Intercoolers follow similar principles in fluid dynamics but are a little different, because you need to take in laminar flow of air and overall required CFM flow rate to supply the engine. In radiators where you want to reduce liquid cavitation caused by coolant exiting the core, intercoolers you want reductions in pressure drop. It’s more of a compromise between tube length and internal tube fin design that affects intercooler efficiency vs overall size, because the rate of transfer of heat through air vs a liquid are drastically different… (Overall longer core tubes tend to cool the air more but create a bigger PD than shorter tubes of a top-to-bottom style core, such as a Griffin.)
With intercoolers 99% of aftermarket manufactures/tuners will tell you a thicker core will yield more power, when in fact it’s really yielding more power POTENTIAL due to increased flow(CFM) capacity rather than increased cooling efficiency. Making an IC core thicker does increase it efficiency to a degree as it’s increasing it’s thermal capacity before 100% heatsoak, but its not nearly as effective as increasing frontal surface area.
The more surface area that air can initially get to on a core, the better the cooling can be. As air passes through the core it temperature increases progressively and it’s ability to transfer heat drops. The most efficient portion of your typical air/air core will be the leading face of the core directly in line with the air charge inlet. Increasing the surface area of that portion will gain the greatest results and the only way to do that is by increasing frontal area(internal mods excluded from this topic however). One thing to remember as well is that an air/air core’s efficiency is not rated across 100% of the cores front area. Think of it more like that of a turbocharger compressor map, but instead of islands of increased efficiency imagine elliptical bands. There are ways to alter/change/increase this effect across the entire core, to your benefit, but are internal and/or design related.
I know this was a bit off topic from the engine cooling discussion but still sorta fits in here. Delete as needed 