Hey everyone! I'm having some trouble with my PC build. I was gaming recently when it suddenly crashed, and now I'm getting low memory errors. This hasn't happened before, but after it crashed, I noticed that Discord and my browsers (like Opera and Edge) started freezing and crashing too. I have 16GB of RAM and a GTX 1660 Super graphics card. When I opened my case, I found that the chipset on top of the M.2 NVMe slot was really hot. I'm not sure if that's the source of the problem, but I'm looking for any insights or advice you might have. I'm feeling pretty lost here!
3 Answers
If you're wondering which part I'm talking about, here's a photo: https://imgur.com/a/CWQ89hn. That heatsink is normal for the chipset, even older boards have something similar. There’s no fan you can attach there, but make sure you have decent airflow in your case. If your PSU is on top, try adding a fan at the bottom to pull in some cool air.
What you're feeling is the Southbridge, and it generally doesn't have anything to do with RAM. It's designed to run hot. I suggest checking the Windows Event Viewer to see if you can narrow down the memory issue you're experiencing. You might also want to run a memory diagnostic tool like Windows Memory Diagnostic or MemTest to check your RAM.
That's a good idea! I’ll take a look at that.
I tried enabling XMP, but it wasn't available for my setup, so I'm guessing it might really be my RAM.
Just so you know, the chipset isn't connected to memory, so that's probably not what's causing your memory errors. If you have XMP enabled, it can make your RAM unstable. You might want to try disabling it. The chipset heatsink can get hot, but checking the temperature using HWMonitor can give you a better idea.
Thanks for the tips! I'll check the temperature and see what I can do!
I looked in my BIOS, and I don’t see any XMP options either. Looks like it could be my RAM after all.
Yeah, that location often gets hot. Just make sure there’s good airflow throughout your case!