Is slight cooling of an SSD a good idea?

[Ronin13]

Preparing a new build in a Fractal Design R5 case. (See it here: http://www.fractal-design.com/home/product/cases/define-series/define-r5-black)

As for placement of my single SSD (no hard drives) I have quite a few options. There are two mounting slots behind the motherboard and a plethora of drive bays to mount it in.

My case has two front fans and for optimum airflow I'll be removing at least the larger of the two removable drive cages. (I'll be using an optical drive, so the optical drive cage at the top stays.)

Now, the question is, should I mount the SSD behind the motherboard and remove both drive cages, leaving both the mounted front fans with unimpeded airflow?

Or should I mount the SSD in the smaller of the two drive cages, leaving it in the path of some cool air intake? (At the moment I'm seeing if I can turn the bottom drive cage 90 degrees, so it restricts the airflow from the bottom front fan as little as possible.)

My concern is that the SSD won't only not be getting any airflow mounted behind the motherboard, but also run even hotter due to the closeness to the CPU.

While I'm aware that SSD's don't require active cooling, won't they presumably last longer if well ventilated?

 

[Mushkins]

All components will last longer when well ventilated. You also don't want a small, hot component pushed up against the back of your motherboard.

SSDs *can* get pretty hot after prolonged read/write activity. Ever touch a thumb drive after writing 40 GB of data to it?

That being said, will it work mounted behind the motherboard? Sure. But it's not optimal, and probably not the best idea long term. A little bit of airflow impedance from a drive cage is probably the better solution here. You can also modify the drive cage by cutting extra holes in it or slicing the bottom of it off entirely if you *really* need the best of both worlds.

 

[Ronin13]

Thank you.

I managed to turn the smaller bottom drive cage 90 degrees, making it's impact on airflow from the bottom fan very minor. With the SSd mounted here it will sit right in the path of the bottom fan intake.

If nothing else, this will at least will give me more peace of mind than having the SSD mounted behind the mobo.

 

[MoInSTL]

Are both optical drive bays occupied? If not, you can tuck your SSD in the bottom bay with some Velcro. The grommet holes are right there too. You can stick it anywhere with Velcro. In my R4 I had three 2.5" inch drives on the bottom of the case. I took one of the drive sleds and removed the prongs and added Velcro. I have my 850 & 840 EVO drives on the back trays of my R5. Another in the bottom optical bay, They wouldn't slide into the trays. AIDA64 reports 42C and 43C. My ambient is a toasty 82F and 29C. AC thermostat acting weird. Anyway, it's doable as there are vents running along each side. Or, just keep the bottom cage the way it is.

Good luck with the rest of your build. The above is mostly for anyone else with a similar question and an R5.

Edit: I will update the drive temps after temps in my home office cools down to. 82F is too hot for me too!

 

[Ronin13]

Only the top optical drive bay is in use. I'm sure the SSD would be perfectly fine mounted in the second one without sitting in direct airflow, but I think I'll keep it in the top bay of the bottom drive cage, now that I've turned it 90 degrees (and removed the unused drive sleds), so the cage has very little impact on the air intake from the bottom fan.

(Btw, this wasn't a perfect fit, as the 4 screws mounting that drive cage to the bottom of the cabinet wasn't in a perfect square configuration. But mounting it with 2 screw diagonally seems to be solid enough.)

Oh, and this case was brilliant to build in. And great looking too. I got a special version of the Blackout Edition (the PCGH), so not only with white LED instead of blue and everything inside black (fans and all the other stuff that's white in the normal R5), but also solid top and side panels, as I don't have need for the extra fan options offered by the Modu Vents.

 

[MoInSTL]

That's very odd the cage didn't line up. Do you have a short PSU allowing you to use the 4 holes further back from the front? Or is it on the original spot? You may want to look at the other 4 holes further back to make sure you didn't try tapping two of them. Did you re-attach the little arm bracket with the two small screws?

Sounds like a nice build. As promised, my somewhat updated drive temps. The one inside the optical bay is 30C. The ones mounted on the trays in back are 39C. That 9 degrees is negligible. Ambient is slow to drop with a heat advisory out, but 79.5F and falling. I prefer 75 degrees. So the ones in back will drop a lot more. I have two French doors between my living room and office and had them closed this morning to keep the cat out overnight. I don't have ceiling fans in here yet and one AC vent for a very large room versus two in the living room.. Plus the thermostat was set to 87! Fixed that.

The only LED in mine is an RGB water block/pump. I have it set to solid red (no blinking or pulsing) to match my RAM even though I don't have and didn't want a window.

 

[Ronin13]

The drive cage I've turned is the smaller of the two, so there's no small arm bracket to re-attach. And it's in the original place, as I like to have it close the the front as I think it makes for a cleaner build with nothing getting too jammed up (there's about a cm of clearance from the front fan).

 

[MoInSTL]

The drive cage I've turned is the smaller of the two, so there's no small arm bracket to re-attach. And it's in the original place, as I like to have it close the the front as I think it makes for a cleaner build with nothing getting too jammed up (there's about a cm of clearance from the front fan).

I just looked at both of mine and there is no bracket! I confused it with my R4 that most definetly does.

Fractal makes nice cases and I would at least let them know.

 

[Ronin13]

To be fair, what I've done with the smaller, bottom drive cage isn't one of the official 'Optional Bottom Cage Positions' in the manual. Only the top cage has the 90 degrees turn option (and mine does have that smaller bracket you mentioned). But it works well enough for me.

And yes, the case is awesome with awesome service to match. I ordered my case from a German on-line shop (as it's a special model for the German market) and it arrived with a slightly dented side panel. Nothing major, but obviously still annoying. Instead of contacting the seller (as I would expect them to require a lengthy return procedure, possibly involving sending the whole thing back), I turned directly to Fractal, who just today delivered an extra side panel, without any fuss.