I accidentally bought a Samsung 2TB 9100 Pro SSD with a heatsink, not realizing that my motherboard already comes with its own heatsink that sits beneath the GPU. I'm worried about potential installation issues. Should I try to return the SSD for a version without the heatsink? The heatsink isn't in the single M.2 slot, but underneath the guard that has five slots. I do have another 1TB SSD that I'm using for my boot drive. The store is being tricky about exchanges, so what's my best move—should I try to remove the heatsink from the new SSD, or just install it and ignore the motherboard's heatsink? Sorry if this seems complicated; I'm new to all this!
4 Answers
You can actually get the Samsung heatsink off if you use a pentalobe screwdriver—usually a P5 or P7, but most people seem to find it easier with a P5. Just be careful if you choose to go that route!
Just skip the motherboard's heatsink altogether and install the SSD as is. It should be fine with the built-in heatsink from Samsung. It's worth keeping the motherboard's heatsink in case you decide to switch things up with a different NVMe drive later on.
If you're okay with using the heatsink that's already on the SSD, I say go for it! It'll work without any problems. But if you really want to swap it for the motherboard's heatsink, it might be safer to return the SSD and get one without a heatsink. Removing the factory heatsink can be risky; there's a chance you could damage it.
You won't be able to fit that SSD with the attached heatsink underneath the large heatplate on the motherboard. Besides, those heatsinks aren't typically designed to be removed, and trying to do so could damage the SSD. Have you thought about using the top M.2 slot instead?
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