Ineo M9 SSD Heatsink and Cooler Review: Strong performance, interesting design

Rotatable design with both an active heatpipe and a quietly running 30mm PWM fan

Reviews
By
published
Ineo M9 SSD Heatsink
(Image: © Tom's Hardware)

Why you can trust Tom's Hardware Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.

Thermal Results

The thermal results of Ineo’s M9 were stronger than most other SSD heatsinks I’ve tested, with a recorded temperature of only 49 degrees Celsius at the end of testing. This cooler will ensure your SSD’s storage temperature is more consistent and is capable of handling any workload, no matter how intense.

(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

Conclusion

Ineo’s M9 offers a unique split-heatsink design, powered by a 6mm copper heatpipe and a 30mm PWM fan, providing one of the strongest cooling solutions on the market. However, I’m concerned about the potential of bending on the M9’s copper heatpipe and would recommend the similarly priced Thermalright HR-10 Pro instead. It performed nearly as well in our testing and doesn’t have the design concerns as Ineo’s cooler.

Albert Thomas
Albert Thomas
Freelancer, CPU Cooling Reviewer

Albert Thomas is a contributor for Tom’s Hardware, primarily covering CPU cooling reviews.

12 Comments Comment from the forums
  • PlutoDelic
    Honestly, if Gen5 will take off, it's either with good cooling or figuring out efficiency, and i'm betting more on the former.

    With that said, have you gotten your hands on that AIO SSD cooler yet? I have no clue why they're not selling it. It's niche, but it begs for a second life to the exhaust fan.
    Reply
  • Albert.Thomas
    PlutoDelic said:
    With that said, have you gotten your hands on that AIO SSD cooler yet? I have no clue why they're not selling it. It's niche, but it begs for a second life to the exhaust fan.
    It's been "coming soon" for about a year now. I'm starting to wonder if it's going to become vaporware.
    Reply
  • Notton
    Are there any chances of getting Thermalright HR-09/Pro, HR-10/Pro for review?

    They looked promising, unlike the sagging heatpipe and doesn't fit dimensions of the M9.
    Reply
  • Albert.Thomas
    Notton said:
    Are there any chances of getting Thermalright HR-09/Pro, HR-10/Pro for review?

    They looked promising, unlike the sagging heatpipe and doesn't fit dimensions of the M9.
    The HR-09/HR-09 Pro and HR10 Pro's results are included in this review
    Reply
  • bit_user
    I wouldn't worry about the heatpipe bending slightly, during shipping. That amount of bending + correcting it shouldn't be an issue.

    I can't imagine it would bend, once installed. If you hit it hard enough to bend it after mounting, it's probably better the heatpipe absorb that force rather than transmit it down to the motherboard. The swiveling should also help, there.

    What slightly bothers me about this is the"swivel" feature. As neat as it is, that seems like it'd hurt the ability of the heat pipe to absorb heat from the SSD. Then again, it does seem like a little bit overkill for the dozen or so Watts a M.2 drive is allowed to burn.
    Reply
  • Notton
    Albert.Thomas said:
    The HR-09/HR-09 Pro and HR10 Pro's results are included in this review
    okay thanks! IDK how I missed those
    Reply
  • thestryker
    I'm still hoping to see the Thermalright M.2 2280 PRO on here as it seems like it might be a low profile/low cost winner. After having one installed for over a month it's still slightly better than the Thermalright AB I had installed before, but less than it originally was. I think this is due to it being installed on an Optane drive which is running the OS so I'd be really curious how it handles normal loads.

    All of the current coolers on the list that can handle the PCIe 5.0 drives are taller and/or have active cooling so I doubt it would go that far, but should handle the PCIe 4.0.
    Reply
  • 2Be_or_Not2Be
    I'd really like to know if the built-in heatsink provided by the m/b was tested. A lot of them give you a heatsink that might even tie in to active cooling connected to the chipset/VRM cooling. So it would be nice to know if the basic heatsink that might already come w/your board gets you close to the temps shown here.
    Reply
  • thestryker
    2Be_or_Not2Be said:
    I'd really like to know if the built-in heatsink provided by the m/b was tested. A lot of them give you a heatsink that might even tie in to active cooling connected to the chipset/VRM cooling. So it would be nice to know if the basic heatsink that might already come w/your board gets you close to the temps shown here.
    The problem with testing like that is they vary massively from board to board. Some are undoubtedly good enough to cool PCIe 5.0 drives under maximum load while others might not manage PCIe 4.0.

    Generally speaking though unless you have some very heavy storage workloads pretty any heatsink ought to be good enough (some motherboard/aftermarket don't properly cool double sided should you happen to have one so this is something to keep an eye on).
    Reply
  • 2Be_or_Not2Be
    thestryker said:
    The problem with testing like that is they vary massively from board to board. Some are undoubtedly good enough to cool PCIe 5.0 drives under maximum load while others might not manage PCIe 4.0.

    Generally speaking though unless you have some very heavy storage workloads pretty any heatsink ought to be good enough (some motherboard/aftermarket don't properly cool double sided should you happen to have one so this is something to keep an eye on).
    Could be a good test of a number of the new 870 boards coming on the market. Take a collection of models from Asus, MSI, Gigabyte, and ASRock - see where the "average" temps range for their default setup. Maybe that would also help standardize the minimum level of heatsink those boards should provide.

    I know PCIe 5.0 SSDs can generate more heat, but it seemed like you'd need to go up to server-class SSDs before you started to get enough heat to overwhelm the heatsink provided on most boards.
    Reply