Managing heat in a dual-sided NVMe M.2 storage device
Managing heat in a dual-sided NVMe M.2 storage device
Your motherboard supports three PCIe 5 NVME slots, but only one has thermal pads beneath and above the drive. The remaining two have pads only on top. You're using a Crucial T700, which is compatible with Gen 3 and Gen 4 drives. While the top pads are sufficient for those, the bottom pads aren't necessary for Gen 5 drives. You don’t need an aftermarket pad for the bottom ones, but you should still ensure proper cooling for the controller and the NAND chips.
I don't have the motherboard's model, but are you certain all NVMe ports are operating at Gen 5 speeds? It's typical to have a fast Gen 5 port and slower ones. Keeping drives double-sided in slots without thermal pads can be risky. It's safer to use single-sided Gen 4 drives in these cases.
It’s unlikely you need to worry if your cooling setup works well and the controller uses a thermal pad. The PCB should handle heat from the NAND chips without issues. If your M.2 heatsink is plain metal and you’re still having problems, consider replacing it with something offering more surface area. Thermalright offers many budget-friendly options with heatpipes, large heatsinks, and even fan models for slots without airflow.
It's the Gigabyte X870 Aorus Elite Wifi 7 ICE board (https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/X87...-WIFI7-ICE). It features three Gen 5 slots plus one Gen 4 slot. I’m considering the T700 with a heatsink, but for my build I’d prefer a show configuration. The motherboard includes a heatsink covering three of the four M.2 slots. Using Crucials heatsink would leave the Gigabyte unit without its heatsink, resulting in two empty slots and exposed PCB—this compromises the design.
I believe it's time for a middle ground. You could either opt for double-sided NVMes and end up with a messy PCB instead of Gigabyte's heatsinks, or go for single-sided NVMes and properly utilize Gigabyte's heatsinks. I understand that a show build usually involves high-end hardware, but from a real-world user perspective, it's unlikely you'll notice the difference between Gen 4 and Gen 5 NVMe without testing. Most people will care more about the appearance than the speed right now. Good luck!