M.2 thermal pads on Asus X670E Proart Creator question

Hardware Motherboards
1

The m.2_1 slot has two thermal pads, one on the included heatsink, the other in the bed of the socket. Both can be revealed by removing a thin film.

My question: use one or both?

The manual only refers to one thin film, and doesn’t specify which.
Normally, I’d use the pad on the heatsink – to allow the heat to dissipate into the case, and be carried away by fans.
The socket will hold a gen4 SSD, so one pad on the heatsink should be enough. I’m just surprised to see a thermal pad in the socket (to be on the underside of the SSD), as there’s nowhere for the heat to go.
Thanks.

2

i have a couple of proart X670E in use, none had two thermal pads…
there is allways only one per M.2 on the heatsink ?!

3

I have one too but can’t remember.

I do have a nvme enclosure that has a second thermal pad under the slot, it is to dissipate heat from double sided ssd’s. Those are not so common though as far as I can tell.

4

double sided are thicker… there is no place for a pad.

5

Depends how thick the pad is. The enclosure I have actually came with 2 pads, one should use the thicker one for single sided, otherwise the thinner one :person_shrugging:

I’m not sure what the thicker one should do though, if there are no components on the bottom side.

6

I guess maybe the theory is that the heat can be dissipated into the motherboard from the underside of the SSD, in the case of a double-sided SSD? Not seen that myself either but it’s a neat idea, especially for Gen5 SSDs. Need all the thermal assistance they can get :grimacing:

7

photos of the two thermal pads

two thermal pads
two thermal pads637×594 135 KB

8

I have the Asus sage wifi trx 50 board.
It also came with 2 pads. One one the board. And one on the heatsink.

I use both :grimacing: i think that’s how Asus intended it. But it’s weird to disapate heat into the pcb of the Mainboard

9

Thanks, danvansan.

Any idea if it will be difficult to remove or replace the SSD considering that there is adhesive (from the thermal pads) on each side of the SSD?

10

Thermal pads don’t have adhesive but are naturally “sticky”

SSD may stick to thermal pads stick to the heatsink when you remove it but as long as you aren’t a gorilla it should be fine
Use both, remove film on both

11

I have two pads on the PCI 5.0 slots nvme slots, and I am using both as well.

12

Heyhey.
Honestly i don’t know either. It was the first time for me having 2 pads of it. I had the same thought. I think i would use a hairdryer/blower to warm it up, then remove the heatsink then the NVM.
Iam a hobbist Mechanik so will use a torch cutter if that won’t work.
That’s my plan for now, as from the heatsink/usage of nvms the heatsink is designed to cover 2 NVMe. But currently I only run one under the sink. So it’s a bit messy when I want to occupy the 2nd Slot. (pcie 5 nvm when cheaper).
Anyway that thermal pads appeared very soft and mushy so I think it should be ok.