The VRM, according to Buildzoid, does not put out that much heat anyways, even with a 12-core Ryzen 9 CPU. The ROG Crosshair VIII Formula is nearly double the price, and it only has a VRM waterblock, an OLED screen, an Aquantia 5G Ethernet controller, and more fancier lighting. More on rog-forum.asus.com

I have a VIII Hero (wifi) and basically the water blocks are what you are paying for on the Formula. They are very similar boards otherwise, Formula does have Aquantia 5gb ethernet and wifi. The VRMs are so good on pretty much all of the high end X570 boards most of them could run with little need for active cooling. If you are planning an all out water cooled build with an unlimited budget then you could grab the formula and water cool the VRMs just because. Otherwise you would be better off using the extra $200 for other components. Formula also has the little LCD screen. Both boards use the exact same VRM though and that's the main thing. More on reddit.com

Bit silly to review it without using the built in watercooling...it's likely the main reason anyone would buy it in the first place and they ignored it and reviewed like a regular board... More on reddit.com

Key differences between this and the CROSSHAIR VIII HERO are 1.The VRM - 16 power stages, with the power stages being rated for 90A vs 60A 2.The design aesthetic. Both boards are monochrome but the DARK HERO is all black compared to the silver accent present on the CROSSHAIR VIII HERO 3.Chipset cooling - The DARK HERO is passive while the CROSSHAIR VIII HERO features an active cooling design ( chipset fan ). More on reddit.com