Asus and EKWB seemingly end partnership for ROG Formula motherboards

In recent years, Asus teamed up with EKWB to ship motherboards with EK-branding cooling blocks, making them ready for custom water cooling right out of the box. They hit a snag with the Z690 Formula, with some users finding their blocks corroding due to mixed metals. Now, it appears that the motherboard partnership between EK and Asus has come to an end. 

Overclocker and engineer, der8auer, has uploaded a new video this week looking over the new Asus Z790 Formula motherboard. Notably, while the board still ships with a monoblock, it no longer carries the EKWB logo, indicating that the pair are no longer collaborating on the Formula motherboard products.

This collaboration began in 2020 but seemed to end earlier this year after users faced complications with the Z690 motherboard, which used nickel-plated aluminium rather than copper – something that wasn't made expressly clear to buyers, who ended up mixing metals, leading to corrosion.

The new Z790 Formula motherboard does have a different block design and it does seem that the corrosion issues observed with the Z690 Formula will be solved on the Z790 board. However, Der8auer also says at the end of the video that this isn't the kind of cooler he would expect from an $800 motherboard, so there should be room for further improvement.

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KitGuru Says: While the Formula motherboards may no longer ship with an EK-branded monoblock, the company should still make its own cooling blocks for motherboards moving forward for water cooling enthusiasts. 

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