Crashing due to overheating?

[skrishnan]

First up my rig:
AMD-Duron 800
Gigabyte 7ZM (Via chip) mobo
Creative GF2 GTS
Seagate 20GB 7200 hdd
Sony 42x CDROM
LG 32/8/4 CDR
Windows XP

Every time i go into a game after a min or so it will exit to the desktop, or occasionally restart itself. I looked in the hardware monitor thing in the bios, and it said my CPU temp was 80 degrees cent. and my system temp was 37. I know this is not normal, although the AMD durons are supposed to operate until 90 degrees. Also the video card is scorching to the touch if i turn off the pc, as is the HDD. I have all the latest WinXp drivers for sound/video/mobo + latest bios flash update. Also, monitor in the bios shows the system fan dropping from 5100 rpm to 4900 every few seconds. It is a standard duron fan by CoolMaster. Could this be the reason of my problems, or is it something software related?

[ris]

your cpu temp is incredibly high, i'm not surprised that when stressed a little the system misbehaves.

i doubt very much that it is a software problem, it seems more likely that the hsf is not seated properly is is not acting correctly.
check that the hsf is properly secured, level with the cpu core and the protective sticker over the thermal pad is removed, otherwise heat will not be transfered.
also make sure that the fan is not obscured.
you might want to use a third party thermal paste to improve heat transfer [artic silver II] for example.

given that other parts of the rig are getting hot too it might be worth getting an exhausting fan [80mm], placed at high level, to draw extra heat from the case

the fan action is normal, the speed will change slightly all the time but if it is regular then something might be affecting the fan.

[AMD Guy]

What ris said - he speaks wise volumes. Take his advise. That system is cooking. Even the BEST heatsink fan on a CPU or video card can do NO GOOD if their is no case ventalation to dissipate the heat load.