The 990 Pro is Samsung's top-end PCIe 4.0 solid-state drive (SSD), boasting not just some of the best performance of any SSD, but also a fairly high amount of power consumption. That power consumption is what causes the 990 Pro (or any electronic device) to get hot, and there's a limit to how hot electronics can get (around 70 degrees Celsius for SSDs). Running an SSD at a high temperature can mean reduced performance and even permanent damage. Although Samsung sells a cheaper model of the 990 Pro without its custom heatsink, you might be wondering if that's really worth it.

Do you really need a heatsink?

Fortunately, the data suggests that the custom heatsink for the 990 Pro is unnecessary. According to Tom's Hardware, the 990 Pro consumed just under 6 watts under full load, lower than any other high-end Gen 4 drive it tested. Furthermore, even without a heatsink, the publication found that the 990 Pro hit 72 degrees Celsius, which is high but not dangerous. That's good news, especially if you wanted to install the 990 Pro in a device that doesn't have room for a heatsink, since even the best laptops usually can't fit an SSD heatsink.

In our review, we didn't use Samsung's custom heatsink either, but we didn't need to since the motherboard in the test PC already came with a heatsink. In fact, most motherboards these days come with heatsinks for M.2 SSDs pre-installed, making the heatsink designed for the 990 Pro redundant for most users. Using the heatsink that came with the motherboard in the test system, we noticed no thermal throttling or dangerously high temperatures whatsoever. Motherboards usually advertise M.2 heatsinks on the box or product page if you're looking for one with a built-in heatsink.

In the end, we're pretty confident that a heatsink isn't necessary for the 990 Pro to stay cool. Additionally, desktop users are unlikely to need to buy Samsung's custom heatsink since most motherboards come with at least one anyway. The worst-case scenario for using the 990 Pro without a heatsink is slightly reduced performance while reading, writing, or moving very large files for extended periods of time. If you're a power user and often find yourself transferring large files, then you might want to prioritize getting a heatsink for the 990 Pro, whether it's from Samsung or the motherboard manufacturer.