IOMeter is left to run 128KB fully sequential, 100% write transactions (4K aligned) on the SSD for 60 minutes, with a 60-second ramp period for idle logging. The entire point of the thermal camera is to get a quick understanding of where hotspots are on the bare drive, then we stick thermocouples to those hot spots, with one more thermocouple measuring air temperature. That wouldn’t work for a lot of reasons, many of which we explained in a previous video. Huge note here: The purpose of the thermal camera is not to get our temperature readings.
That’s not true, and we want to prevent spread of misinformation by people who don’t take the time to read the context surrounding an image. The thermal image for this is shown in the video (top of this article), but we’re not embedding it here intentionally too many people will ignore the words and just assume that the image is, in fact, the test data. We first used a thermal camera to identify hot spots on the M.2 SSD, accounting for emissivity easily since we’re only measuring an all-black surface and not dealing with a reflective material. Ambient is monitored, as are two hot spots on the Flash. Two thermocouple readers (four total thermocouples, K-Type) are used for this testing. AIDA64 is used for logging thermals of silicon components, including the controller sensor. The delta value subtracts the thermo-logged ambient value from the measured diode temperatures, producing a delta report of thermals that accounts for the change in ambient between tests and throughout testing (measured second-to-second). We then produce charts using a Delta T(emperature) over Ambient values and non-delta values. We control for ambient by constantly measuring temperatures with thermocouples.
The motherboard is MSI’s Z270 Gaming Pro Carbon, which comes with the M.2 shield.Ĭonducting thermal tests requires careful measurement of temperatures in the surrounding environment. The primary SSD used for the numbers ultimately generated (in charts below) was the HyperX Predator M.2 variant. We tested using an Intel i7-7700K (stock) with XMP set to 3200MHz on the kit detailed in the table below. We tested MSI’s M.2 “Shield” in a Z270 Gaming Pro Carbon to validate whether the marketing made any sense, and found that, minimally, the shield is poorly executed and should be discarded by any potential owners. There’s just not enough conduction and spreading potential to make up for the lack of even indirect airflow. Ultimately, the point is that there’s just no way this thing is going to do any more than trap heat beneath the M.2 SSD and prevent cool air from accessing the drive. The thermal pad conducting between the SMT components and the shield is the thinnest we’ve ever seen, and may as well not even be present. A fan obviously isn’t going to happen, so adding some fins or using better materials would be beneficial. The second point is critical, as you’d need an active cooling apparatus or greater surface area to produce any meaningful heat dissipation or spread (respectively). (Above: MSI’s marketing language claims that the “shield” improves cooling by reducing temperatures) MSI thought that adding this “shield” to the M.2 slot would solve the issue of hot M.2 SSDs, but it’s got a few problems that don’t even require testing to understand: (1) the “shield” (or sink, whatever) doesn’t enshroud the underside of the M.2 device, where SMDs will likely be present (2) the cover is designed more like a shield than a sink (despite MSI’s marketing language – see below), and that means we’ve got limited surface area with zero dissipation potential. M.2 SSDs are notoriously hot resultant of their lower surface area and general lack of housing (ignoring the M8Pe and similar devices), and running high temperatures in a case with unfavorable ambient will result in throttled performance. From a heat sinking standpoint, a separate M.2 heatsink would also make sense. This would include Flash modules and controllers that may otherwise be in a direct heat path. The idea that the “shield” can perform two opposing functions – shielding an SSD from external heat while somehow simultaneously sinking heat from within – seems like it’s written by marketing, not by engineering.įrom a “shielding” standpoint, it might make sense if you’ve got a second video card socketed above the M.2 SSD and dumping heat onto it, a shield could in fact help keep heat from touching SMT components. MSI’s latest M.2 heat shield always struck us as high on the list of potentially untested marketing claims. Every now and then, a new marketing gimmick comes along that feels a little untested.