- Oct 5, 2002
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I am assuming this is likely not going to matter which route if any I go, but I figured it would not hurt to ask for opinions anyway.
I want to use M.2 NVMe drives on my system instead of SATA, it's a Dell Precision T5810. I already have the drives thanks to the falling prices lately... one is actually from an existing system that is going to be replaced.
Thing is though, the system does not have any M.2 slots since it's from around 2014-2015. But it does (from what I was able to Google at least) support booting from NVMes and automatic PCIe bifurcation. So I am going to use an adapter card that lets me plug two M.2 NVME drives into a x8 or x16 PCIe slot.
No I am not going to RAID them, don't worry. One will be for my OS and apps and the other for my games.
Being that this is an older system the PCIe ports are only Gen 3, as are the drives, so I would assume they would not really need a cooling setup at all.
I know that Gen 3 drives won't run that hot, and it's arguable if it's even necessary for Gen 4, but the issue is that the only place I can plug the adapter card into my system that won't choke either the GPU or the adapter itself is smack-dab between the proprietary CPU cooler that tends to belch a lot of hot air right in that general area, and the GPU. So I am not sure if in that case it might help to at least provide some level of cooling for them.
There actually was an official dual M.2 NVME adapter for this line of systems released (as well as a quad one that I don't need), it even has a blower-style fan setup. However from what I can tell of images of it, ALL it has is a fan. There are no heatsinks or thermal pads or anything else, just air blowing across the bare drives. The metal (or maybe it's even plastic, can't tell) cover is just to prevent dust and for aesthetics, from what I can tell at least, and does not appear to be to aid in cooling.
This is what the official dual one looks like: View: https://i.imgur.com/E4fxnMw.png
(also a little worried if that will have clearance for consumer a GPU in front of it, hard to tell much much it extends past the PCIe port)
There is of course also the option of getting a cheap 3rd party card. There are ones that are much cheaper, but they don't have any cooling at all. I can also get a cheap pair of heatsinks though and attach them to that card, this of course means while they will have heatsinks they won't have fans.
This is the 3rd party one I was looking at: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09NKTYFHX/
The official adapter I found one for around $40, the 3rd party card and heatsinks will cost around $35.
So those appear to be my options. Cool them with fans only, or heatsinks only, not both, in an area that will be cramped and have a CPU cooler blowing hot air there (I might be able to Dremel in a side-fan on my case though that will blow air in a general area around the GPU).
Do I even need to worry about this for Gen 3 NVMEs even though they will be in an area full of hot air, or does Gen 3 not run hot enough for even that to cause issues? Does it even matter which method I pick or will both be the same? Is that even a good 3rd party adapter or is it known to cause issues?
Yes I know there are adapters that are thin and have heatsinks and fans and all sorts of cooling, but those tend to be in the $100+ range or close to it.
I want to use M.2 NVMe drives on my system instead of SATA, it's a Dell Precision T5810. I already have the drives thanks to the falling prices lately... one is actually from an existing system that is going to be replaced.
Thing is though, the system does not have any M.2 slots since it's from around 2014-2015. But it does (from what I was able to Google at least) support booting from NVMes and automatic PCIe bifurcation. So I am going to use an adapter card that lets me plug two M.2 NVME drives into a x8 or x16 PCIe slot.
No I am not going to RAID them, don't worry. One will be for my OS and apps and the other for my games.
Being that this is an older system the PCIe ports are only Gen 3, as are the drives, so I would assume they would not really need a cooling setup at all.
I know that Gen 3 drives won't run that hot, and it's arguable if it's even necessary for Gen 4, but the issue is that the only place I can plug the adapter card into my system that won't choke either the GPU or the adapter itself is smack-dab between the proprietary CPU cooler that tends to belch a lot of hot air right in that general area, and the GPU. So I am not sure if in that case it might help to at least provide some level of cooling for them.
There actually was an official dual M.2 NVME adapter for this line of systems released (as well as a quad one that I don't need), it even has a blower-style fan setup. However from what I can tell of images of it, ALL it has is a fan. There are no heatsinks or thermal pads or anything else, just air blowing across the bare drives. The metal (or maybe it's even plastic, can't tell) cover is just to prevent dust and for aesthetics, from what I can tell at least, and does not appear to be to aid in cooling.
This is what the official dual one looks like: View: https://i.imgur.com/E4fxnMw.png
(also a little worried if that will have clearance for consumer a GPU in front of it, hard to tell much much it extends past the PCIe port)
There is of course also the option of getting a cheap 3rd party card. There are ones that are much cheaper, but they don't have any cooling at all. I can also get a cheap pair of heatsinks though and attach them to that card, this of course means while they will have heatsinks they won't have fans.
This is the 3rd party one I was looking at: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09NKTYFHX/
The official adapter I found one for around $40, the 3rd party card and heatsinks will cost around $35.
So those appear to be my options. Cool them with fans only, or heatsinks only, not both, in an area that will be cramped and have a CPU cooler blowing hot air there (I might be able to Dremel in a side-fan on my case though that will blow air in a general area around the GPU).
Do I even need to worry about this for Gen 3 NVMEs even though they will be in an area full of hot air, or does Gen 3 not run hot enough for even that to cause issues? Does it even matter which method I pick or will both be the same? Is that even a good 3rd party adapter or is it known to cause issues?
Yes I know there are adapters that are thin and have heatsinks and fans and all sorts of cooling, but those tend to be in the $100+ range or close to it.
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