NVMe drives, with or without heatsinks?

GoogalyMoogaly

GoogalyMoogaly

GoogalyMoogaly

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So there's another thread discussing the preference of only having 1 drive installed when installing Windows and it made me think about the hassle of removing NVMe drives, especially when using motherboard heatsinks.

So I was wondering, when you guys buy NVMe drives do you buy the version with a built-in heatsink or one without a heatsink?
If you get the one without a heatsink do you then use the heatsinks that often come with motherboards or use it sans heatsink?

For me, motherboard heatsinks are nice but make it much more of a hassle to remove the drive (for re-installing Windows or upgrading a drive). I've not used a drive with built-in heatsink but I worry about the surface area especially given how they're often hidden behind huge hot GPUs.

If using motherboard heatsinks do people often get replacement thermal pads? Which are the ones to get and how do you know what thickness?
 
When I bought my first NVMe drive a few years ago, I had the same motherboard as i do now which doesn't have a heatsink for the NVMe drive. I think at the time the general consensus was that NVMe drives didn't really need heatsinks, but that later turned into it's best to put a heatsink on - by which time motherboards were coming with NVMe heatsinks. When I got my second NVMe drive to replace the first one, I chose to use the additional heatsink that was supplied with it (part of an offer) - which worked out cheaper than buying the Samsung 990 Pro with a heatsink already fitted.

The fact some NVMe drives can come with heatsinks fitted, shows that there is probably a need for them if you want an NVMe drive that's going to last. The speeds of some drives now would make them insanely hot without a heatsink and it's these faster drives that tend to come with heatsinks fitted, otherwise you'd see thermal throttling kicking in by the drive's controller.

In a nutshell, try to fit a heatsink to your NVMe drive. If your motherboard comes with an NVMe heatsink, use it, otherwise just and install your own if it's cheaper than buying a drive with one pre-installed.
 
Generally speaking: if you're an average user (a bit of browsing, a bit of gaming) the heatsinks aren't needed (either the board, or drives that come pre-fitted), so there's not much to worry about there.

I'd usually avoid buying a drive that has one, because the primary slot is 'sinked in the vast majority of boards and they're easier to switch out and put into another build in the future. Whereas, if you have a heatsink, you're limiting where the drive can be fitted and removing a manufacturer-fitted heatsink is rarely a good idea.
 
Bigger heatsink = longer sustained peak speeds. Pcie 3 drives can sometimes benefit, but it's normally under very heavy usage. Pcie4 drives are helped a lot by them, and Pcie5 drives basically require them.

I have never cared about having multiple drives connected to a pc when building one, formatting and partitioning drives, and installing windows. I've never had an issue on any of my own, ones built for clients, or ones when I worked in IT support - so in my head this is a user induced error and as such I continue to have all the systems drives connected during install.
 
Ch3m1c4L said:
Bigger heatsink = longer sustained peak speeds. Pcie 3 drives can sometimes benefit, but it's normally under very heavy usage. Pcie4 drives are helped a lot by them, and Pcie5 drives basically require them.

I have never cared about having multiple drives connected to a pc when building one, formatting and partitioning drives, and installing windows. I've never had an issue on any of my own, ones built for clients, or ones when I worked in IT support - so in my head this is a user induced error and as such I continue to have all the systems drives connected during install.
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It's not an error, it's just that Windows tends to install it's recovery partition and stuff on the 2nd drive so if you ever remove the 2nd drive the PC won't boot. If you don't swap out the drives it's not an issue. I just prefer not to take the chance.
 
Philtor said:
If the drive should have a heatsink, then the manufacturer would have used one.
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What about in the case of Samsung 990 Pro drives, that are sold with and without heatsinks? :p

Ch3m1c4L said:
I have never cared about having multiple drives connected to a pc when building one, formatting and partitioning drives, and installing windows. I've never had an issue on any of my own, ones built for clients, or ones when I worked in IT support - so in my head this is a user induced error and as such I continue to have all the systems drives connected during install.
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I myself have experienced issues with installing Windows when multiple drives connected. My problems began later on when I disconnected my second drive and Windows refused to boot from that point onwards without a reinstall. :(

Tetras said:
I'd usually avoid buying a drive that has one, because the primary slot is 'sinked in the vast majority of boards and they're easier to switch out and put into another build in the future. Whereas, if you have a heatsink, you're limiting where the drive can be fitted and removing a manufacturer-fitted heatsink is rarely a good idea.
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That's a good point actually, I forgot that you're restricting yourself if you buy a drive that has a heatsink fitted.
 
Tetras said:
Generally speaking: if you're an average user (a bit of browsing, a bit of gaming) the heatsinks aren't needed (either the board, or drives that come pre-fitted), so there's not much to worry about there.

I'd usually avoid buying a drive that has one, because the primary slot is 'sinked in the vast majority of boards and they're easier to switch out and put into another build in the future. Whereas, if you have a heatsink, you're limiting where the drive can be fitted and removing a manufacturer-fitted heatsink is rarely a good idea.
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But you can always just not use the motherboard heatsink right (if the SSD had its own)? Might spoil the look a bit but better than trying to remove a heatsink built-in to the SSD.
 
GoogalyMoogaly said:
It's not an error, it's just that Windows tends to install it's recovery partition and stuff on the 2nd drive so if you ever remove the 2nd drive the PC won't boot. If you don't swap out the drives it's not an issue. I just prefer not to take the chance.
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Oh I know what people say it does, I've just never experienced it, over hundreds of systems from xp to 10 (not in IT now so not building many). Not sure why, or what I or they are doing differently, or if it's simply I check and confirm the drives it using during partitioning and it's simply advice for newer users to mature it simpler and avoid a potential pitfall.
 
Ch3m1c4L said:
Oh I know what people say it does, I've just never experienced it, over hundreds of systems from xp to 10 (not in IT now so not building many). Not sure why, or what I or they are doing differently, or if it's simply I check and confirm the drives it using during partitioning and it's simply advice for newer users to mature it simpler and avoid a potential pitfall.
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It's not a choice you can make, so doesn't matter what you check. Maybe nobody knows enough to break it. Maybe you just got lucky.
I know the first thing I'd do if I got a prebuilt PC would be to remove or repartition any additional HDD/SSDs and if that broke it then it'd be sent back. Maybe none of the people using your PCs did that or had any reason to replace any of the drives.
 
GoogalyMoogaly said:
But you can always just not use the motherboard heatsink right (if the SSD had its own)? Might spoil the look a bit but better than trying to remove a heatsink built-in to the SSD.
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It depends on the design how convenient that is, some of these heatsinks are giant assemblies and difficult to remove, whereas other designs are just a small piece and you can unclip or unscrew it and run without no problem.
 
I wouldn't be putting my systems under that much strain, generally speaking, so I have run without heatsinks in the past and never encountered any issues.

If the motherboard has a heatsink included (and most do now) then I will put it to use but I wouldn't buy an M.2 with a boxy heatsink as part of it because it potentially limits you in where you can place it.
 
Philtor said:
Surprised they don’t all come with a separate one by default and the individual can decide whether or not to attach it depending on how it will be used. These things are pence :D
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Cheaper and easier to have multiple SKUs, charge extra for the heatsink one and not incur the additional costs of shipping and manufacturing thousands/millions of extra unnecessary heatsinks.
 
i've avoided the latest gen nvme's due to the heat.
despite reassurances, heat plus electronics don't mix well typically.
I've read a few comments on there being an optimal temp range for solid state drives. none of which have convinced me yet.

the cooler the better.
why have fans directed at vrm heatsinks? etc etc. they all want cooling.
anyway. next pc will have a gen 4. As the motherboard will likely come with a sink i guess i'll use that.
 
adamsleath said:
i've avoided the latest gen nvme's due to the heat.
despite reassurances, heat plus electronics don't mix well typically.
I've read a few comments on there being an optimal temp range for solid state drives. none of which have convinced me yet.

the cooler the better.
why have fans directed at vrm heatsinks? etc etc. they all want cooling.
anyway. next pc will have a gen 4. As the motherboard will likely come with a sink i guess i'll use that.
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Just a heatsink is more than adequate for today's drives and keeps them at a safe temperature. I agree that too hot is too bad, hence the need for a heatsink to keep it reasonable. You'll only need a fan for the drive if you're hammering hard all the time, without giving it time to cool down.
 
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