SFF.Network New EK monoblock for the ASUS ROG Strix Z270I Gaming

PRESS RELEASE:

A press release, when marked as such, is posted direct from the manufacturer and is unedited. Thus, they may not reflect the view of SmallFormFactor.net or its authors. SmallFormFactor.net is in no way responsible for any part of this promotion, but we thought our readers might be interested!

EK Water Blocks, the Slovenia-based premium computer liquid cooling gear manufacturer is releasing its third monoblock in one week! The new monoblock is specially made for the ASUS® ROG Strix Z270I Gaming super-compact mITX motherboard. The EK-FB ASUS Z270I Strix RGB Monoblock is compatible with ASUS® Aura Sync, thus offering a full lighting customization experience!

Read more here.
 

Phuncz

Lord of the Boards
SFFn Staff
May 9, 2015
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Hmm I'm curious if EK knows if there won't be a Maximus IX Impact board. The Strix Z270I is already very full-featured and capable, although missing the hundreds of extra ROG-class settings that maybe 10 people in the world could possibly utilize.
 

jeshikat

Jessica. Wayward SFF.n Founder
Original poster
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Feb 22, 2015
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Maybe, but Raja seemed like he wants to do a Impact from the interview at CES. But I don't think he has the final decision on that.

And I just noticed, EK should have made the block a bit bigger to cover the top M.2 as well.
 

Josh | NFC

Not From Concentrate
NFC Systems
Jun 12, 2015
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Maybe, but Raja seemed like he wants to do a Impact from the interview at CES. But I don't think he has the final decision on that.

And I just noticed, EK should have made the block a bit bigger to cover the top M.2 as well.
Noticed that as well... probably bothers me more than it should!

That's a good idea but not one that appeals to me. In fact I would strongly shoot it down. I switch out drives on a weekly basis. I know I am an outlier, but I am willing to bet quite a few users would prefer access to their drive without removing their waterblock (especially since I delid when I liquid cool).

The ASUS heatsink does a great job anyway, so while it is "neato" liquid cooling your NVME, I don't think it maximally functional.

My 2c!

I buy alot of these strix boards...I don't have any LC builds planned but looks like I have to now!
 

Craxas

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Oct 10, 2016
130
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Man, if only this was combinable with the s4 mini... would have to do an external loop tho, so... Ill be sticking to air cooling lol
 
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jeshikat

Jessica. Wayward SFF.n Founder
Original poster
Silver Supporter
Feb 22, 2015
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That's a good idea but not one that appeals to me. In fact I would strongly shoot it down. I switch out drives on a weekly basis. I know I am an outlier, but I am willing to bet quite a few users would prefer access to their drive without removing their waterblock (especially since I delid when I liquid cool).

Well, I imagine there's many more people who worry about M.2 drive heat than there are those who swap out the drive that often. Plus the Strix Z270i has another slot on the backside habitual drive swappers can use instead :p
 

CubanLegend

Steely-Eyed NVFlash Man
Dec 23, 2016
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EDIT: Holy crap, I just reread that article more carefully. This thing has a built in 4-pin RGB LED strip?! NIIIICE! But that price tho... ~$130 USD... dang, son. I'll stick with my frankenstien LP53 & A9x14PWM, until there's a small enough AIO I can fit inside my S4 mini to replace it with in addition to this CPU-waterblock
Maybe, but Raja seemed like he wants to do a Impact from the interview at CES. But I don't think he has the final decision on that.

And I just noticed, EK should have made the block a bit bigger to cover the top M.2 as well.
Hmmm... that top M.2 heatsink does actually act as a heat trap, according to [H]ardOCP's review of the z270i STRIX, so we'd probably benefit from just removing the top heatsink if we place any m.2 on there, lol.

That's a good idea but not one that appeals to me. In fact I would strongly shoot it down. I switch out drives on a weekly basis. I know I am an outlier, but I am willing to bet quite a few users would prefer access to their drive without removing their waterblock (especially since I delid when I liquid cool).

The ASUS heatsink does a great job anyway, so while it is "neato" liquid cooling your NVME, I don't think it maximally functional.

My 2c!

I buy alot of these strix boards...I don't have any LC builds planned but looks like I have to now!
Dang, weekly M.2 swaps? is your z270i in an open test-bench or inside one of your S4 minis?

Man, if only this was combinable with the s4 mini... would have to do an external loop tho, so... Ill be sticking to air cooling lol
See now thats what I'm wondering... are there ANY small enough AIO rads with a fan that can fit inside an S4 mini if we wanted to use this waterblock? "HMMMM", indeed.
 

Craxas

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Oct 10, 2016
130
147
See now thats what I'm wondering... are there ANY small enough AIO rads with a fan that can fit inside an S4 mini if we wanted to use this waterblock? "HMMMM", indeed.

I spent a good 2 hours looking the other day for a rad (non AIO). Smallest I found that is practical for heat dissipation is ek's 120mmx25mm one, and even that is too big to fit in with a gpu. Maybe if you took a low profile gpu and flipped it so theres more space in the middle section of the case (+ longer riser) it could work but at that point why bother lol.

I never felt compelled to watercool before this monoblock was announced and it just sucks not having the option to satiate this thirst haha
 
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CubanLegend

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Dec 23, 2016
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I spent a good 2 hours looking the other day for a rad (non AIO). Smallest I found that is practical for heat dissipation is ek's 120mmx25mm one, and even that is too big to fit in with a gpu. Maybe if you took a low profile gpu and flipped it so theres more space in the middle section of the case (+ longer riser) it could work but at that point why bother lol.

I never felt compelled to watercool before this monoblock was announced and it just sucks not having the option to satiate this thirst haha
Yeah I see which one you're talking about it's the EK-CoolStream SE 120 (Slim Single) an interesting price of only $39.99.

Thing is that this z270i EK CPU monoblock still needs a pump on top of needing a rad that's small enough. Which means even less room inside the S4 mini...And honestly I dont think a single 120x120x26mm rad would be able to properly cool a 7700k as well as we'd like... :( so although this monoblock is a nice thing, I'd prefer there be a newly designed, super-thin and small AIO that can just fit on top of the CPU area inside the S4 mini, although a handful of AIOs that are small exist (from Corsair and from Coolermaster), they arent low enough in height to fit inside an S4 mini, probably inside of a Dan A4 though...
 
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Kack

Trash Compacter
Aug 28, 2017
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Corsair had an unqiue looking AiO for the first version of their Bulldog. I wonder if it'd be possible to put something like it in a S4. Don't recall how good it really was though.
 

Boil

SFF Guru
Nov 11, 2015
1,253
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Corsair had an unqiue looking AiO for the first version of their Bulldog. I wonder if it'd be possible to put something like it in a S4. Don't recall how good it really was though.

So good they changed it for the revised Bulldog...