Details of the Savio AK-60 cooler
The SSD cooler database is expanding once again, this time with a model that keeps critical components from overheating. The Savio AK-60 can reduce temperatures even by twenty degrees Celsius. Its design is simple, and its price is low. It’s relatively compact, so compatibility with expansion cards is broad, and you’re unlikely to complain about the build quality. This includes features like a secure mounting system.
Details of the Savio AK-60 cooler
The foundation of the cooler consists of an aluminum heatsink, a backplate, and a set of three thermal pads. The heatsink weighs 18 grams, while the backplate adds another 4 grams. Both components are made of aluminum.
The radiator is longitudinally and partially transversely finned. Its construction resembles that of the BeQuiet! MC1 cooler. In total, there are five longitudinal fins, with two thinner ones on the sides and one thicker one running through the center. All the fins have three notches on the shorter side, but diagonally. These notches also influence how the airflow from the system cooling flows around the heatsink. This cooler, like all other passive solutions, relies solely on this principle.
Compared to the aforementioned BeQuiet! cooler, this one is slightly taller (partly due to the thicker AK-60 substrate, specifically its thicker base) – Savio states 11 mm. However, with the note that the total height depends on the SSD used. The thermal pads included in the accessories also vary in thickness, with two pads being 1 mm thick and one being “half-sized” (0.5 mm thick).
The thinner pad is particularly useful for thicker SSDs with double-sided PCBs (typically those with higher capacities due to additional memory chips), but it can also be used with single-sided models. This was also the case with the test SSD, the Samsung 980 Pro. In our case, the difference in cooling performance was minimal, below the threshold of detection. For the thickness of the thermal pad to have any significant impact, the power consumption of (NVMe) SSDs is still too low. Additionally, it’s worth referencing an older test of thermal pads, which shows that a thicker pad doesn’t necessarily mean worse performance. This is true as long as it is sufficiently compressed, allowing it to benefit from the higher material density and ensuring better contact with the surfaces of the controller and memory chips.
A higher mounting pressure results in more intense compression of the thermal pad, ultimately leading to contact over a larger surface area. However, this is just a theory, and even a thinner pad works quite well for this purpose, as we measured no differences in SSD temperatures.
One thermal pad is applied to the inner wall of the backplate, and another to the bottom of the heatsink. Heat from the SSD is thus dissipated from both sides. The backplate also serves a reinforcing function to prevent the SSD from flexing due to the mounting mechanism of the motherboard. As you may know from an older analysis of this issue, this flexing does occur, and it is another factor that can ultimately reduce cooling performance. A proper heatsink is just one of the prerequisites for an effective result.
The backplate here also serves to clamp the SSD together with the finned heatsink. These two parts are connected on the sides with screws. Included in the accessories is a small screwdriver and, most importantly, a set of screws. There are two spare screws, or at least one, if you use the fifth screw to mount the SSD to the motherboard.
Only M.2 SSDs with a length of 80 mm are supported. These make up the vast majority, so this is actually fine. The dimensions of the heatsink, backplate, and thermal pads are not designed for larger or smaller M.2 SSDs, as they would be either too long or too short.
The Savio extends over the PCIe ×16 slot by roughly 6 mm. With this overhang, the cooler will still fit beneath a graphics card cooler, avoiding any collision. How such a position can influence cooling performance was discussed in a separate test we conducted some time ago: What’s the best position for your M.2 SSD?
Methodology
The tests take place in a wind tunnel that substitutes for a standard computer case. Four Noctua NF-S12A PWM@550 rpm fans are used for system cooling in a balanced ratio of two intake to two exhaust fans. The intake air temperature is strictly controlled and is kept within a narrow range of 21–21.3 °C for maximum possible accuracy.
In line with findings from measurements of the impact of different positions on cooling efficiency, we test standalone SSD coolers in the first slot, above the graphics card. From board tests we naturally have a lot of results of coolers (referred to as cooler 1 and cooler 2) from other positions as well, but in those cases, it is due to their fixed position.
Na testovanie používame SSD Samsung 980 Pro (1 TB). Záťaž prebieha po dobu 10 minút (čo je vo veternom tuneli dostatočný čas na ustálenie teplôt) v CrystalDiskMarku – cykly sekvenčného čítania a zápisu. Dosahovaná spotreba je vtedy približne 6 W, čo je vrchná hranica toho, čo SSD M.2 mávajú a meniť by to nemali ani modely s podporou rozhrania PCIe 5.0.
Nice! I expected it to do a little bit better, but at the price it’s good.