So far cry 3 has caused my PC to shut down twice now.  After waiting a while, I've turned my computer back on and it gives me some kind of CPU heat warning.  I have an AMD Phenom II 2.8 x6 processor, (also 8 gigs ram & an AMD 6870) which I believe is above their minimum recommendations.  My question is, what settings to I have to adjust down to take stress off of the CPU?  Would running it in dx9 instead of 11 help? I'm running most everything on high and getting pretty smooth framerates.  My fans dont really go too high before the whole thing just shuts right down.
 
I appreciate any advice, let me know if you could use more information.

@Poppduder said:

So far cry 3 has caused my PC to shut down twice now. After waiting a while, I've turned my computer back on and it gives me some kind of CPU heat warning. I have an AMD Phenom II 2.8 x6 processor, (also 8 gigs ram & an AMD 6870) which I believe is above their minimum recommendations. My question is, what settings to I have to adjust down to take stress off of the CPU? Would running it in dx9 instead of 11 help? I'm running most everything on high and getting pretty smooth framerates. My fans dont really go too high before the whole thing just shuts right down. I appreciate any advice, let me know if you could use more information.

sounds like your fans aren't doing their job. Are they filled with dust?

I run the same, AMD Hex-core and I haven't had any problems with heat, period. I haven't played FC3 yet, but Skyrim on max settings hasn't stressed my PC in the least.

I'd go with what @Jams says. Blow out the fans, make sure they are running properly, and if that isn't the issue, you might want to do a new application of thermal paste.

I actually just checked and it looks like the rear (exhaust? rather than intake?) fan has stopped spinning.  The case has 3 other fans that are daisy chained, and the non-running fan is in the middle of the chain. (front, side, top)  Right now I'm going to look for a way to manually make sure that its turned on.  I think I might've fucked it up when I was playing around with a fan-speed-control software some weeks back that has since been uninstalled.  Glad you thought of it Jams.  Now only to find out how to make sure its running and not just failed.

Massaging / Tugging the RAM??

@procrasturbate said:

Massaging / Tugging the RAM??

Mmm say that again to me but only slower.

@Poppduder said:

@procrasturbate: So after delicately rubbing the RAM's pins in a circular motion for a few minutes, I decided to unplug the 4th fan from the daisy chain of power cables the rear fan spun back up. I was able to plug all of the fans back in and they're all running now. I guess either I'm running close to my power supply's max (no fucking idea, really dont know anything about PSs) or I'll just chalk it up to computers being computers. thanks again @Jams

No problemo man. Good luck.