Gaming problems with hl or CPU overheating??

[poprocks]

Computer specifications
(CPU) 1-AMD , 1737MHz, 64KB (0% Load) (CPU temp) 120 F
(RAM) usage: 326/512MB (63.67%) (RAM temp) 90 F
(HDDs) Free: 128.11GB/228.98GB - (55.9%)
(VGA) RADEON 9700 PRO - Secondary (Omega 2.4.74a)
(Display) 1024x768/32bit/85Hz
(OS) Windows XP Professional, Service Pack 2 (5.1 – 2600)
(Sound Card) Sound blaster audigey 2
(Power supply) 350watt no name brand
(Motherboard) asus a7n8x deluxe
(chipset) nforce 2

I’ve been having problems playing half life mods for about a month now. The problem is ill be playing the game and then it will freeze after about 20 minutes of play and make a loud annoying noise, kind of like loop of sounds. It started when I redid my computer and upgraded to sp1 and then to sp2. I have tried the following combinations of drivers and service packs.

1. catalyst 3.6 –sp1
2. catalyst 3.6 –sp2
3. OEM drivers that came with the card –sp1
4. catalyst 4.7 -sp2
5. omega 2.4.74a -sp2

I haven’t had any luck so I searched on the steam forums and found out that some people that had the same problem that I had where experiencing heat issues with there pc’s. So I went and checked my temperatures in my bios and my CPU temperature was at 120 and my ram temperature was at 90. It had been about 15 minutes after I played the game so I would assume that it’s idle temperature. The funny thing is I can play games like joint ops just fine for hours doom 3 gave me some problems but I was able to fix them. I haven’t cleaned out my case in a long time and its sealed pretty tight so I think im going to clean it out and maybe that will help it cool down. Now that you know my story I have 2 questions

1. What are some good tips to keep my cpu and ram cool?

2. Does anyone have any other suggestions as to why half life could be crashing any known bugs that I might not know about?

 

[emoretared]

I had the same problem. But with everything i played. Run Memtest86 I found it best to make the ISO version and run at startup of your computer, oh i also dont have a floppy drive, heh. Run with both sticks of ram. if you get errors then turn off. and then try each individual piece of ram in different slots. Good luck.