Question Samsung SSD 970 Evo plus m.2 drive controller temp always high and throttling

[jroddy0929]

Lately I've noticed my Steam downloads taking a very long time despite having hardwired 1gb internet. I also noticed that whenever I'd download Windows Updates (on Windows 10) my computer's performance would go to a crawl with lagging, hitching, and sometimes even freezing for seconds at a time, etc.

Once I ruled out my internet, and did a full system scan for viruses/malware, I started taking a look at temps in HWiNFO64 and I noticed that my Drive Temperature 2 (the ASIC controller) is very hot, even getting up to 89C at heavy load and staying somewhere between 60-75C at idle. While Drive Temperature 1 remains around 50C at all times. For example, right now with 0% disk being used in task Manager, and the only thing I have open is Google Chrome, my Drive Temperature 1 is 52C with an average of 51C, and my Drive Temperature 2 is 75C with an average of 69C. It constantly fluctuates between 60-80C at idle. And it will just fluctuate seemingly on it's own despite no new activity happening on the machine.

I've had this computer for a little over 3 years now. It has a MSI z590 motherboard with an i9-10900k, so I can't use the top m.2 slot as it requires an 11th gen CPU or higher. Which sucks because that top slot is the one that has a heat sink, which won't fit on the other m.2 slot. So my drive is installed to the slot below the GPU, with 1 of 3 floor-mounted intake fans directly facing it. It is completely naked, no heatsink or direct cooling whatsoever. Samsung Magician says that I have the latest version of firmware (2B2QEXM7), and when I run a diagnostic it says my drive health is "good".

Is this just a bad drive that needs to be replaced? Should I look into updating my BIOs which is fairly out of date? Is there something else that I'm just completely missing?

 

[jroddy0929]

I just now posted this, and as I was writing this when I took this screenshot, Drive Temperature 2 was 78C. And now a few minutes after posting, my drive temp is 55. Then by the time I finish typing this post, it is sitting solid at 70C. Please help me TomsHardware!

 

[kerberos_20]

Is this just a bad drive that needs to be replaced? Should I look into updating my BIOs which is fairly out of date? Is there something else that I'm just completely missing?

drive is fine, doesnt need replacement, bios update wont solve it either, and yes, you do miss heatsink
you will need to add one to reduce temps, they make variety of thickness which can fit even in laptops

 

[jroddy0929]

drive is fine, doesnt need replacement, bios update wont solve it either, and yes, you do miss heatsink
you will need to add one to reduce temps, they make variety of thickness which can fit even in laptops

Even though I am seeing extremely low write speeds when downloading from Steam, and my computer gets very laggy with micro-freezing when I'm downloading aa Windows Update for example?

 

[kerberos_20]

Even though I am seeing extremely low write speeds when downloading from Steam, and my computer gets very laggy with micro-freezing when I'm downloading aa Windows Update for example?

operating temperature is 0-70C
that controller is a CPU, it can heat up fast and will throttle above 70C

 

[jroddy0929]

operating temperature is 0-70C
that controller is a CPU, it can heat up fast and will throttle above 70C

So if it's sticking somewhere between 70-80C at idle for extended periods, you'd say that's normal and I shouldn't worry about it? If so that's good to hear, and I have already ordered a heatsink to install on it myself. I've just found a lot of information saying that it's "cause for alarm" if my controller temp is hitting those temps while idle. Especially given how much performance on the computer degrades when I'm downloading something, which has not always been the case with this computer.

 

[Bob.B]

Lately I've noticed my Steam downloads taking a very long time despite having hardwired 1gb internet. I also noticed that whenever I'd download Windows Updates (on Windows 10) my computer's performance would go to a crawl with lagging, hitching, and sometimes even freezing for seconds at a time, etc.

Once I ruled out my internet, and did a full system scan for viruses/malware, I started taking a look at temps in HWiNFO64 and I noticed that my Drive Temperature 2 (the ASIC controller) is very hot, even getting up to 89C at heavy load and staying somewhere between 60-75C at idle. While Drive Temperature 1 remains around 50C at all times. For example, right now with 0% disk being used in task Manager, and the only thing I have open is Google Chrome, my Drive Temperature 1 is 52C with an average of 51C, and my Drive Temperature 2 is 75C with an average of 69C. It constantly fluctuates between 60-80C at idle. And it will just fluctuate seemingly on it's own despite no new activity happening on the machine.

I've had this computer for a little over 3 years now. It has a MSI z590 motherboard with an i9-10900k, so I can't use the top m.2 slot as it requires an 11th gen CPU or higher. Which sucks because that top slot is the one that has a heat sink, which won't fit on the other m.2 slot. So my drive is installed to the slot below the GPU, with 1 of 3 floor-mounted intake fans directly facing it. It is completely naked, no heatsink or direct cooling whatsoever. Samsung Magician says that I have the latest version of firmware (2B2QEXM7), and when I run a diagnostic it says my drive health is "good".

Is this just a bad drive that needs to be replaced? Should I look into updating my BIOs which is fairly out of date? Is there something else that I'm just completely missing?

How full is the ssd?

 

[SkyNetRising]

So if it's sticking somewhere between 70-80C at idle for extended periods, you'd say that's normal and I shouldn't worry about it?

Install a heatsink on your M.2 drive.
If drive is installed right next to your RTX 3080 (and gpu is obstructing M.2 heatsink installation),
then move M.2 drive to slot further away from the graphics card.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Hey there,

This drive does not run hot. I've got one. It rarely goes above 50c and does not throttle. It may be that your case is packed, and with poor airflow. It's located close to the CPU and above the GPU. My GPU exhausts away from the drive, and with 2 x 200mm intake fans, and a 140 exhaust at rear of PC the hot air just gets out the back of the case. The 970 Evo does not require a heatsink. Perhaps look at the system as a whole, rather than putting a band aid on it. The drive is not the issue.

 

[JayGau]

Hey there,

This drive does not run hot. I've got one. It rarely goes above 50c and does not throttle. It may be that your case is packed, and with poor airflow. It's located close to the CPU and above the GPU. My GPU exhausts away from the drive, and with 2 x 200mm intake fans, and a 140 exhaust at rear of PC the hot air just gets out the back of the case. The 970 Evo does not require a heatsink. Perhaps look at the system as a whole, rather than putting a band aid on it. The drive is not the issue.

No way the controller temp stays below 50c on a 970 evo without heatsink (you have to look at both temps in HWiNFO). That's just not possible unless you only use it for file storage. I had one as a system drive and had to put a heatsink to prevent the controller to go to 70c. Never went much above 60 with the cooler.

 

[geofelt]

A m.2 ssd with or without a heat sink needs some airflow to remain cool.

If you are using an aio cooler, see if you can't get some airflow over the motherboard.

If your ssd is near full, it has to work much harder to find free nand blocks to do the writes.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

No way the controller temp stays below 50c on a 970 evo without heatsink (you have to look at both temps in HWiNFO). That's just not possible unless you only use it for file storage. I had one as a system drive and had to put a heatsink to prevent the controller to go to 70c. Never went much above 60 with the cooler.

My bad. I should have opened my eyes when reading it 😉 I didn't realise it was the controller temp!

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

My bad. I should have opened my eyes when reading it 😉 I didn't realise it was the controller temp!

Just for giggles though, my controller temp maxes at 65c, and averages at 51c. I do have good airflow in my system (Lian Li 215 + 2 x 200mm front intake and a 140 mmrear exhaust). So that may be helping me. Now, the drive isn't used that much. It has my windows install on it and other apps, with maybe one or two games. So I'm not hitting the drive hard at all. It prob hasn't had anything written to it other than browser temp files etc. in a long time.

 

[jroddy0929]

How full is the ssd?

I have ~120gb of the 1tb available right now. That's usually about the cushion I keep for available space at any given time.

And also I have a Lian Li 011 Dynamic XL case, with exceptionally well managed cables, airflow and thermals. I have 10 internal fans, with 6 intake and 4 exhaust. The 3 fans at the bottom of the case are all intake, and one of them is blowing directly on the drive. My CPU idles at around 30-35C, and my GPU temp never exceeds 60C.

I also dust out my internals once very few months, as it is a glass panel case. The whole computer is very "showy" so it's extremely clean and tidy inside.

 

[jroddy0929]