I have a similar problem that started after hotfix #7... my game crashes from time to time.
As for heat being a possible problem, well, it could. But for me, I check the heat of my computer components with a program (an oldie but a goodie is speccy, it's free) which checks the heat of your computer as well as other things (I kept it running in the background). For me, heat is not the issue.
I have tried everything, verifying game files, updating drivers, shutting down and restarting the computer, having all the settings on low, etc... nothing has stopped the game from crashing.
I think the issue is hotfix #7 as I did not have this problem before.
Hopefully, Larian can rectify this if this is the problem.
