[SOLVED] How do I improve airflow for my NVME drive?

stravencroft

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I recently did a few slight upgrades to my system acquiring two new NVME M.2 Samsung 970 EVO PLUS SSD's one 2TB and one 500GB and replacing my aged Asus 1070 with a EVGA RTX3080 XC3 Ultra Gaming card which I'm noticing is a lot hotter.

My system (link)

The 2 TB drive one is behind my new video card. It's slightly warmer than I'd like around 40-42C but it's the other SSD I worry about. That's the 500GB which is right in front of the GPU's fans. It's averaging about 57-58C at idle. I'm concerned about those temps although not sure if I should be.

I have the 500GB purely for my OS whereas the 2TB is for my games. I also have a The easy solution would be to just make a partition on the 2TB and throw the OS on it and call it a day.

As I want to dedicate a whole drive to the OS and preserve some more space for my games I want to avoid this if possible.

I'm using a ASROCK 270M Extreme4 Motherboard with a i7 7770K cpu (not overclocking it atm) inside a 750D Corsair Obsidian Case with all AF140L case fans. I have two in the front for intake 1 in the back for exhaust and two recently mounted fans on the top for exhaust which greatly helped the GPU at least during idle. I had thought about mounting one exhaust fan on the bottom of my case which would be near the affected drive in the hopes of dissipating some of the heat being blown onto the drive from the GPU fan. I'm not sure if this would change things appreciably or not though.

I had read about heat sinks for NVME drives and was wondering if that is worth using for the short term as I do plan on getting a new board and cpu (amd 3900x likely) in the next couple of months unless I wait for a new 5x series board.

I had read something about removing the Samsung strip to use the heat sink on the nvme drive will void the warranty on the drive. Not sure if I got that right.

Any suggestions about how to bring the temps down or if it's not that high?
 
Solution
A quick google search return this.

Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus. This drive idles around 55 to 60 C. Under load it rises to 65to 70C.

So you have no issues here. Mines at 45C.

Phaaze88

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Obsidian 750D... and you used all AF140Ls...
That latter one probably wasn't the best idea; the 750D's front panel could prove a challenge for those low static pressure fans - even worse if you're making use of the drive cages.
I see that your gpu is one of those models with a 0 fan mode; they're off when the gpu isn't in use.
Your motherboard doesn't have its own M.2 sinks, so the device does need help to stay cool.

Basically, you have little to no air moving over the SSD.
You'll have to simply do away with the 0 fan feature and have the gpu's fans act as the exhaust, as well as installing high static pressure fans in the front.
Just installing a M.2 heatsink won't necessarily fix it, as it too needs air to pass over it.

Heck, probably all you need to do is just turn the gpu fans on. That alone should do a lot.
 

stravencroft

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As it turned out switching fans to 60 percent brought temps on the drive down to 45C. I don't want to wear out the fans on my GPU running them like that 24/7 though. Hoping to get at least 3 years out of this card 5 or more if possible.

Think I could get away with running it at a constant 20 to 30 percent.

Will 140mm high static fans do the trick or do you recommend something else like a radiator?
 
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Phaaze88

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1)Even if you don't use them, machines can still fail. May as well let 'em do their job.

2)IMO, the 0 fan modes are useless. They remove the gpu from the equation that is the whole system airflow.
Some air - even if it's warm - is still better than no air.

3)Static speeds are easier on the motor than dynamically changing all the time.

4)Gpus are typically the first part to show their age. 3 years is reasonable. 5 years or more - nope.
I did 5 years on a GTX 680 back in 2012... that was 1 year too long, IMO - but it's thanks to that I'm running a 1080Ti instead of a 980Ti. Come April, it'll be 4 years old.
I'd like to be able to change it soon, but today's circumstances have been a real turn off, that I'm considering running 5 years on this...

Will 144mm high static fans do the trick or do you recommend something else like a radiator?
A radiator on a SSD? Whoa, no need to go that far - you just need more air moving over the drive.

Your initial post was an interesting read. Usually, the slot above the gpu is the worst place for M.2 drives because when the gpu(the high power models) is under load, they put out quite a bit of heat, and the M.2 is right in the path of its exhaust.
 

stravencroft

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I thought it'd be a challenging place but I also thought the overhead exhaust fans would take care of any excess warmth. It never occurred to me that the air from the intake wasn't even reaching the drive. Which meant no air at all as you pointed out. Perhaps adding high static fans will address this?

I had my previous GPU an Asus 1070 8GB OC Dual series installed with the nvme drive for about a month before I got the 3080 in late november. It was my gpu since late 2016. I'm hoping the 3080 lasts at least as long as that card.
1070 was somewhat shorter so I don't think it obstructed as much airflow. I had temps from the nvme in the mid 40s before the 3080 replacement. I wish I had more than 2 M.2 slots in this board or at least that the other one was elsewhere other than right in front of the card on both sides.

This is something that won't be an issue on the Asus ROG Crossfire Hero VIII x570 I'm eyeing. If I go with that board. It's better from a cooling standpoint than this board but I'm not sure if I want to wait for a newer board before the next socket size comes out. 5x should be compatible with that board with a bios update though.
 
And as said better fans and air flow in general help.

And an issue that a lot of people run into as I did, is that case fans are always controlled by the cpu Temps. Meanwhile, I do a lot of 3d rendering which is all gpu, so my gpu is burning up, cpu is cool and fans don't kick in, so then I crank all my fans and my system is too loud.

A solution i found is a program called Argus monitor that lets you set fans based on other Temps and factors, so now my front intake fans ramp up when the gpu gets warm.
 

Phaaze88

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This is something that won't be an issue on the Asus ROG Crossfire Hero VIII x570 I'm eyeing. If I go with that board. It's better from a cooling standpoint than this board but I'm not sure if I want to wait for a newer board before the next socket size comes out. 5x should be compatible with that board with a bios update though.
If that's true, you might as well roll with the gpu fans on until you make the switch. There's heat just hanging around the SSD, you need it to MOVE, and the gpu's fans are RIGHT THERE.
That at least, costs you nothing.
 

stravencroft

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Swapped my 2x corsair AF140L for 2x 140mm Noctua NF-P14s redux
As for the gpu fan I set mine to about 30 percent constant in Precision-X1. That gets it to at least 54C according to Magician.

I also mounted 1x 120mm Noctua NF-P12 redux right under the NVME drive as intake thinking that'd help further reduce temps but it did not.

Almost tempted to re-mount it as exhaust to better direct the air from the gpu's fan but I doubt that'd help much.
 

stravencroft

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That's somewhat comforting. I wasn't sure what common operating temps on the NVME were so at least I'm in an OK spot at 54C.

I wish I hadn't spent all that money but at least I have better overall airflow so it's not a total loss.

For my next board and cpu which is going to be a Ryzen 9 3900x I had thought about getting the Noctua NH-U14S as I think it will play better with ram slots and be less obtrusive overall in my board and case. From what I read though the best possible would be the Noctua NH-D15 or the stock Wraith Prism cooler.

I think getting the Noctua NH-U14S would be good for this board and i7 7700k cpu now and it'd improve overall airflow but maybe I should wait? I'm currently using the
Noctua NH-L12S from an older build.
 
That's somewhat comforting. I wasn't sure what common operating temps on the NVME were so at least I'm in an OK spot at 54C.

I wish I hadn't spent all that money but at least I have better overall airflow so it's not a total loss.

For my next board and cpu which is going to be a Ryzen 9 3900x I had thought about getting the Noctua NH-U14S as I think it will play better with ram slots and be less obtrusive overall in my board and case. From what I read though the best possible would be the Noctua NH-D15 or the stock Wraith Prism cooler.

I think getting the Noctua NH-U14S would be good for this board and i7 7700k cpu now and it'd improve overall airflow but maybe I should wait? I'm currently using the
Noctua NH-L12S from an older build.

Do you only play games on your computer or do you do workstation stuff? A 3900X is totally pointless if you play games and a Ryzen 5800X would be better.

Unless your using your system for rendering 24/7 just go for the 5800X.
 

stravencroft

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Do you only play games on your computer or do you do workstation stuff? A 3900X is totally pointless if you play games and a Ryzen 5800X would be better.

Unless your using your system for rendering 24/7 just go for the 5800X.
I'm still waiting for boards to come out that wont' require the bios update for the 5x series. Most of my friends purchased and swear by the 3900x. I do some video editing here and there and while I'd like the 5800x it's a bit on the pricey side right now. The 3900 is still an improvement over the i7 7700k and once amd cpu prices drop I might get the next iteration.

I'm also worried I'm that the AMD socket will change soon.

In any event from a cooling standpoint would the NH-U14S serve my purposes as long as I don't overclock the CPU? Or should I wait until I'm ready to upgrade to the new board and cpu and get the NH-D15/D15S? Or just pick up the stock Wraith Prism?
From what I've read Noctua will send out AMD mounting brackets once you provide invoices so I might as well get it while I'm still on an intel board.

Update: Went with the Noctua NH-D15S
 
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