Is it normal/safe for the Swift 3's (SF314-512-52MZ) SSD to reach and maintain 70C during heavy use?

I just downloaded and installed Visual Basic for Windows (~10GB of files at >10MiB/s). Windows then began indexing the new files and I got an audio warning from CrystalDiskInfo that the default 60C drive temp threshold was exceeded. During this HWInfo64 recorded a max SSD temp of 76C. And I saw it at 71C on CrystalDiskInfo as well.

After this I tried downloading some other files (~8GB) and again the SSD maintained 65-70C during the download/writing process.

This is a new laptop I bought less than a month ago. It was sitting on a solid, clean, and flat desk. The vents on the bottom are clean and have clearance from the rubber feet. I can tell the fans are running fine as I can hear/feel them running, and SSD temp drops below 40C a few seconds after load is released with CPU following ~15 seconds after.

Everything else seems to be working fine, it was like this out of the box. Power mode is set to "balanced" and switching it to "best battery life" doesn't make a difference. I've already installed drivers and latest firmware from the Acer support site, checked for malware w/ Windows defender (none), Windows is fully updated, ran sfc /scannow with no problems, and ran chkdsk with no problems.

I know the i5-1240P likes to run really hot (it typically reaches 95-100C within a few seconds under full load then throttles back to ~75-80C and holds there), so maybe heat is bleeding between it and the SSD? Is 75C a safe SSD temperature for it to be running at during load? Can the SSD throttle to protect itself like the CPU can? I'd just like to know if my data will be reasonably safe stored on this laptop over the years.

SF314-512-52MZ

SNID: (NXK0FAA002XXXXXXX

BIOS V1.10

[Edited the content to hide sensitive information]

Accepted answers

billsey

So on your system the SSD sits under a ribbon cable that runs between the motherboard and a daughter card. That means there is no real cooling happening with it. Typically that's not needed since number in the 60s and 70s don't really affect the chips on the board. I'd be more concerned with the CPU temperatures, that peak temperature is a bit high, it should be ramping up the fan a fair amount before it hits those number. What mode do you have the fan in, normal or silent? Here are the fan tables for the different modes:

I'm not too sure where you set the fan mode on your model, likely in Acer Care Center or some other Acer specific utility that comes with the base software build.

All comments

billsey

So on your system the SSD sits under a ribbon cable that runs between the motherboard and a daughter card. That means there is no real cooling happening with it. Typically that's not needed since number in the 60s and 70s don't really affect the chips on the board. I'd be more concerned with the CPU temperatures, that peak temperature is a bit high, it should be ramping up the fan a fair amount before it hits those number. What mode do you have the fan in, normal or silent? Here are the fan tables for the different modes:

I'm not too sure where you set the fan mode on your model, likely in Acer Care Center or some other Acer specific utility that comes with the base software build.

literaldehyde

Good to know the SSD temp is not much of an issue.

I should mention the CPU temps are during stress testing, like 7zip's benchmark feature which draws steady 100% CPU usage while compressing/decompressing files as quickly as possible. That's why I wasn't too concerned about it because during real-world heavy use CPU usage varies enough to allow the fans to keep the CPU below the ~85-90C threshold or so where it starts throttling.

And I have tried changing the fan profiles using Acer Quick Access and that does make them more aggressive on normal or performance mode. But during intensive stress testing CPU temps still shoot up to 95-100C within about ~5 seconds or so. The fans seem to have already ramped up to full speed before that point because I can really hear them going, although I don't think the motherboard has a fan speed detector from what I can tell. No monitoring software or Acer software shows it at least.

So again, not a huge issue for practical use in my case. The 12th Gen Alder Lake CPUs are known for intentionally trying to reach high temperatures as quickly as possible (a feature called "thermal boost") because apparently they're most efficient computationally at around 80C.

My guess is that the heat sink or heat pipes this particular model has are just a little bit insufficient to deal with the i5-1240p at sustained full throttle. I don't think it's a thermal paste or other heat interface issue because temps drop back to normal within a few seconds after load is released, and moderate-heavy loads are handled well.