It was after the Bitspower CPU block trilogy of reviews last year that Optimus Cooling came into the picture with their fantastic, albeit expensive, Foundation and Signature water blocks. Not even a week passed before the modular EK-Quantum Magnitude came in breaking all previous logical expectations of how much a CPU water block should cost. At well over twice the cost of this block, which itself comes in more expensive than many other blocks, it does appear that a custom CPU water block in 2021 is unfortunately more expensive than it ever was. So, at $100 then, Bitspower is somehow no longer the expensive offering. This is all the more strange when you consider that Bitspower had actually reduced prices slightly after my feedback last year. So $100 for a full metal block is not bad, especially for a relatively new block from a major company.

If you expected to get a silver block at this price, I have a bridge to sell you, too. But I will say that Bitspower should have clarified the naming better, especially with the "Silver Metal Version" in the product name leading you to think as much. Nay, this is nickel-plated copper, a very well done nickel-plated copper that leads to a hefty chunker of a block to challenge the Optimus Signature and EK-Quantum Magnitude in mass, but still not silver. Once we move past the dubious naming scheme, we see that this specific version adds to the Bitspower product portfolio only slightly. There are Summit M blocks in acetal and acrylic tops, others with an OLED display, and then there is the Premium Summit M which adopts a full metal top as well but offers darker finishes and an RGB accent in the middle. That latter block is more expensive, of course, but fitting this particular block into the crowded lineup comes off as a reach and then some even so.

I would have liked to see included thermal paste and the printed manual less expensive blocks include all the time, with the former being the unwelcome "charger not included with phone" trend in this category. Build quality and aesthetics are the biggest reasons people will end up buying this, in addition to the Bitspower brand power, but there is also competition from within the brand itself that we have seen before, which may interest you further. There is very little to differentiate this from other blocks today, including similar quality offerings from Watercool and Aqua Computer that can be found for less to where I fear the relative improvements in thermal performance and flow restriction from previous generations matter little. Let's see if this fares better on an AMD platform, so keep an eye out for new CPU block testing sooner than later!