Replacement Q-Antenna?

[vortex1]

I have just purchased a Z790-A II and it only comes in white - I couldn't afford a Dark Hero. I have an all black case. I am going to have an odd looking white Q-Antenna magnetically attached to the top of the case. I would prefer black.

I cannot find any Dark Hero replacement 'WiFi 7 compatible' plug-on Q-Antennas. These ones are the same as the plug-on Z790-A ones but in black.

The best I could find is a Chinese compatible brand WiFi 7 Q-Antenna from Ali Express - but I would prefer to obtain an official Asus one - as that might last longer and work better.

My understanding is that Asus do not sell replacement motherboard parts. Also, I tried to find an Asus shop on Amazon but there didn't appear to be one. Any search I made on a browser just came up with companies that sell Asus spare parts but didn't stock these antennas. Maybe there's something I missed..

Can anyone point me in the right direction to obtain what I'm looking for?

ps. I have some black acrylic spray paint. I read somewhere that using this type of non-metallic paint won't adversely affect the signal transmission of antennae. Can anyone verify this? ie. has anyone tried this with positive results? The last thing I want to do is mess up my only antenna and then not be able to find another one to replace it!

[JohnAb]

You could try eBay I suppose, but I do agree that non-metallic paint should not affect the signal strength. The paint might flake off over time of course, but I think it will be OK if you really want black. However, you could always have the antenna on the back of the case where it won't be seen easily.  

[vortex1]

I forgot to mention before that I also tried eBay but no good, which was surprising. I agree, the paint would probably flake, so could end up looking a mess.

When I had the Z790-H I liked having the antenna on show, but I think I could hide this one like you said; just means I have the antenna at a right angle pointing up perhaps so I still get a good transmission.

It does seem weird how Asus don't provide these components, but when I checked before I saw that they don't even tend to bother much with replacing faulty motherboards by the look of it - where they seem to send the customer back to the retailer to replace or refund; so guess that means the retailer then later sorts things out with Asus in regards to being compensated for the returned motherboard(s). They're just not bothered with providing any hardware support for their motherboards.

Although they don't give an actual option you can find on their support pages for motherboards - they will respond and try to assist with any emails/phone calls they receive for troubleshooting issues prior to any possible hardware fault being discovered.

Anyway, the retailers however aren't going to have spare parts for these motherboards. It might not just be antennas that need replacing. Not great after sales from Asus for the consumer really.

Just on a tangent, I noticed whilst stripping my Z790-H for return that the stock thermal pads (attached to the motherboard heatsinks) for the SSD's had deteriorated considerably leaving a sticky residue - so I will probably look to installing upgrade pads on the new board (assuming you can get better quality ones?) - I think the state the stock pads were in could mean that the longevity of the SSD's could be adversely affected as they weren't being cooled effectively, so wasn't impressed with that.