[SOLVED] Heatsink for SAMSUNG EVO 970 NAND

Solution
I used these for my two Samsung 970 EVO PLus NVMe drives for a while, when I used a different motherboard.

They were pretty good

EK M2 NVMe Heatsink (comes in different colors)


EDIT: I wouldn't feel comfortable using the drives without heatsinks, they do run hot after a while - and I would like to extend the lifespan, but also stay below the drive throttle temperature limit, to acheive maximum performance for longer (actually I never hit the throttle limit with the heatsinks). If the drive begins throttling, there not really any point in buying high speed storage, at least that's what I beleive.

But remember, the integrated heatsinks on some motherboards do n othing good for cooling, and I've seen tests with increased max...

Matt_ogu812

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While waiting for a reply I did a search about heatsinks and SSD. My conclusion is if they need one(heatsink) the manufacture would provide one or suggest buying one as an option. One was provided, on the second slot.
I'm not going to bother installing it because Samsung doesn't even mention using one.
 
M.2 NVME ssds like the SAMSUNG EVO 970 should be used with a heatsink...motherboard makers provide them for the slots on their boards that can run the NVME spec. NVME drives can get very hot under sustained use and will suffer performance issues if run too hot...long term over heating could cause premature drive failure.

Standard SATA M.2 drives operate at much lower speeds and do not require heatsinks.
 

Matt_ogu812

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"run too hot...long term over heating could cause premature drive failure"

I think so too but SAMSUNG doesn't seem to think it's a problem because they don't even recommend using one.
If it were a problem I'd think they would not warranty them for 5 years?
 
I used these for my two Samsung 970 EVO PLus NVMe drives for a while, when I used a different motherboard.

They were pretty good

EK M2 NVMe Heatsink (comes in different colors)


EDIT: I wouldn't feel comfortable using the drives without heatsinks, they do run hot after a while - and I would like to extend the lifespan, but also stay below the drive throttle temperature limit, to acheive maximum performance for longer (actually I never hit the throttle limit with the heatsinks). If the drive begins throttling, there not really any point in buying high speed storage, at least that's what I beleive.

But remember, the integrated heatsinks on some motherboards do n othing good for cooling, and I've seen tests with increased max temparature. That's why I used the custom heatsinks with my previous motherbord, but the integrated heatsinks on my current board are fairly good, so that's what I use now.
 
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Solution

Matt_ogu812

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Many thanks you guys for your thoughts on to heatsink or not.
In principle I agree and it sounds like a nobrainer to use heatsinks.
I'm baffled why SAMSUNG thinks otherwise and or just totally ignores the subject.
The EK m.2 heatsink are worth considering......Many thanks!
 
Depends on the environment (case cooling) and workloads. Cooling the flash can be detrimental as programming/writing at higher temperatures damages the cell structure less. In general I find heatsinks to be for aesthetics when considering consumer workloads in cases with reasonable air cooling. However with some workloads, you will throttle less with cooling - although cooling the controller alone would be sufficient in those cases.