[SOLVED] What's the ideal locations for my M.2 drives (above or under GPU) ?

[jrglol]

Hi there. I recently got a 500GB 970evo plus as my Linux drive, and today I just bought a 1TB WD Black for my win10 drive. Now here's the problem, my 2nd M.2 slot is directly under the PCIe slot where my thicc graphics card lies. my card completely covers the 2nd slot. so the card will have to come out either way. I currently have my Samsung drive above the GPU for obvious reasons, but now that I have the WD drive, I'm thinking of having my WD drive above my GPU and the Samsung one under the GPU.

The reason being is I don't do heavy loads in Linux, just browsing and playing CSGO. For Windows, I use it for gaming and rendering including videos, graphics etc. Which means the WD drive will certainly be stressed more than the Samsung one. I don't want my GPU to heat soak the WD drive while it's underload at the same time if it's installed under the GPU.

Do you think that this setup is ideal? I would also like to ask do I need heatsinks for any of my drives for my use case?

some specs:
Asus ROG B365-G
Zotac GTX 1070 Amp Extreme
WD Black 1TB (win10 - above GPU)
Samsung 970evo plus (Linux - under GPU)

 

[Colif]

it can depend on the type of cooling set up the GPU has as to where the best place is. It seems that under GPU is actually the best if you have an active cooling GPU

What’s the best position for your M.2 SSD? - HWCooling.net

Test procedures and resultsGraphics card can significantly contribute to cooling of SSD that are installed next to it. However, there’s a very thin line between helping and limiting. Let’s see when your graphics card can be a saviour for your SSD and when it’s an oppressor. As a bonus, we...

www.hwcooling.net

 

[Bob.B]

Hi there. I recently got a 500GB 970evo plus as my Linux drive, and today I just bought a 1TB WD Black for my win10 drive. Now here's the problem, my 2nd M.2 slot is directly under the PCIe slot where my thicc graphics card lies. my card completely covers the 2nd slot. so the card will have to come out either way. I currently have my Samsung drive above the GPU for obvious reasons, but now that I have the WD drive, I'm thinking of having my WD drive above my GPU and the Samsung one under the GPU.

The reason being is I don't do heavy loads in Linux, just browsing and playing CSGO. For Windows, I use it for gaming and rendering including videos, graphics etc. Which means the WD drive will certainly be stressed more than the Samsung one. I don't want my GPU to heat soak the WD drive while it's underload at the same time if it's installed under the GPU.

Do you think that this setup is ideal? I would also like to ask do I need heatsinks for any of my drives for my use case?

some specs:
Asus ROG B365-G
Zotac GTX 1070 Amp Extreme
WD Black 1TB (win10 - above GPU)
Samsung 970evo plus (Linux - under GPU)

Test both ways monitor the temps.
As for heat sinks start without and monitor the temps.

 

[kanewolf]

Hi there. I recently got a 500GB 970evo plus as my Linux drive, and today I just bought a 1TB WD Black for my win10 drive. Now here's the problem, my 2nd M.2 slot is directly under the PCIe slot where my thicc graphics card lies. my card completely covers the 2nd slot. so the card will have to come out either way. I currently have my Samsung drive above the GPU for obvious reasons, but now that I have the WD drive, I'm thinking of having my WD drive above my GPU and the Samsung one under the GPU.

The reason being is I don't do heavy loads in Linux, just browsing and playing CSGO. For Windows, I use it for gaming and rendering including videos, graphics etc. Which means the WD drive will certainly be stressed more than the Samsung one. I don't want my GPU to heat soak the WD drive while it's underload at the same time if it's installed under the GPU.

Do you think that this setup is ideal? I would also like to ask do I need heatsinks for any of my drives for my use case?

some specs:
Asus ROG B365-G
Zotac GTX 1070 Amp Extreme
WD Black 1TB (win10 - above GPU)
Samsung 970evo plus (Linux - under GPU)

In your case the two slots are not equal. One is PCIe only and one is SATA + PCIe. The slot closest to the CPU is the one that will support SATA also.
If you had a SATA m.2 drive you could only use the slot closest to the CPU.

 

[jrglol]

it can depend on the type of cooling set up the GPU has as to where the best place is. It seems that under GPU is actually the best if you have an active cooling GPU

What’s the best position for your M.2 SSD? - HWCooling.net

Test procedures and resultsGraphics card can significantly contribute to cooling of SSD that are installed next to it. However, there’s a very thin line between helping and limiting. Let’s see when your graphics card can be a saviour for your SSD and when it’s an oppressor. As a bonus, we...

www.hwcooling.net

Zotac has a very conservative approach when it comes to fans spooling, i actually almost never hear them kick in. I know that they work because the bearings have gone bad in the fans. Even under load, they will turn on and off intermittently at about 500rpm.

 

[jrglol]

In your case the two slots are not equal. One is PCIe only and one is SATA + PCIe. The slot closest to the CPU is the one that will support SATA also.
If you had a SATA m.2 drive you could only use the slot closest to the CPU.

Im not sure if im understanding this correctly, but there are 2 m.2 slots. One above the first PCIe x16 slot, and one above the second PCIe x16 slot. I dont know what the little one in between is for though. My GPU almost covers the second PCIe x16 slot. Anyway, i dont know how the lanes splitting work, but does this mean i cant run 2 nvme drives? I probably shouldve mentioned that both drives are nvme PCIe gen 3 drives.

heres a highlighted pic: https://ibb.co/rFxzP0K

 

[kanewolf]

Im not sure if im understanding this correctly, but there are 2 m.2 slots. One above the first PCIe x16 slot, and one above the second PCIe x16 slot. I dont know what the little one in between is for though. My GPU almost covers the second PCIe x16 slot. Anyway, i dont know how the lanes splitting work, but does this mean i cant run 2 nvme drives? I probably shouldve mentioned that both drives are nvme PCIe gen 3 drives.

heres a highlighted pic: https://ibb.co/rFxzP0K

Read the manual. It explains the two M.2 slots. M.2 is a form factor. It can have either a PCIe or SATA interface. The two things, form factor and interface are independent.
It looks like ALL the PCIe lanes for the M.2 slots come from the motherboard chipset on a B365 motherboard. -- https://www.funkykit.com/reviews/mo...view/attachment/b365-chipset-block-diagram-a/
The block diagram does not show any CPU lines allocated to M.2

 

[jrglol]

update: i received my drive already, and installed the WD (win10) below the GPU, and the 970evo (linux) above the GPU as before. As for temps, under load both drives are within 2c of each other, having the WD at 68c and the 970evo at 66c. On idle however, theres a 5-6c difference, having the WD at 65c and the 970evo at 59-60c. On idle my GPU fans spin at 1000rpm intermittently.