Question m2 SSD - Heatsinks worth it?

[Yeldur]

Hi all,

Quick question. The ASUS X570-F motherboard comes with heatsinks as standard, I don't really know what they are other than two metal things and a plastic covering with two pads under the heatsink metal part, the website states:

"Comprehensive cooling: Active chipset heatsink, MOS heatsink with 8mm heatpipe, dual on-board M.2 heatsinks and a water pump + header"
"Active Chipset Heatsink"

Essentially, this:

Now, I've been an idiot and all this time left the plastic on the strips (Yes, I facepalmed after realising myself) and have been having issues cooling them in general, I suspect this is one of the reasons why, however, it lead to me to asking myself the question...

Is a static heatsink actually going to help? Samsung say no, they said that they do not recommend the usage of a heatsink. My case is pretty tightly packed due to the fact that I've got an RTX 3090 and a Noctua DH-15 in there and so there already isn't much in the way of airflow, my thinking is that having a heatsink would likely make things worse, would it not? As the heatsink acts like a shield over the top of the SSD's.

Figured I'd post it here and see if people agree/disagree.

 

[USAFRet]

A heat sink is only needed if you see the drive rising to unacceptable temps, under heavy load.

I have 2x M.2 drives, a Samsung 980 Pro and Intel 660p.

The 980 is under the motherboard supplied heat sink.
It idles at around 52C.
Under a long write cycle, it rises to around 57C.

The Intel 660P is bare, no heat sink at all.
It idles around 37C.
Under a heavy load, it may rise to 61C.

None of those temps are in any way hazardous or in need of change.

 

[Bob.B]

Hi all,

Quick question. The ASUS X570-F motherboard comes with heatsinks as standard, I don't really know what they are other than two metal things and a plastic covering with two pads under the heatsink metal part, the website states:

"Comprehensive cooling: Active chipset heatsink, MOS heatsink with 8mm heatpipe, dual on-board M.2 heatsinks and a water pump + header"
"Active Chipset Heatsink"

Essentially, this:

Now, I've been an idiot and all this time left the plastic on the strips (Yes, I facepalmed after realising myself) and have been having issues cooling them in general, I suspect this is one of the reasons why, however, it lead to me to asking myself the question...

Is a static heatsink actually going to help? Samsung say no, they said that they do not recommend the usage of a heatsink. My case is pretty tightly packed due to the fact that I've got an RTX 3090 and a Noctua DH-15 in there and so there already isn't much in the way of airflow, my thinking is that having a heatsink would likely make things worse, would it not? As the heatsink acts like a shield over the top of the SSD's.

Figured I'd post it here and see if people agree/disagree.

Test.....take the heatsink off.
Is it better or worse?

 

[Yeldur]

A heat sink is only needed if you see the drive rising to unacceptable temps, under heavy load.

I have 2x M.2 drives, a Samsung 980 Pro and Intel 660p.

The 980 is under the motherboard supplied heat sink.
It idles at around 52C.
Under a long write cycle, it rises to around 57C.

The Intel 660P is bare, no heat sink at all.
It idles around 37C.
Under a heavy load, it may rise to 61C.

None of those temps are in any way hazardous or in need of change.

I see... I've been trying to keep my idle under 50c for the purpose of long term reliability, as I was told going over 50c idle will reduce the length of time the SSD stays alive for, which makes sense. My idle short of me having the fans on max RPM at all times is usually around 55-60C and under load rises up to so far, a max of 69C, which from what I understand is dangerously close to the point at which thermal throttling will occur, though I should note that this is with the plastic strip still across the heatsink pad. I suppose I should be thanking my stars really that the plastic hasn't melted itself onto the SSD 🤦‍♂️ - I was however told by Samsung that I shouldn't worry about the temperature of the SSD and should pay no mind to it outside of the point it hits 70c.

Their exact words were:

"Please note according to its data sheets, the recommended operating temperature for the 970 EVO Plus as well as all other Samsung NVMe SSDs is between 0 - 70 degrees while the non-operating temperature is between -45 - 85 degrees Celsius:

Please note that Samsung does not manufacture nor recommend the use of a third-party radiator or heatsink on its SSDs, since it is not necessary.

This is because the 970 EVO Plus has advanced thermal control solutions that enhance performance with reduced heat risk. Dynamic Thermal Guard (DTG) technology proactively prevents overheating, and a heat spreader with an integrated thin copper film dissipates heat more efficiently. Additionally, a nickel coating on the Phoenix controller also helps to dissipate heat faster during heavy workload use in order to ensure the high levels of quality and reliability.

You therefore do not need a radiator specifically for your SSD 970 EVO Plus.

Please be informed as well that using a heatsink on your SSD will require peeling of the label on the drive. Removing the label on your drive will automatically void the drive’s warranty and warranty service will no longer be possible."

I guess I'm just going to test it without a heatsink and see where I go from there, I wasn't actually aware it would require peeling of the actual label on the drive, which is interesting to me.

 

[geofelt]

SSD m.2 heat sinks are, I think, mostly marketing.
Not that they are bad, but just that they are likely not needed.
Operating specs for samsung will be 70C.

A m.2 device will heat up under sustained sequential processing as is done in synthetic benchmarks. It might take 30 seconds or more. Perhaps a virus scan could do it.
When the m.2 gets too warm, it will throttle to protect itself.
So, really not a likely a real impact.

If you have any sort of airflow over the motherboard, I would not worry.
NH-D15 is air cooling. That is good.
Those with aio cooling will be more impacted depending on how much airflow goes over the motherboard.

 

[Bob.B]

Please be informed as well that using a heatsink on your SSD will require peeling of the label on the drive. Removing the label on your drive will automatically void the drive’s warranty and warranty service will no longer be possible."

I think you will find the label is a heat spreader.

 

[Unolocogringo]

My 970 EVO+ is always 58-65c.
A heatsink would make no difference.
It is always heated by the GPU airflow. A little less now with a 3060ti FE vs 1070SC in the upper slot.
After 1.5 years it still shows 100% life.

If you have an AIO or bad case air flow a heatsink can help a lot.
Otherwise they are not really needed.

 

[Yeldur]

My 970 EVO+ is always 58-65c.
A heatsink would make no difference.
It is always heated by the GPU airflow. A little less now with a 3060ti FE vs 1070SC in the upper slot.
After 1.5 years it still shows 100% life.

If you have an AIO or bad case air flow a heatsink can help a lot.
Otherwise they are not really needed.

I think bad airflow is my primary problem at the moment, but I should be solving that soon as I've got a 140mm fan for the top of the case and a 120 for the back of the case, which should help to improve things drastically (my dumbass forgot to buy a fan for the back of the case, so there's air being pushed INTO the case but nothing to drag it OUT other than that initial flow in. Once I've done that, I'll probably leave the heatsinks off as they're probably just going to block the airflow if anything (That being said, a chunky 3090 does a wondrous job at blocking airflow anyways lol)

 

[Yeldur]

I think you will find the label is a heat spreader.

That seems logical to me, so I can see that fitting.