Why are heatspreaders on RAM instead of M.2 SSDs?

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ZodaEX

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I've noticed that manufacturers putting heatspreaders on System RAM is still a common practice.
How come they don't do the same for m.2 SSDs? From my research, m.2 SSDs typically produce more heat than DDR4/DDR5 and are more likely to overheat and throttle than system RAM.
Wouldn't it make more logical sense for heatspreaders to come stock on m.2 SSDs instead of RAM?
 
might even be that ram slots are pretty standardize in location and clearance. m2 slots get stuck all over the place and a lot of time being in-between pcie slots will cause clearance issues with add-in cards. i think thats why some include it as optional or boards now have sink on them.
 
Lot of them come with a relatively flat heatspreader I think

https://www.xpg.com/en/xpg/596
d. What’s more, the S11 Pro is encased in a heatsink that reduces the SSD's temperatures by up to 10°C.

Or at least the marketing material claim too.

I think it is a good point about the less standard placement versus the ram and for which it make more sense to be motherboard specific, which could explain the very flat default small heatspreader that come with them for those that have them.
 
pendragon1 said:
might even be that ram slots are pretty standardize in location and clearance. m2 slots get stuck all over the place and a lot of time being in-between pcie slots will cause clearance issues with add-in cards. i think thats why some include it as optional or boards now have sink on them.
Click to expand...

That's definitely it. I wouldn't be able to run an SSD with anything bigger than a sticker on this rig.
 
LukeTbk said:
Lot of them come with a relatively flat heatspreader I think

https://www.xpg.com/en/xpg/596
d. What’s more, the S11 Pro is encased in a heatsink that reduces the SSD's temperatures by up to 10°C.

Or at least the marketing material claim too.

I think it is a good point about the less standard placement versus the ram and for which it make more sense to be motherboard specific, which could explain the very flat default small heatspreader that come with them for those that have them.
Click to expand...

That's a heatsink. I'm asking about slim heat spreaders like random access memory (think DDR3/DDR4 has. Spreaders not Sinks.
 
ZodaEX said:
That's a heatsink. I'm asking about slim heat spreaders like random access memory (think DDR3/DDR4 has. Spreaders not Sinks.
Click to expand...
Probably because the thermal pad they would likely have to use wouldn't be able to transfer heat fast enough for the chips to not heat soak. The heatsinks work because they can use higher clamping force and better thermal interface material, and have more surface area and thermal mass to suck heat away from that TIM.

I mean theoretically you could clamp a spreader tight to an m.2 stick, but then if the end user has to remove it to use the device, that's a problem. If you're going to put something that could potentially make it incompatible with some hardware, might as well go overkill (and it's really not for some of these, anyway).
 
NAND chips wear more if too cold so heatsinks are not applied to these.
A thin sliver of foil is often attached to the SSD controller, connected to the NAND chips, keeping them slightly warmer.
ie the controller can get pretty hot so is a good source of heat for the NAND.
When a heatsink is applied to an NVME SSD, it cools the controller directly and often not the NAND.
 
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On some motherboards, the SSD goes underneath, so you couldn't even see the heat spreader. And if you can't see it, what's the point? :whistle:
 
toast0 said:
On some motherboards, the SSD goes underneath, so you couldn't even see the heat spreader. And if you can't see it, what's the point? :whistle:
Click to expand...

The point is to cool down a SSD if it's running too hot. Seems like that's fairly obviously, no?
 
toast0 said:
On some motherboards, the SSD goes underneath, so you couldn't even see the heat spreader. And if you can't see it, what's the point? :whistle:
Click to expand...
You cant see something getting hot either, perhaps we shouldnt cool anything?
All those CPUs hidden under huge metal heatsinks when we could just use a piece of cardboard to hide it!
 
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