Quick test of the Cryorig Frostbit M.2 cooler

[Nyt]

Hello everyone,

So my new Cryorig Frostbit M.2 cooler has finally arrived. Here are some pictures, my thoughts and temperature results.
The drive being used is a Samsung 970 Evo Plus 1Tb PCIe 3.0 NVME on an ASUS Strix Z390-E Gaming motherboard.

Here is what comes in the box :



Before, when the SSD was using the stock ASUS heatsink in the M2_2 slot:


After, with the SSD in the M2_1 slot (ignore the dust) :






And the important bit, temperature results after running CrystalDiskMark 7 (9 passes for each test, 64Gb size) :

Before, using the ASUS heatsink with its thermal pad applied correctly (tape removed first) :



After, using the Cryorig Frostbit M.2 heatsink cooler  :




So Drive Temperature 1 is what I'm assuming to be the temperature of the NAND chips, this is the value reported in Samsung Magician.
Drive Temperature 1 dropped from 65C to 56C, a nice 9C drop whilst being moved to an area of the case where it is is warmer.

Drive Temperature 2 is a value only shown in HWiNFO. This is what I'm assuming to be the controller of the NVME, the hottest part.
Drive Temperature 2 dropped from 96C to 62C, a whopping 34C. 
I believe this is from the stock ASUS heatsink and its thermal pad not making enough contact with the controller of my 970 Evo Plus.
This 970 Evo Plus model has the controller being slightly shorter than the taller NAND chips and because the stock ASUS heatsink has very little mounting pressure, there is somewhat of an air gap between the pad and the controller resulting in the high temperatures we see.
This Cryorig Frostbit has a much higher mounting pressure and compresses the thermal pads tightly onto the controller and NAND chips. 
I did remove the plastic film covering the factory ASUS thermal pad so it's not that film causing the high temperatures

Overall I'm very pleased with it and its a welcome addition to my PC for around $40.

Some additional thoughts about installation :

- I could not install this cooler in my M2_2 slot on my motherboard. The cooler was simply too wide and hit the PCIe slot clip seen in the before picture.
I ended up moving it to the M2_1 slot, which is actually a warmer area as there is more hot GPU air there.

- The instructions, well, there aren't any. Atleast not in the box . Scan the QR code and you can download a one-page picture guide but the best installation tip is the "Cryorig Frostbit Unboxing & Montage [GERMAN]" video on Youtube. I don't speak German, but seeing the steps just made it easier.

- It is quite tricky to align the thermal pads. Take your time with this.

- It does come with a tube of Cryorig CP7 thermal paste, but you can use your own. I used some Cooler Master Mastergel Maker which has a higher thermal conductivity than the CP7.

- The picture guide shows two blobs of thermal paste where the bottom of copper heatpipe fits in the NVME heatsink groove. I used more so that the area was well covered.

- I also added thermal paste on the upper heatsink which fits and screws in over the top of the copper heatpipe. So basically I made sure that wherever the copper heatpipe made contact with metal there was sufficient thermal paste.

- I also left the Samsung stickers on my NVME for warranty purposes in the future.

[bishop245]

I may have to look into this myself if I canget some of my loans paid off

[RHKCommander959]

Nice job, I was going to recommend adding the paste between the mating surfaces of the cooler but I saw near the end you did that!

I'm not sure on the 970, but on other NVME drives they use foil stickers for optimal heat transfer, so efficiency loss should be minimal if at all.

[WebMaximus]

Amazing result!

I've had the same problem with my new 970 Evo Plus 2 TB getting very hot.

Today I bought this product myself but one thing that puzzles me is how there are some space between the 970 and the thermal pad in the bottom of the cooler.

That makes me wonder what the reason is to have the thermal pad there in the first place. When there's no contact between the backside of the SSD and the thermal pad.

Did you notice the same thing @Nyt? 

[Nyt]

On 1/18/2021 at 10:49 PM, WebMaximus said:

Amazing result!

I've had the same problem with my new 970 Evo Plus 2 TB getting very hot.

Today I bought this product myself but one thing that puzzles me is how there are some space between the 970 and the thermal pad in the bottom of the cooler.

That makes me wonder what the reason is to have the thermal pad there in the first place. When there's no contact between the backside of the SSD and the thermal pad.

Did you notice the same thing @Nyt? 

I didn't really notice the gap between the back of the SSD and the thermal pad on the bottom.

Everything that needs cooling (chips and controller) is on the top luckily.

[WebMaximus]

Yep, I went ahead after seeing the same gap on many of the pictures online and can confirm the same temperature drop you described.

Brilliant!