Cases, cooling, power, and accessories brand Thermaltake has launched a new M.2 SSD cooler with an active fan, heatpipe, and heatsink for cooling. The new MS-1 M.2 2280 SSD Cooler is claimed to outclass an original passive heatsink, and third-party actively cooled rivals, to deliver noticeably better performance and the smoothest gaming experience (see video of tests, below).
In its testing, Thermaltake used a Crucial T700 PCIe Gen5 SSD, and data regarding SSD performance and temperatures were shown via the on-screen UIs of CrystalDiskMark and HWInfo, respectively.
In Thermaltake's results, you can see the MS-1 does noticeably better than the T700's passive solution, as expected. It also outclasses an unnamed third-party active cooler with far better-mixed data transfer results, and the chart shows consistently lower temperatures. A little digging revealed the unnamed third-party active cooler was probably this model from Ineo, which retails on Amazon for $14.99.
Of course, we should take Thermaltake's testing with a pinch of salt; as with any company, there is an interest in making the product look as good as possible. Conspicuous from its absence in the 'lab test' was any noise measurement. The MS-1 would be a noisier solution than a passive cooler, but that would be expected. Pitting the Thermaltake cooler's 8,000 rpm fan noise profile against the 10,000 rpm Ineos would have been interesting.
Though it isn't mentioned in the spec sheet, or on the product page, exploded diagrams show that the MS-1 comes with two thermal pads to sandwich your bare M.2 SSD between.
Thermaltake hasn't provided pricing and availability details, however, we note that the MS-1 M.2 2280 SSD Cooler can be seen in retail listings all over Europe for prices ranging from 20 to 35 Euros and beyond. With the aforementioned competitor at $15, we hope Thermaltake will aim for a fair price below $20 in the U.S.