The fact that PCIe 5 SSDs have an integrated heatsink severely limits the number of computers they can be installed on. A fact that, although seemingly unimportant, can put the brakes on a long-distance race that has been going on for years, with units getting faster and faster just for doing it.
One of the things that surprised AMD’s Ryzen 7000 for laptops is the fact that its support for SSDs doesn’t include those that use the PCIe 5.0 interface to communicate data. The reason? Well, the fact that they are all equipped with a passive heatsink or a heatsink that prevents them from being placed in a laptop.
PCIe 5 SSDs with integrated heatsink bring a significant limitation
The advent of M.2 SSDs with PCI Express 5.0 interface led to the appearance of drives with passive heat sinks. This is a metal cover intended to move the temperature of the device to the outside. All this would not be remarkable if it were not for the fact that until now these storage units were generally sold bare, that is to say with the card and the chips without any type of cover.
This has made a good part of the next generation units cannot be placed in many laptops or systems with limited space, such as the PS5 video game console, cannot use these units. While it is true that at present these systems do not support M.2 SSDs with PCIe Gen 5, we must understand that the backward compatibility provided by said interface for internal components allows the new units to be used in the PCI Express of previous generations. .
Sin embargo, esto nos planta una duda sobre el futuro de las zones más rápidas de almacenamiento en estado sólido, dado que esto las hace exclusivas de los computers de torre, donde los SSD PCIe 5 con disipador no se fri limitedados por espacio y su temperatura this is not a problem.
Its adoption will be limited
The big problem with each generation of M.2 SSD is that you have to be able to connect all the disks on the market and if you want to extend the bandwidth, you can’t change the motherboard connector to connect one. more in width without sending to the freight millions of units available on the market. However, this has the disadvantage that the energy consumption increases and with it the heat given off by the device.
This is something on which the whole industry has been quick to comment and it must be emphasized that, for example, AMD itself, a company which has promoted the use of these units as much as possible for its computers of desktop Ryzen 7000 in laptops, no, it does this by creating the PCIe lanes that go to the fourth-gen, not fifth-gen, solid-state drive. This further highlights the issue that these require a dissipation unit which prevents their placement in many industrial designs.
And it is that increasing the height of a computer is not an easy task, especially because an extra millimeter or two, although they seem like a trifle to us, can make an entire computer go down by the design table. On the other hand, let’s not forget that these units far exceed the power required today.
