Is NVMe M.2 expected to run relatively hot?

Hi, all.

I’m new to M.2/NVMe memory (just got a new build, and used M.2/NVMe for the first time). Here are the main specs of the machine:

• OS: Win10 Professional (version 20H2, OS Build 19042.867)
• CPU: Intel Core i7-10700K 3.80 GHz (overclocked to 4.9GHz)
• CPU cooling: Corsair H100i Pro XT RGB
• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Founders Edition
• RAM: 32GB Corsair Dominator Platinum 3200MHz RGB
• Mobo: MSI MPG Z490 Gaming EDGE WiFi
• PSU: Corsair 850RM
• OS Disk: Samsung 970 EVO Plus 250GB PCIe NVMe M.2
• Storage Disk: Samsung SSD 860 EVO 2TB

I’m a little startled by how hot this M.2 module is running. Is this normal? I had been playing AC Valhalla with all graphics maxed out for 30 mins or so. The first capture was taken immediately after I quit the game, going to the desktop. HD0 is the storage SSD, and HD1 is the M.2/NVMe module. Do these NVMe units always run so hot? The second screenshot was taken about 10 mins after I stopped playing.



I also had HWiNFO64 running while playing. I checked the Drives info afterwards and for that 970 EVO NVMe M.2 it lists both the Warning Temp threshold and Critical Temp threshold as 85C, but it also shows the Time Above Warning and Time Above Critical thresholds as zero minutes.I realize I can always add a fan or two (easy enough to do), but I just wanted to check to see if this is expected for this time of storage.

Thanks in advance!

SSD's can run hot if they're heavily used. I like to use a heat sink on them. I don't recall if the heatsink came with my motherboard or the ssd i bought...but i think you can buy them seperately. I don't stress my machine much, but it's better to be safe.

Yes, you generally need a heatsink on m.2 drives. The controller on these drives runs quite a bit hotter than the nand chips themselves (the drives have a processor that usually has several cores), but is not usually reported. Usually only nand Temps are reported. The drive will throttle the throughput if it starts to get too hot, so you may see a performance degradation without a heatsink.

Mystere said:

SSD's can run hot if they're heavily used. I like to use a heat sink on them. I don't recall if the heatsink came with my motherboard or the ssd i bought...but i think you can buy them seperately. I don't stress my machine much, but it's better to be safe.

Geneo said:

Yes, you generally need a heatsink on m.2 drives. The controller on these drives runs quite a bit hotter than the nand chips themselves (the drives have a processor that usually has several cores), but is not usually reported. Usually only nand Temps are reported. The drive will throttle the throughput if it starts to get too hot, so you may see a performance degradation without a heatsink.

I hadn't noticed before you two mentioned it, but there is indeed a heatsink installed. (Again, I'm an M.2 noob.) The MSI M.2 SHIELD FROZR heatsink is installed. I can only imagine how hot it would be if there was no heatsink.

Ghot said:

@ptrthgr8

Couple things to consider...

1. Ambient room temp.
2. What case you have and how many fans, and whether they are intakes or exhausts.
3. AIO CPU coolers, cool the CPU wonderfully. But they don't cool the areas around the CPU, as well as an air cooler.
4. Don't use Speed Fan. Use HWMonitor. HWMONITOR | Softwares | CPUID

Ambient room temp is somewhere between 65-70F. (Climate controlled home.) Fans could be the issue, though. There's a 120mm exhaust fan at the rear/top of the case, and only the 2x 120mm fans on the H100i Pro that aren't really helping anything other than the CPU. No intake fan on the front of the case, so it seems like there's probably a need for increased airflow from the front of the case.

And as far as Speedfan, what's the issue with it? I do also have CPU-Z and love it, but wasn't aware of HWMONITOR. So I'll check it out for sure. But Speedfan has never caused me any grief.

Cheers!

I don't game, but use an NVMe data drive.

As a guideline for comparison:

At idle without a heatsink, it runs about 5 degrees hotter than a standard 2.5 inch SATA SSD. Typically at 40 degrees in an 80F/27C room.

Under moderate load without a heatsink, it is typically in the 50s.

Under a torture test, writing 500 GB per hour for 6 hours, without a heatsink, it touches the low 70s.

Designed "critical" temp is 80, per the manufacturer's (Intel) documents. I've never hit that temp in over 2 years.

All temps from HWInfo.

All of this with modest air cooler, single intake, single exhaust, all running at 800 rpm max, usually lower.

You'd have to speculate about the correlation between temps and long-term drive health or performance and adjust your anxiety level to fit your speculation.

Hi there
basic physics

Current is conducted by the movement of electrons through an object -- the more atoms that are crammed together in an object (inevitable if you have larger and larger capacity devices in smaller footprints) the more heat will be created by the movement of electrons through the device -- offset partially by the lower current needed in the first place - so there's always a trade off between "minaturisation" and heat generation.

They shouldn't though run hot (probably over about 40 - 45 deg C ) - nothing wrong with heat sinking a device if it needs it but if this sort of device is running hot I'd look for other problems - e.g lack of adequate cooling for the whole box, or running the computer out in the open in the middle of say Death Valley in high Summer.

Cheers
jimbo