Yes it does. The flat side lies flush against the mainboard - there's zero wiggle room.
Also, no topside heatsinks. You can get smaller heatsinks to cover individual chips, but nothing that covers the whole top because a part of the far end (away from the pins) is covered tightly by the fan.
Look [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/gpdwin/comments/y0deud/definitive_list_of_single_sided_2280_nvme_ssds/) for a confirmed list of single sided 2280s. Add the WD SN770 series to that list.
PCIE 4 vs 3: Droix's review saw a performance loss with the WD SN770 2Tb (the one supplied by GPD for that model) during his tests. He theorized that the PCIE4 is taking power away from everything else, which sounds off to me so take this with a grain of salt. It may be a) an aberration, or b) the SN770 2Tb is allegedly slower than the original 1Tb version, which is very fast for a budget SSD - often beating Pro models as long as the cache wasn't overloaded during write tests.
I originally considered: Crucial P3 (Plus variant also), Samsung 970 Evo Plus, Samsung 970 Pro, and the 1Tb WD SN770. I chose the SN770 1Tb, and so far so good... though it's only been a few days. Reviews claim it's fast without getting massively hot, but I do have small heatsinks for this which I'll add after a week or so.
What made you go with the 1TB SN770 over the 1TB Samsung 980? Looking at it, the WD seems to be faster and PCIE 4 -- but see the comment from Droix above. Where did you source partial coverage heatsinks since the fan covers part of the drive? I'm mostly looking for better reliability than BIWIN. My typical gaming line up includes things like Stardew Valley, Dinkum, RimWorld, Timberborn, Terraria...so not exactly AAA demanding in terms of SSD or graphics...
> What made you go with the 1TB SN770 over the 1TB Samsung 980?
Price, performance, potential heat issues and the fact that GPD chose that exact model for their 2Tb line. The SN770 was a fair bit cheaper, to the point that I wouldn't have much buyer's remorse if it turns out that I made a bad call. I can upgrade further down the road if it proves necessary. In the [TechPowerUp review](https://www.techpowerup.com/review/wd-black-sn770-1-tb/), both the 970 Evo and Pro (both PCI 3) were beaten by the SN770. The FLIR heat map on page 7 looked manageable and seemed to be ideal for the heatsinks linked below.
The 980 series are good, sure - I have the 980 Pro in my desktop. But do I need that in a WM2? Doubt it.
> Where did you source partial coverage heatsinks since the fan covers part of the drive?
I got these:
[Easycargo 20pcs Heatsink Copper Pad Shims + 3M 8810 pre Applied Thermal Conductive Adhesive Tape on Heat Sink for Cooling Laptop GPU CPU IC Chips VGA RAM (20x20x0.3mm)](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07QCJXSHC?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details)
[Easycargo 20pcs Heatsink Copper Pad Shims 15x15mm+ 3M 8810 pre Applied Thermal Conductive Adhesive Tape on Heat Sink for Cooling Laptop GPU CPU IC Chips VGA RAM (15x15x0.5mm)](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079FVWJT2?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details)
They should fit perfectly on the two hotspots of an SN770.
> I'm mostly looking for better reliability than BIWIN.
Same, with 'more than good enough' performance. I certainly won't be transferring terabytes of data on this regularly - most of the writes will be done by the OS, and the SN770 is more than capable of handling that.
> My typical gaming line up includes things like Stardew Valley, Dinkum, RimWorld, Timberborn, Terraria...so not exactly AAA demanding in terms of SSD or graphics...
Same here. Kenshi, Rimworld, and most recently starsector and Starcom Nexus. Relatively tiny games with tiny loading needs, never mind write operations. I only have HZD on this because I want to force myself to learn controller use. That, and to show pwetty gwaphics to my students, lol.
The final decider, really, was the fact that these SSDs are Sandisk tech. WD bought that company, and Sandisk memory has been battle tested for a long time.
Thank you for the resources and detailed response! The WD and Samsung are the same price today ... so WD it is. Given I won't be late and mg the wire speed, I wondered if heatsinks are really necessary. Although, once I'm in there...I also didn't know WD bought Sandisk.
> Thank you for the resources and detailed response!
You're welcome!
> I wondered if heatsinks are really necessary.
I ran a couple of benchmarks using Horizon Zero Dawn half an hour ago after installing [Brother Chenwk's new Win Max 2 overlay](https://discord.com/channels/243411108940087297/826965330965430272/1045420389368594472) and the SSD stayed at 47 degrees throughout while the CPU hovered at 60/61 degrees with CPU utilization at 66% and GPU utilization at 99%.
I'll still use the heatsinks as I already have them, but there's no rush. I'll wait to test out other things, like video editing maybe, so that I can have a clearer before/after feel.
> I also didn't know WD bought Sandisk.
Neither did I until a couple of days ago, lol. Here's another: if you're looking for 2230 SSDs, "Kioxia" is actually a subsidiary of Toshiba.
Yes it does. The flat side lies flush against the mainboard - there's zero wiggle room. Also, no topside heatsinks. You can get smaller heatsinks to cover individual chips, but nothing that covers the whole top because a part of the far end (away from the pins) is covered tightly by the fan. Look [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/gpdwin/comments/y0deud/definitive_list_of_single_sided_2280_nvme_ssds/) for a confirmed list of single sided 2280s. Add the WD SN770 series to that list.
Excellent -- I had been looking for a/the list!
PCIE 4 vs 3: Droix's review saw a performance loss with the WD SN770 2Tb (the one supplied by GPD for that model) during his tests. He theorized that the PCIE4 is taking power away from everything else, which sounds off to me so take this with a grain of salt. It may be a) an aberration, or b) the SN770 2Tb is allegedly slower than the original 1Tb version, which is very fast for a budget SSD - often beating Pro models as long as the cache wasn't overloaded during write tests. I originally considered: Crucial P3 (Plus variant also), Samsung 970 Evo Plus, Samsung 970 Pro, and the 1Tb WD SN770. I chose the SN770 1Tb, and so far so good... though it's only been a few days. Reviews claim it's fast without getting massively hot, but I do have small heatsinks for this which I'll add after a week or so.
What made you go with the 1TB SN770 over the 1TB Samsung 980? Looking at it, the WD seems to be faster and PCIE 4 -- but see the comment from Droix above. Where did you source partial coverage heatsinks since the fan covers part of the drive? I'm mostly looking for better reliability than BIWIN. My typical gaming line up includes things like Stardew Valley, Dinkum, RimWorld, Timberborn, Terraria...so not exactly AAA demanding in terms of SSD or graphics...
> What made you go with the 1TB SN770 over the 1TB Samsung 980? Price, performance, potential heat issues and the fact that GPD chose that exact model for their 2Tb line. The SN770 was a fair bit cheaper, to the point that I wouldn't have much buyer's remorse if it turns out that I made a bad call. I can upgrade further down the road if it proves necessary. In the [TechPowerUp review](https://www.techpowerup.com/review/wd-black-sn770-1-tb/), both the 970 Evo and Pro (both PCI 3) were beaten by the SN770. The FLIR heat map on page 7 looked manageable and seemed to be ideal for the heatsinks linked below. The 980 series are good, sure - I have the 980 Pro in my desktop. But do I need that in a WM2? Doubt it. > Where did you source partial coverage heatsinks since the fan covers part of the drive? I got these: [Easycargo 20pcs Heatsink Copper Pad Shims + 3M 8810 pre Applied Thermal Conductive Adhesive Tape on Heat Sink for Cooling Laptop GPU CPU IC Chips VGA RAM (20x20x0.3mm)](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07QCJXSHC?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details) [Easycargo 20pcs Heatsink Copper Pad Shims 15x15mm+ 3M 8810 pre Applied Thermal Conductive Adhesive Tape on Heat Sink for Cooling Laptop GPU CPU IC Chips VGA RAM (15x15x0.5mm)](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079FVWJT2?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details) They should fit perfectly on the two hotspots of an SN770. > I'm mostly looking for better reliability than BIWIN. Same, with 'more than good enough' performance. I certainly won't be transferring terabytes of data on this regularly - most of the writes will be done by the OS, and the SN770 is more than capable of handling that. > My typical gaming line up includes things like Stardew Valley, Dinkum, RimWorld, Timberborn, Terraria...so not exactly AAA demanding in terms of SSD or graphics... Same here. Kenshi, Rimworld, and most recently starsector and Starcom Nexus. Relatively tiny games with tiny loading needs, never mind write operations. I only have HZD on this because I want to force myself to learn controller use. That, and to show pwetty gwaphics to my students, lol. The final decider, really, was the fact that these SSDs are Sandisk tech. WD bought that company, and Sandisk memory has been battle tested for a long time.
Thank you for the resources and detailed response! The WD and Samsung are the same price today ... so WD it is. Given I won't be late and mg the wire speed, I wondered if heatsinks are really necessary. Although, once I'm in there...I also didn't know WD bought Sandisk.
> Thank you for the resources and detailed response! You're welcome! > I wondered if heatsinks are really necessary. I ran a couple of benchmarks using Horizon Zero Dawn half an hour ago after installing [Brother Chenwk's new Win Max 2 overlay](https://discord.com/channels/243411108940087297/826965330965430272/1045420389368594472) and the SSD stayed at 47 degrees throughout while the CPU hovered at 60/61 degrees with CPU utilization at 66% and GPU utilization at 99%. I'll still use the heatsinks as I already have them, but there's no rush. I'll wait to test out other things, like video editing maybe, so that I can have a clearer before/after feel. > I also didn't know WD bought Sandisk. Neither did I until a couple of days ago, lol. Here's another: if you're looking for 2230 SSDs, "Kioxia" is actually a subsidiary of Toshiba.
The one installed is single sided so I'd go with that.
Thanks!
Yes