SSDs bending under Mainboard-supplied thermal pad

[Dracarris]

I am currently working on assembling my new build and am a bit worried about the way my mainboard (MSI MAG X670E Tomahawk Wifi) foresees to mount/cool the NVMe SSDs. The mainboard comes with heat "shields" that are a slab of metal with a thermal pad glued to the underside that is supposed to go on top of the SSDs and simultaneously hold the SSDs in place and cool them.

 

Now I am facing the problem that both SSDs that I bought for this build (Samsung 990 Pro & WD Black SN770) are bending quite a bit when mounted (the PCB, especially the WD Black since it has a larger gap in the middle of the PCB with no components soldered). I am worried that this bending will at some point lead to solder balls of the mounted chips detaching from the PCB, especially when the SSDs thermal cycle a lot.

 

Does anyone else have this problem or some experience with it? Are my worries unfounded?

[Why_Me]

37 minutes ago, Dracarris said:

I am currently working on assembling my new build and am a bit worried about the way my mainboard (MSI MAG X670E Tomahawk Wifi) foresees to mount/cool the NVMe SSDs. The mainboard comes with heat "shields" that are a slab of metal with a thermal pad glued to the underside that is supposed to go on top of the SSDs and simultaneously hold the SSDs in place and cool them.

 

Now I am facing the problem that both SSDs that I bought for this build (Samsung 990 Pro & WD Black SN770) are bending quite a bit when mounted (the PCB, especially the WD Black since it has a larger gap in the middle of the PCB with no components soldered). I am worried that this bending will at some point lead to solder balls of the mounted chips detaching from the PCB, especially when the SSDs thermal cycle a lot.

 

Does anyone else have this problem or some experience with it? Are my worries unfounded?

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=m.2+heatsink&crid=T0737JOBXQ6D&sprefix=m.2+hea%2Caps%2C340&ref=nb_sb_ss_p13n-pd-dpltr-ranker_1_7

[leclod]

1 hour ago, Dracarris said:

are bending quite a bit when mounted

Funny, yesterday I saw a YT video where the guy complained exactly about that (10:03)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgaB9Z1DNb4

His solution was to not screw completely the "slab of metal with a thermal pad glued to the underside".

He also mentions that it's possible to add pads (provided in the mobo box) under the ssd to support it. 

Either seem ok solutions to me.

 

Afterwards I was worried and wanted to check mine, thankfully I had made such pictures...

Edited June 19 by leclod

[Dracarris]

4 hours ago, leclod said:

Funny, yesterday I saw a YT video where the guy complained exactly about that (10:03)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgaB9Z1DNb4

And it's even in French!  Thanks for the vid, yeah, looks _exactly_ like mine! So I guess we all agree that this is indeed an issue? I think putting more thermal pads against the SSD from the underside is a good solution, although I really hate the fact that a Mobo for which I paid 250$+ a) introduces such a shitty solution and b) does not include any remedy against it in the box.

 

The main SSD slot (NVMe_1) which is directly connected to the CPU even has thermal pads on the underside (stuck on the mobo) but they are way too thin to reach the WD Black which only has components on the top layer of the PCB

5 hours ago, Why_Me said:

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=m.2+heatsink&crid=T0737JOBXQ6D&sprefix=m.2+hea%2Caps%2C340&ref=nb_sb_ss_p13n-pd-dpltr-ranker_1_7

Thanks - so you think this is indeed an issue? Buying 3rd party heat sinks is IMHO not really a nice solution. Quite annoying given that MSI included heatsinks that completely match the rest of the mobo and that I would then just have laying around somewhere.

[jmwhite33]

@Dracarris

I'm using this on a WD Blue with good results. It came with pads to support the bottom, is self-contained AND best of all uses spring tension to apply pressure so no chance to bend the ssd and it conforms better to the different chip heights on the ssd.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Archgon-Heatsink-Workstation-Computer-Industrial/dp/B07X4TV6SM/ref=sxbs_pa_sp_search_thematic_btf_sspa?

[Dracarris]

11 minutes ago, jmwhite33 said:

@Dracarris

I'm using this on a WD Blue with good results. It came with pads to support the bottom, is self-contained AND best of all uses spring tension to apply pressure so no chance to bend the ssd and it conforms better to the different chip heights on the ssd.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Archgon-Heatsink-Workstation-Computer-Industrial/dp/B07X4TV6SM/ref=sxbs_pa_sp_search_thematic_btf_sspa?

Thanks, but I will have lots of trouble mounting this to the mainboard, it will collide with all kinds of things. I also probably don't need such a beefy cooling solution for my bloody SSD, I just want to have them stay in place in a way that does not damage them, for crying out loud..

[jmwhite33]

5 minutes ago, Dracarris said:

Thanks, but I will have lots of trouble mounting this to the mainboard, it will collide with all kinds of things. I also probably don't need such a beefy cooling solution for my bloody SSD, I just want to have them stay in place in a way that does not damage them, for crying out loud..

Yeah, it is bulky. It fits with about 1/4" clearance on my system.

You probably have to use pads underneath in your situation.

Things like this should have safeguards to protect against user error. Not saying your at fault, just that being able to torque stuff down on a motherboard usually isn't the best.

[Dracarris]

6 minutes ago, jmwhite33 said:

Yeah, it is bulky. It fits with about 1/4" clearance on my system.

You probably have to use pads underneath in your situation.

Things like this should have safeguards to protect against user error. Not saying your at fault, just that being able to torque stuff down on a motherboard usually isn't the best.

I just don't get how they were thinking that this will ever work properly for a wide range of SSDs.