I just installed a new motherboard and noticed that the M.2 slot is right below the GPU. Previously, I had a heat sink on my M.2 SSD with my old setup. I'm planning to use the same SSD, but I'm unsure if I should stick with the heat sink this time. Here are my concerns:
1. Will the heat sink interfere with the GPU?
2. I'm worried it might not even fit.
3. Since the NVMe drive came with a heat sink, I assumed it needs one. But I'm not too sure.
4. The new motherboard doesn't have a threaded insert for the heat sink screw, so I'm wondering if I can use one from my old motherboard instead.
Also, if I decide to install it without the heat sink, should I remove the black thermal pad on top of the SSD, or does it not matter?
2 Answers
Unless you've got a PCIe 5.0 drive, you should be fine without a heat sink on your M.2 SSD. It won't overheat in most scenarios, especially if you're just using it for standard gaming or general tasks.
Another route is to leave the existing heat sink on the motherboard and just buy a $10 NVMe heat sink from Amazon. I did that because the stock one made my SSD bend uncomfortably. But honestly, most NVMe SSDs are okay without heat sinks as long as they have a decent heat dissipating sticker on them.
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