Introduction

Bitspower is one of the largest brands in the PC DIY watercooling sector, most well known for their extensive range of fittings. Based in Taiwan, they have access to most of the hardware vendors as well, and it is no surprise then that they have also expanded heavily into waterblocks within the past few years - competing with EKWB when it comes to the number of SKUs and support for non-reference PCB GPUs. At the core of any waterblock vendor is a flagship CPU block, and Bitspower has been lacking in this regard for a while now. It was thus appropriate that my first CPU block review here happens to be when Bitspower has just introduced a new CPU block, one they aim to put forward their brand even more.


Originally called the Summit GT X and now changed to Summit EF-X, Bitspower has retained their design scheme in having a large square top with rounded corners to go with a thin metal mounting bracket. The Summit EF-X comes in Intel only and AMD only options and thus needs to be chosen carefully with no current compatibility kit accessory available. It comes in options of acrylic, nickel-plated metal, and gold-plated metal tops, and thanks must be given to Performance PCs for providing a review sample for analysis.

Specifications

Packaging and Accessories

Bitspower has adopted a two-piece product packaging with an outer sleeve and an inner box, both of which use their predominantly black color scheme with green accents for more details. The product name itself is on the side and has since been updated many times to what should be its final name, the Summit EF-X. On the back, we see the CPU block's socket compatibility illustrated, and we need to remove two stickers to get the inner box out.


The inner box has more of the same going on with the Bitspower logo on the front and sides and the contents inside. Open it and you see yet another box, this one containing the accessories as well as the instruction manual. The latter is just two pages of some diagrams to aid in installation and does not do a very good job. I can easily see a newcomer getting confused by this and urge Bitspower to spend some time on getting a more detailed manual developed. The confused branding comes across here too, with the product name as Summit GT X. This will be the last time I mention all three names as Summit EF-X is the final name from what I know.


The accessory pouch contains an Allen key, a replacement O-ring, and two more pouches that contain the necessary mounting hardware. I am a fan of replacement O-rings being provided. They do not cost much and help provide end users with a longer-lasting product if the block is disassembled for cleaning, hence the provided Allen key, and the stock O-ring may get pinched by mistake when everything is put back together. The first pouch contains four plastic washers, metal M3x32 screws, and locking nuts, each, while the second pouch contains four metal springs, LGA 2011(-3) mounting posts, and screw nuts, each.


Under this box is the waterblock itself, and below it is the last plastic pouch that contains the Intel backplate for sockets 775, 115x, and 1366, with the holes also corresponding to AMD's sockets, thus making this a universal backplate for the Bitspower Summit EF-X. There is no thermal paste provided, so if you do not have some already, you will have to buy some before being able to use this CPU block.