ANTONY LEATHER’S
Customised PC
Case mods, tools, techniques, water-cooling gear and
everything to do with PC modding
MODDING / OPINION
XSPC’sultra-thinTX
radiatorsmeasure
just20.5mmthickT
here’s a plethora of different
radiator sizes out there, and if
you know your fins-per-inch
from your bleed ports, then you’ll know
there’s more to your choice of radiator
than just its length or the fan size it
supports. The thickness of a radiator is
important for a number of reasons.
You may not have room for a 45mm
or 60mm-thick model in your case, as
drive mounts, cable-routing paraphernalia
or existing fan mounts might get in the
way. For this reason, people with small
to medium-sized cases need to make
do with thinner radiators. However, while
a thinner radiator’s cooling capacity is
ultimately lower than that of a thicker one,
there’s a few good reasons to use them.
Firstly, pushing or pulling air through
a thick radiator is hard. 60mm models
ideally need two rows of fans to offer
decent efficiency, further hampering their
compatibility in cases. In smaller cases
with tight spaces and a single row of fans,
using them is inadvisable, as the extra
restriction can result in poor performance.
Using a 30mm-thick radiator means
that a single row of fans can shift more
air through the radiator than with a
thicker model, and will give you better
cooling efficiency. You also save on
coolant, as the radiator is smaller, but
the main benefit is that the radiator will
fit in most fan mounts.
I’m a big fan of small form factor cases
and all the above especially applies
here. Thin radiators are essential, but
even typical 30mm-thick models can
be a little large, potentially putting your
project’s water-cooling capacity at risk.
If you’ve found that your supposedly thin
radiator is still a bit too thick, there’s now
a solution to your problem.
I’ve just discovered XSPC’s ultra-thin
radiators, which measure just 20.5mmthick. That’s a whole centimetre thinner
than your typical half-height radiator,
and thinner than the radiators with all-
in-one liquid coolers too. Combined with
Noctua’s A12x15 fans, which are just
15mm thick and performed well in our
recent fan Labs, that means you can get
a complete cooling package that’s just
35mm thick.
Interestingly, the radiator sports
features that could see it offer similar
performance to normal-sized models
too. Its fins are packed in tight, using
a 22-fins-per-inch arrangement,
compared to 13-fins-per-inch for
many thicker radiators. This will add air
restriction, but also boost cooling by
increasing the surface area.
The surface area is further boosted by
these fins sticking out past the coolant
tubes, whereas on normal radiators
they sit flush. I’m already planning to
use them in my next PC mod, which is
extremely tricky to water-cool due to
limited space for radiators. The XSPC TX
radiators are available in white or black,
and in 120mm, 240mm, 360mm and
480mm sizes..Super-slim radiators