Liquid cooling the M.2 SSD disk: is it worthy

[Gianluca]

Hiya all,

quick question: is it worthy to use an M.2 water block and add it to the custom loop? Corsair has a nice one (SKU CX-9029002-ww) but, really, anyone tried it? How beneficial it is in terms of drive cooling over performance or longevity?

I know that M.2 drives are sensitive to high temperatures but I'm not sure how much of a gain I'd have Vs. Heatsink and air cooling.

I have an ASUS ROG STRIX Z690-I and the board has already heatsinks to dissipate heat from M.2 drives.


Second Q to anyone who used it: by adding a waterblock I would assume that the drive may not properly slide in (due to the increased thickness added by the water block at the bottom). is it so? Anyone successfully used it in the ASUS ROG STRIX Z690-I or other ASUS ITX MoBo with the same M.2 slot design?

Thanks,

G.

[Latharion]

KitGuru did a review of this and it should answer all of your questions.  Here is a link to the youtube  video..

 

 

[Gianluca]

Thank you Latharion, I missed that video.

Good news in terms of performance, I am still doubtful on whether the additional bottom thickness from the Hydro X case would be compatible with the M.2 mounting of my MoBo. But I guess nobody has tried it and wrote about it yet, as the motherboard is relatively new and it has M.2 heatsinks embedded in the design.

I guess I just have to buy the block, fit my 980 PRO in it and mount it on the MB.

G.

[plextor]

Gianluca - I just installed one of these in my ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero, and it fits fine. The motherboard's M.2 heatsink comes off and then the SSD+block go there directly.

I didn't compare temp & performance with the heatsink versus the water cooling block, but the water cooling does keep the SSD drive quite cool (the temps never went above the water loop's own temp).

 

[Gianluca]

On 2/6/2022 at 7:44 AM, plextor said:

Gianluca - I just installed one of these in my ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero, and it fits fine. The motherboard's M.2 heatsink comes off and then the SSD+block go there directly.

I didn't compare temp & performance with the heatsink versus the water cooling block, but the water cooling does keep the SSD drive quite cool (the temps never went above the water loop's own temp).

 

Glad to hear that! Thanks plextor.

I'll get mine by the end of the week and will install it. 

[Gianluca]

UPDATE

The CX-9029002-WW waterblock does NOT seem to be compatible with most M.2 2280 modules: in fact, due to tiny brackets, I believe structural, in the lower support (there are three on each side, at each end and in the middle) the actual base width is about 21.5mm, so you can't fit any M.2 actually 22mm wide.

See the attached image.

For sure, the water block is not compatible with Samsung 980pro, which is exactly 22mm wide. Therefore, the SSD would fit inside the lower support but would then rest over those brackets and would not make contact at all with the thermal pad underneath .

The only way to have my M.2 fitting in would be to sand the side of the M.2 board and eat at least 0.5mm away... which I am not going to do...

Pity.

Gianluca
 

[Gianluca]

UPDATE OF THE UPDATE

My previous comment is incorrect! Those brackets are actually where the M.2 should rest, the water block is meant to be used with single sided and double sided boards. the Samsung 980 Pro is single sided, therefore an extra thermal pad should be added underneath. Actually, corsair include two extra 0.5mm pads, that made me think.

Anyway, by adding just an extra pad the M.2 fits nicely and I was able to install it in the board.

G.