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

[emsir]

Deepcuts wrote:
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.

Please post some info and links so we can see the truth about some users reporting 100 degrees. You know what i think? You are full of rubbish and have nothing to back your hillarious post. You just WANT to be right - but if someone disagree, you come up with some stupid claims.

I have M.2 installed on top slot and my M.2 is around 30-35 degrees idle, and 50-55 degrees on heavy duty (benchmarks) If you have 100 degrees you have no airflow at all and need to read about how to cool your system. No one have 100 degrees on top M.2 slot....no one! Do you really think ASUS will make a highend motherboard and do something stupid ingeneering with M.2 slots?

Please stop being a smart a*s.

[el_terrible]

I'm using the top slot with the heatsink installed, my 960 evo 1tb never goes above 50c when benchmarking it (aida64 and passmark disk mark)

if I just game, browse and stuff like that it usually stays around 37-42c (according to HWMonitor)
but then again my benchmarks usually end around 2800 read and 1900 write, which is 400 less read than where it's supposed to be at, dunno why.

My CPU and GPU is watercooled though, no idea if that affects anything, I have a 240 radiator in the front blowing air in to my case and a 360 on the top blowing out

[izzyreb02]

o_o well thats not happening to me. To be honest, I heard really good reviews on the heatsink for M.2 provided by this board by Asus than Gigabyte or MSI. I think it was from Tiny Logan or Pcper (or something rather) was pointing out how good the M.2 heatsink gives in temperature (from these boards) than the other motherboard vendors.

[izzyreb02]

Anyway, there could be alot of factors into play and why we aren't experiencing high temps that your experiencing.

I know when I installed mine, I make sure the thermal pads are making good enough contact as well, when mounting it.

< I think it might be better off not to go too much hating on the heatsink to much on the Rog Boards. (on the top M.2 slot) >
What I'm trying to say is, i would hate to see you get flagged by others that dont agree with you, then a debacle fight comes loose. I'm not like that, but I have seen it happen before, where one and the other just don't agree with each other. (and biting each others throats)

All i can say is, just monitor your temps and if its not working for you, then dont use it :), if its working, no harm to use it . Like if the drive is going over 100c, I'm sure the drive will crash and unable to use Windows/application in use properly. If I notice anything like that, that would be my first check up.

It wont harm for the new builders to try the first slot anyway, cause it may work for them.

I also know the Top M.2 slot is configured differently than the bottom one. (where the top one only disables one Sata Port while the bottom one disables 2 Sata ports)

But of course you can configure it to either PCi Mode. Just as long your not losing any of your devices that are in play on the PCi express slots or what not :3

[Deepcuts]

@izzyreb02
1.Top M.2 does not disable any SATA ports. Only bottom one when configured in X4 mode.
2. "and biting each others throats" do not have a clue what are you talking about. Nobody is fighting anybody.
3 At 1 GB/s read and under SATA III writes I would not expect high temperatures either, but then again SX800 should be 2500 read and 1100 write per http://www.adata.com/en/specification/423 so maybe your drive also throttles?

@el_terrible I also had the same speeds in the top slot, with the heat shield.
Want to get the speeds you payed for? You know the answer.

[izzyreb02]

Deepcuts wrote:
@izzyreb02
1.Top M.2 does not disable any SATA ports. Only bottom one when configured in X4 mode.
2. "and biting each others throats" do not have a clue what are you talking about. Nobody is fighting anybody.
3 At 1 GB/s read and under SATA III writes I would not expect high temperatures either, but then again SX800 should be 2500 read and 1100 write per http://www.adata.com/en/specification/423 so maybe your drive also throttles?

@el_terrible I also had the same speeds in the top slot, with the heat shield.
Want to get the speeds you payed for? You know the answer.

-sigh- the reason why my bench mark is like that is because i was stressing it with Aida64.. Dont tell me you didnt notice that. When you benchmark and stressing it, of course the benchmark scores will go lower due being hold back (I only started doing the stress test while it was doing the 2nd phrase with Aida64), due to stress test. But of course my M.2 is a 128GB, so Speeds may vary.

But yes your right on one thing though, that is the Bottom M.2 Slot configuration side of things.

"In the Manual if you leave it on default the Top M.2 Slot will disable 1 Sata Port on the bottom. (In SATA Mode)
The Bottom one disables 2 on the Sata Ports (SATA Port 5 and 6 will be Disabled). Thats if you put it on PCIEX4 mode on the bios."

To me personally, it seems like your the one going all out on us (and it feels like your pointing fingers at us as well lol), since you see us not having the same kind of issue that your having with the top slot. (in regards of temperature)

I get a feeling that this topic is going to end up in an arguement manner (eventually), if it doesnt end soon.

I'm just the kind of person, that just let people use, on what they wanna use (as long it doesnt harm their system lol).

But of course, If they use something that I dont agree with, I tell them once only. (unless i've been proven wrong) If they don't want to listen, I just let it be and leave it alone.

[Deepcuts]

I did not notice the aida stressing.
Never crossed my mind to do a SSD benchmark while stress testing my system. And never seen anyone else doing it before 🙂
Can you do a proper benchmark (without stress testing) of your drive while monitoring your temps and post the results?

More in-depth testing regarding M.2 shields:
https://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/2781-msi-m2-heat-shield-increases-temperatures


Regarding SATA1 being disabled while settings M.2_1 in SATA mode, you are right. But, it never crossed my mind that anyone could use a high end board with a low end SATA M.2 drive, thus, I was thinking about a "true" pcie device. My bad.


Off topic:
I do not know why you feel attacked. I am just stating facts, as I see them and as I test them and I am not attacking anyone.
If anyone has another point of view, I always welcome those who can prove me wrong with tests and screenshots.
And with this, I hope you can rest assured nobody is fighting you. Just facts matter.

[thebc2]

I did some testing around this. In short, all things being equal I was seeing 2-4c less in the top slot with the heat sink on. Some details on my config and testing.

I have a Maximus X Hero/i7-8700k I swapped into an existing z170/i7-6700k build as a rebuild. I initially moved over an EVO 960 1TB to the top m.2 slot. I started running into capacity issues so I ordered a 960 Pro 2TB.

Initially I put the 960 Pro in the bottom slot and then cloned roughly 900GB of data from my 960 EVO to the Pro. Temps topped out at 52c on the bottom slot (Pro) and 48c in the top slot (EVO). During idle the delta was only 2c.

Once the clone was complete I shut down and swapped the two drives and ran some more sustained copies between the two to gauge throughput and also to test temps. I again saw almost the same in reverse, the top slot was roughly 3c less under load and 2c at idle.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Deepcuts]

@emsir, you need a chill pill dear.
Test done without a dedicated GPU to heat up thing even more:
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/samsung_960_evo_m_2_1tb_nvme_ssd_review,7.html
Also, https://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/2781-msi-m2-heat-shield-increases-temperatures
And a 100 deg. Celsius for your pleasure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hhdWwvh5kI
You should also learn that most M.2 ssds have a controller sensors also, as I stated before (but who has time to read), that runs even hotter than flash itself. When your flash is @55-60 deg. Celsius, your controller is baking 🙂
If you are happy with your temperatures, by all means, use whatever you wish. I like to treat my devices nice and keep them cool, while at the same time not standing near a vacuum cleaner level of noise (read tons of fans at max)

[Starscream]

Just thought I'd mention that there is a strip of plastic on the blue thermal tape that needs to be removed on installation in the top slot. When I installed my SSD, I removed that plastic strip and removed the SSD label so the blue thermal tape made direct contact with the SSD chips.