VirtualMirage
Limp Gawd
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2011
- Messages
- 470
So I am slowly putting together my new build which will be using the Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Impact for the motherboard. One of the reasons I bought this board was how it was handling the M.2 drives which will be helpful will cooling. However, that special board and its heatsinks are being a bit of a pain.
I am using two Seagate Firecuda 520 2TB PCIE4 M.2s on this build. Removing the heatsinks on the special board and plopping the M.2s was super easy, even remembered to peel off the protective backing on the supplied thermal pads. But as I put everything together, I noticed the heatsink shroud doesn't sit flush like it did before and, in fact, looks a little crooked from the daughter board. So I take a flashlight and look in between and the heatsinks are causing some serious flex to the M.2s. Well, that's not good! Good thing I haven't powered anything up yet and was just doing an inspection fitting.
Looking online, I see multiple people complain about the same thing. Some said the flex is within spec and it will be fine. Others mentioned that there was another piece of padding supplied with the motherboard to put under the M.2s minimize bowing. And here I wondered why there was print on the boards that said M.2 pad. So dug around and found a single piece of padding, not two, with adhesive backings. I looked through the manual and saw no mention of these nor what to do with them. I read online how to use them, remove adhesive and place on the daughter board where it is marked. So I cut the pad in half, which makes it about the right size for placement and did as such.
I put everything back together and the M.2s do bow less but now they seemed to be bowing slightly in two different directions and the daughterboard slot end has a bit of a bow to it. Crap. Did more digging online and some mentioned that the thermal padding supplied is too thick, looks to be 1.0mm and should really be .5mm, at least one side (the underside looks to need the 1.0mm). So I took it apart, again, and decided to modify the thermal padding for the top M.2 by placing it between wax paper and using a rolling pin. I then trimmed off the excess before reapplying. This definitely helped quite a bit, but it still isn't perfect. I then noticed that if all the screws that hold the heatsink shrouds in place are tightened all the way the daugher board wants to torque a little. After fiddling with the screws for about 30 minutes, loosening some tightening others, I managed to get good coverage on the M.2s with minimal bowing and slot on the daughter board is less than a hairs width from being perfectly straight. The heatsink shroud still doesn't sit perfectly flush, but it is close. This may have to do with the screw placement they chose (where it favor mainly just one side and the middle, leaving the other side with no screw down) as well as those extra pads they want you to put under the M.2.
Going back to those supplied pads, I am thinking that they are also too thick since my M.2. have chips on both sides. So the thought is with the thermal pads trimmed and slimmed, maybe this underside pad is no longer needed...but...now I can't get to it. The adhesive is strong and it won't let go of the M.2. Even though the other side is primarily covered with a sticker that has the authenticity hologram and serial number, it for some reason just doesn't want to let me lift up the M.2 and leave the sticker behind. The sticker that was on the other side came off super easy, but that was starting the lift from the edge instead smack dab in the middle. I'm wondering if I heat it up with a hair dryer if will loosen up to allow me to lift it off. But that may be a project for another day.
You pay good money for a premium product and you still find instances where they either didn't think something through or slapped a last minute fix without testing it out. It's not even listed in the manual.
I am using two Seagate Firecuda 520 2TB PCIE4 M.2s on this build. Removing the heatsinks on the special board and plopping the M.2s was super easy, even remembered to peel off the protective backing on the supplied thermal pads. But as I put everything together, I noticed the heatsink shroud doesn't sit flush like it did before and, in fact, looks a little crooked from the daughter board. So I take a flashlight and look in between and the heatsinks are causing some serious flex to the M.2s. Well, that's not good! Good thing I haven't powered anything up yet and was just doing an inspection fitting.
Looking online, I see multiple people complain about the same thing. Some said the flex is within spec and it will be fine. Others mentioned that there was another piece of padding supplied with the motherboard to put under the M.2s minimize bowing. And here I wondered why there was print on the boards that said M.2 pad. So dug around and found a single piece of padding, not two, with adhesive backings. I looked through the manual and saw no mention of these nor what to do with them. I read online how to use them, remove adhesive and place on the daughter board where it is marked. So I cut the pad in half, which makes it about the right size for placement and did as such.
I put everything back together and the M.2s do bow less but now they seemed to be bowing slightly in two different directions and the daughterboard slot end has a bit of a bow to it. Crap. Did more digging online and some mentioned that the thermal padding supplied is too thick, looks to be 1.0mm and should really be .5mm, at least one side (the underside looks to need the 1.0mm). So I took it apart, again, and decided to modify the thermal padding for the top M.2 by placing it between wax paper and using a rolling pin. I then trimmed off the excess before reapplying. This definitely helped quite a bit, but it still isn't perfect. I then noticed that if all the screws that hold the heatsink shrouds in place are tightened all the way the daugher board wants to torque a little. After fiddling with the screws for about 30 minutes, loosening some tightening others, I managed to get good coverage on the M.2s with minimal bowing and slot on the daughter board is less than a hairs width from being perfectly straight. The heatsink shroud still doesn't sit perfectly flush, but it is close. This may have to do with the screw placement they chose (where it favor mainly just one side and the middle, leaving the other side with no screw down) as well as those extra pads they want you to put under the M.2.
Going back to those supplied pads, I am thinking that they are also too thick since my M.2. have chips on both sides. So the thought is with the thermal pads trimmed and slimmed, maybe this underside pad is no longer needed...but...now I can't get to it. The adhesive is strong and it won't let go of the M.2. Even though the other side is primarily covered with a sticker that has the authenticity hologram and serial number, it for some reason just doesn't want to let me lift up the M.2 and leave the sticker behind. The sticker that was on the other side came off super easy, but that was starting the lift from the edge instead smack dab in the middle. I'm wondering if I heat it up with a hair dryer if will loosen up to allow me to lift it off. But that may be a project for another day.
You pay good money for a premium product and you still find instances where they either didn't think something through or slapped a last minute fix without testing it out. It's not even listed in the manual.