I got the WD 1 TB drive without heat sink. I’m not in the beta but just want to be ready. Does anyone know if this heat sink will work? I’m totally new to this and don’t even have a PC. Thanks!!
M.2 Copper Heatsinks Cooler for M.2 2280 SSD Laptop（2 Pack） https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XD8M43P/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_68K270XVVHXEPQK2DT5M?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
yeah no heatsink thats for sure, theres just no room. Plus you'd need some active air blowing over it for it to really work so its kind of pointless. If you're going to add the SSD to the laptop as a second drive just order a shim & thermal pad kit since western digital ( and Samsung ) don't include them with their ssds. Something like this:
its just two small copper shims to protect the SSD, and then some thermal padding to help transfer heat.
The heat is minimal and people have made a big deal about it but SSD heat isn't going to be a real issue until Gen5.
Ive read that Gen5 ssd's might require active cooling and there is already some gen4 active cooling solutions out ( basically a heatsink with some copper pipes and a small fan cooling it off ). Its pretty ugly and gaudy so hopefully they'll come out with some properly engineered solutions that look far better and work well.
But honestly i wouldn't worry about the heat unless you're doing transfers like 24/7 and have it running on a server or doing tons of i/o operations and reading and writing like crazy.
If its just going to be in a normal environment, loading games, being a 2nd drive or even a boot drive, you're good. If it was that huge of a deal, with as big as WD is and how many people have this drive, it would be widely discussed and people would stay far away from the drive.
It was mentioned in like one review as a "con" and that kinda stuck so people bring up thermals from time to time but its really not an issue I'm worried about or i wouldn't have bought the drive.
As far as a heatsink there's just no space in a laptop and even i thought it was a bit of overkill in the ps5 due to how the SSD slot is made up as the fan sucks or blows air like right over it anyways.
I popped for a heatsink for the ps5 and the sucky thing was the first and last time anyone going to see it was when i installed it. So i got about 5-10 minutes of joy from looking at it as it was a nicer heatsink ( a copper colored or might of been copper sabrent heatsink that was suppose to shave like 5-8c off it but who knows. ).
The copper shim and thermal pad solution i linked to is cheap, and its what asus used for their boot 1tb drive. I took the shims and pad off and just transferred them over to the WD drive and it was good to go.
Again if its a 2nd drive your putting in, there's no pad to transfer from the old drive there so you'll need to buy one since again wd/sammy don't include them. The shims and pad are like 8 bucks for 2 ( put one shim on each side and then the pads as well - the shims have a small bit of clear tape to stick and the pads are sticky) Asus put a full pad on the motherboard side and then a 1 inch pad on the case side.
Youll be fine, again unless your going to have it like reading and writing 24/7 on some sort of server in which case you'd be buying the wrong product as there are SSD solutions for servers and this is just a high performance SSD for a laptop or desktop pc.
Its a fantastic drive and thermals are not an issue.
Oh, heh, yeah.
FWIW I honestly don't know if I'm making contact with the bottom of the case. I got this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07XD8M43P/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
My 1TB Samsung is fine.
I added a 2TB Phillips and it's fine to.
Mods:
M.2's: Carefully pulled stickers, placed back onto empty PCB side.
Copper Heat Spreader: pulled thermal pad, removed Kapton Tape, reinstalled w/ thermal pad.
There are cheaper, and potentially better heat spreaders that could be used such as;
www.amazon.com/dp/B07RRNC5WD/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_VHQ3T5F8WW4AQM7QATX1
www.amazon.com/dp/B085RNXS4S/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_CCDTZ55CHY10V3V09NT5
www.amazon.com/dp/B07XD8M43P/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_B3DXNRGSS8W11RBMBK8N
www.amazon.com/dp/B08BL88D3D/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_K65B3X2KH70DRRYH8W64
Yes the one with one screw. I have a 2tb and 1 tb ssd, and they work well. M.2 copper heat sink is the one I bought (not a paid link). Also I do use the flaps to divert the air upwards away from the intake so the hot air from the laptop doesn't get circulated back into the cooler.