PC Blue Screens During Gaming When RAM Usage Gets High
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MellowComet47
My PC has a Ryzen 5 5600X, RTX 3060, and 16GB of DDR4-3600 RAM in two 8GB modules. It most often freezes and blue screens while playing Siege, sometimes showing an error resembling "KERNEL_MODE_TRAP." After restarting, it may crash again immediately or when loading into a match. I have already tried increasing the page file, and there is plenty of free drive space. I have been dealing with this for a long time and cannot currently afford replacement RAM. What troubleshooting steps could help identify or fix the problem?
Answers
A failing RAM module is one possibility, even if Windows’ basic memory test reports no errors. Run a thorough memory test, then test each 8GB stick separately and try different motherboard slots. If one stick consistently causes crashes, that points to the module; if both work alone but fail together, the issue may involve the memory settings or motherboard.
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The most useful next step is to examine the Windows minidump files in C:WindowsMinidump. Those crash logs can identify whether the failure is likely caused by memory, a driver, or another component. Also update or clean-install your graphics driver and check CPU and GPU temperatures, since repeated hard freezes under gaming load are not necessarily caused by page-file size.
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Check whether the RAM is running with its 3600 MHz overclock or XMP/DOCP profile enabled. Temporarily disable that profile and run the memory at the motherboard’s default speed. Unstable memory settings can cause kernel-related blue screens during demanding games, even when a quick memory test passes.
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MellowComet47: The memory test did not report anything, but I will try testing each module separately and using different slots.