PSA Warning: Asus Z690 Formula VRM block corroded

Grim5

Grim5

Grim5

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This is now in the media after several owners encountered this. The VRM block on this motherboard uses coated aluminium and a number of users have now reported corrosion and gunk in the block and their loop



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PSA: Corrosion Happening on ASUS ROG Z690 Formula VRM Block, Company Remains Silent

I've been using the ASUS ROG Z690 Formula motherboard in all my recent CPU water block reviews, and also detailed it here for a specific EK VRM bridge block article. While the board has reached end-of-life status at ASUS internally, the company's customers are only just starting to face...
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I had the x570 version of this board and the loop connected through that VRM block for a year and a half before the look got disassembled and the loop was still clean, I even took a torch and had a look around and it looked clean inside. So hit seems this change to aluminium is a recent development for Asus as they try to cut costs
 
I wonder if this is actually EK's problem or ASUS. Is Asus manufacturing the block using EK's patent or is EK manufacturing it? EK should know better, they have entire articles on their website telling users not to mix metals, so if its their screw up then that company is in trouble.

But who knows, it could even be a factory fault - like maybe someone at 3rd party factory tried to see if they could save money by swapping to cheaper metals and hope no one would notice
 
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It seems to be nickel plated aluminium but the plating is thick enough it seems, but if you manage to scuff or scratch the block with a sharp object while handling it you could expose the aluminium

However that last Asus misadventure was enough for ekwb to pull support and all ekwb branding is gone from the formula boards.

He also managed to get an answer for why Ekwb was ever involved. Apparently this VRM water block was never designed by ekwb, it was created by a small external company but ekwb just happened to have purchased the rights from them at some point and Asus wanted that product and now with ekwb branding gone it looks likely ekwb has given it or sold the right of that block to Asus so now they own the crap


Derbauer still doesn't like the block, even though it's unlikely to cause corrosion unless you scratch through the nickel layer. The vrm of the board runs cool enough without any water running through it anyway and the black itself is badly designed with its air cooler style heatsink that results in a lot of flow restriction if you connect this block to your loop
 
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