In order to test the NVME M2 cooler we used the following configuration:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
• Thermal compound: bequiet! DC1
• Case: bequiet! Silent Base 802
• Case fans: 2x140 bequiet! Silent Wings 3 High-Speed RPM speed controllable via SmartFan BIOS + Asus Xpert4 software
• Motherboard: Asus X570 E-Gaming with 4601 BIOS
• Memory: 2x16GB G.skill Trident Z RGB CL14 @ 3200MHz CL14 (XMP Profile) @ 1.35V
• PSU: be quiet! Straight Power 11 650Watt
• HDD: Crucial MX500 SSD
• VGA: Asus 1060 6GB Dual
• Ambient room temperature ~ 25 Celsius (with AC climate control) - Environment Temperature measurements: Precision Gold N09AQ Envirometer Meter
• Operating system: Windows 10 x64 with all the latest updates installed
• Software: AIDA64 / HWInfo / OCCT Enterprise Edition (Latest builds)

For our testing, we used the Crucial P5 2TB NVME M2280 drive that according to our tests has been a product that simply without any kind of cooling doesn't perform well at all and thermal throttles. The Asus X5570E-Gaming includes a built-in passive heatsink that is also tested to see if you really need an extra NVME SSD passive cooling solution, apart from what the motherboard manufacturer already offers. For testing the Crucial P5 drive, we used the ATTO Disk Benchmark v4.00, and we run 2, and 3 continuous runs to see how well the installed heatsink will absorb and dispass heat from the NVME drive. Note also that with our motherboard, we had trouble securing the MC1/MC1 Pro due to the fact that you need a longer screw that isn't included in the retail package that holds the M2 cooler at the motherboard. This may not apply to your motherboard...

Starting our tests, we wanted to showcase when the Crucial P5 2TB NVME drive doesn't have any kind of cooling, it reaches 105 Celsius max temperature and thermal throttles to protect the NVME from damage. The performance also drops. The HFInfo software reports three sensors of the NVME, we used 1 and 3 for our tests (1 and 2 gave exactly the same results).

Starting with Sensor 1, we can see that the be quiet! MC1 Pro really made a difference compared with other products, however, the MC1 gave exactly the same results as the stock passive heatsink of the Asus X570 motherboard.

Moving to Sensor 3, we can see that again the be quiet! MC1 and the Asus X570 stock cooler gave similar results, while the be quiet! MC1 pro has a better performance by 6 Celsius.

While running a test for 1 minute may give us an idea of what the max temperatures would be, however what if we continue using our NVME drive? How effective the passive NVME solutions would be? To test this, we run the same test again and again 4 times with a rest of 15 secs between each run.

We can see that while at the first run, they are quiet! MC1 Pro has a big distance from what the Asus X570 motherboard includes, at the second, third, and forth run, this performance gap closes to only 2 Celsius. The be quiet! MC1 cannot keep up and shouldn't be used for a long time period.

- Conclusion

NVME M2 cooling is a must those days since most modern NVME drive sold does product a lot of heat. Knowing that motherboard manufacturers do include passive heatsinks that help/reduce thermal bottlenecks and further extend the life of those important components.

be quiet! has released its own version of passive NVME cooling with the MC1 and MC1 Pro products. Both products promise high performance compared with a non-cooled NVME and from our tests, there is simply no comparison, at least with the tested Crucial P5 2TB NVME drive. Most currently sold motherboards, especially middle to the top range, do include passive heatsinks that from our testing do get the job well done, even the be quiet! MC1 Pro will perform better in most cases. One problem we faced was the fact at our Asus X570E-Gaming motherboard was nearly impossible to secure the package of the NVME drive + the be quiet! MC1/MC1 Pro coolers, since we didn't have a such long screw, perhaps be quiet! should have included such additional screws for those cases.

In any case, if you have an older system or simply your motherboard doesn't include a passive heatsink or you simply want to upgrade your NVME cooling performance both be quiet! MC1 and MC1 Pro products will help you reduce NVME temperatures and has no thermal throttling during your gaming sessions or video editing.

The be quiet! MC1 can be found online at ~10 Euro, while the bigger MC1 Pro is ~ 13 Euro (including VAT).