This is all, to some extent, caused by increased stress on every component of a PC compared to how it was years ago. I've once seen a video showing how CPUs from different generations behaved when the heatsink was removed ( some game was on ). The earliest just stopped working while the last ones they tested died in a fire while reaching temps in the hundreds.
Nowadays a performance oriented PC requires really good airflow, aftermarket heatsink on the CPU and often GPU plus a good quality PSU to deliver all those watts without problem. It's a good thing manufacturers noticed that it may be a good idea to make their products more energy efficient lately. I mean, DX 10 gen. of GPUs reached some bizzare load consumption values. 4870x2 with it's close to 400W maximum ( over 200W average? ) was kinda scary.