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Bitspower manufacturers a waterblock specifically for use with this ASRock X299E-ITX/ac motherboard. The Bitspower BP-WBMASRX299EI is tailored to fit the ASRock motherboard and provide cooling to the CPU and the CPU VRM area. There are also specific mounting holes to allow the daughterboard that was previously fixed to the CPU VRM heatsink to now be secured to the waterblock since that VRM heatsink is removed as part of the block installation process.
The fitment is perfect and it's clear to see this is a tailored product, clearances between most things are very tight and where contact is made between motherboard components and the block there are electrically insulated surfaces.
We set up a small watercooling loop with the Bitspower BP-LSAIO240-RGB kit to test the block. This consisted of a 240mm Bitspower Leviathan Slim radiator with a 29.6mm thickness, an integrated pump and reservoir unit (SC6), G1/4 inch rotary fittings and 5/8 inch (outer diameter) hosing as well as two 120mm RGB fans.
This watercooling setup took about 30 minutes to build and install with relative ease, plus some additional time for leak testing and bleeding of excess air. We found the thermal results for the CPU and various temperature sensor on the motherboard to be within a couple of degrees either way of the Corsair H100i v2, better at stock but worse at overclocked, but with a fairly high noise output from the pump and reservoir combination unit.
That said, we are by no means experts in building and configuring custom watercooling so it is likely that better performance is available when applying more skill during the loop building process. It also wasn't possible to measure VRM temperatures to see what improvements were available in that area either.
Putting the Bitspower loop kit aside, the tailored waterblock is a nicely crafted item and for experienced watercooled system builders using this to water cool is definitely a route worth pursuing. This is particularly the case when overclocking hard with CPUs that have more than 10 cores or are using some significant voltages, as this puts a lot of strain on X299 CPU VRMs.
The next tailored item for this motherboard is G.Skill's Ripjaws 3800MHz 4x8GB DDR4 SO-DIMM memory kit. Availability and pricing for this kit at the moment is tight but it shows that performance compromises need not be made even when constrained by the mini-ITX form factor.
Performance from the kit was jaw-dropping (or should that be jaw-ripping?) and it easily keeps up with and outpaces many desktop memory kits. The 3800MHz kit is the cutting-edge of current SO-DIMM memory speeds with pricing and availability to match. Many consumers may be better off opting for slower kits in the G.Skill range like the 3000MHz, 3200MHz or 3600MHz Ripjaws SO-DIMM quad-channel kits.
Availability is scarce for most of G.Skill's Ripjaws SO-DIMM range in the UK. The fastest kit we could track down is the G.Skill Ripjaws 4x8GB 3000MHz SO-DIMM for £440 from MoreComputers, a 4 x 16GB kit is also available for the 3000MHz speed for those with the financial appetite. The 2800MHz kit comes in slightly cheaper at around £400 for 32GB (4x8GB) of SO-DIMM. MemoryC.com are also stocking much of the range for UK buyers albeit at higher prices.
In the USA Newegg currently stock the G.Skill Ripjaws SO-DIMMs in 3200MHz and 3000MHz flavours with better availability and pricing. It works out to $482 for 32GB of 3200MHz (buying two dual channel kits) and $452 for 32GB of 3000MHz (buying four single channel kits).
That said if super-fast DDR4 SO-DIMM memory isn't a necessity or doesn't suit the budget, there is plentiful availability of DDR4 SO-DIMMs in more mainstream speeds like 2400 and 2666MHz that would also work well with this motherboard. Beyond 2800MHz the impacts of faster memory start to slow-down and tail off in real-world applications anyway.
I like that vertical design, sure we can save some space with designs like that.
I understand that having a lot of daughterboards increase the cost, but I live to see a day when I could be able to build a custom pc like the apple mac g4 cube.