Closer Examination

The waterblock comes in a bubble wrap sleeve to keep it protected, and once removed, we get our first good look at the block itself. This being a metal-top block, it is tangibly heavier than most others with acetal or acrylic tops. The gold color comes across nicely and is more of a matte finish, although it does pick up fingerprints if handled without any gloves. There are two G1/4" ports threaded into the metal top, which is brass underneath and not copper for those wondering, and arrows alongside these indicate the inlet and outlet ports. There is also a logo sticker in the top-left corner, similar to how EKWB does it with their CPU blocks, which ends up taking away from the otherwise clean and uniform aesthetic.


There is a plastic sticker over the cold plate with a warning to remove it prior to installation. The cold plate itself is either nickel- or chrome-plated copper, with no details provided on which. As can be seen in the pictures above, there is a mirror polish here. The plating on my review sample was not perfect, however, as there are two spots where it is breaking apart, and in my experience, this will only get worse with time. I suspect this is chrome plating not done well, but have had no response from the manufacturer regarding this. The mounting bracket is between the cold plate and top, as with most CPU blocks, and is a matte black to provide layers of color and material composition.


Disassembly here will not void your warranty, and as seen before, Bitspower even provides the tool needed. There are four hex head screws on the bottom that need to be removed, and that helps separate the top, mounting bracket, and cold plate. The cold plate is indeed plated copper, and high quality C1100 (>99.9%) copper at that. As with just about any modern CPU block released today, the cold plate has a finned section in the middle for an increased area of heat transfer with machined microfins and microchannels in the middle for the coolant to flow across. The cold plate is 4 mm thick at the thickest point, with the microfins 2.6 mm in from the top. The microfins occupy an area of 26 x 34 mm, which is on the lower side of average, and I counted 54 fins, which too is on the lower side of average. It is extremely difficult to measure individual fin and microchannel thickness, and thus, a measured estimate of 0.3 mm each is the closest I could get, which does match what the manufacturer says as well. Overall, it looks like Bitspower is prioritizing high flow over maximum heat transfer/thermal performance here.

The block is fairly standard with a central inlet and a side outlet; the coolant entering the inlet port lands in the middle of the microfin stack, spreads outward in two streams taking heat away, joins in the side and exits out. Normally, I would expect to see a smaller cavity in the middle, a jetplate perhaps, to increase the localized velocity of the coolant as it lands on the cold plate, but here, there is simply a relatively massive opening which I am not too sure about. We will see shortly how performance is, but I worry about surface tension effects and coolant potentially bypassing the microchannels if there is any gap between the top and microfin area.

When re-assembling, just remember to put the O-ring back in place if it got dislodged and to also orient the cold plate such that the direction of the microfins is perpendicular to the central inlet cavity. As always, TechPowerUp is not liable for any issues that arise from your disassembly of the waterblock.