The Waterblock & Tubing
Here's a shot of the COOL waterblock with its tubing. The COOL waterblock comes attached to the tubing - clearly to decrease the assembly time required for the Nautilus 500. However, the plastic tubing is rather stiff, compared to the Coolflex tubing we used in another water-cooling setup.
Top : Close-up of the top of the waterblock Left : The long tubing already attached |
The clamps for the tubing have been crimped onto the water block and are securely attached. It also ensures that the waterblock is leak-proof after it's connected to the watercooling loop. Removing them would probably be not possible without cutting the crimped portions off.
The waterblock also has two 3/8" ID barbs on each side. In addition, it features Delphi's Micro-Channel Technology and is made completely from copper.
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Waterblock Base
From this picture, you can see that the COOL waterblock is a low-profile waterblock. It really looks minuscule, compared to the tubing.
If you look closely, you can just glimpse the protective sticker that protects the base of the waterblock. However, we were surprised by the amount of residue adhesive that was left on the base when we peeled away the protective sticker.
On the other hand, we have nothing but praises for the excellent finish of the base. We broke out some isopropyl alcohol and started swabbing the residue away. Soon enough, the base was revealed in its full glory.
Just look at that mirror finish. Fantastic! We didn't notice any distortion in the reflection, which means the base isn't only smooth, it was also perfectly flat, as far as our eyes could tell.