I can burn a steak on my SSD.
Posted by FullMentalJackass@reddit | buildapc | View on Reddit | 36 comments
I have a XFX Swift dual-fan 9070XT, a Gigabyte B850 motherboard, and a naked 2tb Kingston Fury Renegade. This thing gets hot. Crystal disk is constantly warning me about temps. After decent downloads, this thing hits 80c. When I'm idling, its between 45-50c. Gaming gets it between 65-75c depending on the game. This is not ideal. My laptop's SSD runs cooler under load than my desktop's SSD idles.
How can I resolve this? I've thought of a few options, but I'd like some opinions.
1: Run my GPU's fans at max speed to get some additional cooling on the SSD. Kind of dont want to try this option.
2: Buy a low-profile heat sink to put on the SSD. But Im concerned about the clearance. Its about 12-13MM between the GPU and MB. Im worried about cramping that space even more.
3: Mounting a 30mm fan somewhere to blow air directly into the crack. My concerns are that it would affect my overall airflow. And if I dont mount it correctly and it falls into the lower fans, that would be a disaster.
4: Setting up a vertical GPU mount. I've never done this and I wouldnt know where to start.
5: I was considering getting a PCI M.2 expansion card, but I only have 3.0 PCI slots, so I would cut the performance of the SSD in half.
How are these options? Anyone have any other ideas? Im a bit lost here. I'd like the opinions of those more experienced than I am before I commit to any one option. Thanks in advance!
RealBerfs1@reddit
First of all why are you running crystal disk all the time? That increases wear on your SSD, same as any other app that polls your SSD. Second of all, enable power saving settings. That helps. A lot.
FullMentalJackass@reddit (OP)
I just have it running in the system tray. How can it wear out the drive?
RealBerfs1@reddit
Having ANYTHING poll the drive will “use” the drive. That includes HWINFO, CDI, etc.
FullMentalJackass@reddit (OP)
Gigabyte B850
RealBerfs1@reddit
Gigabyte has 18 different B850 motherboards, which specific one?
MWink64@reddit
While I'd suggest getting at least a small heatsink, those temperatures may not be as scary as they seem. I believe CrystalDiskInfo uses predetermined warning temps (which can be adjusted), without regard for the drive's actual limits. Utilities like GSmartControl/smartmontools and Victoria can usually pull this information directly from the drive. There will usually be two numbers, something like Warning/Max Temp and Critical Temp. Sometimes they'll also show how much time a drive has spent in either state. This may give you a better idea of how concerned you should be. Ratings vary from drive to drive. I think I've seen numbers ranging from 83C to 110C.
FullMentalJackass@reddit (OP)
I was thinking about that, so I decided to look up the info for my drive. Says operating temp is up to 70c, and storage temp is up to 85c. I downloaded Kingston's SSD manager and it doesnt seem to care about sub 90c temps. So I'm not sure what to think at this point.
MWink64@reddit
I wasn't talking about the specs from the company that sold the drive (Kingston doesn't actually manufacture SSDs), I was referring to the actual limits baked into the hardware. There are often various different hardware configurations, with different thermal limits, that get sold under the same model.
Crazyirishwrencher@reddit
Recently moved to a case with integrated vertical GPU mount. There's room for ginormous m.2 heatsinks now. What case are you using?
FullMentalJackass@reddit (OP)
Phanteks Evolv X2. I thought it looked cool. Like an idiot, I researched everything about this build except for the case thermals. Its not terrible. Middle of the pack. But I prefer to min-max that kind of stuff, you know? Also, last PC I built was around 2014. I was intrigued at the idea of a chimney style airflow and fish-tank design.
Crazyirishwrencher@reddit
In your defense, that motherboard has an unusually bad design as far as SSD thermals go, and it's only pretty recently that SSD thermals were of any particular concern. After a casual search, I see some images of your case with a vertical GPU mount so it looks possible. Maybe worth some research.
stackInf@reddit
Get a heatsink for it. Just do your measurements and you should be fine
FullMentalJackass@reddit (OP)
Yeah, that seems like the best option. Im considering this one because of the low profile.
CommasArentPeople@reddit
I wouldn't worry too much about the best. Get something that fits. Going from none to the worst heat sink will be 100x bigger improvement than going from the worst to the best.
Warcraft_Fan@reddit
I have something similar sized, it fits just fine next to my GPU and my water block for the CPU
stackInf@reddit
Can’t tell if you it looks good or bad but I’m under the impression that anything will do. All my SSDs have come with heat sinks
Rampaging_Ducks@reddit
What do you think the steak is for?
Matttman87@reddit
Why would you burn it? Sear that steak with some butter and fresh herbs to a nice golden brown.
PoppaMeth@reddit
Considering the surface area of an SSD, I'm not sure how safe it is to cook a steak this way. OP might want to remove the GPU completely and and use all 3 SSD slots to cook the steak more evenly. Seems way safer to me. They make meat thermometers to make sure the internal temp is good. I wonder if they ever made one with a USB header? That way you can see your steak temp alongside the other system temps in HWINFO.
no6969el@reddit
If it's an actual SSD and not an mvme I have opened up those cases before and put the heatsink directly on the chip.
Gorblonzo@reddit
Get a heatsink for it or run it at pcie 3.0 speeds to prevent overheating
Scarabesque@reddit
I have the same issue with my 2tb top NVME drive (which is under the motherboard heatsink).
I'm fairly sure the high gaming temps are entirely down to heat soak from the GPU, and have nothing to do with the drive's activity, which is likely minor just launching/playing a game. Mine gets even hotter than yours while effectively being idle during gaming.
I did try running the GPU fans at max (as a test) and it does work well, but I'm obviously not running it at those speeds constantly.
For as far as I've found it doesn't really affect longevity, but it does affect performance, which for a game storage drive doesn't really matter.
CrateDane@reddit
80C won't harm it, but you might run into throttling in the worst case scenario. In that case, adding a heatsink would make it run faster.
The flash memory retains data better if it's written while hot. Cold is a bigger issue for flash memory.
zeptyk@reddit
ive had my ssd running at 50c for years lol itll be fine
FullMentalJackass@reddit (OP)
Yeah, the idle isnt a big problem for me. But gaming at 65c+ isnt super great. Especially when I'm hitting 80c when downloading and installing games. Im sure it goes over 80c. I was running Crystal Disk Mark and starting panicking when it hit 80c. I stopped the program. I dont want to hang around and see how high it can go.
Falkenmond79@reddit
Problem is that it will throttle down severely running at those temps. 50-60 are fine. Anything over 80 and will slow to a crawl.
_RM78@reddit
Stick a bit of aluminium on it and have some case fans moving air around. It's not difficult.
hamfinity@reddit
Steak Searing Device
ThatUsrnameIsAlready@reddit
Do whatever you need to do, it's spec'd for a max of just 70°C. I'm surprised it's not throttling.
FullMentalJackass@reddit (OP)
When I noticed it hitting 80c after installs, I started to worry. I dont want this thing to die early on me.
TheeCambion@reddit
Solve it completely research SSD heatsink dimensions and probably add a case fan. Or buy a different SSD maybe it's dying.
FullMentalJackass@reddit (OP)
I hope its not dying. Its brand new. Im going to try a heatsink first, I guess. If that doesnt work, I'll get a vertical GPU mount. Why do they have to put the damn things right under the GPU slot?
Toast_Meat@reddit
Did the motherboard not come with a heatsink for the SSD?
FullMentalJackass@reddit (OP)
Unfortunately not. All 3 slots are covered by my GPU.
heartprairie@reddit
Do you have an M.2 slot that's further away from the graphics card?
FullMentalJackass@reddit (OP)
They are all under the GPU. All 3.