Should you remove an SSD sticker before mounting a heatsink?

So, how then?

Here are some questions that everyone who wants to tune their computer to the last detail deals with: Does it make any sense to remove the sticker from a powerful M.2 SSD format? Is it worth the effort and, if something goes wrong, the breach of warranty? How much will the heating be reduced? As a part of detailed tests, we also exchanged the original stickers for ones of commonly available materials (paper, plastic foil, aluminum…) just out of curiosity. Do SSD manufacturers use anything extra?

So, how then?

Before answering the question in the headline, it is important to note that the heating of the NVMe SSD is not as critical in practice as it is often perceived and sometimes transformed into beautiful and efficient, but impractical (in the sense it all collides with other components unnecessarily) Cryorig Frostbit designs.

Critical 100 degree values are usually achieved only during a continuous, several minutes long intense load at maximum performance. And this usually in combination with weaker system cooling (and higher air temperature in the case). I do not mean to downplay this topic in any way, on the contrary, an additional heatsink definitely belongs to a powerful SSD. Anyway, at least for now, there is no need to make a big deal out of it, and you can calmly leave the SSD sticker intact before installing a heatsink. It is still true that high-end PCIe SSDs have relatively low power consumption (compared to CPUs and GPUs) despite higher peak temperatures. If the sticker is designed properly, it will increase the heating by a maximum of 1–3 °C which in the end usually does not matter. It does not prolong its longevity and in the vast majority of cases it does not degrade performance. Exceptions may only apply to SSDs which after exceeding a certain temperature (typically 70 °C) automatically reduce the voltage delivery, which reduces the performance. In real life, however, you won’t just reach “seventies” with a decent cooler.

The tests show how temperature can progress with increasing thickness of the sticker material. The difference between 80 and 300g paper was about 5 °C when the WD Black SN750 was under load. And it is also remarkable that the material of a factory sticker (mostly made of PET) is not so much of a better thermal conductor than ordinary office paper. The aluminum foil filler is closest to the case with no sticker, but even a pure PET foil is not far from it. After adding the adhesive component and the office paper, there could be some cosmetic increase in temperature, but we can certainly say that no abnormalities, without which it would not be possible, are used for the production of SSD stickers.

TL;DR: Leave the sticker be, from a practical point of view it does not make sense to peel it off before mounting an SSD heatsink. The difference in heating is in any case negligible.

English translation and edit by Lukáš Terényi


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Comments (7) Add comment

  1. Having spent a lot of time building and repairing high power solid state RF amplifiers I have a few recommendations: to get the maximum heat transfer it is essential to get good contract between chip and heat-sink so no stickers, no heat conducting pads just a thin spread of good thermal paste between the controller chip and the heat-sink you can apply a thermal pad to the non component side for stability. The controller chip is the only component on the board generating heat, the memory chips don’t so you are effectively heating the memory chips buy placing thermal pads over them and attaching them to the heat-sink!

  2. Finally a good article, that makes sense and shows the tests about this issue.
    Now all is clear and thank you for publishing this.

  3. Can you also test combination no sticker + thermal paste + heatsink?
    I have removed the sticker, put ton of thermal paste on SSD and attached lapped cooper heatsink (6mm thick).
    But now I’m little aftraid that cooper surface may cause conductivity between SMD components and cause short circuit.
    So the original sticker may also serve as electric isolation layer.

    1. You’re better off putting a thermal pad between M.2 and copper (you can use a runner band to keep attached).

      1. “…use a runner band…” I take it that was a type-O and you meant “Rubber band”. You should NEVERR use a petroleum product in this kind of application! Rubber bands arre made up of a petroleum ingredient. It doesn’t take long for a low-quality petroleum item such as a rubber band to break down.

        Go find some old letters or greeting cards that you or a friend may have collected and saved. They probably bunched them up with one or more rubber bands. In a climate controlled, AC-cooled, environment, the lifespan of the rubber band may be as long as 4 or 5 years.

        That would be a very optimistic estimate and based on a high quality batch of rubber bands. However, in a high-heat producing environment, such as the temperatures in a computer case or in an NVMe enclosure, (with or without a fan), the same rubber band wouldn’t last 6 months.

        Hence, never use a rubber band for anything that has the potential of heating and then cooling at regular intervals, (or for that matter, at irregular intervals). In fact, just don’t use a rubber band for anything, particularly something that can create any amount of heat at all.
        FWIW

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