I'm thinking of installing simple heatsinks on the SSDs in my desktop and other
computers. The SSDs are seldom subjected to heavy write loads and can do very well without the add-on heatsinks. But the peace of mind they bring is well worth the price of UD$1.10 apiece in a pack of 5.
Here's an example: https://tinyurl.com/mpjar5bw There's a choice of three colours on Amazon India - black, gold and plain aluminium. How much of a difference, if any, will the colour make when fitted inside a computer case? I
expect that cooling will be mostly by convection than by radiation.
This is more of an academic interest than of practical requirement because, as
I said, the heatsinks are not a necessity.
On Sun, 1 Jun 2025 22:10:57 +0530, Pimpom <Pimpom@invalid.invalid>
wrote:
I'm thinking of installing simple heatsinks on the SSDs in my desktop
and other computers. The SSDs are seldom subjected to heavy write loads
and can do very well without the add-on heatsinks. But the peace of mind >they bring is well worth the price of UD$1.10 apiece in a pack of 5.
Here's an example: https://tinyurl.com/mpjar5bw There's a choice of
three colours on Amazon India - black, gold and plain aluminium. How
much of a difference, if any, will the colour make when fitted inside a >computer case? I expect that cooling will be mostly by convection than
by radiation.
This is more of an academic interest than of practical requirement
because, as I said, the heatsinks are not a necessity.
Radiation cooling is tiny for low temp differences, so the finish
doesn't matter much.
I'm thinking of installing simple heatsinks on the SSDs in my desktop
and other computers. The SSDs are seldom subjected to heavy write loads
and can do very well without the add-on heatsinks. But the peace of mind
they bring is well worth the price of UD$1.10 apiece in a pack of 5.
Here's an example: https://tinyurl.com/mpjar5bw There's a choice of
three colours on Amazon India - black, gold and plain aluminium. How
much of a difference, if any, will the colour make when fitted inside a >computer case? I expect that cooling will be mostly by convection than
by radiation.
This is more of an academic interest than of practical requirement
because, as I said, the heatsinks are not a necessity.
john larkin <jl@glen--canyon.com> wrote:
On Sun, 1 Jun 2025 22:10:57 +0530, Pimpom <Pimpom@invalid.invalid>
wrote:
I'm thinking of installing simple heatsinks on the SSDs in my desktop
and other computers. The SSDs are seldom subjected to heavy write loads
and can do very well without the add-on heatsinks. But the peace of mind
they bring is well worth the price of UD$1.10 apiece in a pack of 5.
Here's an example: https://tinyurl.com/mpjar5bw There's a choice of
three colours on Amazon India - black, gold and plain aluminium. How
much of a difference, if any, will the colour make when fitted inside a
computer case? I expect that cooling will be mostly by convection than
by radiation.
This is more of an academic interest than of practical requirement
because, as I said, the heatsinks are not a necessity.
Radiation cooling is tiny for low temp differences, so the finish
doesn't matter much.
A surface which radiates well will also absorb well. If there are
other components nearby with higher surface temperatures, a 'radiating' >finish could be a disadvantage because it will absorb more energy than
it radiates.
On 6/1/2025 9:40 AM, Pimpom wrote:
I'm thinking of installing simple heatsinks on the SSDs in my desktop
and other computers. The SSDs are seldom subjected to heavy write
loads and can do very well without the add-on heatsinks. But the peace
of mind they bring is well worth the price of UD$1.10 apiece in a pack
of 5.
Are these installed in 3.5" bays? If so, there may be more bang for
buck if
you can find ones with longer fins -- assuming you have airflow over them.
Also, make sure you know what the "ambient" inside the case is as that
will ultimately set the lowest operating temperature that you can achieve (the SSD will report the temperature it is experiencing internally)
I prefer adding larger, quieter fans and just rely on moving the air
out of the case in the belief that it is (usually) cooler outside than in.
On Sun, 1 Jun 2025 22:10:57 +0530, Pimpom <Pimpom@invalid.invalid>
wrote:
I'm thinking of installing simple heatsinks on the SSDs in my desktop
and other computers. The SSDs are seldom subjected to heavy write loads
and can do very well without the add-on heatsinks. But the peace of mind
they bring is well worth the price of UD$1.10 apiece in a pack of 5.
Here's an example: https://tinyurl.com/mpjar5bw There's a choice of
three colours on Amazon India - black, gold and plain aluminium. How
much of a difference, if any, will the colour make when fitted inside a
computer case? I expect that cooling will be mostly by convection than
by radiation.
This is more of an academic interest than of practical requirement
because, as I said, the heatsinks are not a necessity.
Radiation cooling is tiny for low temp differences, so the finish
doesn't matter much.
Plastic packaged ICs usually have a tiny hot spot, visible on a
thermal imager. The real virtue of a heat sink is that it spreads the
heat laterally. A piece of flat aluminum woud work about as well.
The 1 mm "conductive adhesive" will dominate theta.
On Sun, 1 Jun 2025 20:59:33 +0100, liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid
(Liz Tuddenham) wrote:
john larkin <jl@glen--canyon.com> wrote:
On Sun, 1 Jun 2025 22:10:57 +0530, Pimpom <Pimpom@invalid.invalid>
wrote:
I'm thinking of installing simple heatsinks on the SSDs in my desktop
and other computers. The SSDs are seldom subjected to heavy write loads >>>> and can do very well without the add-on heatsinks. But the peace of mind >>>> they bring is well worth the price of UD$1.10 apiece in a pack of 5.
Here's an example: https://tinyurl.com/mpjar5bw There's a choice of
three colours on Amazon India - black, gold and plain aluminium. How
much of a difference, if any, will the colour make when fitted inside a >>>> computer case? I expect that cooling will be mostly by convection than >>>> by radiation.
This is more of an academic interest than of practical requirement
because, as I said, the heatsinks are not a necessity.
Radiation cooling is tiny for low temp differences, so the finish
doesn't matter much.
A surface which radiates well will also absorb well. If there are
other components nearby with higher surface temperatures, a 'radiating'
finish could be a disadvantage because it will absorb more energy than
it radiates.
Radiation cooling goes as the 4th power of the temp difference, which
is microscopic at human-bearable temperatures. And the cooling goes as everything the heat sink sees in all directions.
I have a program that calculates radiation cooling. In cases like
this, it's negligable.
Don't the SSDs throttle on temperature too?
The gold sinks would glamourize a PC but wouldn't have much effect
otherwise.
A surface which radiates well will also absorb well. If there are
other components nearby with higher surface temperatures, a 'radiating' finish could be a disadvantage because it will absorb more energy than
it radiates.
On 02-06-2025 01:45 am, john larkin wrote:
On Sun, 1 Jun 2025 20:59:33 +0100, liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid
(Liz Tuddenham) wrote:
john larkin <jl@glen--canyon.com> wrote:
On Sun, 1 Jun 2025 22:10:57 +0530, Pimpom <Pimpom@invalid.invalid>
wrote:
I'm thinking of installing simple heatsinks on the SSDs in my desktop >>>>> and other computers. The SSDs are seldom subjected to heavy write loads >>>>> and can do very well without the add-on heatsinks. But the peace of mind >>>>> they bring is well worth the price of UD$1.10 apiece in a pack of 5. >>>>>
Here's an example: https://tinyurl.com/mpjar5bw There's a choice of
three colours on Amazon India - black, gold and plain aluminium. How >>>>> much of a difference, if any, will the colour make when fitted inside a >>>>> computer case? I expect that cooling will be mostly by convection than >>>>> by radiation.
This is more of an academic interest than of practical requirement
because, as I said, the heatsinks are not a necessity.
Radiation cooling is tiny for low temp differences, so the finish
doesn't matter much.
A surface which radiates well will also absorb well. If there are
other components nearby with higher surface temperatures, a 'radiating'
finish could be a disadvantage because it will absorb more energy than
it radiates.
Radiation cooling goes as the 4th power of the temp difference, which
is microscopic at human-bearable temperatures. And the cooling goes as
everything the heat sink sees in all directions.
I have a program that calculates radiation cooling. In cases like
this, it's negligable.
Don't the SSDs throttle on temperature too?
They do. But SSDs in most personal computers used for non-demanding
tasks won't reach such temps.
The gold sinks would glamourize a PC but wouldn't have much effect
otherwise.
Yeah, they do look nice. PC enthusiasts these days, especially the
younger ones, often use cases with transparent covers and lots of
coloured LEDs inside - CPU fans, half a dozen case fans, even the memory >sticks and the case itself have running and programmable lights on them.
On 01-06-2025 11:51 pm, Don Y wrote:
On 6/1/2025 9:40 AM, Pimpom wrote:
I'm thinking of installing simple heatsinks on the SSDs in my desktop and >>> other computers. The SSDs are seldom subjected to heavy write loads and can >>> do very well without the add-on heatsinks. But the peace of mind they bring >>> is well worth the price of UD$1.10 apiece in a pack of 5.
Are these installed in 3.5" bays? If so, there may be more bang for buck if
you can find ones with longer fins -- assuming you have airflow over them.
Maybe I should have mentioned that these are for M.2 SSDs - those tiny 2.2x8cm
(0.866"x3.15") thingies that plug directly into a slot on the motherboard. I thought that would be obvious from the images in the link.
I'm talking about the simplest and cheapest type of heatsink for these devices.
There are more elaborate - and more expensive - heatsinks for these SSDs but they are overkill for the vast majority of personal computers. Even the simplest ones are not strictly necessary for most use cases. Airflow is by natural convection incidentally augmented by the fans on the CPU, graphics card
and case.
Perhaps this is comparable to a TO-220 device dissipating half a watt idle, occasionally going up to a watt or so. These SSDs dissipate something like a watt when idle and up to 4-5W when actively writing, but they have a much larger surface area than a TO-220.
Also, make sure you know what the "ambient" inside the case is as that
will ultimately set the lowest operating temperature that you can achieve
(the SSD will report the temperature it is experiencing internally)
I prefer adding larger, quieter fans and just rely on moving the air
out of the case in the belief that it is (usually) cooler outside than in.
To reiterate, the question is whether the colour of the heatsink matters. I'm inclined to think it will make little difference as most of the heat dissipation will be by convection rather than by radiation.
On 02-06-2025 01:29 am, Liz Tuddenham wrote:
There's that factor too. So a shiny golden heatsink may actually be
A surface which radiates well will also absorb well. If there are
other components nearby with higher surface temperatures, a 'radiating'
finish could be a disadvantage because it will absorb more energy than
it radiates.
better than a black one.
Pimpom <Pimpom@invalid.invalid> wrote:
On 02-06-2025 01:29 am, Liz Tuddenham wrote:
There's that factor too. So a shiny golden heatsink may actually be
A surface which radiates well will also absorb well. If there are
other components nearby with higher surface temperatures, a 'radiating'
finish could be a disadvantage because it will absorb more energy than
it radiates.
better than a black one.
Black will be always be the best choice even though as others have written the differences will be tiny.
Folk in really hot desert countries wear black instead of white as although black absorbs better it also radiates better - the wisdom of the ages?
On 6/1/2025 1:19 PM, Pimpom wrote:
Most (all?) of the desktop machine I see (about 1,000 per week) still have 3.5 and 2.5 inch bays. I only see M.2's in things like NUCs.
Again, you should be more interested in what the internal temperature
inside the case is. That will be the limiting factor AND will affect the effectiveness of any heatsink as they look for delta T.
Perhaps this is comparable to a TO-220 device dissipating half a watt
idle, occasionally going up to a watt or so. These SSDs dissipate
something like a watt when idle and up to 4-5W when actively writing,
but they have a much larger surface area than a TO-220.
Also, make sure you know what the "ambient" inside the case is as that
will ultimately set the lowest operating temperature that you can
achieve
(the SSD will report the temperature it is experiencing internally)
Are the "colors" applied by the same process (e.g., anodized with different chemistries)? Or, are there differences from color to color? E.g.,
real paint
will behave different than an anodized surface.
Note, also, that heat sinks increased surface area allows more places for "dust blankets" to accumulate. can you access these easily enough to make cleaning practical? (2.5 and 3.5 inch drives are usually designed to be relatively easily accessed; M.2's are often buried under things (so, keep
in mind the added height/thickness that affixing a heatsink will entail)
On 02-06-2025 02:26 am, Don Y wrote:
On 6/1/2025 1:19 PM, Pimpom wrote:This thread is about *personal* computers, mostly standalone units. Most
Most (all?) of the desktop machine I see (about 1,000 per week) still have >> 3.5 and 2.5 inch bays. I only see M.2's in things like NUCs.
reasonably new ones have at least one M.2 NVMe SSD these days. Many cases
intended for personal use no longer have traditional drive bays and may come with some provision for fitting just one, maybe two, 2.5 and 3.5-inch drives somewhere on the floor or vertically the wall.
Again, you should be more interested in what the internal temperature
inside the case is. That will be the limiting factor AND will affect the >> effectiveness of any heatsink as they look for delta T.
That would be the correct approach *if* this were about designing a new computer system from the ground up but it isn't. This is about adding an additional safety margin to a well established norm that already works fine in
most cases without the added heatsink.
Perhaps this is comparable to a TO-220 device dissipating half a watt idle, >>> occasionally going up to a watt or so. These SSDs dissipate something like a
watt when idle and up to 4-5W when actively writing, but they have a much >>> larger surface area than a TO-220.
Also, make sure you know what the "ambient" inside the case is as that >>>> will ultimately set the lowest operating temperature that you can achieve >>>> (the SSD will report the temperature it is experiencing internally)
As above.
Are the "colors" applied by the same process (e.g., anodized with different >> chemistries)? Or, are there differences from color to color? E.g., real paint
will behave different than an anodized surface.
Probably anodized. I haven't seen one up close yet but it's highly unlikely that the colours are painted on.
Note, also, that heat sinks increased surface area allows more places for
"dust blankets" to accumulate. can you access these easily enough to make >> cleaning practical? (2.5 and 3.5 inch drives are usually designed to be
relatively easily accessed; M.2's are often buried under things (so, keep
in mind the added height/thickness that affixing a heatsink will entail)
The M.2 SSDs are easily accessed in most cases, more so than HDDs in traditional drive bays, especially when only one M.2 drive is installed. It's usually located in a clear space between the CPU and the graphics card port. A
second drive may be obscured by a graphics card if one is installed.
On 02-06-2025 01:06 am, john larkin wrote:
On Sun, 1 Jun 2025 22:10:57 +0530, Pimpom <Pimpom@invalid.invalid>Yes, I'm thinking of replacing those pads with the much thinner ones
wrote:
I'm thinking of installing simple heatsinks on the SSDs in my desktop
and other computers. The SSDs are seldom subjected to heavy write loads
and can do very well without the add-on heatsinks. But the peace of mind >>> they bring is well worth the price of UD$1.10 apiece in a pack of 5.
Here's an example: https://tinyurl.com/mpjar5bw There's a choice of
three colours on Amazon India - black, gold and plain aluminium. How
much of a difference, if any, will the colour make when fitted inside a
computer case? I expect that cooling will be mostly by convection than
by radiation.
This is more of an academic interest than of practical requirement
because, as I said, the heatsinks are not a necessity.
Radiation cooling is tiny for low temp differences, so the finish
doesn't matter much.
Plastic packaged ICs usually have a tiny hot spot, visible on a
thermal imager. The real virtue of a heat sink is that it spreads the
heat laterally. A piece of flat aluminum woud work about as well.
The 1 mm "conductive adhesive" will dominate theta.
intended for mounting TO-247 devices. Larger uncut sheets will be ideal
but I don't know if I can get them here.
Yeah, they do look nice. PC enthusiasts these days, especially the
younger ones, often use cases with transparent covers and lots of
coloured LEDs inside - CPU fans, half a dozen case fans, even the memory sticks and the case itself have running and programmable lights on them.
On 02-06-2025 01:29 am, Liz Tuddenham wrote:
There's that factor too. So a shiny golden heatsink may actually be
A surface which radiates well will also absorb well. If there are
other components nearby with higher surface temperatures, a 'radiating'
finish could be a disadvantage because it will absorb more energy than
it radiates.
better than a black one.
I'm thinking of installing simple heatsinks on the SSDs in my desktop
and other computers. The SSDs are seldom subjected to heavy write loads
and can do very well without the add-on heatsinks. But the peace of mind
they bring is well worth the price of UD$1.10 apiece in a pack of 5.
Here's an example: https://tinyurl.com/mpjar5bw There's a choice of
three colours on Amazon India - black, gold and plain aluminium. How
much of a difference, if any, will the colour make when fitted inside a computer case? I expect that cooling will be mostly by convection than
by radiation.
This is more of an academic interest than of practical requirement
because, as I said, the heatsinks are not a necessity.
On 01/06/2025 17:40, Pimpom wrote:
I'm thinking of installing simple heatsinks on the SSDs in my desktop
and other computers. The SSDs are seldom subjected to heavy write loads
and can do very well without the add-on heatsinks. But the peace of mind
they bring is well worth the price of UD$1.10 apiece in a pack of 5.
Here's an example: https://tinyurl.com/mpjar5bw There's a choice of
three colours on Amazon India - black, gold and plain aluminium. How
much of a difference, if any, will the colour make when fitted inside a
computer case? I expect that cooling will be mostly by convection than
by radiation.
It depends a lot on how hot things get. Metallic surfaces make lousy >radiators and so are very bad for heatsinks if deltaT > 30C or so.
Forced air ventilation it won't make that much difference. Unless the
SSDs are being hammered it seems unlikely that they need heatsinking.
Worth monitoring them rather than waste your money on toy heatsinks.
This is more of an academic interest than of practical requirement
because, as I said, the heatsinks are not a necessity.
I once had a 12v PSU with a 7812 regulator go into thermal foldback
because the case was nice mirror finish shiny aluminium metal.
A coat of black paint fixed it.
(any colour of non-metallic paint is black in thermal band IR)
Pimpom <Pimpom@invalid.invalid> wrote:
On 02-06-2025 01:29 am, Liz Tuddenham wrote:
There's that factor too. So a shiny golden heatsink may actually be
A surface which radiates well will also absorb well. If there are
other components nearby with higher surface temperatures, a 'radiating'
finish could be a disadvantage because it will absorb more energy than
it radiates.
better than a black one.
Black will be always be the best choice even though as others have written the differences will be tiny.
Folk in really hot desert countries wear black instead of white as although black absorbs better it also radiates better - the wisdom of the ages?
Pimpom <Pimpom@invalid.invalid> wrote:
On 02-06-2025 01:29 am, Liz Tuddenham wrote:
There's that factor too. So a shiny golden heatsink may actually be
A surface which radiates well will also absorb well. If there are
other components nearby with higher surface temperatures, a 'radiating'
finish could be a disadvantage because it will absorb more energy than
it radiates.
better than a black one.
Black will be always be the best choice even though as others have written >the differences will be tiny.
Folk in really hot desert countries wear black instead of white as although >black absorbs better it also radiates better - the wisdom of the ages?
--
piglet
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