Z840 PCiE Bifurcation for M.2 NVMe

[SDH]

Happy to help...

EDIT: CDI has a refresh option under its top Function menu, and that can also be triggered by using F5. That makes it quick and easy to check rising temperatures of your selected NVMe drive during stress tests/speed tests.

Today I finished a clean install of W11 22H2 Moment 3 onto a M.2 NVMe-controller SSD stick in my testbed Z440. I installed that into the top (primary) M.2 slot of my ZTD Dual Pro card (just the single stick in that spot and no drive of any type other than the boot USB key anywhere else). I did not use the top heatsink/thermal pad and I kept the clear plastic thermal pad protector sheet in place over the bottom thermal pad. With Crystal Disk Info (CDI) you can monitor the temp of the Lenovo 1TB PM981a stick I used... it hovers at or a bit above 40C during that process. You need to refresh the CDI temp readout to see changes over time. Samsung Magician would be able to report temps if the stick had been a Samsung Pro or Evo M.2 stick but not for the Samsung Lenovo stick I was using. However, Magician can do a performance speedtest on that stick which pushes it to 100% full speed. So, I could push it and simultaneously check temps with CDI. It started at about 40C and went up sequentially from there... to 60C, and then the temp window in CDI changed color from normal to red. I stopped the Magician speed test at that point... no harm was done at that temperature, and no thermal throttling happened either.

I then went ahead and added in a second 1TB stick (which also had already been MBR partitioned and long-type NTFS formatted). Both sticks settled in to about 42C during internet surfing, etc. It is easier to refresh CDI with 2 sticks in place... you just highlight back and forth between the 2 drives to get refreshed temp readings. My two sticks will only heat up if I'm speedtesting them while the ZTD Dual Pro heatsink/cover is off and they're only receiving open-case airflow. The same concepts would hold true with your ZTD Quad Pro but you'd get even better cooling due to its fan. I'd advise you to put the ZTD QP's plastic cover on but keep the metal heatsink under it off just to test temps some.

I ran my first stick initially bare in a ZTD G1 (no heatsink or thermal pads at all) while I was testing the W11 clean install process, and it did not heat up... only during Magician speed testing.

So, I'm sure you're fine to dink around that way too with your Quad Pro, but don't do speed testing without watching the temps with CDI, or do video rendering that way. You now know how to easily check temps regardless of the stick(s) you use. Keep us posted if you can.

[Fiendish]

Thanks SDH, some great info there.

As you suggested, I got my first stick in the Quad Pro without the heatsink, top on  and with the pad still with it's protective layer attached. CDI reports 30c idle and up to 45c during benching with CDM.  This was using the HP branded Samsung 1TB stick included with Quad Pro,  the SAMSUNG MZVKW1T0HMLH-000H1.

On the Magician benchmark, temps went up to 48c.

[Fiendish]

My brand new 3.84TB Samsung PM9A3 M.2 (22x110) stick has just arrived. However, the classic Samsung "Warranty Voided if Removed" label actually goes over the m key connector? Seems very odd, I've attached some pictures. Trying to see if I can find anything about this online but no luck yet. It also seems to be just a sticker, rather than the metallic one it has on some of their consumer drives.

I mean perhaps the connector is till going to fit with the sticker on ? But it looks like it's stuck to it...

[SDH]

That 1TB HP stick is an OEM-release from Samsung, a SM981. You're seeing the benefit of your ZTD Quad Pro's internal fan... my same stick bare in a ZTD single-drive PCIe card got to 60C pretty quickly when Magician was about 2/3 done with its performance test. I'll try that again with the ZTD G2 official heatsink in place and with the Z440's side cover in place. HP case cooling airflow always works better with the side cover on, not off.

That sticker is clearly a screw-up by someone or a machine. I'd save your pictures for the future if needed (i've never had one go bad) and just peel up that far end of the sticker and snip the last 5-10 mm off.

I doubt there would be any sticker residue left but you can clean the contacts with high percent isopropyl alcohol (90-95%) before you insert it in the M.2 socket once you've snipped off the label's end.

[Fiendish]

That's what I figured, it's a brand new sealed drive too.

I'll let you know how it goes.

[Fiendish]

The label was barely attached so easy to peel back. and there was a touch of residue to remove but came off easily.

Temps wise very similar to the other stick, but better numbers as you would expect for a Gen 4 stick. Interestingly the first stick now idles hotter at 37c, and when the PM9A3 was benching with Magician, their temps were pretty much rising together. I would imagine this will improve with the heatsink and thermal pads properly installed. 

[DGroves]

the sticker in question is one that a 3rd party reseller added and placed improperly

notify the seller about this and provide a picture of the label before repositioning it

you can simply reposition it so the ssd contacts are not covered up

[Fiendish]

Yes I suspect you are right about that. Just had the next two PM9A3 sticks turn up, this time with the labels not covering the contacts which is helpful. Tomorrow I will install them all with the thermal pads and heatsink.

[Fiendish]

I've now got the HP Z Drive Quad Pro installed with all four sticks filled with pads and the heatsink, so 1 x SM981 1TB and 3 x PM9A3 3.84 TB. All seems great so far,  approx 3500 MB/s read and 2145 MB/s write with the PM9A3s.

Temps are 33-36 idle and 40-44 under load.