[SOLVED] Optimising my m2 and SSD drives

[James Blonde]

I bought a new Corsair Mp600 Core 1tb M2 drive a month or so ago in the hope I could add it to my system (Gigabyte Aorus Z390 Elite, i7 9700k, gtx 1070, Samsung Evo 970 M2 boot drive plus 3 SATA SSDs and 3 high capacity SATA hard drives). Unfortunately it seems that the second M2 slot on the motherboard wipes out 2 of the SATA ports and I need the space. (photos, videos, high res audio, etc)

Additionally the Samsung M2 drive is running "hot". I added a passive after market heatsink, and the temp has gone up rather than down! Was running around 48-53 using the stock heatsink, now running 54-59. I get the impression thats not hot by M2 standards, but it's showing as over temp on the Samsung disk manager.

I think that if I got this - Gigabyte AORUS Gen4 AIC Adaptor - which is actively cooled, I could install my Samsung boot M2, the new Corsair M2, and not lose either the boot drive, existing 6 hard drives, or impact system performance. Is this the case??

Would it still be the case if I bought a Gtx 30 series GPU when they become available again??

Thanks!

 

[Lutfij]

Which slots are your M.2 SSD's populating on the motherboard?

When you add a heatsink atop of the M.2 drive, you're advised to remove the sticker/label on the MM.2 drive, and remove the thermal tape under the heatsink so the heat is transferred to the heatsink from the drive. As for your heatsink, mind sharing a link to your heatsink? Following that, might want to also state how the fans/airflow are oriented in your build/chassis. You don't need an additional adpater...in fact throwing more money at a problem doesn't always solve it.

I think your solution is to be had by getting larger capacity drives as opposed to having multiple drives.

 

[James Blonde]

Current (boot) m2 is in the middle slot, which I think is between the processor and the top of the graphics card. I've got a corsair hydro series cpu cooler, with the fans front mounted and a rear exhaust, which I guess could be keeping the xpu cool at the expense of the rest of the case? So it maybe understandable that its a bit warm.

Thermal tape is off the cooler (I'm assuming you don't mean the sticky layer that looked a bit like thermal paste? Just the plastic that covered it?) but you get conflicting advice about whether to take the labels off the drive or not, and I didn't. This cooler:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/One-enjoy-...ocphy=1007382&hvtargid=pla-828623195682&psc=1

I'm kind of reluctant to lose the 6 sata drives I've got at the moment, as I've just spent a fortune on a NAS and 4 x 10tb drives to fill it. The media is likely to migrate to that and it'll back up my photos. But it's going to take time that I don't currently have.

Is my original logic correct though?

 

[James Blonde]

(for what it's worth, I've taken the sticker off now and it's made little difference - sitting at 53 degrees idle, which is still worse than the stock heatsink)

 

[SkyNetRising]

When you add a heatsink atop of the M.2 drive, you're advised to remove the sticker/label on the MM.2 drive

Doesn't removing sticker void warranty?

 

[James Blonde]

(that was what I thought too.... As I'm out of warranty now I thought I'd do it anyway, but....)

 

[James Blonde]

I've ordered the PCI Gigabyte AORUS Gen4 AIC Adaptor now - the new heatsink just isn't cooling it well, even after removing the stickers, and the locations of the 2 slots aren't ideal for cooling either. Active cooling has got to be better.

but back to my previous question - this will work won't it? It won't affect my performance or my existing boot M2?

(and it may become moot soon enough anyway as I get my NAS up and running and optimise my disk space usage.... but I've been saying the last bit for years!)