Taking a guess as to whether or not this is motherboard related, so my apologies if this isn't the correct section for this.

Recently I upgraded my motherboard, power supply, and video card, I ran it for maybe 30 minutes then for no apparent reason my system just shut down. So I let it sit for a minute since I suspected it was overheating with all the new things, I also went to the store to buy another fan for the vent on the side of my case, and one of those expansion slot fans for the back. I turned my computer back on and started up SpeedFan, and after running it for awhile all my temperatures but the "Core" leveled off. I tried running a game, like I was doing when it crashed first, and the Core temperatuire shot up to 125C before the system shut down, it took maybe 10 seconds for it to reach that temp.

Right now as I'm typing this the Core temp is at 55C and according to SpeedFan that's well over the target temperature, but it seems to be moving between 50C and 55C. So I guess my question would be what, or where, is the 'Core' exactly and how might I go about cooling it better? Or is there another problem that's causing this to happen?

Also on SpeedFan there's a Temp03 showing at 127C which wasn't there until after I upgraded my parts, but that temperature never changes, never goes up, or down, and I can't find out what it's reading that temperature off of or if it's just a fluke temperature that's just there.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Here's some basic info on my system I thought would be relevant to my questions, if you need anything more specific to help let me know.

System Information
Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.070227-2254)
BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3200+, MMX, 3DNow, ~2.0GHz
Memory: 1790MB RAM
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
Motherboard: Asus X-Series A8V-XE
Power Supply: APEVIA 600W

Are you overclocking your motherboard? That could definitely cause this problem.
Suggest you go into your BIOS and set it to the default settings.
You can access your BIOS by press the Delete key during boot up.

Also, how did you install your CPU? What kind of thermal gel did you use with your CPU heatsink? You do have a fan mounted on the CPU?

Awaiting your reply...

Prior to this post I did reset all the BIOS defaults, though I had made no changes to it that I knew of, but figured it couldn't hurt. When I put the CPU on I used Arctic Silver 3 thermal compund, and I do have a fan on the heatsink that came with the CPU when I bought it.

**EDIT**
Well, I just started up the game again, just to try and see what would happen and it seems to be at a steady 60-63C now, still on the hot side but better than before I suppose.

You're not going to make this easy are you?

OK! Firstly, according to - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Core, Core basicly refers to your CPU.

Secondly, I suggest you go to this site and verify that all of your drivers are up to date - DriverAgent.com Fix Your Driver Problems Instantly with Driver Agent.

According to GaRHaR:
There are only a couple of choices for Cooling.

First and most common is fan - this is what everyone has by default
Second and growing in popularity - water cooling...it's expensive and tricky to modify your computer & case to support it
Third and least likely to keep the computer 'cool' - passive cooling, which is just giant heat sinks to spread the heat around...this makes the computer the hottest.

If you're worried about temps in your computer, clean it out from all dust (do not vaccuum anywhere near the motherboard) and throw in a couple of extra case fans - definately can't hurt.

Good Luck...

Thanks for the links and the help, it seems to be going better now.

I do clean my computer regularly with canned air, and then I take everything apart and clean it every few months. And I currently have 10 fans in my computer, 5 of which are on the case, rest are on various components.

I'll be checking all my drivers now though since that couldn't hurt either.

Thanks again.

Thanks for the feedback.

Marking thread as [Resolved].