Watercooling radiators - What's a good BTU rating?

[Bman001]

Question in topic. I want to put together my first watercooling system. I see that various vendors advertise radiator performance in BTUs. Obviously, more is better, but I'd like to know what is considered adequate. I just need a frame of reference in judging these radiators. Thanks.

 

[Lizardman]

Just get a car heater core. These have always had the best performance for PC water cooling. I am not sure the BTU rating on these though. Any car radiator will be able to cool off a cpu.

 

[Bman001]

Can I assume that any radiator is better than a good heatsink/fan? Because there are some pretty puny radiators out there, like little 60mm things that don't look like they radiate squat. I was looking at a SysFX dual 80mm radiator that I can fit right behind my dual 80mm case fans in the front.

And what is a heater core? Something different from a radiator?

 

[Jeff7181]

A heater core is a small radiator in the dash... coolant flows through it and the blower blows air through it... that's how you get heat in the car. Average sizes are 1 foot square. Too big for a computer.