The laptop's RAM becomes excessively warm.
The laptop's RAM becomes excessively warm.
I own an old alienware M11X R1 laptop with PC3-10600 RAM (1GB and 4GB sticks). The memory heats up more than the CPU and GPU. Another clue that raised doubts was how hot the RAM became, causing it to melt the fabric dust filter near it. Measuring RAM temperatures is tricky because of the chassis design, but touching the top and bottom shows noticeable heat. Possible fixes?
Memory doesn't usually heat up much, particularly at 1333mhz. If it does become excessively hot, consider swapping the RAM. You might want to look into the motherboard temperatures as well.
With hwinfo64 it displays only temperatures for the CPU and GPU cores. It seems there are no other sensors available. It’s also important to note that the CPU can only support RAM up to 800MHz, which likely contributes to its cooler operation. I’ve also considered whether PC3L memory could be a better choice because it’s expected to generate less heat than PC3.
The sole source of warmth in the impacted zone is the RAM, especially because the old heavy laptop has its heat pipes positioned directly above both the CPU and GPU. Once I disassembled it, the heatpipes weren’t nearly as intense as the RAM modules themselves.
That’s what I assumed because the guide doesn’t reference pc3l/ddr3l.
It seems unusual, but consider testing one stick at a time to compare their temperatures.
I switched the RAM around and noticed something odd—when my 4GB stick is in the lower slot, the computer freezes right away. Could be a faulty stick? I’m hoping the slot isn’t damaged.