I messed up - need advice

[LordP666]

This is about a ROG Maximus Z690 Formula.

I had an SSD with problems and I decided to upgrade to an M2 990. I bought the thing with a heatsink only to find out that it wouldn't fit with the Mobo's heatsink on top of it.

While struggling with this the built-in heatsink wire was torn from the motherboard.

Is that wire simply a grounding wire?

I may come up with some sort of different solution, but I was thinking of buying the same M2 but without a heatsink - I am not sure if I can still use the built-in heatsink.

What do you think I should do?

[Nate152]

Hello LordP666

I never heard of a wire coming from an M.2 ssd or the heatsink, I suspect it could be a temp sensor? Either way, I doubt it's necessary as you can use HWinfo to monitor your ssd temperature.

Since you have a built in heatsink on your ssd, you'll want to remove the motherboard heatsink and not use it.

It looks like it should work without any issue.

[LordP666]

As of now, having no choice, I am running it without the built-in heating and the temp is at 118F

This is the part I'm talking about - it's just below the CPU:

 

[Nate152]

Thank you for the photo, sorry to see you pulled the cable off. 

I was looking in the manual and it doesn't specify what the cable is for or where to connect it. But, you should still have full functionality of the M.2 slot and cooling with the heatsink.

If your ssd has no heatsink, you'll want to remove the thermal pad on the motherboard and the heatsink. Then screw back on the heatsink.

Remove the plastic film from the motherboard thermal pad.

Remove the plastic film from the heatsink thermal pad.

For single sided ssd's the rubber pad is optional, do not install the rubber pad for double sided ssd's. I personally didn't install the rubber pad for my single sided seagate firecuda 530 and temps are fine.

Give this a try and report back your temp.

[LordP666]

The M2 does have a heatsink, which is why the Asus heatsink won't fit.

It is shaped like a pyramid, and is too tall for the Asus heatsink to fit on top of it: 

 

[Nate152 · Accepted solution]

Ok, thank you for confirming.

The samsung heatsink should work fine.

118F = 48c

Room temp and case airflow have a big impact on temperature. What is your room temp and does your case have good airflow? Normal operating temperature for the 990 pro is up to 70c.

[LordP666]

The temps in the case are OK.

Hard drives are at 102F, but the M2 is kinda flat, and sunk into the surface of the white shields.

I may add other fans, just to be safe.

Thanks for your help. I was not sure or happy about that wire, and I still don't know what it was for if it wasn't a grounding wire. Clearly, there is a sensor under the M2, or there would be no temperature reading.

In any case. I'll leave it alone.

Thanks for your help.

[Nate152]

You're welcome

If you use your pc for gaming, check what the temp goes to when playing games.

This will help determine if you need more fans.