and just got the parts in on friday. I ordered in the Black Ice Xtreme Radiator for $33.95 to replace the radiator that Corsair ships in the Nautilus 500.

I measured the housing before I ordered it and tried to stuff in the biggest 120MM radiator that I could to keep everything in the original Nautilus 500 housing. When I got the new radiator in I test fitted it and everything was perfect. I screwed in the high flow barbs that come with the radiator and had an 'OH ****' moment when I forgot to take into consideration the height of the barb and the bend in the hose. The Radiator and barbs will fit in the housing and not touch, but you're not getting a regular 3/8th line on it let alone Tygon tubing. Oh well I can fix that and will explain later.

With the original radiator sitting next to the Black Ice Xtreme Radiator the size difference is easy to see. The Black Ice Xtreme is much larger and has a much higher flow rating that the one that originally came with our kit.



I didn't want to wait on new fittings, so I threw it into the housing yesterday and it fits great.



A view from the bottom with an unmodified Nautilus 500 on the left and my modified one on the right.



I went up to Home Depot last night and found these 90 degree elbows, but look at the small hole on the inside. With these installed in the housing and the barb that is in the radiator screwed into them it WILL allow the top cover to be reinstalled on the Nautilus 500.



As you can see these elbows will lower the profile and allow the hoses to come in on the side and not the top fixing the cover problem, but hurting the water flow. I'm going to hold off and see if I can find some free flowing elbows locally.

[Apoptosis]

The performance numbers speak for themselves. All I did was change out the radiator with Black Ice Xtreme from Danger Den and the idle temps decreased by 2C and the load temperatures dropped 4C on the Intel Core 2 Duo Processor E6300 that I was running for the overclocking article that I published today.

So, to make a long story short by spending an extra $30 we improved the cooling on the Corsair Nautilus 500 by 8.5% by doing nothing more than changing out the stock radiator with a better performing model.

In closing I also tried some different water blocks with no luck. I bought the Danger Den TDX block for socket 775 platforms and it increase load temperatures from 43C to 45C, so it looks like the stock water block for the Corsair Nautilus 500, which is made by delphi, is paired nicely for the stock tubing and water pump.

[Bio-Hazard]

You should beable to get even more performance out of the extreme by using a higher flow fan, BIX rads require masive air flow/pressure due to their thickness. With the stock fan, you might have seen better performance out of a Black Ice Pro radi............

I'd also go ahead and use those 90 fitting, it's not going to hurt the flow rate all that much as you're already using 3/8 tubing. If you're worried about the differance, just check it out by timming how long the system takes to fill a gallon jug............. Easy enough.

[Apoptosis]

The fan that comes in the Nautilus 500 is the same fan that Thermaltake uses with most of their Thermaltake cases. It has the model number 1225 and thermaltake rates it like this:

- Dimensions: 120 x 120 x 25mm
- Rated speed: 1400 RPM
- Sound: 21.0 dB
- Air flow: 41.6 CFM
- Bearing: 1 Ball, 1 Sleeve
- Life expectancy: 50,000/ hrs
- Volts: 12
- Amps: 0.30

When you go over to the Corsair website they say it's 1800RPM and moves 74.4CFM.

What do you suggest replacing it with?

On another note one of the other reasons I went with a larger radiator was to increase the overall fluid capacity of the water cooler. The Reservoir is really small on the Nautilus compared to DIY dual 5.25" bay kits, so the easiest way to do that and make it fit in the housing was to nearly double the size of the radiator... Either way I'm happy with a 4C drop in temps!

[Bio-Hazard]

I'm using TT fans on my radiators right now, but mine are somewhat thinner than the BIX's. If you're not worried about noise and you have the room, go for 38mm Deltas or Sunon fans with around 100 CFM or so. The 4c drop that you're now getting is pretty good IMHO, I never really cared for the Corsair aluminum rads at all.

[eva2000]

excellent stuff.. maybe you should gut a Hydrocool 200EX case and shove dual rads in it with nautilus pump so to mix and match heh

[Apoptosis]

excellent stuff.. maybe you should gut a Hydrocool 200EX case and shove dual rads in it with nautilus pump so to mix and match heh

that would require me getting stuff out of the closet... hehe Might just have to do that!

[Bio-Hazard]

I think Stev has a how-to on that over at House-of-help............

Works out fairly well.............

[bubba]

nate what is the pipe thread in the rad?

you may be able to get a 90deg hose barb fitting for it, part number 53525K18 at http://www.mcmaster.com are 12.50 (pack of 5) good to 150psi and -40F to +160F shouldn't be any higher than the 90 you have in there already and have a decent flow and take out a leak point.

[Apoptosis]

according to danger den:

Now standard G 1/4" female threaded fittings.

[bubba]

Edit:

Never mind, found out what the G thread is, not going to have this laying around the shop.

"G", which is a straight pipe thread also known in the trade as BSPP, NPS or "G", commonly used in Europe, Asia and most of the rest of the world. It is technically a Witworth thread which is actually a British Standard Pipe Parallel (BSPP) thread known as "G". Per the ISO standard, the proper designation is "G" in front of the fraction.

* The common metric vacuum thread standard for vacuum in industrialized world (but Not North America). The way to go if you export.
* Seals tight thru Rubber O-Rings or Plastic Washer Seals around the head of the fitting and not the threads. Does not require sealant or teflon tape making less of a mess when assembling equipment.
* It ensures that all items have the exact same height when fully tightened initially, and when reused. Fittings screw on and off easily, and threads show no wear after reuse.
Cons:
* Requires that the seat area around the fitting be flat, clean and even to get an air-tight seal.

and

G 1/8" and 1/8" NPT Male fittings thread into a 1/8" NPT Female though only the NPT to NPT combination actually seals tight. Even though G males can thread into a NPT female, they will almost certainly leak. A 1/8" NPT Male will not thread into a G 1/8" Female at all.

[Apoptosis]

sigh... so it looks like Danger den is getting these over in Asia then or using uncommon parts, so people have to buy and use their type G barbs!

I did find some barbs:

1/4 BPST (G 1/4) threaded elbow to 3/8 barb - Link

[bubba]

well, its standard for the rest of the world LOL

Its good you found a place to get them, sucky part is it will most likely cost more than the part to ship.

[Bio-Hazard]

Seems that the new series BI radiators all use G1/4 threaded barbs standard regardless of who is selling them. Last years radiators had a type of univerasl type of fitting that would take about any of the 1/4" threaded fittings.
It is nice to see that folks are trying to go to a common type of standard, now if everyone would get on the same sheet of music.

I'm waiting on a order from voyeurmods.com right now, they aren't the fastest in the world when it comes to shipping.

[Apoptosis]

Just a heads up... Danger Den does sell Type G fittings, you just have to call and ask them for them as they are not listed on their site. They are sending out some 90 degree Type G elbows for me. I finally got in my order from Newegg and changed the stock fan out for the AeroCool XtremeTurbine-Black 120mm fan. This sucker puts out 89.39 CFM at 1800RPM's, which should be a nice improvement over the 74.4CFM fan that comes in the Nautilus 500.



After running the system with both fans (blowing and sucking) I can't notice a bit of a difference. Spending $20 on a fan yielded no difference in performance. No difference at idle and under load it's too close to call, but it's bouncing around 1C at full load.

[Dragon_Cooler]

in seeing the differance in temps using the black ice, was 5c worth the money spent? I ask because when ocing, arent you going to need a little more than 5c?

Other than that, freaking sweet job!!!!!!

[Apoptosis]

Is 5C worth $30? hell yes it is... 5C is a large difference when cooling with water and air and one that is well worth the money if you are looking to OC and get the most out of something. I wasted $20 on the fan, but I'd rather spend my money and tell you all to save your money and put it someplace else! When overclocking with the nautilus 500 on Conroe processors I've hit high 50's to low 60's under load with some decent overclocks. If I was going extreme I'd easily get it up in the 70's. While 5C doesn't seem like a lot if you're trying to milk your system for all it has then it can mean the difference between throttling and not!

[Bio-Hazard]

You should have gone with a 100CFM plus fan like I mentioned in my post above. The extreme rads are just so thick that it takes a bunch of air flow to make a noticeable increase in performance................

[Dragon_Cooler]

ok, i was just wondering. I havent had that much experience in ocing, so i was just wondering.

[Apoptosis]

You should have gone with a 100CFM plus fan like I mentioned in my post above. The extreme rads are just so thick that it takes a bunch of air flow to make a noticeable increase in performance................

not too many 100CFM plus fans that are 25mm thick!