Western Digital Blue SN550 and Gigabyte Thermal Guard

[JasonM]

Here is a quick question. I'm fitting a WD Blue SN550 to an Gigabyte X570 Aorus Elite motherboard.

If installing in the top slot, do I just place the Gigabyte Thermal Guard directly over the top of the SN550, i'm presuming there is some thermal pads on the underside of the Thermal Guard.

Second quick question. I presume the top M.2 connection is the best one, and not the bottom slot? I'll be using a single graphics card in the computer.

Many thanks

 

[EsaT]

Top M.2 slot is always primary slot to fill first:
It's connected directly to PCIe lines from CPU and hence it has slightly lower latency than slots connected to chipset.

Thermal pad has plastic film/tape protecting its surface and if you leave it there, that obviously weakens heat conduction.

 

[JasonM]

EsaT,

Thank you, I've never actually installed one of these before, I thought the above but wanted to confirm.

Thanks again

EDIT. Managed to get it installed ok.