Hot as in temp, that is..
I've been editing videos on my 24" 2.8 Ghz Core 2 Duo Imac. It gets very hot after a while (eventually opened up the room windows to let some cool air in).
I've done a bit of research on the net and see many other owners have seen this as well with a number of suggested fixes (external fans, fan speed control programs). Anyone here have any experience resolving this problem? Anyone had their Imac "cook" itself? At the temperature levels I felt (no actual numbers as I didn't have the temp monitoring program running) I can see components failing..

You can run the Apple Hardware Test to see if any fan or sensor has failed, but the iMacs do have a tendency to run quite hot (especially the Late 2009 models, but all models for the most part) which is normal behaviour for them.

You can run the Apple Hardware Test to see if any fan or sensor has failed, but the iMacs do have a tendency to run quite hot (especially the Late 2009 models, but all models for the most part) which is normal behaviour for them.

The all-metal models are definitely hotter to the touch, as the metal acts as a heat sink.

Better out than in.

I have the same machine and added a fan control program which also shows the temperature in a small display. No problems as yet and I can see the lowering of the temperature happen easily. That is unless my son gets on there with a video game for an hour or two.

Make sure the air input (at the bottom of the screen) is not covered with dust. Our older 24" also has the fans turned up and it is amazing how much dust/lint is collecting at the bottom where RAM is added.