Question Samsung 990 Evo is running very hot while not under any load - is this normal?

[OstrichCorpse]

Hi there,

I recently upgraded from 970 Evo running on a pcie 3.0 port to a 990 Evo running on pcie 4.0 (asrock b550m phantom gaming 4) and noticed that it's sitting at ~70 degrees Celsius while not really doing anything (Windows shows 0% load). When I try and stress test my new build with some performance-hungry games (Alan Wake 2 maxxed out, Cyberpunk 2077 on RT Ultra preset etc) - SSD is by far the hottest spot. HwInfo shows the SSD hotspot reaching over 100 degrees, while its neigbours (GPU and CPU) are sitting comfortably at ~80 tops. Samsung Magician doesn't raise any red flags cause it's looking at a different sensor (that one doesn't go above 60). If I poke the SSD with my finger - I can tell that the bit near the M.2 port is scorching hot while the memory chip is lukewarm.

This is my first experience with pcie 4.0 SSDs and I heard that they do run a bit hot by default, but I didn't expect 100 degrees. Is my understanding correct that I absolutely need a heatsink and maybe some general airflow rearrangement? Or is it a factory defect and I should try to replace it?

 

[Misgar]

Or is it a factory defect and I should try to replace it?

One hundred degrees Centigrade it too hot. Throttling probably starts at 90C. There are lots of reports about bad 970 EVO SSDs. If possible RMA it and consider buying something different next time? So saying, I've had a 2TB M.2 970 EVO running perfectly for two years.

 

[USAFRet]

One hundred degrees Centigrade it too hot. Throttling probably starts at 90C. There are lots of reports about bad 970 EVO SSDs. If possible RMA it and consider buying something different next time? So saying, I've had a 2TB M.2 970 EVO running perfectly for two years.

This refers to a 990.
But yes, too hot.

 

[OstrichCorpse]

One hundred degrees Centigrade it too hot. Throttling probably starts at 90C. There are lots of reports about bad 970 EVO SSDs. If possible RMA it and consider buying something different next time? So saying, I've had a 2TB M.2 970 EVO running perfectly for two years.

yeah my 970 was running just fine for the last 4 years, this is about 990

 

[Misgar]

this is about 990

Sorry, I missed that. Nonetheless, 100C is too hot.

My 1TB Samsung 980 Pro M.2 reached 74C max sometime during its life. Currently it's 37C.
Another 980 (non Pro) M.2 reached 56C max. Currently 33C.
A Kingston KC3000 M.2 reached 55C max. Currently 27C.

 

[dwd999]

Since your motherboard does not provide its own heatsinks a third-party add-on heat since would definitely help.

https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/storage/id-cooling-zero-m05-and-m15-review

 

[das_stig]

Samsung quality control has gone downhill, now I buy WD blacks for speed and blue for storage, and cheapo Chinese heatsinks off Ebay to keep them under 70c

 

[geofelt]

The location of the m.2 slot is convenient, but does not have access to good cooling, particularly if your cpu cooler is an aio. You could add an aftermarket heat sink, but that needs some airflow to make it effective.

Run samsung magician to check out your drive. It may need a firmware update.
It will verify that your drive is genuine samsung and not a fake.