Samsung 980 Pro SSD: regular or heatsink version?

[gthm]

I actually bought two of these, the "bare" ones not the newer heatsink models.

I kind of regret it, I should've paid a little more to get the heatsink version.

I feel like the normal thermal pads covering my 980 Pros don't really protect the drives like the factory built heatsink models, which look really nice actually with their enclosure type design. Anyway..

My problem is that my "bare" 980 Pros get pretty hot in their enclosures (Acasis USB4/TB 4) and I am concerned about their longevity and probable hit in their current and future performance.

These built in heatsink 980 Pros look the business and I feel like a metal heatsink just has to offer better cooling to the drive compared to a plain ol' thermal pad.

Most likely I will soon replace them with the heatsink version for peace of mind.

Am I overreacting?

Thoughts?

[Darryl Ramm]

If you are worried about thermals you probably won't be putting a M.2 card in an enclosure like that without forced cooling.

You are talking about adding a M.2 with a heatsink in that enclosure? That will likely make things worse, you need forced cooling inside the enclosure for the Samsung heatsink to work. I assume that enclosure relies on having the M.2 drive thermally bonded to the enclosure, as long as your current card install is making proper contact with the case adding more heatsink (i.e. thermal impedance) between the M.2 card and the enclosure will likely *decrease* thermal efficiency. But I'm at a loss how a heatsink would fit in there if there is thermal bonding to the case now?

No mention of what actual temps you are seeing or what you are doing with the drive. Check the thermal pad is giving good bonding to the enclosure, maybe replace it with a better bonding/pad setup. Lift the enclosures up of the surface, blow a fan over them see if that cools them, or get an enclosure with a fan.

You have two of them, put them both in a case with forced cooling, but that gets back to there are sadly not a range of great enclosures with good PCIe fan-out (i.e. that internally use a PCIe switch). As I've posted about recently on DUC, an interesting choice there now would be the Sonnet Echo Express III SE with two (dumb/cheap) PCIe slot to M.2 cards installed in it. Yes the drives each on separate Thunderbolt 3 busses would provide maximum performance, but at least with the Echo Express box you get switch based PCI expansion so each card will get to use up to the maximum bandwidth. And it has a (reasonably quiet) fan and would be a good box to run the 980s with heatsinks in (my Echo Express III (non-SE) runs the 980s without heatsinks). It's the fan man.

[gthm]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

If you are worried about thermals you probably won't be putting a M.2 card in an enclosure like that without forced cooling.

You are talking about adding a M.2 with a heatsink in that enclosure? That will likely make things worse, you need forced cooling inside the enclosure for the Samsung heatsink to work. I assume that enclosure relies on having the M.2 drive thermally bonded to the enclosure, as long as your current card install is making proper contact with the case adding more heatsink (i.e. thermal impedance) between the M.2 card and the enclosure will likely *decrease* thermal efficiency. But I'm at a loss how a heatsink would fit in there if there is thermal bonding to the case now?

No mention of what actual temps you are seeing or what you are do. Check the thermal pad is giving good bonding to the enclosure, maybe replace it with a better bonding/pad setup. Lift the enclosures up of the surface, blow a fan over them see if that cools them, or get an enclosure with a fan.

You have two of them, put them both in a case with forced cooling, but that gets back to there are sadly not a range of great enclosures with good PCIe fan-out (i.e. use a PCIe switch). As I've posted about recently on DUC, an interesting choice there now would be the Sonnet Echo Express III SE with two (dumb/cheap) PCIe slot to M.2 cards installed in it. Yes the drives each on separate Thunderbolt 3 busses would provide maximum performance, but at least with the Echo Express box you get switch based PCI expansion so each card will get to use up to the maximum bandwidth. And it has a (reasonably quiet fan) and would be a good box to run the 980s with heatsinks in (my Echo Express III (non-SE) runs the 980s without heatsinks). It's the fan man.

Thanks for the help Darryl!

Sonnet Echo Express III? I have been looking at this for a while but never pulled the trigger because I thought that the 980 Pro would somehow not need a fan to stay cool, because it's the latest technology and all? I see how naive that sounds now.

I don't mind some fan noise as long as my 980s are not getting cooked hehe!

Thanks again fan man

[Darryl Ramm]

I thought that the 980 Pro would somehow not need a fan to stay cool, because it's the latest technology and all?

"latest technology" meaning PCIe4 (or soon PCIe5) connectivity (even if running PCIe3 speeds), complex multicore embedded processors doing a *lot* of processing, large DRAM (on the 980 Pro) or SLC/MLC write buffers etc. Latest technology M.2/NVMe drives is not about running cooler.

And here is the recent other thread. https://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?p=2631199

I'd love to hear if other folks have other recommendations for well designed M.2/NVMe enclosures.... which IMNSHO starts with being PCIe switch based and having active cooling.

gthm I'd love to hear what you end up going with and how you find it. I'll be buying some more M.2 drives soon and they'll either be 980 Pro or WD Black SN850, both with heatsinks for use in my Express III chassis.

[gthm]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

"latest technology" meaning PCIe4 (or soon PCIe5) connectivity (even if running PCIe3 speeds), complex multicore embedded processors doing a *lot* of processing, large DRAM (on the 980 Pro) or SLC/MLC write buffers etc. Latest technology M.2/NVMe drives is not about running cooler.

And here is the recent other thread. https://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?p=2631199

I'd love to hear if other folks have other recommendations for well designed M.2/NVMe enclosures.... which IMNSHO starts with being PCIe switch based and having active cooling.

gthm I'd love to hear what you end up going with and how you find it. I'll be buying some more M.2 drives soon and they'll either be 980 Pro or WD Black SN850, both with heatsinks for use in my Express III chassis.

Oh cool thanks, the thread you linked is perfect, I will continue posting on that one from now on, see you over there.

I will let you know how my storage quest goes and I will keep up with yours, it seems you'll be going "heatsink" before I am, very nice!

[gthm]

I've decided to stop using my Acasis enclosures with the 980 Pros as this combo gets too hot for my liking. It is not completely unbearable to the touch but it feels uncomfortably hot for what it is doing, communicating with loaded Pro Tools sessions for hours on a daily basis. I realize that these fanless enclosures are for quick transfers and not heavy audio or video work like many YouTubers seem to be doing.

It makes total sense to me now what Darryl has been saying about M.2 drives and strictly using fan cooling with them.

Until I get a nice Sonnet Echo Express SE IIIe to put my 980 Pros in, I will go back to a few Samsung T7s I have for work. Funny thing, the T7s get kinda hot too, unlike the previous T5s which stay totally cool. Slower USB performance for now but with ease of mind, until I get a big boy enclosure with a fan.

Fanless enclosures are tiny digital ovens.