Asrock 970 Extreme4 causing system to lock up

My pop recently bought a system for $300, but has since been facing issues with the system not passing the BIOS, and he can't enter the menu. I looked at it, and couldn't do anything so I let it sit for a couple of hours off and that did the trick however the issue is reoccurring upon reboots. His system seems to lock up when doing intense tasks such as gaming. I believe it's the north and south bridge overheating, but I'm not sure. Would placing 40mm fans over these solve the issue or does he need a new board? Any help is appreciated.

It was $300 for the entire system with a FX 6300, 8gb RAM, R9 280x (upgraded from 7870), etc. This issue occurs randomly, for instance at the moment it's working just fine.

He bought it from my cousin who had only used it for 2 days and had paid $750. Not to mention it included the 24 inch 1080p monitor that is now mine... 

run hwinfo64 to check the temps. Also verify it's not the graphics card or power supply. Asrock has some pretty bad QC like asus, but when you do buy a good one it last pretty long. You could just do a touch test, if it's way too hot right after a crash or it's it's only warm to touch. 

So what power supply ur running at and are your OCing the CPU?

No oc. The PSU is some 1000w gamer something. I didn't choose it. I have a CX 600 that would run everything just fine, but he thinks that's too little for his GPU (280x), but hell, I'm no expert... idk maybe I'll convince him to try it.

yea 600 is fine. Hmm might have to RMA that.