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Do you use any additional cooling for M.2 SSD?

usernameistoosh
Level 9
Was just curious if anyone is using any kind of heatsink or fan cooling for their M.2 SSD on the CH6/CH7?

A lot of other boards place the M.2 slot right where all the other PCI-e slots are (e.g., VGA), so in these instance an added heatsink might be worthwhile. But having the M.2 slot on the CH6/CH7 off to the side and basically exposed to case circulation cooling, I'v never found the need to either add a dedicated heatsink or fan.

Anyone actually using cooling for their M.2? What kind of temperature differences are you seeing? Do you think it's "worth" it? There's already temeperature throttling, which, AFAIK, has never kicked in for me (which just leads me to believe additional cooling is not necessary, especially given that SSDs are made to withstand extreme temperatures and don't require aggressive cooling like a CPU).
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Nate152
Moderator
Hi usernameistooshort

I don't have an M.2. SSD but some people use a heatsink and as you say temp determines if you need one. They can run warm and anything over 70c you'll want to slap one on or have a fan blowing over it.

Rob_W_
Level 12
I have a Samsung 960 and 970 m2 nvme, temps never seem to go above 35deg on either even in the heavy’st of gaming or benching but I do have a lot of airflow over them from case fans.
Personally I’ve never considered a need for extra cooling.*

Rob W. wrote:
I have a Samsung 960 and 970 m2 nvme, temps never seem to go above 35deg on either even in the heavy’st of gaming or benching but I do have a lot of airflow over them from case fans.
Personally I’ve never considered a need for extra cooling.*


I've never actually measured the temps on mine, but I'm using a 960 EVO. No hard drive caging obstructing intake airflow (my SATA SSDs are mounted on the underbelly of the mobo in a Fractal Design Define R5, thereby allowing unobstructed airflow into the case via two Fractal Design Venturi HF-14 intake fans matched with the same fans for rear and side exhaust). This comp I'm using is dedicated for gaming, and it's actually the SATA SSDs (850 Pro) where the games are installed. The M.2 is strictly an OS drive, so doesn't experience much load.

syldon
Level 9
One of the M2 slots (2.2)has a heat shield on the CH7. Using this slot reduces the PCI bus down to x8 from x16 though. The common sense thing is to use the other slot (2.1) and this one receives very minimal heat. The position of the 2.1 slot on the CH7 is in a similar place to the CH6's one and only M2 slot. I owned this board also and it has the same minimal temps as the CH7.

Actually, the heat sink of M2 2.2 can also be used in M2 2.1.

That's how I'm running my 970pro and it never surpases 35C under heavy load.

Guess in that mb place heatsink is not so necessary as in top M2 slot but I'm using it anyways. Hope the glue will not be so hard to remove from drive.

Cheers!

Korth
Level 14
A little heatsink is plenty for an SSD. But only when it actually intercepts some airflow. Just sticking more heatsinks onto parts doesn't do much when they're not getting any air.
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[/Korth]

Korth wrote:
A little heatsink is plenty for an SSD. But only when it actually intercepts some airflow. Just sticking more heatsinks onto parts doesn't do much when they're not getting any air.



hehe, finally something I can comment about with experience.

I run two Evo 960s in raid - which means you don't get individual SMART info like temps. So I did a backup and wipe to break the raid and test it. I showed an idle temp on one drive of 42ish and another was 38C. But I couldn't figure out which was which. If you've watched some videos you may recall the heat sinks actually increased temps. I put it all back together and tried the temp probe on the motherboard and the fan controller board. Couldn't get those to stick on the nvmes. Finally I broke down and bought an infrared thermometer. That did the trick, I found the top nvme was the low temp - so the heat sink does work.

With extended use - CrystalDiskMark - I saw the un-sinked lower drive get up to 50C maybe 52. I believe this is well below throttle but I wasn't stopping there. So I bought an EKWB nvme sink. It's a serious pain to install on the bottom slot and I ended up cutting back some of the padding on the drive but I did make it fit. This means I could only test the heat sink fins with my thermometer but they did show a nice drop. I haven't run the whole break raid and test but based on the thermometer the bottom nvme is coming in about 3C below the top now (Maxed at about 44C). So while I could have been happy without the additional heatsink, I'm not concerned at all after adding one. They do work and for $12 it's not a bad investment for peace of mind.

(Edit: my case config has a 280 rad in push/pull in the front of the case with nothing restricting air flow to the MB)