M.2-1 vs M.2-2 Temperatures on Crosshair VIII Hero (x570)?

[ationfictons]

Has anyone moved an M.2 NVME drive from one to the other location (M.2-1 vs M.2-2) on an Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Hero (x570) motherboard? Right now, mine is installed in the first M.2-1 (right under the graphics card). I don't think there's any performance difference between the two slots (?), so I was wondering if the second slot (far away from any cards) might shave a couple of degrees off the drive temperature. I'm also wondering if it's possible to use an aftermarket heatsink on the drive in place of the ones that come with the motherboard.

[RedSector73]

ationfictons wrote:
I don't think there's any performance difference between the two slots (?)

I have never seen any data to confirm your suggestion, only refute it, so I'm not even sure how you come to your idea as likely.

On this motherboard, the top slot (m2_1) is directly connected to the CPU. However, the second one (M2-2) is connected to the X570 chipset and has to share that link lanes to the CPU. There is a nearly always a performance difference between the two due to this, with the direct connected to CPU one always winning (M2_1).

You *may also find that top one is the only allowed boot drive out fo the two (*I have not confirmed this myself but I have read posts suggesting this is maybe the case and this may present another issue for you).

ationfictons wrote:
so I was wondering if the second slot (far away from any cards) might shave a couple of degrees off the drive temperature.

Let's assume your correct with this one and say it does. What do you expect this to minor change to achieve, as long as the M2 drive was operating within specification range of temperature it will last exactly the same time and perform exactly the same. There will be no difference that makes this worth considering.

Hope you find this of help.

[MachineX]

I have Seagate Firecuda 520 drives in both slots. My M-2.2 actually runs 1-2 degrees more than the M-2.1 slot. Either way, negligible.

[ationfictons]

MachineX wrote:
I have Seagate Firecuda 520 drives in both slots. My M-2.2 actually runs 1-2 degrees more than the M-2.1 slot. Either way, negligible.

OK. Thanks. Mine is idling around 51 degrees C and I'd seen some threads saying they prefer idling in the 40s. So, I was considering the move to the other slot. But, since that might actually increase temperatures, I guess I'll forget that. Also, I've done some more research on aftermarket heatsinks and an awful lot of what I'm seeing is that they, basically, do nothing better than what comes with the motherboard. So, I guess I'll forget about the whole thing.

[RedSector73]

ationfictons wrote:
OK. Thanks. Mine is idling around 51 degrees C and I'd seen some threads saying they prefer idling in the 40s. So, I was considering the move to the other slot. But, since that might actually increase temperatures, I guess I'll forget that. Also, I've done some more research on aftermarket heatsinks and an awful lot of what I'm seeing is that they, basically, do nothing better than what comes with the motherboard. So, I guess I'll forget about the whole thing.

Maybe look to airflow through your case. mine idles at 30-33 ish.

[HeroLXIX]

ationfictons wrote:
Mine is idling around 51 degrees C and I'd seen some threads saying they prefer idling in the 40s. So, I was considering the move to the other slot.

It's the GPU heat in my experience. My 5700XT's fans don't normally even spin unless its temperature exceeds 50°C. I just set the fans to spin at all times and my SSD's temperature dropped some 10 degrees. Chipset temperatures dropped 5-6 degrees, too.

[ationfictons]

I've got two computers here with the same setup and they both show similar M.2 temperatures (one is about four degrees higher than the other). I've got the fans on the GTX 1080s set to idle at 16% (the lowest they'll go). The problem with raising that a bit is that the fans start whining anywhere above that until they get over about 30% (at which point, they're too loud for an idle point). I'm planning on replacing the GTX 1080s with whatever the new NVIDIA generation will be, so maybe that will help (hopefully, it won't hurt).

Maybe I'll pop my case fans up a bit and see if that helps. Currently, they're set to idle at 20%. They're all Noctua's, so bumping that up to 25 or 30 percent probably won't be audible.