Cooling ASRock DeskMini x300 - cooling of M2 SSD's

[Kid_E]

Hello,

I'm finalizing the build of my ASRock DeskMini x300.
For now, I've already the following components installed inside :

- Ryzen 3 2200G
- Noctua noctua NH-L9a-AM4 which I set in the BIOS to run as standard (as opposed to quiet)
- Kingston NV2 NVMe PCIe 4.0, SSD 1 To
- G.Skill Ripjaws F4-3200C22D-16GRS (2x8GB)
- Intel Wi-Fi 6E AX210 M.2 non vPro

What I've still to install :
- 2 x Delock Antenna Cable RP-SMA jack bulkhead ferrite core to MHF (10cm)
- 2 x Delock WLAN 802.11 ac/a/b/g/n Antenna RP-SMA plug 4 - 5 dBi omnidirectional with tilt joint
- 5600G to replace the current 2200G

The 1TB M2 SSD contains Win 10 and will be used to run most of the programs. I wanted to add a SSD heatsink and was thinking to pick the be quiet! MC1 PRO but after some readings, it seems that it'll not fit with the Noctua due to its screws.

My first questions are :
1. Is a heatsink necessary ?
2. If so, which one would be adequate for my install and can be installed alongside the Noctua ?

I've also the intention to add a second SSD with a capacity of 2TB. The goal will be to store the games on it.
I'm thinking to use the M2 slot at the back but it'll not be possible to add a heatsink (not enough space).

So my other questions :
1. Will cooling be required on this one ?
2. If so, how to do it ? I read somewhere that using a 3mm thermal pad would be enough to make the contact with the back plate in aluminium and dissipate the heat. Would this be sufficient ?

Last question : in order to apply the thermal pads on the SSD's, should I first remove the sticker ? I read that some say yes and some yes no as these stickers are designed to dissimate the heat.

K.

 

[yuusou]

An nvme on the top m.2 (above Wi-Fi card) of the board should be fine, it'll get indirect cooling from the CPU cooler. On the bottom side it can get a little toasty but there's no space for a heatsink. You could maybe get a chonky thermal pad or a metal shim and a smaller thermal pad to make contact with the motherboard try if you intend to use the bottom m.2.

 

[HWI]

My limited experience with M2 SSDs (I only have 4) is that their cooling needs vary greatly. For instance, on my Velka 5 build I have a 2TB Gen 4 NVMe (Mushkin Enhanced Vortex, 7415MB/s sequential read) on the front under the included mobo heatsink which is in a location that sees active airflow and 4TB Gen 3 NVMe (Crucial P3, 3500MB/s sequential read) in the back slot with no heatsink (no room) and pretty much no airflow. These conditions are completely opposite, yet the drives run at almost the exact same temperature because the Gen 4 drive runs so much hotter than the Gen 3 drive. This isn't universal between Gen 3 and Gen 4 drives, there are some hot Gen 3 drives out there, but it seems like within a given generation the slower drives generally run a good bit cooler than the faster drives.

 

[Kid_E]

My limited experience with M2 SSDs (I only have 4) is that their cooling needs vary greatly. For instance, on my Velka 5 build I have a 2TB Gen 4 NVMe (Mushkin Enhanced Vortex, 7415MB/s sequential read) on the front under the included mobo heatsink which is in a location that sees active airflow and 4TB Gen 3 NVMe (Crucial P3, 3500MB/s sequential read) in the back slot with no heatsink (no room) and pretty much no airflow. These conditions are completely opposite, yet the drives run at almost the exact same temperature because the Gen 4 drive runs so much hotter than the Gen 3 drive. This isn't universal between Gen 3 and Gen 4 drives, there are some hot Gen 3 drives out there, but it seems like within a given generation the slower drives generally run a good bit cooler than the faster drives.

Thanks for this explanation !
Since the slots on the motherboards are only PCIe 3.0, even if my drives are PCIE 4.0, should I consider them as 3.0 with regards with your explanation above ?

From the reviews I can see here , for this drive, I shall be all good even without any cooling system.

 

[Phuncz]

Last question : in order to apply the thermal pads on the SSD's, should I first remove the sticker ? I read that some say yes and some yes no as these stickers are designed to dissimate the heat.

It depends what you mean:

Thermal pads have a plastic protective layer, often clear or blue. The gooey, gummy part is the thermal pad. The M.2 needs to touch the thermal pad, but the protective layer needs to be removed ! It isolates heat and worst case it will melt and cause all kinds of problems.

 

[Kid_E]

It depends what you mean:

Thermal pads have a plastic protective layer, often clear or blue. The gooey, gummy part is the thermal pad. The M.2 needs to touch the thermal pad, but the protective layer needs to be removed ! It isolates heat and worst case it will melt and cause all kinds of problems.

This was clear lol.
I meant the sticker which is on the M2 SSD chips.

 

[HWI]

This was clear lol.
I meant the sticker which is on the M2 SSD chips.

No need to remove that, it can stay on and has no ill effect with regards to heat transfer.

Thanks for this explanation !
Since the slots on the motherboards are only PCIe 3.0, even if my drives are PCIE 4.0, should I consider them as 3.0 with regards with your explanation above ?

From the reviews I can see here , for this drive, I shall be all good even without any cooling system.

Yes, I believe so. Since the speed will be limited to Gen 3 it should run fairly cool for you.

 

[Phuncz]

This was clear lol.
I meant the sticker which is on the M2 SSD chips.

Whoops sorry about that. Most stickers are specific kind of plastic and will not inhibit the performance much and won't melt. Some have a thin copper sheet that actually is supposed to improve the thermal performance.

 

[Kid_E]

Thanks everyone for the support.
I've ordered a second Kingston 2TB.
I'll let both of them naked.

 

[Kid_E]

Small update regarding my build :
I've installed 2 SSD's M2.
I've returned the wifi card I had + the cablee. The seller sold me the wrong cables (Ipex-1 instead of Ipex-4). I've then ordered the official Wifi kit. Tough to plug the wires but in the end it worked.
I've also removed the official 2 USB slots expansion. Cable management is horrific. If I need extra ports at some point I'll rather use a hub.