Thermalright HR-09 2280 Pro SSD Heatsink Cooler Review: Dominating over the competition

^{Updated 10/15 : Added Value Comparison Chart}

Pros

• Strongest heatsink we’ve tested on a SSD (thus far)
• No active cooling required

Cons

• It’s tall, so you won’t be able to use this cooler on the m.2 slot next to a CPU when paired with certain air coolers

Thermalright established itself as a top cooling contender in decades past, with options like its all-copper SP94 cooler. Recently I’ve tested their Phantom Spirit 120 Dual Tower CPU Air Cooler for Tom’s Hardware, and I found it to be amongst the best offerings on the market.

Recently Thermalright has released a variety of unique and innovative SSD heatsinks. Today we’ll be looking at their new HR-09 2280 Pro SSD Cooler m.2 NVMe Heatsink, which was designed to keep even the hottest of PCI-e 5.0 SSDs well cooled.

Packaging

Thermalright’s HR-09 2280 Pro heatsink arrives in a small box, as most NVMe heatsinks do.

Opening the box reveals the m.2 heatsink, protected by molded cardboard and a soft covering.

Features of Thermalright’s HR-09 Pro SSD Heatsink

Extra Large Surface Area with 3rd Generation Anti Gravity Heat Pipe

The HR-09 Pro heatsink is a massive little chunk of fins and heatpipe with a large surface area, enabling it to dissipate heat more effectively than smaller heatsinks.

Dual-Sided Support, Extreme Odyssey II Thermal Pads

While some NVMe heatsinks only provide cooling for the top of a m.2 SSD, Thermalright’s HR-09 Pro cools both top and bottom sides of the drive. Thermalright includes two Extreme Odyssey II thermal pads (1x 0.5mm, 1x 1.0mm) to help transfer the heat.

Installation

The installation of the SSD heatsink is extremely simple, like most NVMe coolers.

Step 1) Remove the screws

Step 2) Remove the plastic peel from the thermal pad on the bottom of the heatsink, and place the m.2 SSD on top of it.

Step 3) Remove the peel from the top thermal pad, place the heatsink on top of the SSD, and secure it using the included screws.

Step 4) Install the SSD on the motherboard

Testing Configuration

CPU: Intel i7-13700K
Motherboard: MSI Z690 A Pro DDR4
Computer Case: BeQuiet Silent Base 802, System fans set to low
SSD: TeamGroup T-Force Z540 PCI-e 5 SSD

Comparison Coolers:
Uncooled SSD
BeQuiet MC1 and MC1 Pro Heatsinks
Ineo M12 Heatsink
Ineo M4 Heatsink
Jeyi FinsCold Q150
Thermalright HR-09 Pro

While the SSD being used is capable of PCI-e 5 speeds, the motherboard is not. This might reduce the total potential heat output, but in my limited testing thus far PCI-e 4 hasn’t prevented testing from getting the drive hot.

Thermal Performance & Comparison Results

To test the performance of the heatsinks cooling ability, I’ve run a custom IOMeter script which takes 30 minutes to complete testing. This script is designed to cause the drive, and especially it’s controller, to create as much heat as possible. You might consider it a “Furmark” of SSD testing, it’s a power virus designed for the purpose of testing NVMe cooling.

The thermal results were insane, I almost couldn’t believe what I saw during testing. With a temperature of only 52C during testing, Thermalright’s HR-09 Pro ran a massive 30 degrees cooler than a basic NVMe heatsink like BeQuiet’s MC1. I don’t think it needs to be pointed out, but this incredibly strong performance is the best thermal result I’ve seen from any SSD cooler thus far.

While the reduced temperatures don’t always translate into higher benchmark performance, it will increase it’s lifespan and longevity. A SSD running at or near peak speeds with have a lower lifespan compared to one running at a more reasonable temperature.

Value

For coolers like Thermalright’s HR-09 Pro which are able to run a SSD unthrottled, a great way to look at it’s value is to compare the thermal improvement for every dollar spent. In this aspect, Thermalright’s HR-09 Pro absolutely massacres the competition – delivering the best bang for your buck of any SSD heatsink I’ve tested thus far.

Conclusion

Thermalright’s HR-09 Pro packs the strongest cooling power I’ve seen (thus far) from any NVMe heatsink, cooling up to 30C stronger than competitors! The only downside to this cooler is it’s height, which may cause compatibility issues with air coolers if you’re using the M.2 slot next to the CPU. If using another m.2 slot, compatibility won’t be a problem. If you’re interested in this product, it’s currently available (as of this writing) for less than $12 on Amazon.com

For it’s absolute thermal domination paired with a reasonable MSRP of $13 USD, I’m awarding Thermalright’s HR-09 our Gold Standard Award.