Alienware m17 - do I need heat shield for 970 PRO 512GB?

P

pclausen

Gawd
Joined
Jan 30, 2008
Messages
697
I busted out an Alienware m17 with the Dell standard 256 GB M.2 drive so that I could get the 6 cell battery.

I have ordered a 970 PRO 512GB to go into the 2nd M.2 slot, but in reading the m17 service manual, I see that I'm supposed to order a heat shield when using both M.2 slots.

1. Is this really necessary?

2. If so, does anyone know the part number? (it is the same as what is used in older generations of the Alienware notebooks?

Thanks!
 
I chatted with Dell support and they were pretty worthless. They could not just give me the part # for the shield but wanted me to call their "order modification department" to see about changing the order. I don't think he understood that I didn't want to add a 2nd Dell supplied M.2 drive. I don't want to mess up my existing order and cause a delay, so I'll just drop the 970 PRO in there when I get the m17.

In the meantime, I ran Crystal on one of my rigs with a 512GB 950 PRO M.2 in it. Idle temp is 48C and the max I saw during the test was 71C. That particular rig is water cooled in an open frame, and given the orientation of the rad fans, there is no airflow across the 950 PRO.

I guess I'll run Crystal on both the 256GB and 512GB M.2 once the laptop gets here to see how the temps compare to my water cooled rig.

Looks like the Samsung max operating temp is 70C, but I see post where folks are hitting 80C+.

What are you guys hitting for max temp on Samsung M.2 in laptops?
 
Last edited:
You could probably get away with it. Those drives have gotten much more efficient over the years
 
Buy an after market heat sink for the M.2 drive if you have heat concerns.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top