Does heat affect the speed of a CPU?

[Framiga]

you can bet! its much more than valid.

This applies on some other components too (ram controller/ram sticks, logic, scsi chips etc).

[Framiga]

my direct experience about various electronic gears, says yes.

We are speaking about of not only CPUs but as already said, other tied components as well.

If you don't need a heater, cool down heat in electronics is one of the main problem and yes it slows down speed. (other than reduce the lifespan-stability as you said)

[Framiga]

@Framiga
Are this changes measurable from a benchmarking utility, like SysSpeed for example?

sorry AmigaMance but with all my respect, i have NO intention to leave out the CPU fan to perform benchmarks . . eh! :-)