XPS 8940, is 48°C too hot? What do I do about it?

35C is NOT Hot its not even normal human body temperature aka 98.6 F which is 37C. newer model drives the maximum temperature is 60 degrees Celsius.

Normal-operating-temperature disk-drives

XPS 8940, i9- 11900K

8940 case is known to have cooling issue due to lack of sufficient chassis fans.  Re:  my C: drive hits near 50°C.  if it is a mechanical hdd some hdd can warm up although the exact upper limit temp of healthy warm up is not clear.  if the hdd on finger touch feels a bit warm (warmer than human body 37 which would be 40-45C) that is all right, but it should not be like backed on a hot summer day out on beach all day type of hot.  If it does feel excessively warm to you, check your chassis temp using HWmonitor.  If the C drive is the only device hitting high temp, suggest you back up data and try a replacement.

monesqe,

Not knowing the specific XPS Desktops model and specific hard drives hampers temperature discussion?

I've noticed that too, XPS8940, 512GB SSD (WD model) I7 11700 CPU.

Mounted on the Motherboard of course, not in a holder to the case like the other HDD.

Not other drives (one external USB, last one above) are cooler. 2nd listed is Dell supplied 1TB HDD.

Not sure if the SSD is having/going to have a problem or not as well.

M.2 and mSATA SSDs are known to run hotter than 2.5” SATA SSDs. Likely due to the exposed chips in these SSD models, lacking thermal pads or casing that can conduct heat away from the chips. 

Most SSDs implement thermal throttling as a safety feature if a drive gets too hot. The closer your drive gets to the 70ºC limit, the more likely it is that the drive will start slowing down to prevent itself from failing. The drive will slow down drastically until the temperatures come back to a reasonable range (around 50ºC or so).

Mine is in fact a a 2 TB M2 ssd

@redxps630,

Figured it was OK. Think that is what the original poster was posting about, the motherboard mounted SSD C:.

I didn't think they go to 70C though? Checked the spec's on the WD site, they do, range of operation is 0°C to 70°C.

Thanks

There are thermal pads (aka: heat sinks) that can be attached to M.2 SSDs, if you're concerned...

I like that. Will they fit in that small case?

@monesqe  - Did you look at any SSD thermal pads in the link I posted?

SSD thermal pads are typically thin strips of thermally conductive silicone that are applied directly to the SSD card.

Some also have aluminum fins that go on top of the silicone pad so you have to look into how they actually attach to the SSD....

Yes, I did look at them. But I know nothing about either the size of the SSDs, how Dell constructs the machine or these pads, which I'd never heard of until you posted (thanks!). So, I didn't want to hire a computer tech to open up the machine, and then find out they can't be used.

@RoHe,

I'm wondering if one is needed at all? I Googled "do ssd's need a heat sink or thermal paste?" and most say you should but some are not sure?

Reason is both the position of the drive on the motherboard and the 8940's stock cooling which is probably not going to do much because of there the drive is?

Also, under 'normal' conditions, a drive in not in continual use. Maybe on a low RAM system with the swap file on the SSD, and continual swapping it might be.

I don't even know if under normal use, that is not accessing the drive continually, one would even notice if the drive slowed down? Not unless the user saw 'pauses' at least? Not if a background task were causing it? Slower loading of an app at open, probably now?

I am not aware on my stock 8940 of a need for this? Not saying it wouldn't help, and if nothing else make the drive last longer, heat overload will shorten the SSD's life.

Do you know of anyone who'd done this? I know there are posts about changing the cooling to improve it. None for an SSD?

Just curious? Would it also 'void' a warranty?

Referenced article is very old it says

" With our newer model drives the maximum temperature is now at 60 degrees Celsius."

M2 Heatsink

Over Kill M2 Heatsink that may not fit into case.

Ineo Rocket M2 Heatsink