Oh cool, we've got screens on SSD coolers now. For reals. I wonder what they'll slap one on next

Remember the humble days of static images and unwaveringly still materials? How about when a heatsink was a heatsink and not a chance to throw more energy into your rig and more RGB out upon your desk? Those were the days. These days, however, we have screens on SSD coolers.

No, I'm not joking. The Thermalright HR-10 2280 Pro Digital (via Tom's Hardware) is an M.2 SSD cooler that has a screen on it to display info such as your SSD's current speed, temperature, or utilisation. It gets this info beamed to it via a USB header with the help of the Thermalright software.

This will be a connector that's required in addition to the 4-pin one for the fan. Yep, that's two connections for a component that traditionally requires none.

I've seen more than my fair share of screens on things that don't need screens this year—just ask Computex 2025—but this might be one step too far. Admittedly I'm saying this as someone who doesn't even have a windowed side-panel, so I'm a little biased, but come on, an SSD heatsink? I'm still not even sure I'm okay with SSDs requiring actively cooled heatsinks at all.

The HR-10 2280 Pro Digital, just like the more sensible HR-10 2280 Pro (sans screen) has a teeny little fan abreast its heat fins which means it sucks in air from, er, well, presumably your graphics card's backplate. Hey, SSDs have to take what they can get in the cooling department, I suppose.

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The Digital version is a little taller than the *yawn* plain brushed metal version. But apart from this it's the same copper heat pipe deal.

The new Digital version doesn't seem to be retailing in the West, yet, but if you're fine foregoing all that vital inside-chassis LED data, you can pick up the regular version for under $20. It'll certainly help with those toasty PCIe 5.0 drives, although the tides seem to be changing in that department, now. There might be little market for such coolers before long.

Best SSD for gaming 2025

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1. Best overall:
WD_Black SN7100

2. Best budget:
Lexar NM790

3. Best PCIe 5.0:
WD_Black SN8100

4. Best budget PCIe 5.0:
Crucial P510

5. Best 4 TB:
TeamGroup MP44

6. Best 8 TB:
WD_Black SN850X

7. Best M.2 2230:
Lexar Play 2230

8. Best for PS5:
Silicon Power XS70

9. Best SATA:
Crucial MX500