Radiators: So many choices!

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Wolf-R1

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Aug 30, 2004
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Looking around for a radiator these days is kind of tough. The Black Ice line alone has way too many choices. Does anyone know of a site that has a recent comparison of radiators? Alternatively what seems to be the most popular these days? The case I'll be using will support a double 120mm fan setup on top and a single 120mm rad on back.
 
Radiators don't change much over time. The important details to look at is the FPI of the radiator. Low FPI radiators will perform similarly with other low FPI radiators, same with high FPI radiators. Thicker radiators generally perform better than thinner radiators.

The most popular low FPI radiator nowadays is the XSPC RX series. Another good choice is the RS, but they don't cool as well due to being thinner. Another popular radiator choice is also the Swiftech radiators, they have slightly higher FPI than the XSPC ones.

The best (from what I've heard) high FPI radiators is the Black ICE GTX radiators. I also like the GTS radiators for a space constricted system where you don't mind running high-speed fans.

Low FPI radiators perform better than high FPI radiators with low speed (less than 1200 RPM) fans, but high FPI radiators perform better than low FPI radiators with high speed (greater than 1700 RPM) fans.
 
Thanks for the input. Makes me feel better about wanting to use an older Black Ice Extreme I have laying around as the single 120mm fan unit in addition to whatever else I get for the top of the case.
 
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