Well it isn't a laptop and by default AMD Cool N' Quiet is disabled so the likelihood that the cpu with throttle down its speed due to heat is pretty slim. Cujo is more correct about it just freezing / crashing. It also depends on what core it is because the Barton was a lot better about not doing things of that nature. In addition to all of this, if it was a heat/dust issue, there would probably be some sort of thermal alarm. Can't say for sure as a lot of it is dependant upon the mobo/windows/applications (MBM, SF, ETC) but it is most likely just a windows issue.