MAG X870E TOMAHAWK MAX WIFI M2_1 Thermal issues

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sea11sid156102d9

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Hi,
Has anyone experienced this issue with this particular motherboard (or equiv) in which the screwless M.2 Shield Frozr heatsink doesn't make good contact with the M.2 NVMe? I'm using a Samsung 990 Evo 2TB (Gen 5) in that slot, and when I close it, there isn't much resistance, so I'm suspecting that the heatsink isn't making good enough contact. The result is that the controller temp is 68c - 72c on idle, and when I run Samsung Magician benchmark, the temp goes in the red and I think starts to throttle. I contacted MSI tech support, and they suggested I RMA the motherboard so that they can test it. Ugh. I would suspect that many people would have this issue, given how popular the Samsung NVME drives are, so is there a simple fix I can make so that I don't have to take my whole computer apart and wait for a new motherboard (which will likely have the same problem)? I suppose I could order a thicker thermal pad, but not sure how thick it should be or if it's even worth a try. Recommendations much appreciated!
 
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The board has these M.2 heatsinks, right?


How do the the indentations look on the upper thermal pad? Do you see the outlines of the chips after it's been on for a while and you take it off?
 
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citay said:
The board has these M.2 heatsinks, right?


How do the the indentations look on the upper thermal pad? Do you see the outlines of the chips after it's been on for a while and you take it off?
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Sorry it took me so long to reply. Anyhow, I did do that and noticed there was no indent where the controller chip is located (the controller is what's in the 60s low 70s), so I've added a shim 0.5mm piece of thermal padding and now there's better contact. However, the temp has only dropped to low 60s to mid 60s, so it still seem to run hot. Maybe it's an issue with the single-sided M.2? I was thinking about just removing the Frozr cover and opt for a copper heatsink with fins that goes up higher (hoping that some airflow will hit it). I'm not sure if this is a good solution, but I have to try something
 
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I use aftermarket heatsinks for all my M.2 PCIe SSDs, see here. You don't need huge and tall ones, just ones with good contact and a good design.
 
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