1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,040 The conventional wisdom is that if you have a computer, you want to keep it as cool as possible, 2 00:00:05,040 --> 00:00:10,800 and this has spawned an enormous industry dedicated to drawing the heat away from important components 3 00:00:10,800 --> 00:00:16,800 like graphics cards and processors. But there's been some controversy lately about whether 4 00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:22,560 one important piece of your system, the SSD, should be cooled, as some folks say that this 5 00:00:22,560 --> 00:00:29,120 can actually shorten its lifespan. But how could this be? And is there any truth to the claim? 6 00:00:29,120 --> 00:00:34,800 To find out, we spoke with Tim Schult, Pranav Kallavad, and John Michael Hans over at Intel, 7 00:00:34,800 --> 00:00:39,600 and we'd like to thank them for their time and insight. So part of the concern comes from the 8 00:00:39,600 --> 00:00:46,480 way that electrons flow through an SSD. You see, the NAND flash that makes up your SSD actually gets 9 00:00:46,480 --> 00:00:52,720 damaged every single time you write to it, meaning that solid state drives have a finite lifespan, 10 00:00:52,720 --> 00:00:58,640 and you can learn more about that in this video. But it turns out that at higher temperatures, 11 00:00:58,720 --> 00:01:05,760 electrons can actually flow more easily through the NAND flash, causing less damage, hence the 12 00:01:05,760 --> 00:01:13,280 concern about cooler temperatures hurting an SSD drive. But is this really something the average 13 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:19,280 person needs to worry about? I mean, if you look at a typical SSD's spec page, they're rated to run 14 00:01:19,280 --> 00:01:24,880 at some pretty low temperatures, as low as around zero degrees Celsius, the point at which water 15 00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:31,280 freezes. And even as a Canadian, I doubt that most of you are operating your computers in the middle 16 00:01:31,280 --> 00:01:38,160 of a blizzard for long periods of time. Also, it turns out that while people have expressed concerns 17 00:01:38,160 --> 00:01:44,880 about drive longevity at low temperatures, cooler environments can actually be beneficial in other 18 00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:51,440 ways, like for data retention, since the electrons that store data won't move around as much. So 19 00:01:52,080 --> 00:01:58,480 I guess it's about finding the sweet spot then? Turns out the best idea is to just keep your SSD 20 00:01:58,480 --> 00:02:05,680 away from temperature extremes on either end of the scale. For example, Intel SSDs tend to be rated 21 00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:12,160 to work between zero and 70 degrees Celsius. So as long as you're not too close to either of those 22 00:02:12,160 --> 00:02:18,960 limits, you shouldn't see a noticeable effect on either longevity or on performance. And the best 23 00:02:19,040 --> 00:02:24,720 way to do this is, you guessed it, use a heat sink. You don't need anything fancy. In fact, 24 00:02:24,720 --> 00:02:29,440 many modern motherboards come with a small cover for your M.2 drive that's little more than a 25 00:02:29,440 --> 00:02:34,240 hunk of metal with a screw hole, and that'll work perfectly fine for the vast majority of folks. 26 00:02:34,880 --> 00:02:40,560 It turns out there is a significant difference, about 5 to 10% in terms of thermals, between 27 00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:46,800 having no cooling and simply having something to cool things down a bit. And if you have a two and 28 00:02:46,800 --> 00:02:52,480 a half inch SSD, well, it shouldn't need any extra cooling at all because it probably has a metal 29 00:02:52,480 --> 00:02:58,320 casing that doubles as a heat sink. Just make sure that that casing gets a little bit of airflow 30 00:02:58,320 --> 00:03:04,000 inside your case. See? Perfect. On a related note, the only time you might have to worry about 31 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:09,520 temperatures, again, assuming you aren't operating the SSD for long periods and some kind of, you 32 00:03:09,520 --> 00:03:15,200 know, freezer, is if your PC case is getting little to no airflow because of broken fans 33 00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:20,640 or intakes that are clogged up with dust, that could push temperatures past the rated operating 34 00:03:20,640 --> 00:03:25,600 range. Realistically, the biggest thing that might bottleneck your SSD in the near future 35 00:03:25,600 --> 00:03:31,840 isn't temperatures, but rather the fact that the M.2 connector itself doesn't support enough power to 36 00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:39,120 handle the speeds that we can expect from upcoming PCI Express 5.0 drives. But that's another topic 37 00:03:39,120 --> 00:03:45,120 altogether. So for now, just make sure that your SSD gets some airflow and that you use the heat 38 00:03:45,120 --> 00:03:50,000 sink that came with your motherboard if you have an M.2 drive. You don't have to take it any further 39 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:57,200 than that. I mean, there's a reason that they don't make SSD water blocks. Wait, really? Oh, 40 00:03:57,200 --> 00:04:01,760 good grief. So thanks for watching, guys. Like, dislike, check out our other videos, 41 00:04:01,760 --> 00:04:06,880 leave a comment if you have a suggestion for a future fast as possible, and don't forget to 42 00:04:06,880 --> 00:04:13,760 subscribe and follow where all your SSD data will be gone. I promise you, all of it within 48 hours. 43 00:04:14,480 --> 00:04:15,760 Press the button.