mac pro over heat and shut down

This post really belongs in the Laptop, MacBook Pro discussion group.

Overheating may be a result of the software you are running if it is making very heavy demands on the processor and graphics processor, such as with heavy gaming.

Are you using high-demand software on the MacBook Pro? When it overheats, how are you using it?

Do you hear your fans running at high speed? Check the back grill for dirt or any debris.

Install iStat menus:

http://bjango.com/mac/istatmenus/

Open Activity Monintor and set it to ALL PROCESSES and set CPU to display values from high to low.

When the MBP get hot post images of both iStat menus and Activity Monitor.

Also run an Apple Hardware Test:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201257

Note that an error free AHT is not definitive.

Ciao.