Need M.2 heatsink recommendations

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nabsltd

Active Member
Jan 26, 2022
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I grabbed one of those cheap (less than US$10) double-sided M.2 heatsinks (like this one), and it works fine for motherboard slots and single M.2 PCIe cards (dropped max temp from 50°C to 45°C), but won't fit on most dual/quad M.2 PCIe cards, as they don't have enough room for the "walls" in between the drives.

I tried one of the ones with "bands" (like this one), and the max drive temps soared from 47°C to 64°C.

Any recommendations for M.2 heatsinks with narrow side clearance that actually work? And, if you have an even better passive heatsink that requires more space, I'd appreciate that, too.

Thanks.
 

A-W-A

New Member
May 14, 2022
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I have just orderd one of the EKWB (of waterblock fame) M.2 heatsinks to use on a Supermicro x11ssh-f motherboard for much the same reason as the space between the cpu heatsink and 1st pci-e slots where the m.2 resides looks quite narrow.

Andrew
 

andrewbedia

Active Member
Jan 11, 2013
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I have owned a few. My list is pretty short, so take with grains of salt.

The best that I have used are the EK ones. The fit, finish, and thermal performance is the best I have used.
Not quite as good, but was cheap-- GELID SubZero M.2
MicroConnectors M.2 heatsink (whatever microcenter has) -- Uses adhesive. Don't remember what the performance was like. I don't like 'permanent' heatsinks.
 

nabsltd

Active Member
Jan 26, 2022
345
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That's really just the same as all the other double-sided M.2 heatsinks, but with heatpipes added to the mix. Since the "cool" end of the heatpipes isn't connected to anything much bigger than the fins on the double-sided screw-together M.2 heatsinks, I suspect it wouldn't perform that much better.
 

Wasmachineman_NL

Wittgenstein the Supercomputer FTW!
Aug 7, 2019
1,872
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I bought a used Aquacomputer KryoM.2 Micro and it seems to keep my 970 Evo rather cool.

Or at least cooler than without a heatsink.