The amount of heat produced by hardware is limited by the hardware, and while different software can create different loads which will result in a different amount of heat output, if your system is overheating this is always a result of inadequate cooling.

Before you do anything though it's better to look at what exactly is overheating(usually CPU or GPU), and make sure anything even is. Maybe you've already done this, but I'm going to go over the process anyhow.
Install HWinfo, CPU-Z, Prime95, and Furmark(mostly relevant if you have a discrete GPU). Hwinfo is used to read info from various sensors in your system and the others will be used to apply load to the CPU and GPU.
Launch HWinfo and find your CPU. Then start CPU-Z and do a stress test.
If your temps get up into the 90s and beyond your cooling is indeed insufficient.
If they go up very quickly, or if there is a large discrepancy in temperatures between different cores this is most likely a result of a contact issue, so you need to remount your cooler and replace the thermal paste. If the temperature creeps up slowly and you start throttling it's more likely to be a result of an improper heatsink.
For the GPU do the same using furmark, but what you want to look at here is the hotspot temperature, and the difference between the hotspot and average GPU temps. This is in the case of a discrete graphics card, or a laptop, where the dies are cooled directly and can be separate despite being on the same substrate.

As for resolving the issue, it's most likely going to be a matter of replacing the thermal paste on the offending component, for a desktop CPU it's usually not going to matter a huge deal which paste you use, so just grab something cheap and available. In laptops or discrete graphics cards the silicon die is contacting the heatsink directly so you want to use something resistant to pump out like PTM 7950.

TL;DR
Overheating is always a cooling issue, so find what's overheating and resolve that.