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I believe most of the NVMe SSD heatsinks' contact surface is just one flat piece, but not all the chips on the NVMe SSDs have the same height.

From my recent observation, there are air gaps between some chips and the thermal pad/heatsink after putting them together, the thermal pad that came with the heatsink is not enough to fill the gaps.

Here's a picture. The SSD in this picture is the same model I've observed in person. The lowest chip is the third one from the left (probably DRAM,) the one with smallest top surface. I've read somewhere the 4th one from the left is the controller, 1st and 2nd ones are NAND memory chips:

soli

Those which are not in contact with the heatsink will have worse heat dissipation, but does it matter?

My concerns are:

A heatsink that's not in contact with the components underneath is also restricting the air flow around those components, so it's probably worse for those components than without the heatsink and there are more components without contact to the heatsink than there are with contact. In such case, is the heatsink actually doing more harm than good?

The vibes I'm getting from infos on the interweb is that the temperature frequently hovering around the throttle threshold is bad for reliability and longevity of the SSD.

Is it true that as long as the temperature stays under the threshold, through throttle or not, reliability and longevity won't be considerably worse?

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Modern SSDs are smart enough to track the controller's temperature and adequately throttle themselves to avoid overheating, although I don't recall off the top of my head whether individual NAND dies have their own temperature sensors. Which chips is your heatsink hitting and missing, and have you come across a specific performance issue in your testing? \$\endgroup\$
    – nanofarad
    Commented Apr 25, 2023 at 18:37
  • \$\begingroup\$ Usually the heatsink is only to cool the controller. The nand chips actually work best warm and do not need to be cooled. Hopefully the controller is the highest chip. \$\endgroup\$
    – user1850479
    Commented Apr 25, 2023 at 18:47
  • \$\begingroup\$ @nanofarad I've added a picture per request, the heatsink is missing the 3rd one from the left. And what about all the other components, other than those big chips, there are lots of small components not able to touch the thermal pad, and having worse thermals because the heatsink/thermal pad is blocking the airflow, are those less sensitive to the heat? \$\endgroup\$
    – Sij
    Commented Apr 26, 2023 at 13:34
  • \$\begingroup\$ @user1850479 I gather the lowest is the DRAM, controller is near the gold finger. \$\endgroup\$
    – Sij
    Commented Apr 26, 2023 at 14:37
  • \$\begingroup\$ Sounds like you're saying that the heatsink is cooling the controller, which is the only thing that should be cooled. Is there a problem then? \$\endgroup\$
    – user1850479
    Commented Apr 26, 2023 at 15:14

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It doesn't matter.

You have to leave the heatspreader (that part that looks like a label) on the SSD, and you can use the heatsink built in to the motherboard if available.

If you don't use a motherboard heatsink and get throttling with long periods of intense use, look for reviews of NVMe SSD heatsinks. (You probably don't want one that makes a noise or doesn't fit properly or costs more than $10.)

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