Thinkpads Forum

I am upgrading my T14 Gen 2 (Intel) SSD from a smaller length 2242 (WD 256 GB SN530 ) to a longer 2280 (Samsung 980 Pro 2TB). I noticed that the heat pad that came with the smaller 2242 only covers about 40 mm of the ssd (ie, the entire length). However, since the 2280 is twice the length, the pad only covers 1/2 the ssd. Should i remove the heat pad and put in a longer one. Or perhaps just add a 2nd one. Does anyone know the thickness of the pad if that makes sense. According to the lenovo.com vid https://youtu.be/nKUCBFecIsw?t=157 they just throw the new longer drive in with the small pad.

I dont want to reinstall the back and then realize I have a thermal prob.

I did notice that the back lid of the laptop seems to follow the profile of the SSD with some kind of black tape material, and since the top of the SSD might be more important for heat disipation, maybe that's enough.

sup Edmonton

used to live there, lots of family there, still love it and hate it (but it's a good place to live especially this time of year)

to answer your Q: the 980 Pro doesn't get that hot at PCIe 3.0 speeds that the T14 gen 2 will run at (artificially gimped by lenovo - the CPU has native PCIe 4.0 lanes for M.2 SSDs but Lenovo decided they would reserve those to the more $$$ models only).

So you don't really need a heatsink or thermal pad... but if you wanted to get one you could and it won't hurt anything. At last look it was a 2mm pad between the mobo and bottom of M.2 SSD (but measure first if you can)