Adata announces XPG Storm RGB M.2 SSD cooler

Adata has announced the XPG Storm RGB M.2 2280, an active-cooling add-on for M.2 solid-state drives (SSDs) which it claims drops the operating temperature of high-speed storage by a minimum of 25 percent.

A surprisingly bulky design at 24mm in height, the Adata XPG Storm RGB M.2 2280, from here referred to simply as the XPG Storm, is the company's first attempt at active cooling for high-speed storage devices. Catching on to the undeniable fact that some M.2 drives hit a thermal throttle point which reduces their performance during sustained read/write operations plus users' desire to customise their systems with pretty lights, the XPG Storm address both with active cooling and programmable RGB LEDs.

According to Adata's internal testing the hefty XPG Storm uses a combination of oversized aluminium heatsink and small onboard fan to actively cool the M.2, reducing its operating temperature by 25 percent compared with a bare board. For those in cramped cases with poor airflow over the M.2 slot, that could spell out improved performance during heavy input/output (IO) operations, though at the natural expense of increased noise.

The XPG Storm also includes pre-programmed RGB lighting modes for the RGB LEDs which adorn its upper surface, along with software support for custom control via packages including but not limited to Asus' Aura Sync, Gigabyte's RGB Fusion Ready, and MSI's Mystic Light Sync. Thermal compound is pre-installed, and the cooler slots over one end of the card and is secured at the other with a single retaining screw which passes through both the heatsink and the SSD to the motherboard or host bus adaptor (HBA) card.

Adata has yet to confirm pricing and availability but has more information on the XPG Storm on its official website.