Corsair Nautilus 500 vs Swiftech H20-120 - both suck

In a not so distant past watercooling was something only few would try as it involved quite a lot of (hard) work. Nowadays it has been a lot simpler, you can buy all the components you need on the web and many firms are selling kits which include everything you need to start watercooling your processor.

This week the guys from AnandTech take a look at two watercooling kits; the Swiftech H20-120 Compact and the Corsair Nautilus 500. You can check out the review over here.

The big question then is performance. Do the Swiftech H2O-120 Compact and Corsair Nautilus 500 actually outperform the top air coolers? Are they quieter than today's best air coolers as advocates of water cooling claim? These are not frivolous questions since either water system costs two to three times the price of the top air coolers. Finally, are there other advantages to these water systems that make them a better choice even if performance is less than standout? Do the Compact H2O and/or the Nautilus 500 claim the title of best cooling system tested at AnandTech?

Many people are interested in giving watercoolig a try - both are these kits worth your money? Apparantly not, overall both watercooling kits perform pretty disappointing. AnandTech used a Intel X6800 CPU to test the coolers and found that both cooling solutions couldn't do better than the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme in idle mode. During load the Swiftech and Corsair watercooling kits were even outperformed by several air coolers by as much as 3°C.

Basically unless you really want to give watercooling a try these kits aren't worth your money. Good high-end air cooling will cost you two to three times less, is less complicated to install, cool better, will allow you to overclock higher and is less noisy as well.