ASRock and Cooler Master partner up for no real reason that I can make out but aw hey that's kind of cute

ASRock, maker of motherboards, graphics cards, and much more, seems to have joined with Cooler Master, maker of cases, coolers, and not much more, to form a lovely little partnership for a reason I cannot quite discern. Not that I'm complaining, of course—spread the love, spirit of cooperation, and all that—it's just a little peculiar to have these two companies buddied up.

ASRock has announced this partnership (via Unikoshardware on X) on Chinese video sharing platform Bilibili: "The two parties will engage in comprehensive cooperation in product collaborative innovation and market ecosystem co-construction, jointly promoting PC hardware innovation and performance improvement" (machine translated).

"Cooler Master continuously provides high-performance cooling experiences for esports players and professional users worldwide with its leading liquid cooling systems and air cooling solutions. ASRock, on the other hand, is renowned for its innovative strength in motherboards and graphics cards, with its products favoured by gamers for their 'innovative design, user-friendly products, and affordable prices.'

"This collaboration marks a strategic synergy between these two technology-driven companies, jointly building a high-performance PC platform and pushing the limits of PC performance."

That's the premise, then, I suppose: Cooler Master primarily focuses on high-performance cooling, and ASRock focuses on high-performance components. And what goes together better than high-performance cooling and high-performance components? See? Makes sense—I should work in marketing.

Except of course it's not quite as clear-cut as that, because ASRock also makes AIO coolers just like Cooler Master, and Cooler Master also makes power supplies, just like ASRock. Still, I suppose nobody ever said business partnerships have to have no overlap.

The practical goal of the two companies will, according to Google's machine translation of the announcement, be "scenario innovation" and "ecosystem co-construction."

ASRock explains the former as being the goal to "jointly build integrated high-performance solutions for emerging needs such as e-sports, content creation, and AI computing."

The latter is to "establish joint product experience zones in online and offline channels, allowing consumers to experience the synergistic performance of electromechanical heat dissipation and circuit board performance in one stop."

Following this, there are a pictures of ASRock motherboards with a Cooler Master coolers on top. So that's what this is then, I suppose: ASRock will supply the motherboard, Cooler Master will supply the cooling, and both will show off the combos. Delightful.