Quote Originally Posted by cory_can View Post
From what I've researched about FMIC's putting the largest IC that will fit in a space is NOT always the best approach. The different dimensions (width/height/depth) have different impacts on flow, cooling and pressure loss. Same goes with end-tank design, although EC and AWE are very similar in this respect.

There was an incredibly good article on a BMW forum that went through all the details that I'll see if I can dig up.
Agreed...and it seems like AWE does as well...they just don't think their intercooler is Too large:
Our end tank design is the key to why we can use such a large core without tremendous pressure restriction issues. Pressure drop is kept to a minimum...
And as you stated, AWE and EC both seem to use the same end tank design. The AWE product seems like a revamped version of their B7 intercooler and if they've kept the design this long with proven results, it is probably not too big. In similar cases in the past, the larger core has always been the overall performance winner (this has been an ongoing discussion on the B5 S4 forums and the largest core IC, from ER has been the clear winner over all competitors). Maybe AWE just doesn't want the same thing happening now that happened in the B5 S4 community when the ER's were released.

Thanks for any more info you can provide.