MP 6,1 Mac Pro 6,1 SSD Upgrade

[jtmatchett]

I am looking into upgrading my Mac Pro 6,1 from the original 1TB SSD to a Samsung 970 EVO Plus 2TB. I have read a lot of recommendations saying to use the EKWB heat sink with it. Many of the reviews for EKWB heat sink state that it’s very hard to get both clips on the Samsung 970 EVO.

Does anyone has experience with upgrading their Mac Pro 6,1 with the 970 Evo and what heatsink would you recommend that fits well inside the 6,1 casing?

Does the Sintech NGFF M.2 nVME adapter work well with the 970 Evo?

 

[Crwoo]

I used the NGFF M.2 nVME adapter and it worked good. You just make sure it‘s seated well.
keep in mind, you can‘t use internet recovery to install MacOS if you use the NVME SSD.
I booted from a USB drive and everything went well.

 

[jtmatchett]

I used the NGFF M.2 nVME adapter and it worked good. You just make sure it‘s seated well.
keep in mind, you can‘t use internet recovery to install MacOS if you use the NVME SSD.
I booted from a USB drive and everything went well.

Good advice! Thank you.

Did you use a heatsink? If so, what kind?

 

[Crwoo]

Good advice! Thank you.

Did you use a heatsink? If so, what kind?

I did not use a heatsink

 

[tommy chen]

courage cannot be bought +g*

 

[jtmatchett]

I did not use a heatsink

Do you have any overheating issues or suffer in performance from not using one?

 

[th0masp]

The Trashcan gets pretty balmy inside, a good deal warmer than a regular desktop PC for sure. Stock Apple SSD's also comes with a heatsink, so...

Is the 970 Evo any fatter than the Pro? Because I use the latter and getting that particular heatsink on was no major issue. Admittedly in my case it's not lining up perfectly with the screw hole on the GPU's mount but good enough to safely lock the assembly in place.

 

[tsialex]

Even with a much cooler inside MP5,1, a 970 PRO/EVO/EVO+ without a heatsink can easily overheat itself with OS installs/updates or backups.

Start monitoring your SSD with DriveDX, anything over 70ºC and you have to install a heatsink or you will cook your blade. Btw, everything works fine at the beginning, but you will have greatly reduced write persistence one year later.

Ideal maximum temperature would be around low fifties, when in heavy use.

 

[Crwoo]

Do you have any overheating issues or suffer in performance from not using one?

I did not monitor temperature, but I never had any problems. I have since upgraded to the 2019, so I can't check how it it's running.

 

[edanuff]

I put in a Samsung EVO Plus 2TB with the Simtech long adapter and the EKWB EK-M.2 heatsink. iStat Menus and Drive DX both report temps around 65ºC. This seems higher than I'd expect but reasonably sure I installed the heatsink correctly.

 

[edanuff]

I rechecked the placement of the EKWB heatsink and replaced the thermal pads that came with the heatsink with Artic thermal pads just to make sure. No real change in temperature, still around 65ºC. At this point, I'm going to assume that's the best that can be done unless someone else has had better results. It does look like there's room for a slightly larger heatsink but I think Samsungs just run very hot, especially in 2TB configurations and clearly the nMP doesn't have great ventilation.

 

[qaz111111]

I bought a thermaltake box fan with a speed controller and usb plug. It sits on top of the 6,1 in a piece of foam with the square cut out of the middle. My temp monitor rarely moves over 36 degrees. If it foes I turn up the fan speed and the temp comes down. Before this fan the machine would heat up into the 40"s and [performance would suffer. This is a Max'd out 6,1 12 core 64 gb RAM with the factory 1 Tb SSD..


I want to go to the 4 Tb sabrent?

 

[vett93]

I put a EKWB heatsink on my Samsung EVO 970 2TB SSD. The temperature has gone down by about 10 degrees F.

 

[Digital_Frank]

I have been using the 2TB HP EX950 SSD for about a year without a heat sink.
I adjusted the fan speed to idle around 900-1000 RPM and temps are typically around 35C or 45C when coping large files.

I did buy a heatsink, but since the HP SSD is double sided (ICs on both sides) I didn't like how it fit.
The slightly faster fan speed keeps the SSD cool and just about everything else inside the Mac

 

[bmx91331]

Any links to that ngff adapter, and do you know if it would support 4tb ?