M.2 heatsink on motherboard?

[Viper_the1st]

My motherboard has a metal plate heatsink which covers the m.2 ssd. Is this bad? Should I take the heatsink off? My motherboard is the asus b550-f gaming wifi

[Prodigy_Smit]

3 minutes ago, Viper_the1st said:

My motherboard has a metal plate heatsink which covers the m.2 ssd. Is this bad? Should I take the heatsink off? My motherboard is the asus b550-f gaming wifi

There is no inherent problem with it so leave it on unless some other problems are present.

[ColdPressCoconutOil]

12 minutes ago, Viper_the1st said:

My motherboard has a metal plate heatsink which covers the m.2 ssd. Is this bad? Should I take the heatsink off? My motherboard is the asus b550-f gaming wifi

no, not bad. make sure you remove the covering on the heatsink after placing your ssd and heatsink

[Chris Pratt]

There's a lot of debate on the merits of M.2 heatsinks. If you're doing a lot of sustained heavy I/O, the controller can get very hot, and a heatsink could help dissipate that heat to keep it running efficiently. On the other hand, the NAND likes to be hot, and if the temps aren't high enough, performance and life can be affected. The label on the M.2 is actually a heat spreader for this reason. It helps transfer the heat away from the controller to the NAND, so the controller stays cool and the NAND gets toasty.

 

The end result, though, is that's it kind of a wash. It's not really going to hurt to apply the heatsink, but it's probably not going to do anything for you either. I'd say your choice mostly boils down to aesthetics. If you like the way it looks leave it.

[Letgomyleghoe]

if it has a thermal pad and your case has decent airflow, go for it, it can hurt anyway, more surface area exposed will dissipate more heat