Heatsink and/or fan for M.2 drive - worth it?

[darael]

As my Samsung 970 EVO Plus drive sits at around 50c little more than light use, I am wondering if it's worth looking into a heatsink and fan for it before summer comes.

I have read of heatsinks just soaking the heat and spreading it to other components on the drive. This doesn't sound a good idea, as I would be relying on the case airflow to draw heat away from the heatsink as it passes.

A heatsink and fan sounds better, as at least the air will be pushed away by the fan. My only fear is creating noise from a whiney fan.

I'd be interested to see what others have done, if anything, and how well their drives cope.

 

[Smoogels]

What software are you using to monitor the temps? The Samsung drives have a temperature sensor on both the controller and NAND. HWInfo can read both whereas tools like CrystalDiskInfo only read the NAND temperature.

I have put a heatsink (Gelid Subzero M.2) on my 970 as it was only a few pounds so thought it was worth a try. I also kept the drives warranty sticker on when mounting the heatsink.

In crystaldiskmark (32GB/5, writes about 160GB) the controller peaked at 88C without a heatsink and then 74C with the heatsink mounted. NAND at 61C then 58C however, my benchmarks didn't improve. Ultimately CDM is an unrealistic workload for most, so in normal conditions it doesn't usually reach quite as high temperatures.

I wouldn't say a heatsink was necessary in my case but as it was fairly cheap it was worth the piece of mind IMO. A fan is probably overkill unless you are really pushing the drive. If the temperatures are high I would first try a heatsink before installing a fan directly over it and see how it gets on.