I just built a new PC and installed Windows 11. It started up fine, but I noticed some minor stutters. After doing some setup, I had to restart, and things took a nosedive. It booted, then shut down repeatedly, which led me to think my Windows install was corrupted. I managed to check the boot menu and found the CPU temperature at a concerning 89°C. In a panic, I opened the case and discovered that the pump was unplugged – so while the fans were running, the coolant was doing nothing. Now I'm worried about two things: A) Is my CPU, an i7 9700k, okay after getting to 90°C several times and thermal shut downs? B) Is my new SSD still good despite Windows never fully booting and just attempting repairs? I ran a system file check and it said everything was fine, but with all the shutdowns, I'm not too sure.
3 Answers
Your CPU has thermal protection built-in, so it should be alright after shutting down from heat. Just make sure you connect that pump! As for the SSD, it sounds like it didn't actually overheat. If the SFC check came back clean, your SSD is probably fine too.
CPUs have come a long way – overheating isn’t fatal like it used to be. Your SSD should be okay, especially since the system didn’t fully boot into Windows. Keep an eye on it, but I wouldn’t be overly concerned.
What about all those restart issues? Could that damage the SSD?
90°C isn't ideal, but it's not the end of the world for your CPU. Those chips can handle a lot without damage. It’s designed to throttle or shut off to protect itself, so it should be fine after this.
Is that really true, though? What if it hit 90°C multiple times and kept shutting down?
Thanks! So I shouldn’t worry about the SSD just because the CPU was hot?