SSD Temperatures

With such large heatsinks on many of the M.2 ports we hoped for some good results and for PCIe Gen 4 SSDs, the board was within a few degrees of the top spot at 55°C, using the upper heatsink located on the only PCIe Gen 5-capable M.2 port. The enormous lower heatsink was a few degrees warmer, perhaps as it only cools one side of the SSD or as it sits under the graphics card, or both, while the smallest heatsink results in the highest temperature, albeit still a reasonable 62°C.

The PCIe Gen 5 temperature was the most impressive, though, at 61°C, easily beating all the other LGA1851 boards we've tested so far, likely thanks to the larger heatsink and double-sided cooling. Needless to say if you have a single M.2 SSD, the top slot is the one you want to use.

PCIe Gen 4 Performance (Samsung 990 Pro)

PCIe Gen 5 Performance (Team Group T-Force Z540)