I like Linux, alot. I mean alot. I like what it stands for (besides the corporations). But my CPU has never overheated. I am pretty sure that it is not my hardware. It could be a bug in Linux. The kernel could be be sending incorrect frequencies to the hardware or something like that.
Two problems with that hypothesis
1. We take care to load the precise speed ranges in the BIOS firmware
2. There is no "overclock" setting in the cpu speed controls. You can't tell the machine to run faster than intended (to many peoples disappointment). There is no "11" on the knob.
So the tuning knobs in the kernel are not only carefully checking, but don't support the ability to overload the CPU - precisely I suspect because vendors didn't want people to be able to write software overclock tools intentionally or otherwise.
Alan