Do NVMe heatsinks and stickers make a difference? #NVMe #pcbuild #pcieGen5

For this test I'm running the Seagate Firecuda 540 in the build listed below. I decided to test it in multiple different ways:

1 - In it's standard setup with the motherboard heatsink and sticker
2 - Without the heatsink
3 - Without its stickers but with the heatsink

The results surprised me, with the exception of running it without a heatsink as that just meant it thermally throttled and stopped running as it should have. But removing the stickers didn't make as much difference as I thought it would. For these tests I used Crystal Disk Mark to push the drive to its limits, while also running Cinebench R23 to get the system heat up and HWmonitor to check the temps and performance. I made multiple passes of these tests for each of the variations to be sure I was reaching the limits, though obviously there will be some fluctuation as ambient temps might have changed and you will have to keep in mind that your system setup and environment might be different, but still, I believe it's not worth peeling.

Specs of this build:
CPU - Intel Core i9-12900K CPU
RAM - 32GB Corsair Vengeance DDR5 5,200 Mhz RAM
GPU - Acer Predator BiFrost Intel Arc A770 OC

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Related videos on NVMes that you should watch:

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[baohoaily]

Same reason why I add stickers to my Honda Civic.

[numbone]

Those stickers are heat spreaders and should not be removed

[Goodman._]

The sticker has metallic composition in it, which has an excellent heat conduction, not only that, the surface of the m.2 is not smooth, which means the thermal pad will likely not be able to make contact with every component, thus makes the heat transfer less efficient. Also, peel it off will be risking to void your warranty.

[javierqr]

This is just what I needed to know before installing my NVME, thanks a lot!!

[BigDrewski]

A lot of people don't realize, but on most NVME drives, those stickers act as a heat sink because on most drives they're actually foil instead of regular stickers. That being said, on cheaper drives (think drives made by companies you've probably never heard of) they'll actually run WORSE with those stickers left on because they cut cost by using actual stickers for labels and those suck to leave on.

[rpbuck]

Prawn, you are a treasurehouse of information!

[blisterbill]

I’ve read that the sticker material is not regular paper or plastic. Those stickers are thermally conductive so they help to spread and dissipate the heat.
I have often wondered if it was any better than no sticker.

[gregbrown]

You have answered all my questions about temps with m.2 drives... I will leave graphene sticker on and use thermal pad ...i am already do this.. but yeah nice video 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥👑🌟⭐✨💫

[vugiabaotc]

I use thermal putty at a replacement for the sticker and thermal pad

[BenKlassen]

There are voltage regulators that sit at a lower plane than the controller that need the sticker or additional heat thermal pad material to function optimally, I think.

[VintageCR]

that's an interesting find to say the least, think ill just keep my stickers on the nvme's from now on.

[Skelath]

Can tell by the size of your drives you don't have "over-provisioning" enabled, you'll get much faster speeds with it enabled.

[chrisbird]

The stickers are metallic, they work as heat spreaders

[gradient]

I specifically looked for this information when installing mine and had conflicting information. I ended up trusting a guy that said to remove it... I hope I don't lose much prformance or run into issues with my SSD.

[averytucker]

The stickers spread the heat and cooling. Like putting on a wet shirt in the summer heat.

[MrStarpeto]

Cause stickers on nvme are actually heat spreaders, not just stickers

[crazysquirrel]

I wonder if you can do a surface scan and repair on an NVMe drive.

[ScientificGlassblowing]

Were you able to get the drive back to its level of performance before your testing?

[GRBtutorials]

44 GB/s?! Something tells me you have a caching problem in your test setup…

[richmondbryannagera]

I've just bought an Adata SX8200 and an ID cooling zero M05 aluminum heatsink. The SSD comes with a heat spread sticker with thermal pad on it, but you have to install it yourself. My question is should I install the sticker and the aluminum heatsink together? Or just the aluminum heatsink?