[SOLVED] Do I need to replace the thermal tape under the heatshield when replacing an NVME SSD?

[SuicuneSol]

Hi, we had to replace our NVME M.2 with a new one since the old one failed within 6 months. The motherboard came with a "heatshield" that we're supposed to screw on top of the NVME drive. The heatshield, however, has manufacturer-provided sticky thermal tape on the bottom that was used to channel heat. Can this sticky thermal tape be reused, or does it need be scraped off and given a new coating of thermal sticky tape?

 

[Eximo]

You should be fine to re-use that a few times. As long as the new drive is roughly the same height as the old one. Don't want to leave an air gap.

The flash memory doesn't really need to be cooled, it is the controller chip that needs cooling, having the thermal pad across the whole thing is supposed to help dissipate heat absorbed through the PCB to the flash chips.

 

[SuicuneSol]

Okay thank you.