Does the thickness of a radiator matter?

[brandonisacat]

I'm currently putting together my first build to buy, but I hit a stump for understanding which radiator thickness I should get for my loop. I'm also confused how I should mount my fans. I'm building in the Antec Torque case. My current cooling solution is probably gonna be through EKWB. I'm not sure what my loop will be ran with yet because I need to understand this problem before I can move onto what I want with my pump, reservoir etc. I want two reservoirs, & I want to run the loop threw both radiators. I'm new to all this, so I haven't configured the  understanding of it yet in my head. I'm not doing bends btw

[TechJezus]

https://www.xtremerigs.net/2015/02/11/radiator-round-2015/5/

I see the case supports 2 x 360mm rads, but I couldent find anything about the thicknes it supports.

 

My choices would be;

Slim  30mm thick = hardware Labs black ice nemesis gts 360

 

Medium 45 mm thick = hardware Labs black ice nemesis gtx 360 

 

Thick rad = hardware Labs black gtr 360 

 

And yeah, i'm a big fan of hardware Labs, cant think of any brand that makes better radiators. 

[2dfx]

The thicker your radiator, usually the more thermal mass it has.  Meaning it can dissipate more heat per unit of area.  Thicker rads have their benefits.  You can bring down system temps faster, you don't need to run your fans as fast etc. etc. but of course it's going to depend on how it all fits in your case!

[W-L]

12 hours ago, brandonisacat said:

I'm currently putting together my first build to buy, but I hit a stump for understanding which radiator thickness I should get for my loop. I'm also confused how I should mount my fans. I'm building in the Antec Torque case. My current cooling solution is probably gonna be through EKWB. I'm not sure what my loop will be ran with yet because I need to understand this problem before I can move onto what I want with my pump, reservoir etc. I want two reservoirs, & I want to run the loop threw both radiators. I'm new to all this, so I haven't configured the  understanding of it yet in my head. I'm not doing bends btw

Thicker rads will usually have more capability of dissipating heat to the air but this also depends on the FPI (find per inch) of the the radiator itself. Thicker rads usually have less fins meaning slightly lower surface area but easier to push the air through it being thicker. 

 

It is still better however to have more rads themselves if you have the space than to get extra thick rads, for example if you have a single 360mm rad that is 60mm thick vs two 360mm rads that are 30mm the two 30mm rads will easily outperform the single thicker rad.

[brandonisacat]

Thank you for the feedback & confirmation. After doing enough research for the past few days my understanding of the fans positioning & radiator functionality has finally allowed me to personally have my own opinion & decision for my build. I still have to makes my choice for my fans & radiator, but I understand what to get & look for now. Again, thank you~