Radiator Size VS Depth?

[Made In Canada]

Just wondering what is more important when picking a radiator, the length of it, or the depth of it.

 

Yes i know i can Google this, but i just want to see what the people of LTT say.

[m_tieu]

lenth is much more important

[Made In Canada]

1 minute ago, m_tieu said:

lenth is much more important

Thank You for the quick reply.

 

Follow up question, how important is depth then and is it worth the extra money from a performance perspective?

[Moonzy]

there are much more variables to picking a radiator

 

but i would say length because a thicker radiator might face clearance issues

here's a video about radiator

Spoiler

 

 

[Enderman]

do you mean thickness?

length and width depend on the fans size and number of fans which is much more important than thickness

[m_tieu]

1 minute ago, Made In Canada said:

Thank You for the quick reply.

 

Follow up question, how important is depth then and is it worth the extra money from a performance perspective?

Not really worth it, that's why I use long slim rads. Fans can run slower and quieter. It really depends on the clearance in your case, if you can fit a slightly thicker rad it might help with a degree or two.

[W-L]

13 minutes ago, Made In Canada said:

Just wondering what is more important when picking a radiator, the length of it, or the depth of it.

 

Yes i know i can Google this, but i just want to see what the people of LTT say.

In general terms it is better to have one longer rad than shorter thicker ones. There are other factors like FPI and things which can affect cooling performance but for silence lower FPI lessen the resistance for air to flow through at lower RPM's and noise. 

[Made In Canada]

12 minutes ago, W-L said:

In general terms it is better to have one longer rad than shorter thicker ones. There are other factors like FPI and things which can affect cooling performance but for silence lower FPI lessen the resistance for air to flow through at lower RPM's and noise. 

 

20 minutes ago, Moonzy said:

there are much more variables to picking a radiator

 

but i would say length because a thicker radiator might face clearance issues

here's a video about radiator

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

 

19 minutes ago, Enderman said:

do you mean thickness?

length and width depend on the fans size and number of fans which is much more important than thickness

 

18 minutes ago, m_tieu said:

Not really worth it, that's why I use long slim rads. Fans can run slower and quieter. It really depends on the clearance in your case, if you can fit a slightly thicker rad it might help with a degree or two.

Thank You all for the replies.

 

I can now see that in my situation, i will most likely be getting a regular thickness but longer and higher FPI radiator (if any of you know what the CaseLabs Mercury S5 case is, well thats the one i am using. And if anyone can give more specific specs of what to do, it will be GREATLY APPRECIATED however not required).

 

I do plan to cool a i7-6600k, GTX 980ti (or possibly the new Nvidia lineup of cards if they come out at that time), and anywhere from 2x8GB sticks of ram to 4x16GB or ram (its only about $250-$200 more for 64GB more RAM. (I might choose the 64GB RAM just for the sake of future proofing and not wanting to have to take apart the PC often, i might just get that instead even though its overkill).

 

Edited: Also if anyone is curious as to what i pan to make my build similar to, look at "Guitarhero23"s completed build on PCPartPicker and you will have an idea as to what a good amount of the ideas for this build come from. I dont have copyright for this, dont get mad at me or however that works.

Edited April 15, 2016 by Made In Canada
Where Some Inspiration Comes From

[Moonzy]

2 minutes ago, Made In Canada said:

(I might choose the 64GB RAM just for the sake of future proofing and not wanting to have to take apart the PC often, i might just get that instead even though its overkill).

if you really want to "futureproof"

32gb is MORE than enough, you will probably never need more than 32gb of ram unless you're doing some work other than gaming before you need an upgrade for your cpu

[Made In Canada]

 

18 minutes ago, Moonzy said:

if you really want to "futureproof"

32gb is MORE than enough, you will probably never need more than 32gb of ram unless you're doing some work other than gaming before you need an upgrade for your cpu

Well aware of this but for the price compared to other amounts, this is not that bad, however that being said, its not set in stone if i am going to get the 64GB of RAM as i do not know how well this RAM can overclock and there is a good chance i am going to stick with my original idea of 16GB of Corsair RAM. (Specifically the Dominator Platinum version as ive heard the Vengeance dont overclock as well).

[MoraisGT]

I usually get the longest and thickest radiator that my case can handle.

 

For example in my NZXT 810 I have a 360/45mm rad in the top in push-pull. (could have gone with 360/60mm with 1 set of fans but would have some headaches with clearence with the mb) and a 240/80mm in the front in push-pull.

 

Basically if you can fit a rad with 60mm of thickness or more than you need to account for another 50mm for the fans (2 sets).