SSD Cooling - thermal pad

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Phixzet

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 9, 2005
Messages
196
So I'm thinking of putting a Fujipoly thermal pad on my SSD controller. (I believe the RAM doesn't get very hot in comparison?)

But I really don't want to void the warranty so I was planning on putting it over the existing Samsung 950 Pro label.

I'd need to remove it for warranty service... And I'm just wondering if anyone here has successfully removed a thermal pad to where the manufacturer wouldn't ever know one existed there?

I imagine it's pretty "tacky" and on there pretty solid...

Thanks!
 
I would just have a fan blowing over the SSD. Going to work much better than having a sticky insulating pad in between it and a cooler. And if you try to remove it, it will just take the label with it.

Thermal conductivity of thermal pads is absolutely abysmal compared to good heatsink compound.
 
Thank you.

But this comment is completely contradictory:

http://www.overclock.net/t/1588449/spot-fan-for-m-2-drive#post_24814254

Not saying you're wrong. I just don't know. There's a reason that thermal pads exist, is there not?

My MB has the M.2 slots situated where there will be some air flowing over them, so not extremely worried. But if I could get more life and better sustained speed by sticking a 15mm x 15mm thermal pad on the controller, well it's something to consider.
 
I would also just try pointing a fan at it first. It was designed to be passively cooled with no sink on it. Pad becomes semi-permanent and fan is easy to just point at it temporarily and see if it works or not.

If the fan alone doesn't get you to where you want, then fan+sink definitely will. Compound is obviously better than pad, but hey, pad is better than nothing at all, and it's not always easy to get hardware to mount for compound heat sink.
 
M.2 with exposed memory controller chips. Use the good old super glue trick to affix small heatsinks.

In case you don't know what that is:
Place small piece of tape on four corners of chip, apply TIM, peel off tape, place small dot of super glue on now bare corners, hold heatsink in place until glue dries.
Simply snap sinks off later when need be. Even easier after a period in the freezer.

[edit]
Pads, though inefficient when compared to paste, do have their place. As in less heat prone components that could benefit from minor cooling. And to fill varied gaps from different height chips that are cooled by a single sink. Situation pretty common on graphics cards.
 
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Some super glue will eat through and slowly dissolve some plastics and similar components in computers, avoid it unless you are sure of the exact type and brand you are using.

Thermal pads and adhesives meant for electronics are generally safe.
 
Samsung M.2 already comes with a heatspreader, adhesive label includes a thin layer of copper, read the spec.
 
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Yes I know - but a thin layer of copper didn't seem to me to be a great cooling solution. I'm known however to over-think things.
 
The 960 series actually comes with a copper sticker used as a simple "heat-spreader" and to mitigate the effects of that label on the drive. If you remove the label you lose warranty.
Adding a heatsink such as the EK one that comes with thermal pads improves the temperatures and if you have an air stream on its way it is even more effective.

At least that is what users of the 960 Pro + the EK heat sink report. When I receive the EK heatsing I will report back. My main concern is whether the thermal pads glue could cause the label to detach or the lettering to get scrambled in case yo need to remove it and consequently lead to warranty loss.
 
JargonGR said:
The 960 series actually comes with a copper sticker used as a simple "heat-spreader" and to mitigate the effects of that label on the drive. If you remove the label you lose warranty.
Adding a heatsink such as the EK one that comes with thermal pads improves the temperatures and if you have an air stream on its way it is even more effective.

At least that is what users of the 960 Pro + the EK heat sink report. When I receive the EK heatsing I will report back. My main concern is whether the thermal pads glue could cause the label to detach or the lettering to get scrambled in case yo need to remove it and consequently lead to warranty loss.
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It's also dead simple to remove the sticker without damaging it by using handy plastic razor blades. Not that I'm advocating anyone do this and then re-apply said label if you need warranty support.
 
capt_cope said:
It's also dead simple to remove the sticker without damaging it by using handy plastic razor blades. Not that I'm advocating anyone do this and then re-apply said label if you need warranty support.
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I don't understand why they can't put the sticker on the other side of the circuit board. They could redesign both stickers so all that info is on the back.
 
Just a reminder that cooling the NAND packages actually decreases length of data retention - only cool the controller.
 
Tyns said:
Just a reminder that cooling the NAND packages actually decreases length of data retention - only cool the controller.
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I'm sorry, what?

I mean I know it's the controller you're most worried about... But cooling the NAND chips is specifically a bad thing????
 
Thank you.

That's awfully frustrating I learned this now. I chose my current MB based on it having better cooling for the SSD, which other than the controller... Isn't a good thing really.
 
I would say the cooling of the flash chips causing data loss would be a lab conditions 1 in a million thing.

i.e nothing to worry about in real life.

Carry on cooling.
 
Phixzet said:
Thank you.

But this comment is completely contradictory:

http://www.overclock.net/t/1588449/spot-fan-for-m-2-drive#post_24814254

Not saying you're wrong. I just don't know. There's a reason that thermal pads exist, is there not?

My MB has the M.2 slots situated where there will be some air flowing over them, so not extremely worried. But if I could get more life and better sustained speed by sticking a 15mm x 15mm thermal pad on the controller, well it's something to consider.
Click to expand...

Thermal pads exist to transfer heat one one side to the other. Using it like in the link achieves neither very well I think.
 
daglesj said:
I would say the cooling of the flash chips causing data loss would be a lab conditions 1 in a million thing.

i.e nothing to worry about in real life.

Carry on cooling.
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I'm hoping since I have a 960 Pro 2TB... With a TBW of 1.2 PB...

And, aside from Optane, it is probably the most resilient SSD available... That in 7 years, an OS file that has never been patched / re-written...

Will still be completely valid.

(I'm hoping that the controller does proper management by re-freshing data to ensure data longevity?)

OTOH... Reading that Samsung has f'ed up the firmware on the 960pro and hasn't fixed it for months? Does make me regret a bit going with this drive, especially knowing they are about to release the 980 in coming months.

Oh well... In 3-5 years, I should be able to buy a 4TB SSD for $500 or less, so I shouldn't sweat this too much.
 
Phixzet said:
I'm hoping since I have a 960 Pro 2TB... With a TBW of 1.2 PB...

And, aside from Optane, it is probably the most resilient SSD available... That in 7 years, an OS file that has never been patched / re-written...

Will still be completely valid.

(I'm hoping that the controller does proper management by re-freshing data to ensure data longevity?)

OTOH... Reading that Samsung has f'ed up the firmware on the 960pro and hasn't fixed it for months? Does make me regret a bit going with this drive, especially knowing they are about to release the 980 in coming months.

Oh well... In 3-5 years, I should be able to buy a 4TB SSD for $500 or less, so I shouldn't sweat this too much.
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Well I do a full alphabetical order defrag on my SSDs about twice a year to 'turn the soil' and make sure most of the data is lifted and replanted so to speak.

Not like I'm going to be using those drives in 5+ years time.
 
daglesj said:
I would say the cooling of the flash chips causing data loss would be a lab conditions 1 in a million thing.

i.e nothing to worry about in real life.

Carry on cooling.
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Ah, well I didn’t know you would say that, so the engineers and experts that designed and built these things need to check with you first before giving their scientific “opinions”. no need for facts and statistics when you can just say what will definitively happen.
 
Tyns said:
Ah, well I didn’t know you would say that, so the engineers and experts that designed and built these things need to check with you first before giving their scientific “opinions”. no need for facts and statistics when you can just say what will definitively happen.
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No it's just something I personally would not worry about. I doubt a small heatsink on a flash chip will bring the end of days.

No biggie.
 
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