Heatsinks/Pads/Strips for NVME drives?

Marzipanogram · 21 Nov 2018 at 15:36

Is it best to use any Heatsinks/Pads/Strips for cooling Samsung 970 EVO's or it is OK just to install them and not worry?

If they are needed, please recommend.

Thank you.

ant1298 · 23 Nov 2018 at 12:51

I've never thought about it - mine sticks out of the board and is directly in the fans airflow path so I suspect it wouldn't be needed.

I wouldn't bother though. If it got that hot then I'd worry about other components too.

Shashman · 23 Nov 2018 at 15:15

My ADATA nvme drive came with a logo'd pad. At first I thought it was just a sticker like you sometimes get with hardware but then I noticed it had notches cut into it. Does it actually serve a purpose other than aesthetic? It's quite thick, like those magnetic stickers.

Marzipanogram · 23 Nov 2018 at 16:15

Thank you for the replies

Doug2507 · 23 Nov 2018 at 16:21

I use copper foam heatsinks on mine. Available from the German sounding electronics giant. Iirc I've got 3 20x20's on each. Nice little mod most commonly used with high end laptops to help cooling.

Not sure how much difference they make tbh but better than nowt. If case flow is positive pressure then they should be getting some cooling regardless.

ZXSpectrum · 23 Nov 2018 at 16:37

If your motherboard has a M.2/Nvme port under a heatsink then use that. Otherwise it will be fine. The newer Nvme drives seem fine unless they are ran in RAID(And even then unless your I/o is going insane it wont be an issue). The older drives like SM951/961 used to be pretty bad for throttling performance when they were put under a reasonable load. Never had an issue with 970 Evo/Pro in the open.

Marzipanogram · 23 Nov 2018 at 17:59

Many thanks for the extra help

willhub · 26 Nov 2018 at 08:13

Can anyone confirm, in my laptop my M2 SSD has this strip on it, it was a bit like chewing gum, should I keep this on my NVMe drive? The NVMe controller can get up to 90 degrees I see maybe hotter.

Shashman · 26 Nov 2018 at 11:13

Where do you see this temperature? That's a mad temp, even for a laptop!

willhub · 26 Nov 2018 at 11:15

Shashman said:
Where do you see this temperature? That's a mad temp, even for a laptop!

There is 2 temps, so temp 1 gets to 60-70, but temp 2 apparently might be the NVMe controller gets insanely high. I check the sensors in HWInfo64

V4NT0M · 4 Dec 2018 at 21:39

It's worth noting there is some discussion about heatsinks having a negative effect on M2 SSDs see here:

https://youtu.be/KzSIfxHppPY

willhub said:
Can anyone confirm, in my laptop my M2 SSD has this strip on it, it was a bit like chewing gum, should I keep this on my NVMe drive? The NVMe controller can get up to 90 degrees I see maybe hotter.

The strip or sticker is likely a factory heat spreading device, probably best to leave it on.

mattyfez · 5 Dec 2018 at 21:24

Under normal circumstances they shouldn't need extra cooling. And as alluded to above, sticking pads and heatsinks on them may actually serve to insulate them and make them hotter.

Check Samsungs data sheets for the drive but if I recall correctly the safe operating temperature is up to 90c.

If it's running at 90c you've got other thermal issues you need to adress, it's more likely being indirectly warmed up by the CPU or gpu.

willhub · 5 Dec 2018 at 23:45

Should I remove the thermal pad

Distracted · 6 Dec 2018 at 08:15

Nvme drives benefit from lower temps on the controller and higher temps on the nand.

For this reason samsung has previously employed a heat spreader which takes heat from the controller and distributes it across the entire surface helping to keep the memory warm.

If you can place a thermal pad / heatsink on the controller and not on the nand then that would be ideal. If not and temps are getting out of hand then leaving a thermal solution on the entire m.2 drive is fine.

If temps are low (including the controller) then it is best to avoid using a heatsink to allow the flash memory to stay at optimal temps to ensure longer life.

If the controller overheats (and it will before nand does) then the drive will throttle and perform worse.

Of course if the heatsink and pad are just trapping heat rather than dissipating it and you have issues with the temp on the controller then it makes sense to remove the heatsink.

pp111 · 6 Dec 2018 at 18:45

A heatsink does make a big difference to the idle and max running temps. Personally I think they are well worth it considering how little they cost. I prefer the Gelid Solutions SubZero M.2 They are cheap and easy to fit. Just take care with the thermal pad becuase they are very delicate. Lifting the M.2 away from the motherboard on to a PCIe riser card also sometimes makes a big difference ~ depending on the location of the slot and how well ventillated it is.

willhub · 12 Dec 2018 at 10:57

Under the M2 drive you can see this chewing gum like stuff, is that actually to help cooling?

ANDARIAL · 15 Dec 2018 at 10:11

Unless there are chips under that drive i would say no
In fact it looks bent :eek:

Unless it is the camera angle

willhub · 15 Dec 2018 at 10:22

ANDARIAL said:
Unless there are chips under that drive i would say no
In fact it looks bent
Unless it is the camera angle

It was bent, taking it out however it returned straight!

ANDARIAL · 15 Dec 2018 at 10:23

are there chips underneath?

willhub · 15 Dec 2018 at 10:39

ANDARIAL said:
are there chips underneath?

No not really, would it be more insulating in that case?