Need help to install M.2 drive on ASUS ROG Strix Z390-F

[andypouch]

I'm a bit frustrated that given the price of this Asus ROG Strix Z390-F motherboard which is not cheap at all, and its manual about the installation of the M.2 drive is so casual.

 

I'm stuck at whether I should remove the plastic cover which is stick to a pad or something (see photo). When I tried to peel the plastic cover, the pad also was being peeled. Now question is : is the whole pad supposed to be removed or just the plastic cover?

 

Urgent, please help!

[minibois]

Just the plastic cover that screams "remove". The sticky pad should stay on the metal bit.

This pad is called a 'thermal pad' and aids in heat transfer between the SSD and metal (it ensures full contact between the two).

 

Try to kind of peel the plastic off at one edge.

[GenericFanboy]

If you cant do it with your fingers, a boxcutter works fine. 

[andypouch]

You folks are really life savers!  Linus's site here is so helpful!!

 

I bought the Sabrent Rocket 1TB, it has metal cover on top of the ICs already.

 

So the thermal pad will melt and merge with the heat shield comes with the M.2 drive when it becomes hot later when I run the system?

[andypouch]

1 minute ago, yaboistar said:

you better hope it doesn't melt or your house will be on fire

 

the thermal pad just sits ontop of it and makes a thermal connection via the pressure applied on the heatspreader by the mounting screw. it may deform over time due to the pressure and the fact that thermal pads are a deformable material, but not because they've melted.

Appreciate!

The reason I am asking is because say if some day I need a maintenance and remove the heat sink, then the top of the M.2 drive will have to be cleaned am I correct?

 

Also I have another question, on the Z390-F, there are 2 sockets for M.2 drive. This one I am using is M.2_2 which is the 2nd socket. I wonder if there are any boot issue associated with the socket chosen.  Is socket 1 (i.e. M.2_1) supposed to be the boot socket?  If I continue my current installation with the 2nd socket, will the system boot with it?

 

Before I get this cleared up, I better leave the heat sink out for the time being. 

[andypouch]

2 hours ago, yaboistar said:

they usually peel off just fine, if there's any residue a wipe with a bit of thermal paste cleaner gets it off just fine

 

it shouldn't really matter too much as long as you point the BIOS towards the right disk to boot from

ok

thanks