Closer Examination

As with the Leviathan XF 360, a quick look at the SF 360 confirms the shared DNA in more ways than one. The telltale end tank design especially screams current-generation Black Ice radiators, though there is enough here to where Bitspower has made it its own. For one, there is the Bitspower logo on the sides! On a more serious note, Bitspower wanted four ports rather than the two Hardware Labs uses, which necessitated a few more changes on the inside we will get to soon. As it is, the Leviathan SF 360 offers more case compatibility than the retail Black Ice radiators as well, with a 120 mm width in particular to match the fan diameter itself, in addition to being 29.6 mm thick. The radiator as a whole comes in all black, as per usual, which makes for excellent compatibility with most PC DIY build color schemes.


The four BSP G1/4" ports on the end tanks are threaded perfectly, and the accompanying two stop plugs help plug up the two ports that are not used. The additional two ports thus allow users to have more flexibility in their plumbing layout, especially if you wish to have the Bitspower logo the right way up when installed horizontally. The frame is made out of brass, as is the end tank, with a thick powder coat applied for longevity. The core itself is differently designed from the unique to Hardware Labs top-bottom approach, which would have made four ports much harder. Instead, the Leviathan SF 360 adopts a more standard U-flow design around the length of the radiator. There is a single row of fins/tube stacks with twelve 1.2 mm thick tubes in total. This 12-way parallel split of the coolant relative to double/triple-row radiators and the thinner tubes does not bode well for coolant flow restriction. Indeed, I fully expect the Leviathan SF 360 to be among the more restrictive radiators as far as triple 120 mm radiators go, but we will get to that on the next page.


The fan holes are slightly inset from the frame to have the shorter screws and standard 15 mm apart work with just about any case today. There are screw shields underneath each hole, just in case you use screws that are longer than apt. The fan holes are offset from the coolant tubes for further redundancy, although not by much. The fins are the same as those used on the Black Ice Nemesis GTX/GTS/LX/LS, with 25 µm thickness making them far thinner than any other radiator fin in this market. They are split, as seen above, and have an average fin density of 16 FPI (fins per inch). The lower fin thickness, lack of louvers, ~8 mm height, and thinner tubes mean that these should actually have a lower airflow restriction than other radiators with a lower FPI number but thicker fins and tubes, which just goes to show how FPI as a metric does not tell the whole story when it comes to deciding on radiators for performance/noise.