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
Not really seeing ek doesn't sell mother boards with their water blocks installed on them :laugh:
Asus sells the boards complete minus obvious equipment and warranties them for likely 3 years period :doh:
* Void if used.
www.ekwb.com/shop/quantum/graphics-cards
Only issue with that is it's void of the formula :laugh:
the way the coolant gunked up reminds me of what happened with my EK hardware and coolant, and i never got that fully resolved until @EddyAlphacool helped me outmy 3090 was unbearable on air, but i'm absolutely with you - when things go wrong, they go WRONG
Otherwise, liquid is an easy and effective choice for certain use cases (like multi-GPU).
A 12400F will OC an easy 1000mhz on a water loop. It's max multi is 40x.
My 13600KF, which is for sale, seems quite happy at 5.5ghz.
People must care something about benchmarking. There's an entire section on every tech forum for benchmark scores.
People choose liquid cooling for lower average temps and in most cases, less noise.
Then there's People that go even further and delid running direct die for even lower die temps.
After saying all that, there's an entire website dedicated to benchmarking. It's also the largest collaboration of scores, be it 2D or 3D.
Real world scenarios differ from one rig to another.
The only type of bubbling I like to hear is dry ice boiling in some acetone..... and you think just water cooling is dangerous lol.
To each their own!
The AIO's I've dealt with that failed all had zero way to inspect the coolant without pretty much breaking them first
If you are serious about performance and reliability you gotta DYI.
Water cooling is just more hassle and carries higher risk, including not just the complexities of manufacturers screwing things like metal mixes up, but also our own foibles ;)
Yeah mayhems x1 eco clear just the premix can turn greenish if using hardwarelabs radiators
Found this out the hard way and mayhems knows all about it they just don't advertise it lol
X1-clear concentrate does not have this issue though is the weird part and yes mix with distilled water is normal.
I use mayhems xt-1 concentrate now good for 4-5 years supposedly so I shall see.
EK wise the sludge they created with bad batches of kryofuel is going to be hard to beat by other manufactures though :laugh:
Back in my day (get off my lawn, up hill in the snow with news papers wrapped around my feet for boots you young assholes, shakes fist and yells at cloud) crap like this did not happen. There was no mixing metals, hard line tubing, colored fluids, rgb, or any of this shit. You used cooper, used industrial tubing that you had to use a screw driver or wing wench to secure, and biocide.
But hey they sent me new coolant, totally fixed that damage.
(Narrators voice: It did not fix the damage)