Wednesday, February 15th 2023
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 problems. The board's unique selling point is that it comes with an optional CrossChill EK III hybrid VRM thermal solution, which is effectively a waterblock for your VRMs to keep them cool at all times. Based on ASUS's official advertisement of "nickel-plated" and EK's involvement, everybody assumed that the material used is nickel-plated copper, but it turns out it's something different, most probably nickel-plated aluminium.
This is not the first time that ASUS has failed the material mix in their watercooling products. The first generation ROG Formula motherboard VRM blocks used plated-aluminium that introduced corrosion when added to a watercooling loop that has copper/brass/steel components elsewhere. Mixing metals in a watercooling loop is a bad idea and will result in galvanic corrosion from the different electrochemical potential of the metals. This can result in the block etching off and flakes/chunks getting in the loop to create an increasingly worse reaction with the coolant used. This can lead to blocked channels and even pump failure due to the corroded materials jamming the impeller.
Multiple reports on watercooling communities have come out over the past couple of months about the VRM block in the ASUS Z690 Formula displaying clear signs of corrosion. Months went by without any official statement from either ASUS or EK and it took until ~10 days ago that a more popular such post finally got enough traction to make progress with the issue. Earlier today, EK sent out an email to those customers who purchased the VRM Bridge for the motherboard, to finally acknowledge the use of mixed metals in the VRM block. This revelation makes the block incompatible with any copper-based CPU block and even the very VRM bridge linking the two. EK has not yet mentioned how this could have slipped past the brand's attention until this point, given the company's logo is on the VRM block, but frankly ASUS merits more focus for not bothering to tell any of the undoubtedly thousands of customers who purchased the Z690 Formula motherboard, in addition to all the media partners who have been using it too. As it stands, EK suggests reaching out to your local ASUS support team for a working replacement, but so far it sure feels like this issue is being handled quietly to not get the word out as much as possible. If you are using this motherboard with the VRM waterblock, then my recommendation is to flush and clean the entire loop, replace the coolant, and remove the VRM block from your loop for the time being as the VRMs can still be air-cooled.
Here's the full contents of the EK email, provided to us by an affected TPU reader.
TPU Forum member Trev shared the following photos of his watercooling setup after running just 10 weeks with the VRM block in the loop.
Sources:
Report 1, Report 2, EK Email
This is not the first time that ASUS has failed the material mix in their watercooling products. The first generation ROG Formula motherboard VRM blocks used plated-aluminium that introduced corrosion when added to a watercooling loop that has copper/brass/steel components elsewhere. Mixing metals in a watercooling loop is a bad idea and will result in galvanic corrosion from the different electrochemical potential of the metals. This can result in the block etching off and flakes/chunks getting in the loop to create an increasingly worse reaction with the coolant used. This can lead to blocked channels and even pump failure due to the corroded materials jamming the impeller.
Here's the full contents of the EK email, provided to us by an affected TPU reader.
EK-Quantum Momentum² VRM Bridge ROG Incompatibility AnnouncementUpdate Feb 15th 08:16 UTC:
Dear and valued EK Customer,
We regret to inform you that the ASUS ROG MAXIMUS Z690 FORMULA motherboard is incompatible with our EK-Quantum Momentum² VRM Bridge ROG Maximus Z690 Formula solution, as well as other copper-based EK products.
We have developed the liquid distribution VRM Bridge solution to help our users get the full benefits from motherboards that feature CrossChill EK III hybrid VRM thermal solution by connecting any EK-Quantum Velocity² CPU water block directly to the VRM thermal water ports.
Unfortunately, EK and ASUS have discovered the issue of the VRM block corrosion. We are already working closely to address this issue and offer support to all affected customers.
ASUS is readying an adequate replacement hybrid VRM thermal solution for everyone affected by this issue. Feel free to reach out to your local ASUS support team for any additional information.
In the meantime, EK and ASUS are improving collaborative processes and development guardrails to ensure all future products exceed our customers' expectations.
We are genuinely sorry for any inconvenience this might be causing you.
We appreciate your understanding,
Team EK
TPU Forum member Trev shared the following photos of his watercooling setup after running just 10 weeks with the VRM block in the loop.
151 Comments on PSA: Corrosion Happening on ASUS ROG Z690 Formula VRM Block, Company Remains Silent
They cheaped out on a board that they made probably a 1000 of. Asus saved like what.... a couple of thousand dollars. That's just pure scumminess.
Asus crap is gonna stay on my avoid list for as long as I live.
Just sending the new waterblock "for free" won't cut it, they have made a lot of work to a lot of people, and also some expenses. What about the equipment that gets damaged during assembly and disasembly? Waterblocks aren't made for easy disassembly in mind, with some of them you also void the warranty!
Also, what does this mean:
"ASUS is readying an adequate replacement hybrid VRM thermal solution for everyone affected by this issue."
How long begore replacement blocks are even available - weeks, months? What should users that are already observing degradation do in the meantime? Take long relaxing walks?
I really can't understand who approved this?
Back in the day, when pumps for central heating were popular (and those are usually made from cast iron), we used chemicals such as Copal to negate any galvanic corrosion in a loop. But those were the dark ages of LC and should not be brought back.
This is a lawsuit-grade decision made by these two vendors to design a product in such way that normal usage leads to imminent failure.
The nickel plating that allows you to mix metals is the one thing that EK have a terrible history of failing at.
It has only 2 purposes - looks (not everybody likes the orange) and protecting copper from oxidizing from either the fluid, or eg. greasy fingers.
Nickel plating is essential for any aluminium parts in contact with water because aluminium has a very high anodic index which means galvanic and electrolytic corrosion are guaranteed if there are low-anodic metals like brass, copper, nickel in the loop. You won't find many AIOs with all-aluminium parts. The CPU block is almost always copper, even in cheap AIOs and the fittings are typically brass.
Additionally, nickel may look nice, but that's a bonus rather than its purpose; It's used extensively in places that you'll never ever see such as the base plate for air coolers, sealed, all-black waterblocks like my Alphacool one that have no plexi windows, internal fittings and elbow joints in both opaque-tubing custom loops and AIOs.
Typically, the only place you DON'T see nickel is in aluminium radiators of cheap, disposable AIOs. The loop will corrode but high glycol content of the relatively low fluid volumes means that the corrosion is slow enough for the AIO to survive its warranty period. It's an ugly truth of the AIO industry and there's no shortage of articles around the web and youtube where people cut open old AIOs to show the corrosion after a few years.
My copper ek block is 5 years old and still looks new
I've never had anything growing like that for sure even my nickel plated one looks new still can't find the image though
This is just a case of asus cheaping out I guess since it doesn't look like ek made these aluminum vrm blocks and didn't even nickel plate them either.
EK has a all aluminum line of products or did so they should know better.
More seriously, you are correct that vanity PC watercooling is dumb because it's very high maintenance and people buy into snake-oil nonsense like VRM cooling, SSD cooling, RAM cooling etc.
Water cooling parts with a high heat density is very valid and useful but VRMs, RAM, SSDs, motherboard chipsets all have very low thermal density. Cooling those with water does indeed just complicate your loop for show and there's rarely a good reason why those parts couldn't be adequately cooled with a decent quality heatsink. Motherboard VRMs, for example, operate at 90%+ efficiency even using cheap, basic VRMs. High quality VRMs on flagship motherboards use the best VRM MOSfets available which means that even for an insane LN2 overclock pulling 500W from the socket, the total surface area of all the VRMs combined need to dissipate only 30-40W. That's nothing, and you're not going to be seeing 500W power draw on a watercooled CPU, so the VRM dissipation will likely be under 25W.
Here's a 1.5"x1.5" 25W cooler, to give you an idea of how puny 25W is:
In my main rig I have nickel plated copper, copper rad, and silver coil and it's fine for years.
In all of my folding rigs I have very cheap aluminum radiators and even cheaper copper blocks (thank you China), no nickel plating, silver coil.
For fluid it's distilled with a drop of Prestone (ethylene glycol).
People hate on silver coils but they also act as sacrificial anode to help prevent galvanic, with the downside that they eventually stain everything black, especially tubing.
These already had nickel plating flaking off and I dipped them in vinegar lol
For whatever reason, there's frequently a story in the news or forum posts, or reddit PSAs about faulty nickel plating with EK stuff. It's not like other companies don't also have nickel-plating mishaps, but when you're charging top dollar, you really shouldn't be cutting corners.
B: EK manufactured the block based on strict designs and specifications provided by Shitsus and EK selected as they provided lowest possible bid.
C: EK just consulted on design and label was slapped so Shitsus could overcharge for EK label.