Stop your Samsung NVMe SSD from Overheating and Thermal Throttling

[@ElectronicsComputers]

I was the first one who made a video about this design flaw, but I'm not sure if I was the first one who noticed this problem. We received a bunch of laptops with fried controller chips on Samsung's SSDs that didn't have proper cooling and the chip didn't even touch the thermal pad. Later, Samsung came up with the 980 PRO with a built-in heatsink. And if you remove that heatsink, guess what you'll see inside? Yes, there will be several thermal pads with different thicknesses, just as I showed you in the video. But they went even further and made separate pads for small chips as well. You can check out the pictures: i.ibb.co/10HwmmQ/980PRO.jpg

[@cmos64]

Thanks for the video and for showing the thermal pad height difference on a built-in heatsink. I want to point out a worse issue that it still going strong without a single try to be fixed by motherboard manufacturers. Because of the height difference between the NAND and the other chips (controller, ram etc) build-in heatsinks on the motherboards push the M.2 drives down resulting in bent PCBs (google "nvme bent under heatsink" to see pictures of the issue). Different height thermal pads or putty are necessary not only to maintain normal temperature on high load but to avoid damaging the drive physically by applying too much force on one side of the PCB.

[@KOT-ANGRY]

OMG, found your video ❤, i have 2x Samsung 970 Evo Plus in my Lenovo laptop and...one disk when im gaming reaches 84C (controller temp), now HWinfo64 is showing 3 temps for these 970 Evo Plus, and 3rd temp is controller (like in your video)! Looked for pads - these 0.5mm costs 26€ for 1 little pad (why so expensive) 😮? I will try my luck in aliexpress mby 😢

[@KOT-ANGRY]

P.S. I noticed it ~year ago, now one amigo said that im crazy and these temps are super hot for SSD! A lot of forums here... When i installed it (changed my 970 evo 500gb to this 970 E P 2tb) i noticed that here are height difference on Samsung ssds!!! Thats annormal, Samsung, what are you doing?

[@ElectronicsComputers]

@@KOT-ANGRY There are way better thermal pads nowadays like GELID: alii.pub/6t99o1

[@othername2428]

​@@ElectronicsComputers very helpful and informative, thank-you. I'm curious though, would it be okay to just buy 1 thermal pad only, 0.5mm, and double-stack two 0.5mm pads on top of each other in place of the 1mm section, just to save a bit of money? Or would you highly recommend using the dedicated 1mm pad regardless?

[@Karel8X]

Finally someone with a really good advice who does not force me to watch 20 min video. Big thanks!

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Happy to help! Thank you for the comment!

[@pdazajhon2160]

@@ElectronicsComputers Appreciate videos like yours, direct and straight to the point, thanks.

[@Tressie13]

Oh yes!!

[@leonelantonio36]

Indeed nice video!

[@jasonsharen1109]

You just solved my mystery, bro. I also have a laptop with Samsung 970EVO Plus which gets hot like hell it even starts to smell like something's melting inside. I replaced the thermal pad twice and it didn't help. Today, I installed two cheap thermal pads 0.5mm and 1mm thick and OMG what a difference. And how as a regular consumer am I supposed to know that Samsung SSDs need two different pads to cool them down properly? Please Samsung tell me.

[@ElectronicsComputers]

I'm glad I could help you with your problem.

[@WarPigstheHun]

You can also put a thermal pad on the back of the PCB and place it (gently) against the mobo- the pad is electrically insulated, and the mobo itself is a giant heatsink. The m.2 socket is a tiny spring loaded hinge, and it will not break.

[@divers.studio5666]

same problem here I just hit 108°C

[@Soawano]

Love the fact that you made a base line stock vs stock + new thermal pads

[@hyperstimmed]

For most situations where the original pad was 1mm, I needed to use 1mm and 1.5mm. I tried using 0.5mm at first, since thinner is better, but in a few applications this resulted in poor contact with the heatsink, or even none at all. Meanwhile, adding the thickness to the controller side has worked well every time.

[@ElectronicsComputers]

You can use any combination of pad thickness that works with your cooling system, but the difference between pads should be 0.5mm just like in your case.

[@HaywoodCrossJr]

If you were to do it agian would you do 1mm and 1.75mm? Or does the 1mm and 1.5 work perfect?

[@computerjantje]

Yes I also used 1 and 1.5 to be sure it was touching the enclosure. Like the video creator says: as long as the difference is 0.5 between the two.

[@ammoniumhydroxide9739]

This point, that the heights are different, is critical. Good video.

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Thanks!

[@rswow]

Shame on Samsung. I thought they were the best. Guess not. Overlooking such a basic flaw they could fix for pennies.

[@mrd4233]

Thank you so much for the demostration! I am on my way to order this thermal pads to solve the overheating issues!

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Glad it was helpful!

[@kingcobralive3081]

@@ElectronicsComputers on bottom side do we need to apply the 1 mm one or .5 mm one ? Want to install firecuda 530 with heatsink on ps5 ?

[@ElectronicsComputers]

@@kingcobralive3081 If that heat sink requires a thermal pad at the bottom of the SSD, then use 0.5mm one. Otherwise I wouldn't use it at bottom of the drive.

[@pichonPoP]

I just mounted one of this 980pro recently, but didn't realize about that different on surface. I'll update the thermal pad next weeks. Thanks for making this video.

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Happy to help!

[@Brisleep1]

Thank you! I looked for differences between silicone thermal pads and there really isn't much information on them, I didn't really want to use what comes with a $15.00 m.2 heatsink so this showed me I'm right to get something better.

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Glad it was helpful!

[@paulmiddleton7168]

Without any heatsink and thermal pad, i was pumping up to 98'c when stress testing on my NVMe Samsung 970 pro 1tb. Suprisingly, it has lasted a whole year without a heatsink, but the temperatures for sure, were making me very nervous when i discovered them. So: Having now installed a heatsink after buying one, i am down to 75'c max under stress conditions. Still a bit hot, but this is faaaarr more normal, and i can have more confidence that i am OK to push the drive. Definitely invest in a heatsink for Samsung 970/980 nvme's. Knowing what i do now...i am SHOCKED that Samsung did not provide a heatsink with this particular product. The temperatures are clearly Dangerous by design.

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Totally agree with you! With such uneven surface design, they should have applied a built-in heatsink (just a custom built copper or aluminum stripe) like other manufacturers do. That would solve the problem.

[@car3448]

What brand cooler did you buy? I am looking at a be quiet m.2 heatsink right now and want to know if yours is better

[@paulmiddleton7168]

@@car3448 I bought a QIVYNSRY M.2 Heatsink from amazon for like £7 (US $9) and it solved all my temperature worries. It was cheap, all i wanted, and did the job. Installation difficulty: 1/10 Its super easy to install, as easy as lego bricks. I used the One thermal pad method, and its fine.

[@teemuvesala9575]

They are not. I've used 960 Pro for over 5 years without heatsink, still works well and according to Magician the drive is still in perfect health.

[@iikatinggangsengii2471]

970 is normal though wo heatsink it maxed at 60s (67 or smth)

[@Elberoth]

Thanks for the demoinstration. Got those Grizzly pads and was able to level all chips on my SX8200 PRO. Without the extra 0.5mm pad, the controller, which is the chip that actually gets hottest, was not touching the heatsink at all ! For SX8200 PRO, you actually need both 0.5m and 1mm pads - 0.5mm over the controller and 1mm where the SSD board misses a chip (on one side near the pin end).

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Happy to help!

[@revanvonheaven8270]

@@ElectronicsComputers I have a question how do you wrap a Ram card with thermal pads on it and is it okay to slowly untape the brand Crucial per say and paste it on top of the thermal pad or would that just void my warranty not that I care I just want to put thermal pads everywhere doing a huge repasting of my laptop I have never done the M2 and Ram but this was educational thank you!.

[@johncronk1338]

Great video, thanks. I’ll be sure to do this with my laptop. I was wondering if you’ve seen a big difference between thermal grizzly pads and other brands? Are we talking about only one or two *C or is it a bigger difference of say 5*C or more in the delta between stock pads and third party?

[@ElectronicsComputers]

The difference between the expensive and cheap no name pads is no more than 3-5C

[@alvareo92]

Biggest aspect should be durability

[@drl52488]

Thermal grizzly always amazes me. You have to be careful buying it though, a lot of Chinese knockoffs out there

[@reshad711]

@@ElectronicsComputers Hello, I have a laptop, I can also install it this way, or which nvme is not enough to warm up. which model will fit.

[@g33k98]

THANK YOU!!! My 980 Pro running on PCIe4 went from 67 degrees down to 46 degrees after doing this!! :D

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Great job!

[@CaptainScorpio24]

damn 😰🔥👍

[@michaelsumnerjr5819]

You kidding? This is super helpful. Wow what a quick and simple thing to improve Temps of the M.2's

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Glad it was helpful!

[@WarPigstheHun]

You can put the pad between PCB backside, and against the mobo to act as a heatsink. You can also put a thermal pad on only the controller, that way only the nand flash runs "warm" (meaning between 15-45° C), while the controller stays cool. Doing both allows you to cool the components that prefer cooling, while allowing the nand to stay "warm" - nand flash will actually degrade if too cold.

[@ImDembe]

Yeah, so in theory using a worse thermal pad is the way to go on the flash and a high quality one on the controller for best "durability"

[@davebing11]

@@ImDembe BS it is NEVER a good idea to run memory hotter as long as you are above -30C. space operations is a totally different story. This is if you are using a real heat sink that moves heat and not a block of metal that is just a heat 'capacitor'

[@ImDembe]

@@davebing11 -30c? Nandflash should not be to hot or cold, the controller is always better to have as cool as possible. The data on that was before, im not sure anything els have come out. Even if you have a good headsink with active cooling it will still store heat. so the controller will heat up the rest of the components either way. Most people don't need shit anyway, few people do benchmark level stress on a regular basis nor write heavy data daily, for that little group of people they might need to care.

[@Schanyee2]

nand flash will perform worse when its colder (not very noticable though) but it will extend its lifespan

[@HSGG_]

It will never reach the 'too cold' state when you are on earth dude, stop BS LOL

[@НикНеЗанят]

Everything is clear and understandable. Thank you. I have 970s.

[@ElectronicsComputers]

thank you for the comment!

[@hyperstimmed]

I went to re-pad my desktop and discovered the 970 Evo Plus doesn't measure the same as the 980 Pro. The controller was making contact at the same height as the memory, but with no contact in the middle where all those smaller components are. This is in conflict with some other reports of the same model, it may be different for various capacities, or they could have updated the design at some point.

[@trixniisama]

Same for me, the NAND and controller of the 970 Evo Plus are at the same height

[@wc.j3911]

@@trixniisamaso theres no need to separate / cut the pads?

[@vladislavkaras491]

Really short and informative! Thanks for the video!

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Glad it was helpful!

[@RoshDroz]

I noticed this exact thing on the Kingston Kc3000 and was wondering if I should do something different with the heat sink. Very glad to find your simple solution

[@ElectronicsComputers]

I'm glad I could help you!

[@Kej121]

I don't know why I end up in this video but I love the fact that this is straight to the point and full of useful informations.

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Thank you for the comment!

[@imakethesites3048]

This is a good follow-up from your "Upgrade your Dell XPS 9500 Series" video, which I followed to upgrade my 9510 with the 980 and am now experiencing even worse heat than I was before!

[@ElectronicsComputers]

What thermal pads did you use? There's a 0.4-0.5mm difference between chips. So you need to put for example a 1mm pad on the controller chip and a 0.5mm pad on the memory chips.

[@imakethesites3048]

@@ElectronicsComputers I didn't know I needed thermal pads, I just put a heatsink that seems to have one already

[@swaggerdo7231]

Thank you for this great self help improvement. I did not know a Ruskie can be as detailed as a Gerry.

[@ElectronicsComputers]

What are you talking about?

perfect! I had the same problem, thanks to your modification I'm 10 degrees cooler now! Many thousand thanks for this valuable video! :🥳💪👍

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Great job! Glad it helped.

[@TheUnchosenOne]

What actually makes this particularly egregious is that the nand modules actually like being hot while the controller performs best at low temps, so without varying the pad sizes the cooling is super inefficient.

[@syarifairlangga4608]

I think being used already make the Nand hot. Except first boot

[@gertvogelaar]

Today I installed my Samsung 970 EVO Plus with ELUTENG M2 heatsink on my Z170A MB. At first it ran pretty hot at idle 53C and 65C max. Then I added the second silicon warmth pad and measured again: idle: 47C and 63C max. Still a bit too hot to my taste, but then after closing my PC cabinet the proper airflow was re-established. Now I measured 39C and 54C! So now I am happy. I also installed a Crucial NVMe on a PCI board and that one runs a lot cooler still with the same type of heatsink: 25C idle and 35C max! No additional ventilators needed. The on-board airflow is cooling both NVMe’s more than sufficiently.

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Great job!

[@rumcajs009]

Cheers buddy, this video was awesome!

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@skattterdude]

This really works. Had to send my 970 EVO Plus in for warranty because it kept randomly overheating and shutting itself down. Of course samsung techs said it was fine and they could not reproduce the issue. This method + a heat sink on amazon worked beautifully

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Great job! This will extend the life of your SSD and ensure it runs smoothly without any crashes. I'm happy to help!

[@hArDsTyLe2259]

Thanks so much for this! My laptops 980 Pro temps have dropped to 54c on the same benchmark and even after running Samsungs magician benchmark right after the max temp was only 63c! It is only on pci gen 3 but still impressive as the m.2 is next to my cpu and only uses a thin aluminium heatsink.

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Good job!

[@terrapinflyer273]

Great video! Lucky for me, I'm running a 980 Pro in a Gen2 slot shared with 2 SATA port bandwidths. Mine stays nice and cool, maxing out at around 52°C (and at ~850MB/s lmao) without a heatsink. But, this did remind me to keep an eye on the controller sensor and add a few other temp sensors to my RTSS OSD. Once I upgrade to a higher gen slot I will definitely be applying this cooling technique. Possibly sooner, if I notice the temps I wasn't watching reach a worrisome threshold.

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Thank you for the comment!

[@uscop7059]

Great video! Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us.

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Glad it was helpful!

[@peymanucf]

thank you for useful video, i try this and bought cooler master thermal pads for my precision 5570, conductivity is 12 w/mc . i bought samsung 990 pro 1TB and gigabyte 2500E 1TB. i checked thermal sensors, IC controller temperature for samsung in above 76 C during "software crystal disk mark" check. so is it high or normal? my NVME read speed is 5500 not 7450 for 990 pro. i guess controller reduce speed for decreasing temperature. i check heat sink but i cannot check visually for heat sink contact to the thermal pad. do you have any solutions for checking thermal pad contact to heat sink? how? other question, i install 990 pro on SSD2 slot if i relocate samsung from SSD2 to SSD1 slot, it may be better to reduce 990 pro temp.?

[@ElectronicsComputers]

It doesn't matter in which slot you put your SSD, both have the same PCIe Gen4 speeds and other specs. If you applied a 0.75-1mm pad on the controller and a 0.5mm pad on the NAND chips, then all your components are making proper contact with the heatsink. 76°C under heavy load I'd consider a borderline high temperature, but in real life, even when gaming, you won't reach those temperatures on a constant basis. Also, in my case, I deliberately used a Gen 4 SSD on a Gen 3 capable laptop to lower temps; in your case, to do the same trick, you'd need to use Gen 5 SSDs. Overall, just monitor the temperature for a couple of days doing your regular tasks, and if the temperature stays in the range of up to 59°C, I wouldn't worry about SSD overheating and thermal throttling.

[@daveroski]

Great video. I feel it would make sense to do each chip separately. This way the conduction from the hotter controller doesn’t heat up the other chips. This probably isn’t possible in a laptop but in a desktop would be ideal.

[@Fluvance]

This only makes sense if you have individual heatsinks. But it's actually better to have a large heatsink so that the controller and cache have a large shared heatsink to dissipate into. For SSDs, the heatsinks aren't really for continuous heat dissipation, but more as a temporary heat buffer for short bursts. Because the typical workload involves short burst transfers that will spike the chip temperature for a few seconds, rather than long sustained transfers, in which case your small heatsink included on most SSDs or motherboards isn't nearly enough to handle the ~3W heat output for long periods without airflow.

[@carlose6010]

@@Fluvance So in otherwords you're saying I'm screwed xD. I want a drive to hold 1tb of gopro 4k footage.. seems transfering this footage the ssd gets hot in my laptop.. Gonna try bumping the fans and see if it'll help nexted time. Atleast once the data is on, it should be ok.

[@DavidsonLoops]

@@Fluvance it sounds like you know what youre talking about im in hotel now i cant get my tv to work, how i can change the source without the remote working properly on an old phillips tv that hasnt got a source button or full functionally on the device itself?

[@simont7045]

@@DavidsonLoops what ?

[@Machistmo]

This is a GOOD video. No.. Its a GREAT video. Brings a murky problem into specific relief. Concise. Bravo Sir

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Glad it was helpful!

[@BrunoSepp]

Спасибо за видео, очень полезная информация!

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Happy to help!

[@CharlesM236]

Today I found this video again, and after many searches and researching this video is the best way to do it. The only thing to think of is that the memory chips don't like cooling they work beter with some heating.🤔 Well that's what I read. Now it's time to see if massive heatsink from ICY box will help my 990 PRO m. 2 But I am impressed by how good the motherboard Z590-E can cool by design. Because my first tryout with a heatsink and fan wash not working, and think this video show why that can be. Thank you for the opportunity again to rethinking the best way to apply the heat patches. 👍💯

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Thank you for the comment! I'm happy to help. And don't leave those NAND chips without a heatsink. There are no electronic components that like heat, well, maybe except for electron tubes/vacuum tubes. Even if there's some slight performance boost for a warm chip, which you'll never notice in real life, there's a bunch of other components around that definitely won't be happy with high temperatures.

[@aidenreaper4196]

Great video and thank you for your detailed explanation. In my case, I have a 970 pro samsung nvme in my desktop. Is the procedure the same if I purchase the thermal pads (0,5 & 1)and a EKWB EK-M.2 NVME Heatsink? I am having serious temprature problems with the controller of the nvme.

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Yes, 0.5mm and 1mm pads will do the job.

[@aidenreaper4196]

@@ElectronicsComputers Do I have to buy both? I am using the nvme in a tower not a laptop. I think that you mentioned in the video that a thick thermal pad should do the trick.

[@ElectronicsComputers]

@@aidenreaper4196 If your cooling solution allows you to use 1-1.5mm thick thermal pad then in most cases no need to use two thermal pads.

[@maxhughes5687]

The location of your m.2 socket will matter also. On the mobo under a GPU is awful. Mounted up on a PCIe AIC the cooler gets more air flow. If you have a GEN4 socket away from other components use that. If you have the clearance an air cooler with heat pipes is best. Or of coarse a Corsair water block is the best solution right now. I agree with E&C match the pad height to the chip height and use the best pads you can find. 12W/kM or 8WkM, standard pads are just 1.5WkM.

[@Lead_Foot]

The EK m.2 heatsink already comes with thermal pads with different thicknesses.

[@michaelb.3570]

Hi @Electronics&Computers, thanks for the great video. One of the best tutorials in the last decade. My question is can and „shall“ I use the 0.5mm Thermalpad method on my samsung oem 980 pro (pm9a1) 2TB and my 980 pro 1tb. I am going to use both under the thermal guards (onboard heatsinks) in my desktop gigabyte gaming x z690 ddr5 mainboard. Both heatsinks have pre installed thermalpads by gigabyte. My plan is just to use the cutout 0,5mm thermalpad on the controller side to align with the height of the nands to make it even. The thermalguard of the mainboard with the pre installed thermalpads would then overlap/sync with both the nands and the 0.5mm controller compound. Are u seeing any issues with doing so or any better idea to close the controller gap under a pre installed mainboard heatsink. Thanks in advance.

[@ernestg7466]

Muy interesante que ese pequeño espacio haga la diferencia, gracias por compartir. Saludos.

[@KaijuCountry]

I just got the 970 EVO 2tb installed in my Alienware m15 R4 in the last week and noticed immediately that I was having extreme heat problems. It was even affecting my cpu. I've had to undervolt the cpu by 100.6 to get the temps under control but the 970's Drive Temperature 3 is still running at 76 minimum. It's freaking me out. Thank you SO MUCH for this information. I was worried I was gonna burn out the whole laptop if I couldn't figure it out.

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Yeah, 970 gets really hot. try to use two pads with different thickness. In my laptop I use two 2TB 980EVO and it's a big difference in terms of temperature.

[@AldoApachi-]

What a great video. I'm currently looking into acquiring a pcie slot for SSD and researching all the needed info. Thanks a lot. This was so helpful.

[@ElectronicsComputers]

I'm glad I could help you!

[@Doviruses.existbaileyonodysee]

i got the fanxiang s770 one review of the s770 mentioned hot spot with the heat gun (and on the image it was near the location of the controller/dram). which made me wonder if it is actually something that may effect lifespan. I measured this one i brought and using a feeler gauge i could fit 0.3mm/dram and 0.25/controller between when holding the product against the heatsink that came in box. I can kind of work with a bit of pressure to level the thermal pad out lvl. ** But am also tempted to buy/cut/sand .3mm shims, and also use the thermal pad to isolate it from the other components smaller component, and use a solder paste between the heatsink and the nand/controller/dram.

[@ElectronicsComputers]

The easiest solution is to simply use Upsiren thermal putty. It will cover the entire surface of the SSD and its components, transferring significantly more heat from the drive to the heatsink than a thermal pad. The link in the description.

[@troilus8286]

Thanks! I was getting crazy with the choose of the right thermal pad's thickness for the nvme upgrading of my Dell XPS 9370. Are three 0.5 mm pads a bad solution to obtain one of 1.5 mm thick?

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Don't do that, those 0.5 mm pads stacked together is not gonna perform even close as good as a one 1.5 mm pad.

[@hikosan7563]

@@ElectronicsComputers so the more thick it is, the better.

[@ElectronicsComputers]

@@hikosan7563 No! There's 0.5mm difference between two surfaces and that's how you can level it.

[@PuzzleCombatArchive]

Excellent video. Thank you very much for taking the time to put this together and uploading it. Its greatly appreciated. ❤

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Glad it was helpful!

[@SevenDeMagnus]

Hi. Do you need two heatsinks for M.2 NVME (one for the bottom and one for the top? What's the thickness in mm for both heatsinks?)? And should we remove the sticker for better contact with the thermal pad? What's the thickness in mm is the big heatsink you used in this video? Thank you. God bless, Revelation 21:4

[@ElectronicsComputers]

The pad for the controller chip is 1mm thick and the pad for the memory chips is 0.5mm thick. There's no need to remove the sticker from the SSD because it will void the warranty and there won't be any dramatic difference in the temperature.

[@SevenDeMagnus]

@@ElectronicsComputers You're welcome (on me subbing). If it's ok to ask for advise and recommendations, I need a new multimeter. Among my multimeter choices, BSIDE S11 or the S20 which is best for these repair iPhone 5, Wacom Intuos 4 and retro video game consoles specifically the Dreamcast, most don't have power. BSIDE is the brand name. When I posted the specs and links here, the KZbin bot or automatic censoring system blocked it. It can be checked at that popular chinese retail website (my apologies.) They have the S10 model which uses AAA. You're recommendations are welcome. Thank you. Stay safe. God bless, Rev. 21:4

[@ElectronicsComputers]

@@SevenDeMagnus To me, those multimeters look like some toys. For 25 bucks you can buy more serious tool from the same manufacturer: alii.pub/5yswee Or if you wont something more reliable and serious but not expensive then I'd recommend buying one of these: ali.pub/5yswl0 alli.pub/5yswlz

[@SevenDeMagnus]

@@ElectronicsComputers Thanks. I'll save up for those. By the way my current multitester's temperature probe won't work anymore. I'm avoiding buying (it take awhile too, to arrive) to lessen the thrash when I throw the broken one. How do you usually repaire a temperature probe (mine is just that braided wire with a rounded ball at the end, not the rod one).

[@playonkorg]

Height differences in chips on the SSD circuit board.....learned something again, thanks!!

[@ElectronicsComputers]

@@playonkorg Always welcome!

[@ewenchan1239]

I've actually ran the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis and found that it is actually better if you cut the thermal pad even further such that EACH of the individual components that needs to be cooled, has is own thermal pad. I'll have to check my data, but I think that I vaguely recall the delta being somewhere between 0.5-1.3 C, I think? Not huge, in the overall grand scheme of things, but if you want the absolute best performance (measured as the lowest temperature), then having the individual thermal pads for the indivdiual components is the best way to go.

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Totally agree with you.

[@MrKentaroMotoPI]

Or how about a row of pin-fin heatsinks, each glued on to the local contour. Far more effective than a flat heatsink.

[@Misferado]

Спасибо! Раньше не обращал на такие, казалось бы, мелочи внимания.

[@kashonder]

WOW that's genius. Thanks a lot brother 😀👍

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Most welcome 😊

[@SillySausage-mq3so]

I just got a kit for my SSD, upgrading the laptop, as far as I can remember never had a cooler on the SSD bought it in 2019, can't hurt :) Thanks for the video.

[@ElectronicsComputers]

A proper cooling for an NVMe SSD is crucial for maintaining its longevity.

Bought some items from your links so I hope I helped a bit. Thanks for the video tutorial!

[@ElectronicsComputers]

I'm happy to help and thank you for your support!

[@jamesdavidian7717]

Bought a 250GB 970Evo in 2018 that just burnt out in 2022.. after hundreds of hours of video editing/adobe aftereffects rendering, etc. It was worth the performance though. Next time, I will add the thermal pads/heat sink. Thanks for the video.

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Thanks for sharing

[@shadowr2d2]

Thank you for posting this video 🎥🍿🍺🇺🇸. You have a new subscriber 🎉. Keep up the great 👍 work 🎉.

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Thanks for the sub!

[@101Licious]

Didn't know about the gap :-/ Thanks man ! Just ordered my pads.

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Happy to help!

[@SpudCommando]

I used mx-6 paste instead of pads instead, its messy but its non conductive and didn't really need to measure just eyeballed it and temps are much better.

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Instead of using a thermal pad, you can opt for thermal putty. It’s slightly more viscous than regular thermal paste, tends to last longer, and is less messy. However, thermal paste will also get the job done effectively.

[@maguro-_-otoro]

Thank you for sharing this. I've been doing this on some of my SSDs after noticing that the controller is almost always a different thickness from the NAND and doesn't make contact with the heatsink.

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Glad it helped

[@MechInfantry2AD]

Thanks alot. You helped me alot with this. Squared away my overheating issues with my new drives.

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Happy to help!

[@dannydoan3695]

I'm sorry for a few newbie questions. Can I only use the the heatsink without the thermal pad? Or the heatsink and thermal pad have to use together to reduce heat? I need to upgrade my laptop M.2 2280 NVMe SSD to 1TB from 256BG. It looks like the M.2 2280 NVMe SSD on my laptop doesn't have the heatsink or thermal pad on top of it. My Dell laptop manual said that it doesn't come with the SSD thermal bracket. Is the thermal bracket and heatsink are the same? Thanks so much

[@ElectronicsComputers]

You can't use a heat sink without a thermal pad because the last one conducts heat from the surface of your SSD to the heat sink. What's the model of your laptop?

[@dannydoan3695]

@@ElectronicsComputers My laptop model is Inspiron 7506 2-in-1 Silver. Thanks so much for your help

[@williamshenk7940]

Excellent video!! It makes a lot of sense too. Thanks for the information. I have found this problem recently with my Dell XPS. It has been causing me issues. Now, I have it on the run.

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Glad it helped! Samsung actually fixed the problem with their SSD heat sink version in the same way: i.ibb.co/10HwmmQ/980PRO.jpg

[@zakk1699]

Just got my idle temperature from 41 degrees down to 30 degrees idle. Id call that a win! Thank you so much

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Great job! I'm happy to help.

[@drpeemac]

wow...such a talented fellow ...you jave earned my sub bro...keep it up

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Thanks for the sub!

[@exercept-mn7sw]

Just got my hands on a Samsung 970 EVO Plus (1TB) - manufactured 2023-02-22. The NAND memory chips seem to have a lower profile than the ones in your video now, or at least the controller chip + heatspreader and sticker is slightly higher than the memory chips with the ruler test. I understand that the controller chip is the most critical component to cool, and the memory chips are lower by ~0.2mm using a cheap, rudimentary feeler gauge. So there was nothing I felt could be improved with different thermal pads in my situation. Perhaps Samsung have solved this design flaw?

[@stedmaster]

What about removing the ssd label aswell? Surely that would improve thermal conductivity to the pad and heatsink

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Removing the label will void the warranty and it doesn't make any real difference in cooling your SSD.

[@andrescruz9448]

The label is actually designed to act as a heat sink, although not the most effective it's better than nothing

[@stedmaster]

@@ElectronicsComputers Yeah apparently it's made of a thermal conductive material. Seeing some comparison benchmarks would still be good for the maximum performance user, I'm sure you can remove the sticker easily with care using a hair dryer or heat gun and even stick it back on later, how would anyone know?

[@MiseSapphire]

I did remove the label and there is difference in temperature.

[@igordabik]

Seeking some general advice. The 2TB 990 Pro I got does not seem to have as pronounced of a gap on the controller side. If anything, the DRAM module is the shallowest, and the NAND modules and the controller module seem to be the same height. So the 0.5mm and 1mm pads aren't flattening out the way it sits on a flat surface. Wondering if (a) i should use a single-same thickness pad for the whole thing or (b) cut the same thickness pad into three pieces to cover each of the heights separately and maybe squish it to even them out, or (c) if i should look for a 0.75mm pad? I can't find a grizzly 0.75mm one, so would take recommendations.

[@ElectronicsComputers]

For that model just use a single 0.5mm thermal pad. Alternatively, before applying a one single thermal pad you can apply a tiny one on small chips just like Samsung did for their heatsink version SSD i.ibb.co/10HwmmQ/980PRO.jpg but anyways using one pad would be sufficient.

[@igordabik]

@@ElectronicsComputers Thank you so much for the quick response, EC

[@Zen0sa]

nice info thanks! i saw some people complaint about the pro not performing well under heavy load :)

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Thanks for watching!

[@GS-XV]

It looks like on current copies of Samsung 970 Evo Plus SSDs the NAND chips have been replaced with thinner ones, at least such difference in thickness is not visible on my new drive. It also has the Phoenix controller on your 970 Evo changed to Elpis by Samsung, so it's a bit different now.

[@in2caffeine]

Thanks. I'm wondering if instead of buying 2 sizes, just use double .5mm to create a thinker pad as needed?

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Yes, you can do that. Xbox uses such technique in their power supply but the thermal conductivity will be slightly lower, though.

[@TheBeardedLibertarian]

thank you, been fighting the heat problem for a few weeks on a new unraid build.

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Glad I could help

[@JonaFuentes]

Would you recommend this installation for an Asus Vivobook 15 k513ea?

[@EliteRock]

I just bought 250GB 970 Evo Plus, manufacture date Oct 2021, its layout is exactly the same as the 2TB one here (which is August 2020) but all four chips are at the same height, so it appears Samsung revised it in late production (unless it's just that the smaller NAND chips are thinner). Silly oversight for such a huge concern I have to say - assuming it was an oversight and not just a lazy "nah, it'll be fine" attitude. ETA >> I have a 500GB EVO Plus as the system drive in the PC I'm typing on, I used a 3rd party heatsink (instead of the flat piece of alloy Asus provide) with two thicknesses of pad from the get-go, but was surprised to find it was still idling in the high 40's°C and getting well into the 60's°C under load (NAND a few degrees cooler) - so I wedged a 40mm Noctua fan (set to run at 2500RPM/50%) in the cabling adjacent to it, blowing down its length from the socket/controller end and they dropped at least 10°C. I shudder to think about the temps it would run in a laptop.

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Perhaps they changed the chips and evened out the surface. Samsung also implements similar methods to what I demonstrated in the video on some of their SSD models equipped with heatsinks. However, they've gone a step further by applying thermal pads with varying thickness to all chips: i.ibb.co/10HwmmQ/980PRO.jpg

[@gabiballetje]

Yeah, the memory usually doesn't mind being hot at all, but the controller does, and they're thinner and lack contact often. So i always wondered why they don't just use two different pads, small thicker one clearly for the controller, and longer thinner one for the memory modules, stick those on, and done. Should be fine, should work better. I'd almost say if they made the M.2 heatsink so only the controller gets a pad and is cooled that would be fine too, as long as maybe the heatsink doesn't touch the memory modules at all, so it doesn't squeeze those, might be bad, and it should work better ? It would also almost certainly be even better if you remove the sticker first. You might not be able to see what drive is which from the outside afterwards, but i doubt most people will do that if at all after installing, most people just install it and keep it there.

[@kirkdarling4120]

I've just actually done that in two laptops. I used a thermal adhesive patch on just the controller of a 970 EVO Plus, which allows the heat sink to float a fraction of a millimeter above the memory modules. It's in contact only with the controller, which gives the controller sole benefit of the heat sink thermal mass. I'm can't push it above 70C under load and it's running only 40C at idle.

[@nilsfrahm1323]

It's actually the other way around: flash memory getting hot can get damaged, while controller is just a chip and will just throttle (by software). You can argue that controller being not in contact with the heatsink acts as a safety switch for ssd, because heat stays on it, it goes hot (70C+), while flash is still just warm, like 45C, ssd slows down, cools and this way flash stays in warm temp range. But if both flash and controller are in contact with heatsink, flash will go higher temp (65C) and controller will stay also at 65C, which may be bad for flash.

[@gabiballetje]

@@nilsfrahm1323 But the flash memory can handle heat a little better, doesn't get as fast, the controller gets hot faster, lower safe peak temperature i think, and is more likely to be damaged by it. Throttling is the safeguard, sure, but that means it'll go slower than the memory might be able to. Not so useful. There's a reason they say the memory getting hot is not so much the problem but the controller getting hot is, and it's mostly that that needs cooling, or are you going against just about everything everybody knows about M.2 ssd's ?

[@ash600rr]

very good video. may i suggest removing that labelling cover from the ssd and applying the pads directly onto the onto it

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Removing the label will void the warranty and it doesn't make any real difference in cooling your SSD.

[@JeriDro]

this video is going into my youtube "computer" playlist!

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Thank you!

[@kracoulcreterion7756]

Works fine also with 990 - 10% plus in performance for both reading and writing!

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Great job!

[@jz479]

Many thanks. I just installed thermalpads and external radiator on my 970 Evo Plus in Acer Nitro 5 laptop. Maybe the parts were not expensive (ordered from amazon) but the difference is undisputed. Now I need repeat in on second disk Lexar NM800Pro, which reguires different thermopads shape.

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Great job! I'm happy to help.

[@kilroy987]

I bought an Enermax heatsink to go with mine. The difference in height between the controller chip and NANDs is so tiny, I just piled a 1.0mm thermal strip across the top and used a 0.5mm on the bottom. I'm only using the drive for gaming, not constant writing, so I'm not too concerned about the effects. My max temps after the same CrystalDiskMark test are 58C on the controller and 49C on the NANDs, but my airflow in that area of the case isn't great. My controller at max runs 5C hotter than yours, but still 5C better than your application with the gap. I'll live with it. My idle temps are 45C controller/39C NANDs (8C/2C hotter than yours, but 5C/2C better than with your gap).

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Great job!

[@osamah.mohamed3629]

Thank you for your informative Video, I have 970 evo plus 2TB and become overheated up to 63C on disk mark test. My motherboard is Gigabyte Z790 elite ax D4 and i am currently installing this M.2 on the second slot. Do you recommend to replace the current thermal pad with thicker pad that could does better like Thermalright ODYSSEYⅡ2mm 14.8w/mk or stick to your method and size (0.5mm & 1.00 mm). your advised is highly appreciated.

[@ElectronicsComputers]

I don't think that you can put 2mm pad under that heatsink. The higher thermal conductivity the harder the pad. So it may not be properly compressed. The optimal solution is 1mm and 0.5mm pad for those SSDs. But don't use Grizzly pads there's way better solutions nowadays. We switched to GELID Solutions gp-ultimate 15W/MK: alii.pub/6oz44c

[@hellexs68]

Thank you for your video just a quick question, shouldn't the labels be removed on the Samsung SSD to be directly in contact with the thermal pad?

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Don't remove that label. First of all it won't make a big difference. And secondly, it will void your warranty.

[@hellexs68]

many thanks for your reply tomorrow i get my heatsink and install it this weekend. Thank you.

[@opikbadig2711]

hello, if I don't remove the label, will the thermalpad become sticky and damage the label after a while?

[@ElectronicsComputers]

@@opikbadig2711 It won't damage the label. It's not that sticky to damage anything it's just like a silicone pad.

[@bogdi55]

Hello, would the 0.5 and 1mm pad sizes be eough to reach the heatsink plate for a normal desktop mb with nvme slot with a heatsink?

[@prettyboyexclusive6614]

Put the link for the heatsink for the 990 pro

[@Jamesrdc]

Good info but I’ve come to the conclusion that thermal pads are good for temporary work but after a while absorb heat, considering it is a solid gel like substance it must retain heat just as well as it retains ambient temps when idle.

[@gutnick]

Excellent video! Really professional and valuable information! I will definitely subscribe!

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Thanks and welcome

[@gutnick]

@@ElectronicsComputers I put the blue insulation on top of my SSD, under the aluminum holder. The HWInfo suggests the temperature is remaining low. Thank you! I'm going up change the Trackpad. Does it make sense to put another layer of the blue insulation on top of the aluminum SSD holder? Thank you

[@KOT-ANGRY]

Me subscribed too! Will look for cheap pads (grizzly costs unbelievable price) 😢

[@ShadowLancer128]

Unfortunately the Samsung Galaxy Book Flex laptop I bought was too small for a good heatsink. I tried using a couple of copper heatsinks that you just attach to the thermal pads, but that tragically resulted in the heatsink absorbing all the heat and not dissipating it fast enough to keep up with my 970 Evo Plus. I need a really good heatsink with an active fan to keep up with my SSD, or I at least need to upgrade to a 980 Pro even for my PCIe 3.0 laptop because it just runs cooler. Maybe I'll be able to fit the 980 pro w/ heatsink into my laptop?

[@ElectronicsComputers]

You need at least 3 mm clearance to install a heatsink and a thermal pad. Your best option might be just upgrading to 980PRO.

[@in_vas_por8810]

With this method are you accounting for the pre-installed copper plate/pad on the bottom of the 970 pro? Did you remove it? It seems that this pad is approximately .5mm thick on the bottom NAND side, which is why you applied .5mm to the top side, and 1mm to the top controller side; making the both sides equal 1mm. I don't see people being specific about this, so your input would be greatly appreciated.

[@ElectronicsComputers]

It has nothing to do with a preinstalled copper plate. The surface of that SSD is uneven, and you need either a super compressible thermal pad (which is very bad in heat conduction), or you need to use several thermal pads of different thicknesses to level that surface. Samsung also made an SSD with heatsink, and they basically did what I showed in the video. They even went further and made different pads for small chips. You can see it here: i.ibb.co/10HwmmQ/980PRO.jpg

[@Watfa3D]

What about cutting the heatsink itself into two parts? As to my knowledge, the thinner the thermal pad is, the better it will perfom.

[@Gin2341]

The stock thermal pads usually have really poor thermal conductivity compared to aftermarket ones like Thermal Grizzly

[@gavinlangford2984]

Just the video I need..Is it the same method for a seagate Firecuda 530?

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Firecuda 530 has more or less even surface, so if you can use 1mm pad it will perfectly cover all components.

[@gavinlangford2984]

@@ElectronicsComputers cool..will a samsung 980 pro 500gb be enough for just windows and programs? Will a furecuda 530 be overkill for just windows and programs??

[@gavinlangford2984]

@@ElectronicsComputers Asus recommends thermal pads od 1.25mm thickness pads for my Asus maximus z690 extreme motherboard. Should I gocwith recomm3nded sizes or is 1mm enough??

[@ElectronicsComputers]

@@gavinlangford2984 You can use any thermal pads 1-1.5mm thick. If you can find high-quality 1.25mm pad, then go with it. Otherwise choose something else.

[@gavinlangford2984]

@@ElectronicsComputers awesome. Thermal grizzly make a thickness of 1.5 mm. This will be alright to suit 1.25 instead of 1 mm??

[@eisvolh]

Great video! Just one question, do I remove the pre-installed thermal pad from the heat sink?

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Removing the label will void the warranty and it doesn't make any real difference in cooling your SSD.

[@eisvolh]

@@ElectronicsComputers okay thanks! One more thing, do I really need to get different thickness pads or could I just do this with 1.0mm pads?

[@KnightmareUSA]

My 970 evo ssd doesn't seem to be reading or writing according to sentinel as it's temp slowly approaches 60c, running unreal engine demos. The gpu stays well under 60c at all times but the gpu power used can be up to around 150 to 200w. I suspect the gpu is the likely cause of temp build up as the ssd has never reached 60c in any other situation. I will try some new pads on the ssd but I suspect repositioning the ssd or gpu out to give more room may be a solution (or changing the OS ssd drive to something that runs cooler)

[@ElectronicsComputers]

If you see 60°C in Samsung Magician, which only shows the NAND temperature, keep in mind that the controller is much hotter-likely around 80°C. This is quite hot and can significantly shorten the lifespan of the drive. However, if the temperature you mentioned is for the controller, it's not as bad. To reduce temperatures, place your SSD in the slot farthest from heat sources like the graphics card or chipset, and consider applying two thermal pads to even out the surface. If your motherboard supports Gen 3 or Gen 4 NVMe, try installing a drive with a generation higher than your board supports. This can slightly boost performance while keeping the SSD cooler, as you won't be pushing SSD to its full potential.

[@Oshernik123]

Hi! Thanks a lot for the video - this is really helpful. Do I understand it correctly that if Thermal pad is initially 1mm(on my motherboard MSI X670E Carbon) then I can simply put SSD without accounting for height difference?

[@ElectronicsComputers]

In most cases thick thermal pads cover uneven surfaces better but it also depends on the heatsink and how the SSD is mounted. Check out how Samsung installs their SSDs in their heatsink: i.ibb.co/10HwmmQ/980PRO.jpg They went even further than I did and made separate pads for small chips as well. I'd leave 1mm pad for the NAND chips and added 1.5mm pad for the controller chip. But first test the temperature of your SSD using some software, that shows two temperature sensors not one and then decide what to do.

[@slueepy]

Can you do this to WD SN750 SSDs? I wonder if the sizes of thermal pads required would be different

[@Simpleboneguy]

Hi where did you get the heatsink form your Dell laptop?

[@chasugc3740]

This is good information about cooling. Thanks.

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Glad it was helpful!

[@nick066hu]

Hi, I'm from the future, it's 2024 now. I guess this applies to the newest 990 Pro also, and the other brands as well, maybe also for the Gen5 boards? Are the controller vs. memory chips placed in a similar layout? Could someone pls. confirm it makes sense on these newer models also to divide the heatsink? Strange that this apparent solution is not more widespread.

[@ElectronicsComputers]

It depends on the model and manufacturer. The Samsung 990 has an almost flat surface. You can check your drive with any flat surface, and then you'll understand whether to use one pad or two. If you're using that drive in a desktop computer, you're more flexible, as those heatsinks can easily accommodate a 1mm pad, which will compress and cover all uneven parts. If it's for a laptop, where you can only use a 0.5mm pad, there's no room for compression, and the surface should be absolutely flat or evened out with two pads. Samsung actually does something similar with their heatsink version of the SSD, but they go even further by applying separate pads of different thicknesses for all chips: i.ibb.co/10HwmmQ/980PRO.jpg

[@Greedisgood626]

Is this applicable to the Samsung 990 Pro without the builtin heatsink? Are the NAND and controller chips same size as the video? (31 and 37mm respectively)?

[@ElectronicsComputers]

@@Greedisgood626 That SSD has almost flat surface. Depending on your heat sink and thermal pad, you can use it with one 0.5mm thermal pad.

[@Greedisgood626]

@@ElectronicsComputers thank you brother

[@souviksamanta8938]

Can you please make a video for Samsung gen 3 vs gen 4 on dell xps 15 which has only gen 3 pic Express slot

[@ElectronicsComputers]

I already have a video like that.

[@aditparvez5138]

I really love your work. However I have an inquiry can you kindly help me! I have a Corsair mp 600 with heatsink and I wanna add thermal pad will it fit?? Can you kindly give some instructions

[@ElectronicsComputers]

That SSD should already come with a thermal pad between the SSD itself and the heatsink. But some models come with just a small application of thermal putty. Of course, you can buy a high quality thermal pads like Grizzly 0.5 or 1mm pad for better thermal performance. Using two different size pads for that SSD model is not necessary.

[@ei..]

I dont have any heatsink on my 970 evo in my desktop pc. Was noticing it started to throttle somtimes, but the contoller temp was 75℃, and the drive temp 57℃. Do you still think the temperature might be the problem? I've already ordered a heatsink and thermal pads just in case, but I thought 75℃ was well withing range of these ssd's.

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Anything higher than 60℃ is not good for all electronic components. Your SSD will run perfectly well for some time under those conditions, but will it shorten its life and make it unreliable for storing valuable data, yes for sure.

[@menwai7443]

Great video. I have 980 pro on my desktop and I’m going to use your method. But I saw some comments said that 0.75mm is better than 0.5mm, and the other one still use 1mm. Now I’m so confuse that I should buy 0.5mm or 0.75mm, I haven’t any professional tools to measure that.

[@ElectronicsComputers]

There's about 0.5mm difference between the chips. So 0.5mm and 1mm works just fine. You can also use 0.5mm for the controller and 0.75mm for NAND.

[@scintillatingNoise]

Thanks for the video! I have just ordered the WD Black SN850, could this work also with that modell? I wasn't sure if the heatsinc would still fit into my thin Aero 15 laptop, so I didnt' order one. probably bad idea, right?

[@ElectronicsComputers]

There's no heatsink for that model, so no sense to use thermal pads. WD Black SN85 is a Gen4 SSD when your laptop has only Gen3 speeds support, so your SSD won't overheat.

[@zootopiashow]

Amazing work sir ... just installed Samsung Pro 980 2TB in my PS5 using your technique.

[@ElectronicsComputers]

Good job!