I bought a copper sandwich-style heatsink for a double-sided NVMe SSD that will be installed in the rear M.2 slot on my motherboard. The heatsink closes with screws inserted from the sides, but even my thinnest 0.3 mm thermal pads make the screw holes impossible to align. There is enough clearance only when I remove the pads entirely. Is it safe or useful to install the copper heatsink directly against the SSD without thermal pads? If not, would thermal paste or another material be a suitable substitute?
2 Answers
If the copper plate cannot make solid contact with the controller, removing the pads defeats the purpose of the heatsink. A very thin layer of paste might work only when the surfaces are already almost touching and the chip heights line up, but it is not a replacement for a compressible pad. You would be better off using a correctly sized pad or finding a heatsink whose spacing matches the SSD.
The pads are what transfer heat from the SSD’s controller and memory chips to the copper. If the heatsink does not actually touch those components, it will not do much, and it could even restrict airflow around the drive. Don’t use ordinary thermal paste to bridge a noticeable gap; it is meant for a very thin layer and can spread onto the board. Thermal putty is more appropriate for filling a larger gap, assuming it is electrically nonconductive and compatible with the drive.
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