Liquid Flow Restriction

I use a CORSAIR Hydro XD5 pump/reservoir combo unit with the pump powered by a direct SATA connection to a CORSAIR HX750 PSU and controlled by an Aquacomputer Aquaero 6 XT. There is a previously calibrated in-line flow meter and Dwyer 490 Series 1 wet-wet manometer to measure the pressure drop of the component being tested—in this case that of each radiator. Every component is connected to the manometer by the way of 13/16 mm tubing, compression fittings, and two T-fittings.


I suppose I knew going in what to expect, especially since the EK-Quantum Surface P360M was tested after the thinner S360 and the thicker X360M. For the purpose of this section, the S360 ends up with 16 tubes that are 17 mm tall, the P360M with 32 tubes that are 14 mm tall, and the X360M with 32 tubes that are 21 mm tall. No surprise then that the EK-Quantum Surface P360M lands closer to the 60-mm thickness class radiator then—especially with the thicker tubes used here—and even bests some! I would classify this as a low-restriction radiator thus, and it would not change much for your pump choices compared to a typical CPU or GPU block. This also means EK's claims of the radiator having low coolant restriction is valid.