EK Water Blocks Made A Passive M.2 NVMe SSD Cooler
EK Water Blocks builds and sells practically everything you could ever imagine for your water cooling loop. You couldn’t even find the company’s logo on anything but a water cooling component--until now. EKWB revealed the first product to come from its shop that doesn’t have anything to do with water cooling: A passive NVMe SSD cooler.
M.2 NVMe SSDs are fast becoming a staple component of high-end desktops and laptops. NVMe drives offer incredible read and write speeds, but they can also generate significant levels of heat, which can result in thermal throttling. EKWB saw that as an opportunity and designed a passive aluminum heatsink for the new SSD form factor. This isn't EKWB's first go at cooling a storage drive, but the last time the company tried this, it stuck to its area of expertise and made a water block for Intel's 750 Series PCIe SSD.
The EK-M.2 NVMe Heatsink clips onto any single-sided type 2280 M.2 NVMe SSD to help lower the temperature of its memory modules and controller. EKWB said the cooler could bring the temperature down by as much as 11° C. The company offers the cooler in two colors. You can get it in black powder coat, or with nickel plating. Both versions feature the EKWB logo on the face.
The EK-M.E NVMe Heatsink plays a functional role in reducing the temperature of your M.2 NVMe SSD, but it also offers an aesthetic advantage. Many motherboards include M.2 slots on the front side, which often leaves your SSD in plain sight. If you’re building a system with a color theme, you may not want to look at mismatched PCB colors. The EK-M.2 NVMe Heatsink offers a way to cover the unsightly circuit board while improving its cooling and, perhaps, its performance.
The EK-M.2 NVMe Heatsink is available now from the EK-Webshop and through the company’s reseller network. The nickel-plated version of the cooler sells for $15; the black version is $2 cheaper. Both versions include backplates.
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Kevin Carbotte is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware who primarily covers VR and AR hardware. He has been writing for us for more than four years.
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Glock24 What, no RGB LEDs? if it's got no LEDs then it'll make your drive and whole computer slower! xDReply -
rantoc I guess a huge % are actually HAPPY there is no bling bling but rather working components ;) Led lights, that gives such flashbacks to the 90's where EVERYTHING have to had leds useful or not. Heck they even made shoes with leds!Reply
Today either slap on some leds on it or label it gaming and instantly sell it for 30-40% higher price and some still buy it believing its soo much better - Amazing :) -
WyomingKnott @rantocReply
About 40 years ago, I worked for a major bank. We had a remote datacenter that went down every Friday night. So someone went to see why. About 6:00 PM on Friday, the cleaning crew arrived. Brought in a vacuum cleaner. Saw no spare outlets, and unplugged something that did not appear to be doing anything to plug in the vacuum. Of course, they unplugged the computer.
The solution was to add flashing lights to the top of the machine, so that it looked like it was doing something. -
norseman4 They need to have a red powder coat version, since things that are red are faster. Though the black would make the drive capacity seem larger.Reply -
bit_user Reply
I was going to guess aluminum, because that should be enough.19902560 said:Is the material under the black/nickel coating aluminum or copper?
But, from their website:
Technical details:
Materials used:■ Aluminium front cover
■ Aluminium backplate
■ Stainless steel clips
Enclosed:■ EK-M.2 NVMe Heatsink front cover - nickel
■ EK-M.2 NVMe Heatsink backplate - black
■ Mounting clips
■ Thermal pad 0.5mm
■ Thermal pad 1mm
■ Thermal pads
Made in Slovenia - Europe! -
C 64 Reply19901948 said:What, no RGB LEDs? if it's got no LEDs then it'll make your drive and whole computer slower! xD
Also I don't see any VR certification!
Is this supposed to be a thing in 2017?
And where is a tempered glass window - how are people supposed to know I cashed out for PRO not EVO drive? -
bigpinkdragon286 I went to order one as soon as I finished the article and... Shipping to the Pacific NW USA costs more than the heat sink. That's disappointing.Reply