Maximus X Hero, which m.2 slot would be cooler?

[bryantgl]

The asus maximus x hero has two m.2 slots. One has a angular heatsink with a thermal pad underneath and the other has an optional 40-50mm fan attachment. Which would run the coolest/provide the least throttling? The heatsink one or the other with a fan attached? Could I test it out, switch positions later easily or not? The m.2 drive would be the boot drive and only drive for now. Its going to be used for photo editing so I want the best performance possible

[Menthol]

I would say which ever slot that has the most airflow, a passive heatsink will help until the heatsink is saturated or until the heatsink is the same temperature as the drive.
I have my drive in the top slot under the heatsink and have no issues, about a month after purchase I set a little 40mm fan on top of my Video card blowing directly on the heatsink and lowered temps of the drive another 5 to 10 degrees
You can move the drive after OS is installed without any issues so testing yourself is always the best option

[ProfessorDoom]

Menthol wrote:
I would say which ever slot that has the most airflow, a passive heatsink will help until the heatsink is saturated or until the heatsink is the same temperature as the drive.
I have my drive in the top slot under the heatsink and have no issues, about a month after purchase I set a little 40mm fan on top of my Video card blowing directly on the heatsink and lowered temps of the drive another 5 to 10 degrees
You can move the drive after OS is installed without any issues so testing yourself is always the best option

Can you take a picture of how you set up a 40mm on the top of your video card for the m.2 heatsink. I am trying to lower my temps, with just the m.2 heatsink I am seeing a toasty temps of 43-50 which is concerning to me. I want to see how you set yours up since I have a extra 40mm fan that I can use. I bought the 3D printed fan holder and put my second M.2 on the bottom slot and it sits at 25 idles and 38 under load. So I still have the asus fan bracket they provided but it doesn't look like it would fit between the gpu and cpu. So I really want to see how you did it and possibly copy it 🙂

Thanks!

[Links]

https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?91186-M-2-SSD-temperature&highlight=corsair+mp500

[Deepcuts]

Use the bottom one.
Do NOT use the freaking stupid shield.
With your X hero you got a small 40/50mm fan bracket. Get a quiet fan and mount it above your bottom M.2 slot
With the shield in the top slot, a Samsung EVO 960 nvme always throttled, reaching 60+ deg. Celsius. Thus, lower speeds.
Without the shield and the bracket+40mm fan, the drive sits happy between 27-30 normal use. On a large copy, it might go to 34-35 Celsius.

[emsir]

Deepcuts wrote:
Use the bottom one.
Do NOT use the freaking stupid shield.
With your X hero you got a small 40/50mm fan bracket. Get a quiet fan and mount it above your bottom M.2 slot
With the shield in the top slot, a Samsung EVO 960 nvme always throttled, reaching 60+ deg. Celsius. Thus, lower speeds.
Without the shield and the bracket+40mm fan, the drive sits happy between 27-30 normal use. On a large copy, it might go to 34-35 Celsius.

You need to learn something about airflow. Nothing wrong with the heat shield on the m.2 device on top. Why in earth do you think engineers are more stupid than you? My temps on my M.2 device with the heat shield on is around 40- 46 degrees....50 on heavy duty.
So it's not stupid at all- You just need som proper airfflow - simple as that.

[Naruto_Xboy]

Deepcuts wrote:
Use the bottom one.
Do NOT use the freaking stupid shield.
With your X hero you got a small 40/50mm fan bracket. Get a quiet fan and mount it above your bottom M.2 slot
With the shield in the top slot, a Samsung EVO 960 nvme always throttled, reaching 60+ deg. Celsius. Thus, lower speeds.
Without the shield and the bracket+40mm fan, the drive sits happy between 27-30 normal use. On a large copy, it might go to 34-35 Celsius.

Can you show for me temperature of CHIPSET. I think m2 fan can cooling chipset

[Menthol]

Deepcuts,
That fan bracket looks very nice, I just set a Noctua 40mm fan sitting on top of my Video card in front of the M.2 heatsink and get about the same temps
To be honest I didn't even look at the fan bracket just assumed it wouldn't look as good as it does, I may reconsider

[izzyreb02]

I'm using the top M.2 Slot with the heatsink and the temps on my M.2 drive is at between 38c & 42c. And this is during Summer heat as where I am at the moment. The Temps may decrease a bit during Winter.

[Deepcuts]

izzyreb02 wrote:
I'm using the top M.2 Slot with the heatsink and the temps on my M.2 drive is at between 38c & 42c. And this is during Summer heat as where I am at the moment. The Temps may decrease a bit during Winter.

Now run a test on that drive. Do a large copy or a benchmark. Let me know how that goes for your temps.
Just remember, most if not all M.2 have a memory controller temperature sensor also, which usually runs even hotter. Use hwinfo and see your Drive Temperature 2 going through the roof. Some users report 100 deg. Celsius and over.