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Does it matter which M.2 slot I put my 970 Evo Plus in? ?

GamerBlake
By GamerBlake
in Storage Devices
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Hey guys, I recently upgraded my MSI z370-a Pro to an MSI MEG z390 ACE and  one of the reasons I upgraded (aside from getting a great deal on Newegg of $219.99 vs MSRP $289.99) is because the MEG ACE has 3x M.2 slots whereas my old mobo only has 1.

 

Im wondering if it matters which one I use?

 

I ask because one of the M.2 slots (the bottom one) has a Frozr heatsink but the heat sink has to be used on the bottom slot. I’m wondering if I can occupy only the bottom slot with an M.2 NVMe drive so I can use the heat sink with it or if I have to start with the top slot if I only have 1 NVMe ssd? 
 

Also does the heatsink have any real benefit if my NVMe drive doesn’t overheat anyway?

7C590D90-9530-4C1B-B23C-851113C97829.jpeg

CPU: i7 8700K (5.1 GHz OC). AIO: EVGA CLC 280 280mm. GPU: EVGA XC2 Ultra 2080Ti. PSU: Corsair RM850x 850W 80+ Gold Fully Modular. MB: MSI MEG Z390 ACE. RAM: 32GB Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB (3600 MHz OC). STORAGE: 1TB Samsung 970 Evo Plus M.2 NVMe, 2TB Samsung 860 EVO, 1TB Samsung 860 Evo, 1TB Samsung 860 QVO, 2TB Firecuda 7200rpm SSHD, 1TB WD Blue. CASE: NZXT H510 Elite. FANS: Corsair LL120 RGB 120mm x4. MONITOR: MSI Optix MAG271CQR 2560x1440 144hz. Headset: Steelseries Arctis 5 Gaming Headset. Keyboard: Razer Cynosa Chroma. Mouse: Razer Basilisk Ultimate (Wireless) Webcam: Logitech C922x Pro Stream Webcam.

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Won't matter for PCIe/NVMe (well, except M2_2 with some SATA ports). These connectors all go over the chipset as well (so no advantage of one over the other). Heatsink is mostly for asthetics.

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5 minutes ago, NewMaxx said:

Won't matter for PCIe/NVMe (well, except M2_2 with some SATA ports). These connectors all go over the chipset as well (so no advantage of one over the other). Heatsink is mostly for asthetics.

Oh ok thanks! :)

 

I actually think the aesthetics even without a heat sink looks pretty good.

 

The drive itself is black and it doesn’t really stand out which is what I want.

 

So would you recommend just leaving it as is and using the heatsink later when I get another NVMe SSD? ? 

B0D3AD97-55E0-489E-9036-FF91903F0B49.jpeg

CPU: i7 8700K (5.1 GHz OC). AIO: EVGA CLC 280 280mm. GPU: EVGA XC2 Ultra 2080Ti. PSU: Corsair RM850x 850W 80+ Gold Fully Modular. MB: MSI MEG Z390 ACE. RAM: 32GB Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB (3600 MHz OC). STORAGE: 1TB Samsung 970 Evo Plus M.2 NVMe, 2TB Samsung 860 EVO, 1TB Samsung 860 Evo, 1TB Samsung 860 QVO, 2TB Firecuda 7200rpm SSHD, 1TB WD Blue. CASE: NZXT H510 Elite. FANS: Corsair LL120 RGB 120mm x4. MONITOR: MSI Optix MAG271CQR 2560x1440 144hz. Headset: Steelseries Arctis 5 Gaming Headset. Keyboard: Razer Cynosa Chroma. Mouse: Razer Basilisk Ultimate (Wireless) Webcam: Logitech C922x Pro Stream Webcam.

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5 minutes ago, NewMaxx said:

Unless you're having heat issues, yep! At least on a Z390.

Awesome thanks!

 

Nope I’m not having heat issues. Under fill benchmark load it gets up to about 47C but never goes above 50C.

 

Im not sure if SSDs are as heat tolerant as CPUs and GPUs but 47C doesn’t seem very hot at all.

CPU: i7 8700K (5.1 GHz OC). AIO: EVGA CLC 280 280mm. GPU: EVGA XC2 Ultra 2080Ti. PSU: Corsair RM850x 850W 80+ Gold Fully Modular. MB: MSI MEG Z390 ACE. RAM: 32GB Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB (3600 MHz OC). STORAGE: 1TB Samsung 970 Evo Plus M.2 NVMe, 2TB Samsung 860 EVO, 1TB Samsung 860 Evo, 1TB Samsung 860 QVO, 2TB Firecuda 7200rpm SSHD, 1TB WD Blue. CASE: NZXT H510 Elite. FANS: Corsair LL120 RGB 120mm x4. MONITOR: MSI Optix MAG271CQR 2560x1440 144hz. Headset: Steelseries Arctis 5 Gaming Headset. Keyboard: Razer Cynosa Chroma. Mouse: Razer Basilisk Ultimate (Wireless) Webcam: Logitech C922x Pro Stream Webcam.

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8 minutes ago, NewMaxx said:

Ha, no 47C is pretty good. They'll throttle in the 70-80C range.

Oh wow! Is 47C normal then?

 

I don’t know if it’s just that Samsung makes premium quality products but if mine only goes up to 47C I imagine other ones don’t go much higher so why would someone need an NVMe ssd heatsink anyway? ? 

CPU: i7 8700K (5.1 GHz OC). AIO: EVGA CLC 280 280mm. GPU: EVGA XC2 Ultra 2080Ti. PSU: Corsair RM850x 850W 80+ Gold Fully Modular. MB: MSI MEG Z390 ACE. RAM: 32GB Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB (3600 MHz OC). STORAGE: 1TB Samsung 970 Evo Plus M.2 NVMe, 2TB Samsung 860 EVO, 1TB Samsung 860 Evo, 1TB Samsung 860 QVO, 2TB Firecuda 7200rpm SSHD, 1TB WD Blue. CASE: NZXT H510 Elite. FANS: Corsair LL120 RGB 120mm x4. MONITOR: MSI Optix MAG271CQR 2560x1440 144hz. Headset: Steelseries Arctis 5 Gaming Headset. Keyboard: Razer Cynosa Chroma. Mouse: Razer Basilisk Ultimate (Wireless) Webcam: Logitech C922x Pro Stream Webcam.

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Mine usually top out ~50C or so, if you have decent cooling and aren't hammering the drive it won't see much higher than that.

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1 minute ago, NewMaxx said:

Mine usually top out ~50C or so, if you have decent cooling and aren't hammering the drive it won't see much higher than that.

Oh yeah I didn’t consider the fact that some people hammer their drives and transfer lots of big files back and forth constantly.

 

I only use my PC for gaming so I guess it’s nice to not have to worry about SSD overheating.

 

Would you happen to know if this board is a lot better than my old motherboard? My old one was an MSI z370-a Pro. ? 

CPU: i7 8700K (5.1 GHz OC). AIO: EVGA CLC 280 280mm. GPU: EVGA XC2 Ultra 2080Ti. PSU: Corsair RM850x 850W 80+ Gold Fully Modular. MB: MSI MEG Z390 ACE. RAM: 32GB Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB (3600 MHz OC). STORAGE: 1TB Samsung 970 Evo Plus M.2 NVMe, 2TB Samsung 860 EVO, 1TB Samsung 860 Evo, 1TB Samsung 860 QVO, 2TB Firecuda 7200rpm SSHD, 1TB WD Blue. CASE: NZXT H510 Elite. FANS: Corsair LL120 RGB 120mm x4. MONITOR: MSI Optix MAG271CQR 2560x1440 144hz. Headset: Steelseries Arctis 5 Gaming Headset. Keyboard: Razer Cynosa Chroma. Mouse: Razer Basilisk Ultimate (Wireless) Webcam: Logitech C922x Pro Stream Webcam.

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The MEG ACE boards tend to be pretty great from my understanding while the Pro would be a lot lower-end. How that translates for you depends on your usage I guess! 

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14 minutes ago, NewMaxx said:

The MEG ACE boards tend to be pretty great from my understanding while the Pro would be a lot lower-end. How that translates for you depends on your usage I guess! 

Thanks for your help! :)

CPU: i7 8700K (5.1 GHz OC). AIO: EVGA CLC 280 280mm. GPU: EVGA XC2 Ultra 2080Ti. PSU: Corsair RM850x 850W 80+ Gold Fully Modular. MB: MSI MEG Z390 ACE. RAM: 32GB Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB (3600 MHz OC). STORAGE: 1TB Samsung 970 Evo Plus M.2 NVMe, 2TB Samsung 860 EVO, 1TB Samsung 860 Evo, 1TB Samsung 860 QVO, 2TB Firecuda 7200rpm SSHD, 1TB WD Blue. CASE: NZXT H510 Elite. FANS: Corsair LL120 RGB 120mm x4. MONITOR: MSI Optix MAG271CQR 2560x1440 144hz. Headset: Steelseries Arctis 5 Gaming Headset. Keyboard: Razer Cynosa Chroma. Mouse: Razer Basilisk Ultimate (Wireless) Webcam: Logitech C922x Pro Stream Webcam.

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