You can surely design a system to get the vast majority of its performance at 0.3-0.5GPM (1.3-2 L/min or so). These are flow rates typical for 1/4" ID tubing and smallish pumps. If that's the case then why use big hose and larger pumps (no gain from the effort and expense).
The same holds true for the Swiftech gear: You can get MOST of its performance out of it at 3-4L/min, and it's possible to push 4 L/min through it using 3/8" ID hose, a GPU/nb block, and their MCP600. Why then would they bother with larger hose?
So you can design a wb to do very well at "german type" flow rates. In fact if you know that your target flow is very low you can add some restrictiveness in the name of getting wb velocity up.
But what of the other part of a loop: the radiator? Heat dissipation curves often show a 2-3x increase as you raise flow rate from 0.3-2GPM. I don't see anything different fundamentally about the radiators used in Europe, so the same holds true. This means to get water as close to room temperature as my 2GPM loop, you have to have ~ 2x the surface area on the radiator or louder fans.
So there's more than one way to skin a cat for sure.
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