Cooling the M.2 SSD: You have to take this into account

M.2 SSDs are particularly compact and powerful flash memories. With special accessories, you can additionally cool these SSDs and thus ensure better performance.

How to cool your M.2 SSD

Mainly because of the very high read and write speeds, more and more gamers are building an M.2 SSD into their tower PC. However, the memory can get very warm in complex games and the performance has to be reduced at some point. This is remedied by additional cooling.

• So-called passive coolers for M.2 SSDs are popular and at the same time very inexpensive. They work on a very simple principle.
• It is a heat sink that is placed on the SSD together with a thermal pad. The heat produced in the tank is transferred to the passive cooler all by itself.
• The heat sink is usually made of aluminum and has high ribs. Overall, they form a larger surface, so that more heat is released into the environment.
• This thermal trick alone can lower the temperature of the SSD by around 10 degrees Celsius. That doesn't sound like much at first, but it can bring noticeable differences in performance.
• Passive heatsinks for M.2 SSDs are available online for less than 10 euros. Instructions for correct installation are usually included.
• The additional heat sink is not an option for notebooks, as there is simply not enough space in the case. SSDs with permanently installed heat sinks such as the Adata XPG GAMMIX S11 Pro can be an alternative. Overall, these have a flatter design. You should still check beforehand whether there is enough space in your laptop.

The lifespan of an SSD is fundamentally limited. In the next practical tip, we will show you which tool you can use to find out the service life of your SSD.