970 evo plus Samsung NVMe storage at 100°C temperature
970 evo plus Samsung NVMe storage at 100°C temperature
I recently assembled a PC and began benchmarks right after powering it on. The NVMe storage only managed around 100 MB/s read and write speeds. This puzzled me, so I used the Samsung smart app to investigate. It revealed that the CPU was experiencing extreme thermal throttling—operating at 100°C without decreasing temperature. I suspected a sensor problem, but testing with a heat gun confirmed the same reading. Changing the NVMe slot didn’t help either. What might be causing this?
The reviewer points out a cooling issue with the Samsung 970 Evo Plus and 980 Pro models. The controller chip size differs from the NAND memory chips, which affects performance. In their setup, they have a 970 EVO Plus paired with two Adata SX8200 Pro drives, all protected by a Gigabyte Aorus Master thermal shield. The Samsung devices consistently run at high temperatures (57-60-65°C), while the Adata drives maintain a cooler baseline (10°C lower than the Samsung temps). This discrepancy could be due to the chip size mismatch. They also mention relocating the M2 slot to a lower position didn’t improve cooling. Many users report similar problems, and some suggest the lack of a proper heat spreader or shield is contributing to overheating. The reviewer advises against removing the standard black Samsung heat spreader and emphasizes that installing thermal pads only makes sense if a shield or heatsink is present. They conclude that 100°C is excessive for Gen 3 SSDs, indicating something is fundamentally wrong with the thermal management.