Single-Sided vs. Double-Sided M.2 SSDs: Do I Need the Thermal Pad?
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TechyGamer42
I have a 2TB WD Black SN8100 M.2 NVMe SSD and a Gigabyte X870E AORUS ELITE motherboard. The manual for the motherboard isn't very clear, but I think I won't need extra rubber pads since I'm installing the SSD in the M2A_CPU slot. My main question is about the 'Bundled M.2 Thermal Pad'—do I need to use it? At first, I thought my SSD was double-sided, but after checking the package, it looks like there are chips only on one side of the PCB. Does that mean it's single-sided? Any help would be appreciated!
Answers
Most M.2 SSDs these days are single-sided. The heatsink that comes with your motherboard should already have thermal padding on the bottom, so you likely won’t need the bundled thermal pad. Just check to make sure everything fits well!
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TechyGamer42: Thanks for your input! I noticed that the heatsink does have a thermal pad, but I read in the manual that if the SSD is single-sided, you should still apply the bundled thermal pad. That's why I'm considering using it based on what you've said. Think I should go for it?