Update: I installed the new thermal paste and heatsink. The new heatsink is the one pictured above.

I am running Minecraft, and so far, the temps have been around 30-35 c so far. I will run Saints Row the Third and see how well it performs then.

At any rate, when installing the new thermal paste, I found the source of the problem. The stock heatsink came loose and was dangling there. yeah, so that was pretty dumb to overlook such a "tiny" detail. Oh well, I might have shortened my CPU lifespan significantly, lol