WEBVTT 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, 00:00:05.040 --> 00:00:10.800 and this has spawned an enormous industry dedicated to drawing the heat away from important components 00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:16.800 like graphics cards and processors. But there's been some controversy lately about whether 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 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? 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, 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 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 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, 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, 00:00:58.720 --> 00:01:05.760 electrons can actually flow more easily through the NAND flash, causing less damage, hence the 00:01:05.760 --> 00:01:13.280 concern about cooler temperatures hurting an SSD drive. But is this really something the average 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 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 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 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 00:01:38.160 --> 00:01:44.880 about drive longevity at low temperatures, cooler environments can actually be beneficial in other 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 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 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 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 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 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, 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 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. 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 00:03:15.200 --> 00:03:20.640 or intakes that are clogged up with dust, that could push temperatures past the rated operating 00:03:20.640 --> 00:03:25.600 range. Realistically, the biggest thing that might bottleneck your SSD in the near future 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 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 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 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 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, 00:03:57.200 --> 00:04:01.760 good grief. So thanks for watching, guys. Like, dislike, check out our other videos, 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 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. 00:04:14.480 --> 00:04:15.760 Press the button.