I recently finished building my first proper desktop PC, and after about two hours of graphically demanding gaming—with GPU usage above 85%—I noticed that my Crucial T700 PCIe 5.0 NVMe SSD reached around 70°C in HWiNFO. The drive sits directly above the graphics card, so I suspect it is being warmed by the GPU's exhaust. I could move it to the M.2 slot beneath the GPU, but I'm worried that slot might run at a lower speed.
I considered adding another case fan, although the available mounting positions do not seem to direct airflow toward the SSD heatsink. For now, pointing a desk fan at the open side of the case brings the SSD temperature down to roughly 45°C, but I'd prefer a permanent solution. Is 70°C actually unsafe for this drive, and would moving it to another slot or improving general case airflow be worthwhile?
4 Answers
That temperature is generally fine. PCIe 5.0 NVMe drives, especially models using the E26 controller, run considerably hotter than older generations. Around 70°C under sustained activity is not unusual, and the drive’s built-in thermal protection will reduce performance if it ever gets too hot.
The SSD temperature is acceptable, but the case would benefit from a proper airflow setup. Add intake fans at the rear or bottom where possible and exhaust fans at the top. More airflow will help the GPU, SSD, and other components rather than cooling only the drive. If the case and power-supply layout allow it, orient the power supply so it can draw fresh air through the ventilated panel instead of recirculating warm internal air.
For gaming alone, 70°C is not a concern, and moving the drive to a PCIe 4.0 slot probably would not produce a noticeable difference in everyday use. A Gen 5 drive mainly helps with sustained workloads such as large video projects or benchmarks; game loading usually will not benefit much from the extra bandwidth.
You could also install a stronger M.2 heatsink or move the drive to the lower slot if that slot has better airflow. Just make sure the slot supports the intended PCIe speed and that the graphics card is not blocking its heatsink. Even if the drive runs at a lower link speed, the practical difference may be tiny outside of large sustained transfers.
The system is also for productivity work, including very high-resolution video, which is why I chose a Gen 5 drive. I may still use the other slot if the speed difference is not meaningful in practice.