No, but they’re pretty handy. I’m running a Thermalright on my Asus Maximus Z790 Extreme with an i9 and under full synthetic load, my package temos are never above 84° using an Asus Ryujin II 360 AIO. And it idles between 30 and 42° so I’m happy with that. Standard use and it never gets above 78°.

Based on these specs, you’re going to have a hard time playing much of anything.

Those are DDR3 SODIMM memory module slots. They are the same thing used on laptops. Often manufacturers use them in small form factor PCs to save space.

I’d look at your memory first.

Honestly, the first thing that popped into my head was a RAM issue. Are you running any type of OC on your RAM, DIMMs in the correct slots, using memory from your MoBo qualified vendor list, or mixing RAM? Could be a few different things, but this could definately cause this and would be the first thing I’d look at.

I typically upgrade annually if not every other year. If you’re thinking of upgrading to another Intel platform, I’d definately reccomend waiting for 15th gen. There’s going to be some major changes coming with 15th and 16th gen platforms. Not only to the silicone but also to quite a few other things. It’s very exciting what’s coming! And honestly, good call on waiting for 15th gen instead of going with current platforms as we’re towards the end of their life cycle. Good luck and have fun!