Introduction

Bitspower is a mainstay, and has been one in the PC DIY watercooling market for many years now. With a reputation for having arguably the best quality fittings, they seem to have come out with a new fitting type or color every time I check their website. The company has a complete product lineup of water blocks, fans, pumps, and reservoirs alike. Radiators, on the other hand, are not something a company can produce in-house. I can count on the fingers of a hand the number of factories everyone uses, nearly all of which happen to be in China. The exceptions are either in Germany, or the Philippines where Hardware Labs is located. Bitspower, to their credit, has gone with the Manila-based radiator maker extraordinaire, which already makes their radiators different from nearly any other on the market. Thanks again to Bitspower for sending a review sample to TechPowerUp!


This review is of the Bitspower Leviathan XF series, and the 360 mm version in particular. It uses the Hardware Labs Black Ice Nemesis LX (OEM product) as a base and has changes made to suit what Bitspower thinks is attractive to their customer base. This article is meant to be read alongside our accompanying Leviathan SF 360 review, which is a slimmer radiator built upon the Black Ice Nemesis LS. The two share a lot of DNA, but are intended for different use cases. The Leviathan XF is ~54 mm thick, which falls into the 45–60 mm radiator thickness class and needs cases designed with custom watercooling in mind. The "X" in "XF" stands for Xtreme because why not, and it has four ports for more plumbing options. As always, we begin the review with a look at the specifications below.

Specifications

Packaging and Accessories

Bitspower tends to have different packaging styles for their various product lines, and the radiators are no exception. Indeed, this is the first radiator bearing the brand name I have actually checked out, and we see a black cardboard box with a small sleeve outside for aesthetics and branding alike. The front and back are mostly identical aside from the two seals keeping the sleeve in place on the front, and we see the company logo along with some illustrations of the radiator lineup and more specific info about the actual unit inside via a confirmation of this being a part of their Xtreme series and 360 mm (triple 120 mm) in size. Removing the sleeve, we see the Bitspower logo on the cardboard box, as well as a different name on the side, which may or may not be a localization effect. There are double flaps on the side which keep the contents inside, and opening one side suffices.


Ah, we see the Hardware Labs influence now with the plain cardboard box inside the black cardboard box outside. Made out of recycled cardboard, this inner box should be completely recyclable as well, if what I know of the brand is correct. A sticker on the side further confirms this is Bitspower's take on the Black Ice LX360, and more flaps on the side add to the unboxing experience. Once this box is opened, we see the radiator immediately, tucked snugly between the cardboard and thick foam pieces, which all adds protection during transit.


The provided accessories are off by the side and inside another cardboard compartment to prevent them from hitting and damaging the radiator. Bitspower provides twenty-four 28 mm M4 threaded screws and twelve shorter M4 threaded screws that are 6 mm long, with a Phillips head on all screws to aid in their use with fans. As such, we have enough for a single set of 25 mm thick fans in push or pull and intake or exhaust, as well as a double set of 25 mm thick fans in push-pull. Note that the 27 mm long screws are not going to work with thicker case panels or radiator mounts, which is something I have brought up with Hardware Labs in the past. Clearly, these radiators were packaged before a change to include longer screws was made. Bitspower also included two BSP G1/4" threaded stop plugs in their famous "Silver Shining" color, which is basically nickel-plated brass, with the Bitspower logo and a slot opening to use with a flat head screw driver if necessary. There is enough of a knurled surface on the sides of even these low-profile versions to just finger tighten them and call it a day.