EKWB EK-Quantum Momentum ROG Crosshair VIII Hero D-RGB Monoblock - Acrylic
Product rating for EKWB EK-Quantum Momentum ROG Crosshair VIII Hero D-RGB Monoblock - Acrylic
Dark Hero mounting review
Installed on a crosshair dark hero motherboard
- what EKWB means by "compatibility : customer" is that it doesn't perfectly fit but still works in the end
- monoblock mounting holes aren't aligned with the dark hero holes, almost but not quite
one screw is impossible to place, the hole is more than half away where it should be, the block being stiff and the other holes being possible to screw it still holds in place good enough
- another problem I found is that you have no way to align monoblock holes and motherboard holes, it's so big you can't see holes and have to approximate placement, which is a problem because the thermal pads that you have to cut are barely enough, it's easy to missplace the pads and have bad contact between the vrm components and the block, also very hard to fix if you moved the pads, because there's so much contact on a large surface you almost cannot remove the block once it's set, it's like glued to your motherboard, this is much harder to install than a CPU or even a GPU waterblock, not recommended for beginners
- VRM temperatures are obviously better than any air cooling can achieve, mine is mostly around 38-42°C even after hours of heavy cpu/gpu usage
- CPU temperatures I can't compare with other blocks as the PC was mounted from scratch with that monoblock but with a power monster, overclocked 5950x + 390w gpu the cpu temp seems okay, with 29450/1636 cinebench R23 max temp was 66°C (using PBO I saw up to 78°C but PBO isn't very good amd voltages are way too high)
- adding the VRM to the loop has a cost, it will raise your liquid temp and cpu/gpu temps by at least 1-2°C even in ideal conditions
tested on an almost but not 100% cooling performance build :
1x 360x30mm corsair XR5 radiator
2x 360x60mm corsair XR7 radiators
10x corsair QL120 fans
QL fans are some of the weakest for radiators but they look great best and make a quiet very ear acceptable "soft" noise
Pro
- good VRM temperatures
- good CPU temperatures
Contra
- cannot use all mounting screws
- cannot see mounting holes when placing the block
- require perfect thermal pasting and placement at 1st try, a nightmare to remove