Intel 660p 2TB, thermal throttling.

[CuriousMike]

I own a ASUS ROG Strix H370-F Gaming motherboard; it has two M.2 slots.

I have previously populated the "top of the motherboard" M2 slot with an Intel 660 2TB drive; this top M2 slot has a built in "heatsink" that evidently works.

When copying ~ 1TB of data to it, it consistently sat around 300+MB/sec.

I've now installed a second 660p, this time on the underside of the motherboard.

This drive seems to be throttling - again, I'm throwing about 300GB on it (all photos, 10MB-35MB per file). The drive starts out at ~ 440 MB/sec (copying from a Samsung 512GB SSD ). Once it hits the mid 60's in temp, I noticed the drive dropped to ~ 140 MB/sec. As soon as it hits 75', the drive drops to 11 MB/sec.
The drive "cools off" to ~ 70', then goes back to 140 MB/sec... then gets to 75' and drops back to 11 MB/sec.

Does this seem normal that the speeds would drop off that substantially ?

 

[UsandThem]

From what I see, 70c seems to be the throttle point for that drive (looking at Intel's specs).

That said, what is the size of your 2nd 660P? The reason I ask is since these drives use QLC NAND, once you exhaust the SLC cache, performance will drop. So it could be a combination of heat and using all the SLC cache that is causing such a dramatic drop. Of course the 2TB comes with more, so that's an initial concern: https://www.anandtech.com/show/13078/the-intel-ssd-660p-ssd-review-qlc-nand-arrives



If your 2nd drive is also 2TB in size, it also appears your bottom M.2 slot (according to Asus's specs), only operates at x2 mode (not x4 like your top slot), so that will drop the performance down. https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/ROG-STRIX-H370-F-GAMING/specifications/

 

[CuriousMike]

1) Yes, I actually just looked up that throttling number
2) Sorta sucks that I'm losing performance on the second slot
3) But I think I have a larger issue - the copy finished, and the drive isn't cooling down. It's been banging between 68-74'C, with no copy.

I suppose my mini case (Corsair 380T) might not be allowing any airflow to the bottom of the mobo. Not sure how to rectify this situation.
Hmm.

 

[CuriousMike]

I posted in "cooling" the other day, looking for a better CPU cooler. Replaced the CPU cooler tonight and decided to add the second M2 drive.
Looking at my initial photo, there appears to be a "lip" on the case in the front of the mobo that would prohibit any air from the front case fan from getting under the mobo.

 

[UsandThem]

1) Yes, I actually just looked up that throttling number
2) Sorta sucks that I'm losing performance on the second slot
3) But I think I have a larger issue - the copy finished, and the drive isn't cooling down. It's been banging between 68-74'C, with no copy.

I suppose my mini case (Corsair 380T) might not be allowing any airflow to the bottom of the mobo. Not sure how to rectify this situation.
Hmm.

You're likely going to need to put a M.2 heatsink on just about any NVMe drive that goes in there. Intel has a rather low throttle point (compared to many of the newer drives), but I also saw a review (of the 760P drive) which showed the drive was throttling at 70c, but their readings showed the drive was signficantly warmer than what the utility was showing. They didn't test the 660P, but I imagine the temp behavior would likely be the same between the two drives: https://www.techpowerup.com/review/intel-ssd-760p-512-gb/7.html

I just looked at your thread in cooling, and I saw you were getting very hot temps with your CPU (before buying the Macho). I think with such a small case with one intake and one exhaust fan, warm temperatures are to be expected. It looks like you are using a Fractal Design fan on one side of your case, and the other side has a Corsair model, so depending on the model numbers of those fans, you could look at some higher-performance fans. It should help some (based on my experience playing around with various fans for my cases).

 

[UsandThem]

I have to say this 660P thread has gone so much better than the one I was involved in yesterday.

 

[thor23]

Need a small heatsink on the controller, I don't think it's the flash that's overheating more likely the controller.

 

[CuriousMike]

In day to day operations, it doesn't seem to be an issue - for now, i'll leave it be.
I keep HWMonitor up to watch it, and it's fine - maybe just the large initial copy heated it up and it took a loong time to "cool down."
If it becomes an issue again, i'll have to yank the motherboard and see if i can get a HS on it (since it's on the underside of the mobo)

 

[thor23]

Yeah will probably be ok for everyday use. Probably took a long time to cool because it was clearing out its slc cache.