is VRM water cooling pointless?

Grim5 · 9 Feb 2021 at 20:12

I've got the ASUS ROG Crosshair X570 Formula motherboard

It's got the EK VRM dual passive/active block on it. The VRM seems to passively cool itself fine so far, typically I see temps around 35-40c while gaming (5950x PBO)

As I'm putting a loop in my system, should I include the VRM as well? It does make the loop more complicated and require more fittings - so I'm not going to do it unless there is some extra performance to be gained

im4gine3 · 9 Feb 2021 at 20:27

Unless you are aiming for extreme overclocks I don’t see the point.. it’s more there for aesthetics to be honest. I have my z87 Formula on water and not much difference than when it was passively cooled.

Spiritwolf · 10 Feb 2021 at 05:24

any decent motherboard will be able to run on no VRM cooling at all with no heatsinks, the amount of phases means each phase is only used briefly.

in practice for looks I would either do passive or mono block for the motherboard.

Radox-0 · 10 Feb 2021 at 09:38

Nah not going be be needed as others said. Amusingly the motherboards which have built in cooling for VMR's or Monoblocks on offer etc are usually the higher end ones with better VRMs anyways.

I have gone down that route, mostly for aesthetics in some of my builds. Mostly Mini-ITX as it does look neat having a full cover block on those.

Hakanese · 10 Feb 2021 at 19:08

I would go without cooling the Vrm's for your initial loop, if you want to add it later then do so.
I had a Formula on my old 4770K, I noticed no gains in performance from cooling the vrms. All it did was make it harder for me to clean my loop

clone · 11 Feb 2021 at 10:29

As I've got the Asus maximus xii formula I couldn't resist buying the ek vrm block for my water loop do I need it probably not but hey what the hell.

Spiritwolf · 11 Feb 2021 at 10:54

Why don't people like the mono block instead of dedicated VRM block? it is best of both worlds, looks amazing and does the same cooling without complex loops

clone · 11 Feb 2021 at 11:00

I like the way I'm doing mine as you keep the cpu cooler on and place the vrm block on top.

Grim5 · 11 Feb 2021 at 11:02

Spiritwolf said:
Why don't people like the mono block instead of dedicated VRM block? it is best of both worlds, looks amazing and does the same cooling without complex loops

mu motherboard has the ek block from factory I did not choose it, I would use monoblock if I can

Drumroll · 12 Feb 2021 at 20:45

Not needed.
The only pro I could think of is visual.
The block (monoblock) will be useless for your next motherboard upgrade, and depending on your rad area, the extra heat from the VRM will add some stress to your loop.
Used the X-570 monoblock before, is beautiful, but performance wise no better than an average CPU block, while much more expensive.
Also the layout of inlet/outlet may complicate the tubbing route, depending on case, while some CPU blocks (Intel) would allow be installed rotated.