NVMe SSD: do I need to take the sticker off before applying the heatsink?

[ShiningLizard]

I just purchased a WD Black SN750 500GB NVMe M.2 SSD. The drive has a sticker which covers all of the chips.

I have an ASUS TUF Gaming X570 motherboard with two M.2 slots - the first of which includes a heatsink with a pre-applied thermal pad.

I've never used an NVMe SSD or a heatsink for one before, so I am wondering whether I should remove the sticker from the SSD before fitting the heatsink, or whether to leave it and it will be fine? I've done some research online already and am seeing conflicting reports. I don't want to damage the SSD, or void any warranty by removing the sticker.

I have attached photos of the heatsink (front and back) for reference.

Can anyone help me out here? Thank you.

[RadiatingLight]

You should be fine leaving the SSD sticker on.

You should, of course, remove the blue sticker on the heatsink that says "remove" all over it.

[mariushm]

The plastic protecting the adhesive on that piece yes, it doesn't conduct heat well.

The label on the SSD no, most stickers on SSDs are thermally conductive and even spread the heat (they're basically micro heatsinks)

 

[Windows7ge]

Most of these SSDs usually have a metallic sticker that actually helps spread the heat out. Removing it is ill-advised for a couple reasons including the fact it may/will void your warranty if you have trouble with the drive.

 

Typically these types of SSDs don't run THAT hot. Passive cooling is usually more than enough and connecting a heatsink or fan is actually sometimes discouraged as IIRC the controller on the PCB can work better the cooler it runs but the NAND can actually degrade and perform worse at lower temperatures. The NAND should actually stay a little warm to function properly.

[cuchr]

1 minute ago, Windows7ge said:

Most of these SSDs usually have a metallic sticker that actually helps spread the heat out. Removing it is ill-advised for a couple reasons including the fact it may/will void your warranty if you have trouble with the drive.

 

Typically these types of SSDs don't run THAT hot. Passive cooling is usually more than enough and connecting a heatsink or fan is actually sometimes discouraged as IIRC the controller on the PCB can work better the cooler it runs but the NAND can actually degrade and perform worse at lower temperatures. The NAND should actually stay a little warm to function properly.

Hello!

I am using and intel 660p 1TB and and i applied an Akasa M.2 Heatsink.

The sticker was a regular sticker on the SSD.

These are my idle temperatures.

 

[Windows7ge]

5 minutes ago, cuchr said:

Hello!

I am using and intel 660p 1TB and and i applied an Akasa M.2 Heatsink.

The sticker was a regular sticker on the SSD.

These are my idle temperatures.

That's fine. I don't see anything wrong with that.

 

I do always take temps in software with a grain of salt though. They're not always accurate.

[aisle9]

Don't take stickers off of M.2 SSDs. One, it voids the warranty. Two, it voids the warranty. Three, it voids the warranty. Four, if you screw up, you can damage the SSD. Five, it voids the warranty.

[Chris Pratt]

The label on the M.2 drive is a heat spreader, not to be confused with a heat sink. The job of a heat sink is to dissipate heat away from the source. A heat spreader is designed to evenly distribute heat across the source.

 

A SSD has a controller and generally multiple NAND chips. The controller gets hot and needs to be cooled, while the NAND needs to be warm in order to function correctly. The heat spreader label on the drive serves to move heat from the controller to the NAND chips, so the controller doesn't overheat and the NAND stay warm. You should not remove this label, regardless of whether you apply a separate heatsink or not.

[SabianSVK]

Yeah, my new MB (TUF GAMING B460M-PLUS) has 2x M.2 slot as well, one near CPU without heatsink, other one below PCIe x16 slot, with massive heatsink like yours ... First i thought "COOL, fat heatsink, let´s use it" Only afterwards I checked and temperatures were like 56°C. Then it hit me that it is completely covered by GPU cooler, blowing HOT air from GPU right at that SSD! I moved the SSD next to the CPU and temperatures are 40°C 

[Ralf]

46 minutes ago, SabianSVK said:

with massive heatsink like yours ... First i thought "COOL, fat heatsink, let´s use it"

If that's massive/fat,what's this? A monster?

[SabianSVK]

well, compared to those heatsink supplied with the SSD package, looking like aluminium foil, that one was fat ... Your´s isn´t heatsink anymore, it´s a utility radiator  

[ShiningLizard]

Thank you everyone for all of your help so far.

 

So right now I'm feeling that the consensus is not to remove the label, and that I may not even need the heatsink.

 

I'm thinking of just moving the SSD in to the slot above the CPU for now (away from the GPU blower) and not applying a heat sink - I guess I can just try it this way and see if I get any performance issues. Does this seem wise?

[wall03]

25 minutes ago, ShiningLizard said:

Thank you everyone for all of your help so far.

 

So right now I'm feeling that the consensus is not to remove the label, and that I may not even need the heatsink.

 

I'm thinking of just moving the SSD in to the slot above the CPU for now (away from the GPU blower) and not applying a heat sink - I guess I can just try it this way and see if I get any performance issues. Does this seem wise?

that seems good, but I'm no expert

[Adrian Mazurowski]

I will write here, because it's top 1 result in Google - don't think about removing sticker. I removed from Samsung 980 Pro, the disk stop work and Amazon sent me replacement item, I sent old and they rejected old and they want money from me or to sent a valid disk

[PolishGod]

On 8/6/2020 at 7:40 PM, aisle9 said:

Don't take stickers off of M.2 SSDs. One, it voids the warranty. Two, it voids the warranty. Three, it voids the warranty. Four, if you screw up, you can damage the SSD. Five, it voids the warranty.

What if it doesn't say it on the sticker?