TECH NEWS – ASUS’s high-end motherboard is rusting in the EK water block, and the company wants to fix it as soon as possible.

It’s been a little over a year since ASUS released the ROG Maximum Z690 Formula motherboard, which the company touted with its hybrid cooling system. The design around the voltage regulation module uses the EK CrossChill III design, which gives the internal power supply better cooling when paired with a custom-loop water cooling solution. During the unveiling, ASUS described the water block as nickel-plated, but it turns out that this is not true, as the block has nickel-plated aluminum instead of copper, TechPowerUp reports.

This pairing is not good, and history has repeated itself, as ASUS used a similar solution in the first-generation ROG Formula, and corrosion happened. It has been a year since the motherboard launched, and on Reddit, for example, you can read that several people have reported corrosion inside the VRM water blocks. Since several people reported this months ago, it is sad that ASUS and EK waited until now to react. A user shared EK’s response:

“EK-Quantum Momentum² VRM Bridge ROG Incompatibility Announcement – 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 contact 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.”

So the replacement is coming, but it should still be pointed out that ASUS and EK have been silent for months. ASUS did not release a Formula motherboard in its Z790 line, but after that, it is better to be careful, as quality control is relatively lacking here. (Or you can stay with outdated hardware, we have experience with that too.)

Source: WCCFTech