Micron 9100 Max NVMe 2.4TB SSD Review

[Guest]

Micron brings its A-game with the 9100 Max, which utilizes the NVMe connection and 16nm MLC NAND to provide the fastest random write performance on the market.

Micron 9100 Max NVMe 2.4TB SSD Review : Read more

 

[Flying-Q]

If the flash packages are producing so much heat that they need such a massive heatsink, why is there only one? Surely the flash on the rear of the card would need heatsinking too, even just a flat plate would suffice?

 

[Unolocogringo]

It appears the heatsink is more for the voltage converters and controller chip to me.

 

[PaulAlcorn]

If the flash packages are producing so much heat that they need such a massive heatsink, why is there only one? Surely the flash on the rear of the card would need heatsinking too, even just a flat plate would suffice?

This is a standard configuration, though there are a few SSDs that have rear plates. Thermal pads were more common with larger lithography NAND, 20nm, 25nm, etc, because it generated more heat. New smaller NAND, such as the 16nm here, draws less power and generates less heat. In fact, it was very common with old client SSDs to have a thermal pad on the NAND, whereas now they are relatively rare. I think that they may be relying upon reducing the heat enough on one side to help wick heat from the other side, but the heatsink is primarily for the controller and DRAM with the latest SSDs. Also, it may just be convenient to add additional thermal pads to the NAND to keep the spacing for the HS even across the board.