Seeking input about thermals for NVME SSD placed underneath motherboard

[trents]

Just purchased this from NewEgg: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...IsFeedbackTab=true#scrollFullInfo&reviews=all

On my mini-ITX motherboard it will need to be placed on the underside of the motherboard.

I have been reading about thermal issues with some m.2 NVME SSD products, particularly the Samsung Evo series.

Do you think I will find thermal problems in this scenario? Particularly interested to hear from those of you who already are using an NVME SSD on the backside of your motherboard.

One thing to factor in this is that I will soon be switching my internal components (as outlined below) over to the Corsair Obsidian 250D which has the open motherboard bracket sitting on top of the PSU. One reviewer suggested that overclockers install the PSU with fan side up to extract heat from the socket area. I'm wondering if that would also help with the thermals on the m.2 NVME SSD.

 

[EarthDog]

In many cases, the backside of the motherboard is better than on the front above or below the gpu. It depends. Typically though, its only after a while of sustained writes they get toasty. Any decent airflow should keep it within range is my take. Let us know how it works out.

 

[trents]

All good points, ED. And I seldom if ever have occasion to do sustained writes unless it would be something like moving a system disk image to an external drive.

 

[EarthDog]

That would be a read situation as the image is on your drive and moving it to external (writing it on the external)... but I get what you meant.

 

[trents]

Or, more properly then, restoring the system from a disk image.

 

[HankB]

Or, more properly then, restoring the system from a disk image.

Restoring from spinning rust? If so, you'll be restricted by read speeds. If you're restoring from a SATA SSD then you won't exceed SATA speed.

Excess heat is a problem that results from synthetic benchmarks. I wonder if there are any real world workloads that result in writing at the limits of the device. Perhaps rendering would do that, though even that may be limited by compute speed.

 

[Maviryk]

Heavy video editing using the SSD as cache would heat it up. I placed large heatsinks on my m.2 drive to help dissipate excess heat. It's more of a problem on the larger drives, but since my PC is a SFF, I placed heatsinks on the drive as a precaution.

 

[Bill Dimwit]

I have a older Intel M.2 SSD. When moving or writing files and under heavy reading such as making a disk image of the system it heats up, I seen it run up to 75-80c at times. Its on a pcie card too with a fan close by.
Under heavy reads such has making disk images to more then one backup source it would hit mid 60s under heavier writing it would hit 70-80c

I put a small heat sink on the drive witch helped alot, I have not seen temps over 60c since.

I thought. If the SDD will be on the back side of the motherboard why not put a thermal pad between the M2 drive and motherboard tray? The case would act as a heat sink.

 

[EarthDog]

why not put a thermal pad between the M2 drive and motherboard tray?

Interesting thought, but, that gap, though small, is still awfully big for a thermal pad. It would have to be a few MM thick, which then I question if it would be helpful travelling through so much medium.

 

[Woomack]

If I'm right then these SM based SSD are not heating up as much as Samsung. Other thing is that on back of the case is limited airflow so even though there is no additional heat source then temps can be higher than expected.
Before you start to modify anything or spend money on thermal pads, heatsinks etc, check how it's acting during work. Run soft to have history of max temps and simply use it for couple of hours.
Safe temp for consumer grade electronics is ~85°C.

 

[ihrsetrdr]

should I be concerned over the Samsung 960 evo in my laptop? Not much breathing space around the m.2 slot.

 

[EarthDog]

should I be concerned over the Samsung 960 evo in my laptop? Not much breathing space around the m.2 slot.

Check the temps... they define working parameters and throttling points have been shown in reviews. I believe it is around the 85C mark Woomack mentioned (but will vary by drive/contrller etc). That said, as was mentioned in the thread, unless you are really beating on it, chances are it won't throttle or see those temps.

 

[Nebulous]

Most M.2 Nvme drives run cool, with the exception of the heater that is the PNY. The Phision controller on the PNY runs hotter than satan's balls in the summer. Jeff (Stereo555) and I each have the PNY and let me just say it was the worse purchase ever. No driver/software support and we had to attach old school ThermalTake ram sinks to them with thermal tape to cool it down. I added a 60mm fan to mine otherwise with normal operation it would overheat and throttle.

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/...ling-a-HOT-M2-NVMe-drive?highlight=PNY+CS2030

 

[Alaric]

Between Neb's testimony and my experiences with PNY memory I suspect PNY stands for Performance-Not Yet. How are they still in business?

 

[Bill Dimwit]

Interesting thought, but, that gap, though small, is still awfully big for a thermal pad. It would have to be a few MM thick, which then I question if it would be helpful travelling through so much medium.

Thick Copper shim maybe?

 

[Nebulous]

Thick Copper shim maybe?

The thing with that is you have to find a way to keep the copper shim in place while the drive sits vertical. It may slide out which will cause problems with the drive.

 

[Bill Dimwit]

The thing with that is you have to find a way to keep the copper shim in place while the drive sits vertical. It may slide out which will cause problems with the drive.

Good point.
Maybe thermal tape? Like that used on stick on heat sinks. Use it on only one side so you can still remove it from the case.

 

[Nebulous]

Good point.
Maybe thermal tape? Like that used on stick on heat sinks. Use it on only one side so you can still remove it from the case.

As E_D posted in #9: Depends on the gap and thickness of thermal tape/pads. The thicker the pad/tape, the less cooling performance. You'll be creating insulation and heat will not escape.

 

[Bill Dimwit]

Yes a thiker pad will degrade the cooling.



Most motherboard stand offs are 5mm tall, 7mm and 3mm are not too common but out there. Lets say the m2 drive is 2-3mm thick and is useing 5mm tall stand offs

-.5mm Tape, (not pads). And a copper shim about 2mm and a pad about .5mm would be far better the nothing or a 3-4mm pad.

 

[Alaric]

I'd look at small mosfet type heatsinks and just trim them to fit. Attach with thermal pads and off you go.