I got a pc that suffers from severe heating problems because of its poorly designed passive cooling case. I tried several strategies to put temperature under control, did a lot of tests with thermald, but ended up hacking a fan into the case. However, I still have problems with ssd temperatures.

Right now, as I write this, the nvme ssd is at 67ºC and easily goes beyond 80 or 90 during data transfers. I already lost 2 ssds before realizing this was the problem, because I was controlling just the cpu temperature.

There’s no physical way to force airflow where the ssd is, so I was wondering if there’s some way to throttle data transfer of something to prevent the ssd temperatures from reaching a threshold. All I could find was a vibecoded github repository. I don’t care if data transfer gets ridiculously slow, as long as the ssd remain safe, and I can’t consider getting any new hardware right now.

I’m currently running fedora 44 on that machine

Edit: I thought there was an easier software mitigation to that, but apparently, solutions will tend to the hardware side, so here are the hardware details:

  • It’s an unbranded chinese cheap mini pc with a heat dissipation case that doesn’t dissipate well
  • The ssd is mounted on the back of the motherboard. The model is a sandisk M.2 1TB 2280
    Here’s a photo of the case, for the reference (don’t judge me lol):

image

  • morto@piefed.socialOPEnglish
    1·
    3 days ago

    Thank you four your help and for your humor. The case doesn’t have any labels of model numbers on the outside, so I don’t know the exact model. I got it from aliexpress a few years ago, but I deleted my account recently, so I can’t search my history. However, that fmc-bm20 indeed looks very similar. The holes in the back are at the same positions

    I even tried improvising a fan into the back, where those holes apparently suited for 2.5’’ drives are, but they’re exactly where the support holds the case on the table

    • TrollAccount69@lemmy.ml
      1·
      3 days ago

      I have an idea, if you get a chance can you post a picture of the inside of the case? I’m looking specifically for the side that you had to put the ssd in.

      I’m thinking a thermal pad might couple the ssd to the side panel if it’s close enough and work like the cases on recent macs do…

        • MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip
          1·
          1 day ago

          I usually put a self-stick alluminium fan on the controller. You can get 10 of them for a few $. Doesn’t help much if the entire internals is overheated of course.

        • Luccus@feddit.org
          1·
          2 days ago

          Oh, shit. Forget my other comment. Just get a SSD cooler. With this much space you may get away with a bit of added thermal mass; assuming you aren’t constantly transfering large files. For small bursts just handling the heat spikes may suffice.