Hey everyone! I stumbled upon some old HP towers while cleaning out a storage closet at work. I noticed these SSDs have these weird, large heatsinks that resemble the mouse trap style typically found on processors. I've never seen such a big heatsink on an SSD before, and my attempts to find info online haven't been fruitful. I'm curious about the history and evolution of these heatsinks. Why aren't they common anymore? What's going on here? Also, I'll drop a pic in the comments to show what I mean!
5 Answers
Most heatsinks really focus on ensuring device reliability over outright performance. The image you shared likely shows a design that's meant for long-term use. If a chip doesn’t come with a heatsink, it’s usually either because it doesn’t get hot enough to warrant it, or its life expectancy is so long that failure isn’t expected. The cost of adding a heatsink often just isn’t worth it for some components.
In normal use, NVMe drives do run hot, but they have built-in safeguards against that heat. I personally prefer using heatsinks, especially active ones with fans, for drives involved in heavy workloads. Keeping the heat down can definitely extend the life of the drives, even if they do have thermal protections.
My NVMe drive runs at 61°C just sitting on the desktop with a heatsink, and I haven't seen any throttling issues. It seems pretty normal these days, even with the added cooling.
Here’s a pic of what I’m talking about! This is an NVMe heatsink. It’s worth noting that not all SSDs are created equal. The older SATA SSDs aren’t at risk like the Gen 4 NVMe drives can be. Some of those drives can get really hot over time, and Gen 5 drives can heat up even faster! I initially thought you were talking about really old 2000s equipment, but this setup is still far from obsolete depending on the drive used.
Yeah, definitely! Those NVMe heatsinks look like they’re made for performance, not just show. A lot has changed since the 2000s in terms of thermal design.
So, NVMe drives tend to get hotter than the old SATA drives, which is why adding a heatsink can be beneficial. When they overheat, they start to throttle their speeds to prevent damage. A heatsink helps keep temperatures down and maintains performance.
Right? It’s impressive how far we’ve come with these designs. But it’s all about longevity and avoiding throttling, especially during heavy use.