Hi @cns00 welcome to this free user-to-user Alienware laptop discussion forum. 

When Alienware 17 R5 purchased from Dell, the drives have thermal shields. Additional drives purchased from Dell do not include thermal shields and customers/users have to purchase these separately from third party suppliers. The upper surface can be copper or painted black. The M.2 2280 SSD Thermal Shield, Thermal Pad, and Screw is DP/N 0JV98R, 3N3W3, etc. 

Samsung 980 PRO PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD 2TB is backwards compatible with Alienware 17 R5 PCIe 3.0 NVMe slots.

Hi @cns00 thank you for sharing your dilemma.

Dell has undertaken tests and determined what the Dell warranty will accept as the build configuration. 

thank you for your reply but that's not what i asked

the problem with my laptop is that the nvme ssd is in an isolated area and there is a weak airflow over that area

some people are telling me it's ok to put a heatsink with a thermal pad sticker in my laptop

other people are telling me it's a bad idea because the heatsink can touch the bottom cover of the laptop and that will stop airflow from reaching the heatsink

the heatsink should be a thin copper strip. copper is very good at getting rid of heat but it needs an airflow to do that. some people are telling me that if there is no airflow then the heatsink can become quite hot because it's not getting rid of the heat fast enough and in the end i will have a hot heatsink on top of a warm nvme ssd and that's bad

i want to ask you who is right and who is wrong? will there be enough space between the heatsink and the bottom cover of the laptop?

I am using my new nvme western digital 2tb ssd for one year now. 

Inspite of inflation, surprisingly nvme ssds have become cheaper these days which is a good news.  

If you can afford one, go for it with a heat sink. 

I did not purchase with a heat sink due to cost. 

Quite recently,  i have noticed few times that my laptop is not booting with an error message,  " media not found"

I have assumed that it is due to old age of my laptop or a problem with my WD ssd.

But i have managed to make it work by switching it to an adjacent empty ssd slot. Sometimes i used to think that i need to get a new laptop very soon and it is not so cheap these days. 

Sometimes it worked on slot no 1 and sometimes it worked with slot no 2.

This last time,  i have realized that the alienware was very hot underneath. I generally don't turn off my laptop.  It stays on 24 hours only sleeps when it is idle. 

Surprisingly,  i found that it was not a problem of the laptop or the ssd but due to the heating issue.

I switched it off for couple of hours and turned it on. It booted fine without any issue. 

Nowadays i shut down my laptop after every night if i can remember.

Its not a big of a difference,  go for it. Get a ssd with heat sink.  I don't know if the Sticker does the same but the bottom line is ssd does not have endurance than the hdd.

My previous 1tb wd hdd never complained once.

Below is the link that i have shared on how i upgraded from hdd to ssd if you wish to take a look. 

https://youtu.be/BVv5JVJlvjQ

you told me that there is heatsinks which have part numbers 0JV98R and 3N3W3. i spoke with dell support and i asked them about the heatsinks. first the guy i spoke with recommended 3N3W3. i told him i am worried if there is enough space. he changed his mind and recommended JV98R and said it fits perfectly for me. thus that could mean that they are different. do you know the difference between them?

I have an Alienware 17 R5 laptop. I will be putting Samsung 980 pro nvme ssd in it and I want to put a heatsink on the nvme ssd. There are 2 heatsinks and the product numbers are 0jv98r and 3n3w3. Dell support told me to buy 0jv98r.

I found https://www.amazon.ae/GinTai-Heatsink-Bracket-Alienware-Laptop/dp/B08GPPW9RM/ref=sr_1_2 and https://www.amazon.ae/Deal4GO-Heatsink-Drive-03N3W3-Alienware/dp/B08CCNJZGK/ref=sr_1_1. Are those the correct ones? Both of them say 0jv98r and 3n3w3 in the product title.

Is there any difference between 0jv98r and 3n3w3?

JV98R = Alienware 15 R3-R4/17 R4-R5, Inspiron 5587/7577/7588

3N3W3 = Alienware Area-51m R1

Hi @cns00 welcome to this free user-to-user Alienware laptop discussion forum. 

The JV98R 0JV98R is designed for the Alienware 17 R5 laptop, and other Alienware laptops. The 3N3W3 03N3W3 is identical to JV98R 0JV98R. Shop for discounted price. 

Ok thanks. I also need to buy thermal pad stickers. I have two choices for thermal pad stickers:-
1) Arctic thermal pad sticker which has a thermal conductivity of 6 m w/k
2) Grizzly minus 8 thermal pad sticker which has a thermal conductivity of 8 m w/k

8 m w/k will transfer heat faster to the heatsink than 6 m w/k but I was told that you need an ideal environment which has excellent airflow to take advantage of the faster heat transfer and the heatsink will get rid of the heat fast because of the excellent airflow. My environment is not ideal because of the weak airflow to the nvme ssd area so the heatsink will get rid of the heat slower for me so there is no need for the heat to quickly reach the heatsink so it's ok if I use the arctic thermal pad sticker. Is what I said correct? I am worried that if I use the Grizzly thermal pad sticker then the heat will quickly escape from the nvme ssd but I may end up with a hotter heatsink because the heat will slowly leave the heatsink due to the weak airflow.

Which thermal pad sticker shall I get?

Hi @cns00 thank you for sharing update with additional question. 

Why would you want to compromise the modern Samsung 980 Pro's thermal protection? 

The Samsung 980 PRO PCIe 4.0 SSD | Samsung Semiconductor Global has nickel coating to help manage the controller's heat level and a heat spreader label to deliver effective thermal control of the NAND chip. Samsung's Dynamic Thermal Guard technology maintains the 980 PRO's temperature at optimal levels. Samsung Magician software monitors drive health. 

The old Alienware 17 R5 laptop's NVMe bays are not designed to accommodate the modern Samsung 980 PRO with Samsung Heatsink. To get maximum air flow, install Samsung 980 PRO without Samsung or Dell heatsink. 

My Alienware 17 R5's Samsung drive card does not have any additional heatsink. 

sorry. i meant to say that in https://www.dell.com/community/Alienware/17-R5-980-Pro-NVMe-SSD-use-heatsink/td-p/8348781 i was told that there are heatsinks for my laptop

hi @crimsom . thank you for your help

i am very confused. in https://www.dell.com/community/Alienware/17-R5-make-sure-I-am-getting-the-correct-heatsink/m-p/8362232 you told me that there are heatsinks for my laptop and dell support confirmed that the heatsink with part number 0jv98r will fit for me. now you are changing your mind and you are telling me not to put a heatsink because my laptop wasn't designed to have a heatsink on the nvme ssd

i know people who are putting the heatsink with part number 0jv98r in alienware 17 r4 and r5 laptops and they are okay

i am aware that the nvme ssd area has weak airflow in my laptop. also i know that the nvme ssd will get more airflow if i don't put a heatsink. however, nothing bad should happen if i put a thermal pad sticker and a heatsink on the nvme ssd. if i use thermal pad stickers with high conductivity then the nvme ssd will stay cool and the heatsink will become a bit hot. that's ok. the heatsink should still get some airflow so it will cool down eventually. the important thing is that i dont end up with a very hot heatsink which cant hold any more heat

so then is it ok if i put the heatsink with part number 0jv98r in my laptop and i use thermal pad stickers with good heat conductivity?

you told me that you have the same laptop as me and also you are using samsung nvme ssd without a heatsink. are you also using 980 pro? if yes then what are your nvme ssd temps? i need to know the idle temp, the temp when playing games and the temp when doing a stressful task like macrium reflect backup\restore

Hi @cns00 thank you for sharing additional question specific to the modern ultrafast Samsung 980 pro NVMe SSD. There are Dell heatsinks for the old Alienware 17 R5 laptop.  

If 17 R5 OS (C:) boot drive is now the Samsung 980 Pro NVMe SSD, please ensure it is created with the more secure, reliable, modern GPT (GUID Partition Table) partition format (not MBR) so that BIOS boot list option UEFI is enabled. Converting your Hard Drive from MBR to GPT | Dell US.  How to Convert MBR to GPT Using CMD without Data Loss? (diskpart.com).  

My ultrafast 2TB Samsung SSD M.2 2280 boot drive is currently running at 34°C above local temperature, and Health Status is 100%, according to Crystal Disk Info x64 and Samsung Magician. 

Comparisons with other 17 R5 systems are only valid if they are using the Samsung 980 Pro NVMe SSD as their BIOS/UEFI OS (C:) boot drive. 

thanks @crimsom for your reply. so then you confirm that i can use the heatsink which is designed for my laptop and it's ok if i use a thermal pad sticker which has higher thermal conductivity instead of using a thermal pad sticker which has lower thermal conductivity?

one more thing. i forgot to mention that i am putting my alienware laptop on a kootek cooling pad and i turned on the center ring. you said the problem with my laptop is the weak airflow in the nvme ssd area and there will be less airflow because of the heatsink. the coolpad will push extra air into the coolpad but the problem is that the air is going in through the mesh grill of the bottom cover and it's going into the compartment which is right next to the nvme ssd area. will the extra air from the coolpad reach the heatsink? will it help if i get a coolpad with a bigger and more powerful center ring?

Response in your other thread 17 R5, make sure I am getting the correct heatsink - Dell Community.