mITX NVMe SSD cooling for a rear of the motherboard mounted SSD

[driptap]

I have this tiny little NVMe SSD that slots into the back of my tiny little motherboard.

It sits in a tiny ITX case (Silverstone SG-13) where the motherboard mounts horizontally on standoffs off of the base of the case. 

The space between the NVMe drive and the bottom case is real small but I think I need some way to cool the thing as it idles at about 45 deg, 67 deg under load and peaks at 78deg when stress testing. Samsung said 70deg is the max safe temp for the drive.

Does anyone have some suggestions for some cooling?

I've found these on eBay but i'm dubious of there effectiveness:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Copper-Sheet-Heatsink-Heat-Sink-NVME-NGFF-M-2-2280-Thermal-Cooling-Fan-Cooler-1x/233415128954?hash=item3658a0377a:g:O7UAAOSwJUBd3Nx8

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ssd-Heatsinks-Aluminum-M-2-Cooling-Cooler-Radiator-For-Pcie-Ngff-Nvme-M-2-2280-S/233314337004?epid=14032515354&hash=item36529e40ec:g:qKoAAOSwtYJdVc7V

 

[NotSoEpicMods]

I'm thinking if the spacing is small enough couldn't you use a thermal pad to transfer the ssd heat to the mobo tray?

[Arttu89]

What is that SSD used for? If on a daily basis you don't do anything that does a lot of read/write to it then you won't really see the kind of temperatures you get on a stress test.

 

Otherwise you could just buy a thermal pad and sink the heat into the case if the spacing is small enough.

[driptap]

3 minutes ago, NotSoEpicMods said:

I'm thinking if the spacing is small enough couldn't you use a thermal pad to transfer the ssd heat to the mobo tray?

That's not a bad shout - the spacing is a little large for a thermal pad but it may work brilliantly in conjunction with one of these copper plates https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Copper-Sheet-Heatsink-Heat-Sink-NVME-NGFF-M-2-2280-Thermal-Cooling-Fan-Cooler-1x/233415128954?hash=item3658a0377a:g:O7UAAOSwJUBd3Nx8

[mariushm]

Only the SSD controller needs some heatsink to stay cool, the flash memory doesn't mind as long as it's below 80-85c

 

If you can't squeeze some heatsinks, you could use a fan to push some air between the back plate and the motherboard ... make a duct using some cardboard or plastic (some walls to guide the air over the m.2 ssd and over the sides) and place a fan somewhere to push air through that channel... here's some examples:

 

5v - you could connect them to a usb 2 or usb 3 header :

BFB0412HHA-A Delta Electronics | Fans, Thermal Management | DigiKey

BFB0412HHA-A117 Delta Electronics | Fans, Thermal Management | DigiKey (same as above, but with vga fan connector installed)

GB0502PFV1-8.B2393.GN Sunon Fans | Fans, Thermal Management | DigiKey

 

12v

BFB0312HA-A Delta Electronics | Fans, Thermal Management | DigiKey

BFB0512HHA-C Delta Electronics | Fans, Thermal Management | DigiKey

 

 

[driptap]

11 minutes ago, Arttu89 said:

What is that SSD used for? If on a daily basis you don't do anything that does a lot of read/write to it then you won't really see the kind of temperatures you get on a stress test.

 

Otherwise you could just buy a thermal pad and sink the heat into the case if the spacing is small enough.

I'm planning to use it as a boot drive. It's gonna sit between 45-68deg, games are gonna be stored on a separate drive. You reackon it'll be alright to run at those temps?

[Arttu89]

4 minutes ago, driptap said:

I'm planning to use it as a boot drive. It's gonna sit between 45-68deg, games are gonna be stored on a separate drive. You reackon it'll be alright to run at those temps?

If it's just a boot drive then it's likely to be quite alright like that. I'd leave it and see how it works, if you ever notice your system getting unresponsive or freezing for short periods of time then try to get it some extra cooling.

[mariushm]

Oh and the same store has all kinds of heatsinks ... here's a link to all heatsinks around the size you need for m.2 (2280 = 22m wide, 80mm long)

 

from 10mm to 30mm wide (so you could have 2 x 10mm in parallel) , 10mm to 100mm long, up to 15mm tall : https://www.digikey.com/short/zcbn4d

 

Buy the tallest that can fit without touching the back plate, ideally you'd sort by " Thermal Resistance @ Natural " (lower is better) but most heatsinks only have thermal resistance @ forced air flow  (some amount of airflow in linear feet per minute) as these heatsinks are designed to have some airflow over the fins to dissipate heat and really benefit from airflow moving over fins.

For minimal airflow, you'd want more fins and thinner fins.

[driptap]

Thanks for all the suggestions lovely people!

 

I'm gonna leave it uncooled for the time being and see how it fares with some gaming sessions - my Vega cooks my tiny case so it may add to the problem.

 

I'll put together something from what you suggested @mariushm if things are unstable.

[BDCoots]

This is my solution to cool the rear ssd...
Since I used a itx board on a mid tower case, there was some space and opening available.
The fan is basically pushing air to the back, and the air circulation is cooling the ssd.
RT(30C). SSD Temps from 75C(w/o cooling) to 60C(cooling fan). 
Fan isn't mounted with screws, but held against the case with the 24pin cable.

Might not be for everyone but this is how I solved this issue