I can't find anything on this anywhere on the web. I can't be the only one to find out. I bought the 4TB WD Black SN850X with heatsink and it seems it's incompatible with my Asus B650E-E motherboard.the problem is the Q latch system on the M.2 slots, the latch won't close as I believe the heatsink is too large. I've a 2TB version and that fits fine, smaller heatsink. There's 4 M.2 on the board and the only one removable to fit a normal spacer and screw is the one I don't want to use as it shares the GPU lanes. I've got it in there at moment. But can't believe it.
Anyone with an Asus Rog Strix B650E-E and 4TB SN850X (Heatsink)!
- Thread starter Jimbo
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I managed to sort this by buying a PciEx gen 4 M.2 adapter card. I installed my WD Black 4TB with heatsink and getting good speeds. It was only a cheapo thing off rainforest but does the job. Anyway it's a warning to anyone buy said drive that has a Q-Latch on the motherboard it may not fit. Next time I'll buy drives without.
I was looking at buying an 8tb SN850X yesterday as the heatsink version was a fair bit cheaper for some reason but decided to sleep on it. It did occur to me it might not fit (I also wouldn't want to use the top slot), but isn't it the case you can take the heatsink off the nvme as the mobo cover acts as a heatsink?
On my Crucial PCIE5 drive that I have in the top slot the heatsink can be unscrewed.
On my Crucial PCIE5 drive that I have in the top slot the heatsink can be unscrewed.
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Man of Honour
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Yes you can and I did it with my Seagate Firecuda 530 2Tb as the heatsink version was cheaper than the non heatsink version. I didn't use the motherboards heatsink though, instead I fitted a big Thermaltake M2 heatsink to it. The downside though is that if the drive fails and they can tell you have removed the heatsink (even if you reattach it exactly the same way) they could declare the warranty null and void.
Seagate Firecuda 530 is a different drive @pastymuncher
I just googled it and it seems the heatsink on the SN850X is strongly glued on and it is not recommended to try removal as there is a high risk of damaging the drive. In addition to which it seems the stock heatsink works much better than third party options.
Thank god I didn't order it last night - you saved me some money and hassle @Jimbo
I just googled it and it seems the heatsink on the SN850X is strongly glued on and it is not recommended to try removal as there is a high risk of damaging the drive. In addition to which it seems the stock heatsink works much better than third party options.
Thank god I didn't order it last night - you saved me some money and hassle @Jimbo
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Man of Honour
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Ouch, maybe that's why it's cheaper than the non heatsink version. I have the same Q-latch's on my B650E-F and they are not that thick. It's a big mistake that WD has made if their drives with heatsinks are incompatible because most motherboard manufacturers use these "EZ Latch's" now. My last MSI had them and Gigabyte and Asrock also use them so that's all four main motherboard manufacturers using them so that's a lot of boards that their drives with heatsinks won't fit in. All it would take is them shaving a couple of mm off the bottom of the heatsink to make it compatible with these "EZ-Latch's". Crazy!!
Yes so as said the heatsink is glued on and hard to remove. I did contemplate trying but fell at first hurdle as didn't have a screwdriver small enough to remove the 4 screws. Real horror stories about what a nightmare it is to take off so in the end it was easier to just return it. I think a lot of people will be caught out like I was. The 2TB with heatsink fits fine in the Q-latch but the 4TB and above are a no.
So I got my B grade 4TB SN850X today from ocuk and I've fitted a Thermalright H/S and that goes in to the Q-latch just fine. Temps @ idle about 40c and during Crystal Mark I did see it hit 74c but seems its within tolerance. I could put it under my motherboard H/S but at moment fine.
Incidentally it came in a plain white box and has obviously been used as power on count was 92 and power on hours was 1759. Bit surprised as my 2TB is single digits. I googled all that and was informed it's very low for an nvme?
So I got my B grade 4TB SN850X today from ocuk and I've fitted a Thermalright H/S and that goes in to the Q-latch just fine. Temps @ idle about 40c and during Crystal Mark I did see it hit 74c but seems its within tolerance. I could put it under my motherboard H/S but at moment fine.
Incidentally it came in a plain white box and has obviously been used as power on count was 92 and power on hours was 1759. Bit surprised as my 2TB is single digits. I googled all that and was informed it's very low for an nvme?
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Personally, I'm far less bothered about power on hours than I am about how many GB/TB have been written to the drive, because that's what causes the wear and suggests how it has been used.
That said, high power on hours suggests that the drive may have been used as a boot drive, since I'd expect a secondary drive to have relatively low power on.
4TB written isn't too bad (one write of the drive, in effect), but I'd guess it was used as a boot drive for around 2-3 months.
Oh well as long as it doesn't fail on me. I wonder why it's turned up and sold as B grade if it's been used for a while? Doesn't seem it's defective or anything. I guess I'll find out, I just tested it and installed games on it today and played for a bit. Seemed fine. Thanks for your help Tetras. 
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It does seem odd that it was returned to OCUK after 2+ months in use. So far as I'm aware, they only accept no-fault returns within 30 days.Oh well as long as it doesn't fail on me. I wonder why it's turned up and sold as B grade if it's been used for a while? Doesn't seem it's defective or anything. I guess I'll find out, I just tested it and installed games on it today and played for a bit. Seemed fine. Thanks for your help Tetras.
I'm not that concerned by the SMART data, 4TB is nothing, but a little worried it might have an intermittent defect.
I guess it could have been taken from build stock for some reason, especially since it was unboxed.
£250 for a second hand drive is not good
Yeah I'm not over the moon with the price. I would have offered less but ironically I got banned for mentioning the other drive I bought from the compeditor and couldn't take part in the ocuk site. In hindsight I should have waited and just bought new. I didn't realise it was only 20 more expensive than B grade. But hey hum as long as it's working and no errors or crashes.