PNY 1TB CS3150 Storage Drive ZDNET's key takeaways PNY 1TB CS3150 M.2 storage drive, available for around $170.
Overall, it's a fast M.2 drive with active cooling to keep running temperatures below the maximum rated temperature.
The heatsink makes the drive rather bulky, and you will need a 4-pin fan header on the motherboard to power the fans. $169.99 at Amazon
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In the not-so-distant past, the solution for boosting the speed of an aging, sluggish PC was to add more RAM or upgrade the processor. Now, the way to sail over that speed bump is to get a new storage drive, and there's no better storage upgrade for performance than fitting your system with an M.2 drive.
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There is no shortage of excellent M.2 drives out there, but if you're looking for high-end performance and stability when the going gets tough, the CS3150 by PNY is well worth a look.
What makes this drive special? Not only does it have a heatsink, but that heatsink is kitted out with two fans to dissipate the heat generated during use.
How do you know if your system can take an M.2 drive? Check the manual for your system or the motherboard it uses, do an online search, or open it up and check for an M.2 drive slot.
One of the biggest killers of storage drives is heat. While this isn't a problem for most systems, high-end gaming and content creation systems -- when pushed to their limits -- might hit a point where thermal throttling occurs (that is, a deliberate slowing down of the system to allow it to cool down) -- or the heat might cause crashes or premature damage to the drive.
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