I added 1TB of storage to my slow PC with this thumb-sized accessory

ZDNET Key Points

• PNY 1TB CS3150 M.2 storage drive, available at Amazon for $139.
• Overall, this is a fast M.2 drive with active cooling to keep temperatures running well below the maximum rated temperature.
• The heatsink makes the drive quite bulky and you will need a 4-pin fan header on your motherboard to power the fan.

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In the not-so-distant past, the solution to speeding up an old, slow PC was to add more RAM or upgrade the processor. Now, the way to get around that speed barrier is to buy new storage, and there’s no better storage upgrade when it comes to performance than installing an M.2 drive in your system.

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Have There’s no shortage of great M.2 drives out there.But if you’re looking for high-end performance and stability when things get rough, then PNY’s new CS3150 well worth seeing

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What makes this drive special? Not just the heatsink, but the heatsink is equipped with two fan to dissipate heat generated during use.

PNY CS3150 M.2 Key Specifications

• Capacity: 1TB
• Form factor: M.2 2280
• Interface: PCIe Gen5 x4
• Maximum sequential read speed: 11,500 MB/s
• Maximum sequential write speed: 8,500 MB/s
• Cooling: Dual fans plus radiator
• Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF): 1,600,000 hours
• Guarantee: 5 year limited warranty

How do you know if your system can use an M.2 drive? Check the manual for your system or the motherboard it uses, search online, or open it up and check to see if there is one. M.2 drive slot.

One of the biggest killers of storage drives is heat. While this isn’t an issue for most systems, high-end gaming and content creation systems — when pushed to the limit — can reach a point where thermal throttling (i.e. intentionally slowing down the system to allow it to cool down) occurs or — or the heat can cause premature failure or damage to the drive.

The faster the drive, the more heat it generates.

And the CS3150 is a fast drive. With sequential read and write speeds of 11,500 and 8,500 MB/s, respectively, it’s not as fast — or as expensive — as T705 importantBut that drive doesn’t have an active cooling heatsink.

When testing the speed of the CS3150, I got speeds that were only about five percent off PNY’s specifications, which is acceptable.

If you want to get the most out of this drive, be aware that you will need at least 13th or 14th Gen Intel Core CPU or AMD Ryzen 7000 on a compatible motherboard with an empty Gen5 M.2 slot.

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Regarding temperature, I tested the drive using CrystalDiskMark and monitor the temperature using CrystalDisk Informationand — despite constantly pounding the CS3150 — I couldn’t get the temperature to exceed its maximum operating temperature of 70°C/158°F. It seems the active cooling system is working.

It’s important to note that the heatsink and fan will transfer heat from the drive to the outside air; therefore — to maintain the drive’s performance — you’ll also need to make sure your PC has adequate airflow through the system. Additionally, the built-in fan on this device requires a free 4-pin fan header on the motherboard to operate.

This is a pretty bulky drive. While it will fit into most M.2 slots on a PC motherboard, it won’t fit into an external drive enclosure unless you take a screwdriver and remove the heatsink. This isn’t generally recommended, but if you do, be careful when separating the aluminum heatsink from the drive’s logic board, as you don’t want to dislodge the chip from the logic board.

Need to add a little color to your system? There’s also a version of this drive with RGB lighting integrated into the heatsink.

ZDNET Buying Advice

I can’t fault this drive. It’s solid, fast, well-built, and takes cooling to the next level with active cooling when the drive is working hard.

While PNY CS3051 While it’s not the fastest drive, its read and write speeds are good enough to satisfy all but the most demanding users. And at just $149 for 1TB of storage, that’s $0.15 per gigabyte,