Performance Summary

With radiators, thermal performance is the most important metric. Liquid flow restriction is one contributor to a loop's overall flow rate, which is also affected by the pump and other used components, and I would, as such, recommend choosing a pump of a head pressure equal to or greater than the combined liquid flow restriction of your individual components (in series) at the target flow rate. It also is incorporated in the design of the radiator core, which in turn influences thermal performance as well, so in an indirect way, it is already represented by the latter. In order to quantify relative performance for a radiator thus, it makes sense to consider the thermal performance metrics only and, thus, a normalized percentage-based data set was created and plotted with the subject of this review at 100%.


There is not much differentiating the radiators presently tested, and yet carving out the smallest of gaps is all the harder with radiators. This is a telling story when it comes to brand representation with Hardware Labs taking the best spots thus far for their current offerings of Black Ice radiators. Somehow this OEM take on the Black Ice Nemesis GTS ended up besting it, and the Hydro XR5 is currently the best performing thin radiator overall in my test database!

Performance per Dollar

Prices were taken from Performance PCs in the USA, with all numbers reported in USD.


Things look even better here once pricing is considered as well, with the CORSAIR Hydro XR5 360 coming up near the top further and only bested by two other thinner radiators to date, including the Black Ice Nemesis GTS, which means the latter has a price advantage to overcome the performance deficit from before. Let's collect our thoughts and get to the next page to conclude this review.