Radiator depth/thickness

muffles

muffles

muffles

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21 Jun 2012
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Not sure if I should be starting all these threads but I seem to have a bunch of very different questions...mods can let me know if it's too much I'm sure!

So all the guides I read state something along the lines of 150-250W of cooling per 120mm of radiator. Not very many address the differences from different FPI or radiator depth/thickness.

I found info on the FPI and it appears higher FPI results in better cooling at the expense of fan speed. Would it be correct to say that a thicker radiator (e.g. I see from 30-80mm) results in better cooling at the expense of space?

Anyone able to quantify that - i.e. how much extra cooling you would get?

p.s. asking as even though someone confirmed a 360mm rad should be ok for CPU + 2 GPUs, all the threads I keep reading on here show folk with a max of CPU + 1 GPU and people saying get more rads ....
 
Tim Logan who posts tons of videos on youtube under the channel overclock 3d has an wikipedia knowledge when it comes to watercooling so my answer will be based on what he has mentioned on his videos but please check him out as he knows his beans.

Yes the thicker rads can handle more heat but at some point the higher fin densisty really doean't pay off as you faster loader fans to remove the heat which goes against why people invest in watercooling to start with. Stick with rads between 9 to 14 fpi for the best balance. A standard rad thickness is 60mm combine that with a 360 rad that should give enough for one overclocked cpu and one overclocked high end video card. The skinny rads are good for n00bs and you can get away with a 240 30mm thick rad if you just want to cool you cpu and if temps allow overclock it as well but don't try and run a video card of it as well otherwise the rad will just get overwhelmed.

Alphacool has a 360 80mm thick rad it looks like a beast and they say gives the same performance as their 480 but good luck finding a case that can support an 80mm thick rad.

Hope this helps besaure to check out overclock3d on youtube!
 
i have found from my research that 1 of the best rads is the XSPC RX range but if you cant fit them and need a thin or cheaper rad the XSPC EX is the way to go
 
Cool...my radiator will be external so no fitting problems really...just that a 480 will be a bit long (want it on top of my case). Will check out the YouTube stuff too!
 
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