Fairly curved 2tb Western Digital M.2 2280 in the Asus Rampage 6 Extreme Encore motherboard add-in card.

[HIGHLANDER58]

Hi, I have the Asus Rampage 6 Extreme Encore motherboard with the extra add in dimm card for adding 2 additional m.2 2280 ssds. When I installed two western digital 2tb m.2 2280 drives on the card, one on each side and when I screwed the heat sink covers onto the card, the pressure of the thermal pad pushing on the ssds put quite the curve into the drives. Is this normal or will it cause the drives or the solder joints to fracture. Any one that has also experienced this issue, please let me know and if it should be like this.

 

[maxfly]

Its not supposed to put that kind of pressure on your drives. They shouldn't be bowed at all.

 

[HIGHLANDER58]

Well these drives are quite bowed and I dont see why they would be since the heat transfer pads on the outside heatsink comes up and pushes against the drives. I dont see how to mount the drives so that the heat sinks dont put any pressure of the drives.

 

[maxfly]

Well these drives are quite bowed and I dont see why they would be since the heat transfer pads on the outside heatsink comes up and pushes against the drives. I dont see how to mount the drives so that the heat sinks dont put any pressure of the drives.

You'll have to post a picture. Im not sure what may be causing this to happen other than the thermal pads being the wrong thickness or something is wrong with the mount itself.

Edit- definitely don't leave them like that for very long or you may end up with damaged drives.

 

[pavle]

Are they bent like the sockel 775 motherboards were by Intel smart_coolers? Indeed, post a picture. Should not be bent at all.

 

[ThaiTaffy]

I think it's quite a common thing with many m.2 drives just we don't tend to look so closely. The internet is littered with photos of motherboard heatsinks bending drives. Just yours is more obvious on a add-in card.

 

[maxfly]

I've never had an nvme bend closing a mb heatsink so i have no point of reference (hence the pic request). So my curiosity is piqued. My assumption is the wrong stand off is mounted or wrong screw to tighten the drive down, or drive has its own thermal pad but im just guessing without seeing it.

 

[freeagent]

Me neither, my sinks bolt down nice and straight. They even have a thermal pad and its all pretty slick. My heatsinks only go on one way.. well maybe two ways but if you opt for the second then I can see something getting bent. Probably my wallet.

 

[tabascosauz]

Hi, I have the Asus Rampage 6 Extreme Encore motherboard with the extra add in dimm card for adding 2 additional m.2 2280 ssds. When I installed two western digital 2tb m.2 2280 drives on the card, one on each side and when I screwed the heat sink covers onto the card, the pressure of the thermal pad pushing on the ssds put quite the curve into the drives. Is this normal or will it cause the drives or the solder joints to fracture. Any one that has also experienced this issue, please let me know and if it should be like this.

A lot of ROG boards seem to have this issue with the way the heatsink for DIMM.2 and SO-DIMM.2 daughterboards are designed.

You have single-sided and double-sided M.2s with different layouts and controllers with differing Z-heights, so incompatibilities are inevitable. It happens more often than you think even on motherboard M.2 slots - motherboard M.2 heatsinks are so big that it's hard to see the drive underneath at all, let alone whether it's bowed. Longevity-wise it's probably not the greatest idea but I suspect there's tons of slightly bent drives out there doing just fine.

Many boards include a set of black, square small rubber pads in the box. Usually they intend for you to install them on the PCB underneath the drive to buttress the drive and prevent it from bowing, if the situation calls for it. There's so much stuff with the R6E I can't tell if they include that for you, but it seems like DIMM.2 and SO-DIMM.2 boards usually provide it. The pad may make it worse or better, it's up to you to try.

Asus crosshair viii impact rubber pads? : sffpc (reddit.com)

Otherwise, the only other way is to back off on the screws a little. Works like a charm on one of my boards with a poorly designed heatsink (ASRock B550M-ITX/ac), where screwing it down all the way bends the drive like a banana.

 

[eidairaman1]

Hi, I have the Asus Rampage 6 Extreme Encore motherboard with the extra add in dimm card for adding 2 additional m.2 2280 ssds. When I installed two western digital 2tb m.2 2280 drives on the card, one on each side and when I screwed the heat sink covers onto the card, the pressure of the thermal pad pushing on the ssds put quite the curve into the drives. Is this normal or will it cause the drives or the solder joints to fracture. Any one that has also experienced this issue, please let me know and if it should be like this.

Yes pcb tension will eventually cause failure

 

[HIGHLANDER58]

Hi, I have put a thinner thermal pad on the heatsink as well as putting a fairly stiff rubber block between the ssd and the rear of the dimm board. There is still a fairly small amount of curve but considerably better then it was originally. This is a very stupid design and although I have never had any issues in using Asus Rampage series motherboards going back the the very beginning when they first came out with the Rampage Extreme X48 series and I have built several systems always using Asus motherboards but this dimm design is not typical Asus quality. I will post some photos of exactly what I am talking about when my other 2TB western digital blue drive comes in.

A lot of ROG boards seem to have this issue with the way the heatsink for DIMM.2 and SO-DIMM.2 daughterboards are designed.

You have single-sided and double-sided M.2s with different layouts and controllers with differing Z-heights, so incompatibilities are inevitable. It happens more often than you think even on motherboard M.2 slots - motherboard M.2 heatsinks are so big that it's hard to see the drive underneath at all, let alone whether it's bowed. Longevity-wise it's probably not the greatest idea but I suspect there's tons of slightly bent drives out there doing just fine.

Many boards include a set of black, square small rubber pads in the box. Usually they intend for you to install them on the PCB underneath the drive to buttress the drive and prevent it from bowing, if the situation calls for it. There's so much stuff with the R6E I can't tell if they include that for you, but it seems like DIMM.2 and SO-DIMM.2 boards usually provide it. The pad may make it worse or better, it's up to you to try.

Asus crosshair viii impact rubber pads? : sffpc (reddit.com)

Otherwise, the only other way is to back off on the screws a little. Works like a charm on one of my boards with a poorly designed heatsink (ASRock B550M-ITX/ac), where screwing it down all the way bends the drive like a banana.

Hi, Yes I did find those small rubber blocks in all the large array of parts that come with this board and you are correct, they do give a lot of extras. Using those rubber blocks does eliminate the majority of the bend but there is still a slight bend but I suppose that will have to do. Thank you for your suggestion.

 

[tabascosauz]

Hi, I have put a thinner thermal pad on the heatsink as well as putting a fairly stiff rubber block between the ssd and the rear of the dimm board. There is still a fairly small amount of curve but considerably better then it was originally. This is a very stupid design and although I have never had any issues in using Asus Rampage series motherboards going back the the very beginning when they first came out with the Rampage Extreme X48 series and I have built several systems always using Asus motherboards but this dimm design is not typical Asus quality. I will post some photos of exactly what I am talking about when my other 2TB western digital blue drive comes in.


Hi, Yes I did find those small rubber blocks in all the large array of parts that come with this board and you are correct, they do give a lot of extras. Using those rubber blocks does eliminate the majority of the bend but there is still a slight bend but I suppose that will have to do. Thank you for your suggestion.

Glad to hear it worked out. I have a Crosshair 8 Impact with the SO-DIMM.2 module and it's much the same problem. I used the rubber pad for my single sided SN750, a square of a thinner double sided 3M heavy duty tape with the backing still on for my double sided SX8200, and moderated the screw tension on the one screw on each side that seemed to dictate most of the bend on the drives. Not perfectly straight but not nearly enough bend to make me uncomfortable.

A slight bend I wouldn't worry about. I'd wager more than 90% of all M.2s installed are probably slightly bowed. imo MSI has the best understanding of M.2 heatsink fitment (they include a dual stack of thermal pads, so that you can use 1 or 2 as needed depending on the thickness of your drives) - and still it takes a bit of finesse to install without bending. Only possible exception seems to be Gigabyte as they usually have a bit more of a function over form M.2 heatsink design that is more or less universal across their boards.