Windows 7: how to cool my GPU help

here

It could be as Skunk suggested, Thermal paste degradation or the fan itself is running to slow etc.

What driverset are you using?

What does GPU-Z > sensors show the fan speed at?

techPowerUp! :: Downloads

is shows two gpu one is at 58 and the other is 52 and the pcb is 48 fan speed is 100 and 3195RPM

I think you need to take off the cooler and reapply thermal paste. You're talking about a card that has been around for a while and thermal paste periodically needs to be reapplied. Might help to clean the cooler best you can too. Might have some dust obstructing air flow.

http://www.overclock.net/nvidia/3928...mal-paste.html

but i only had the card for a year and a half what is thermal paste.

It's a metallic(silver) based paste compound that helps to transfer heat from in your case a GPU and RAM surfaces to a cooler by elimating air gaps for an irregular surface. It comes in a little tube for around 5 bucks and you just apply a thin even layer to the surface of a cleaned surface. Usually a pea sized amount works. You can use an old credit card to spread it on the surface of your GPU. Even if you've had it for a year and a half it may have been on a shelf for a while. 8800 GTX's have been out since late 2006. 8800's are notorius for running hot and over time thermal paste degradation happens. I had the same thing happen with my 8800 GTS after a couple of years. If you do this make sure that you are neat with it and that you don't overapply it. This stuff is conductive and can short out components and make your day go south.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...=thermal+paste

if my gpu is at 60 what will that cause

Do you have any temperature readings from when you first installed the card or that you can remember. I had a BFG 8400 GS 512mb that ran hot as well. When I did a custom build I went with the XFX Radeon 4770. Going from a low end card to a high end card made all the difference in the hardware as well as software and 3rd party software to control fans. You might want to start thinking about a new card. From all the replies so far, it sounds like the fan might be going out. It's worth a shot to try and fix the card w/thermal paste and see if that works and if not time for a new card.

If you are not into switching your card you can also try after-market cooler if you are comfortable with taking apart the fan of the 8800GTX

Arctic Cooling

It works for the 8800 but just make sure and research more of it. There are others but this one was 21 USD. I just have good experience with Arctic cooling but there are other companies. I know switching cards isn't always an option for some so this might help. Along with what everyones already mentioned.

if your load temps are 70c then i'd leave it as it is, we can see the card itself is clear for airflow...

60c is well within thermal spec for the card (though a pretty high idle temp), if you reapply the thermal grease you might only gain yourself a few degrees & you run the risk of bricking the card completely by removing the cooler.

if your load temps begin to rise, reapplying paste or aftermarket cooling will be your only option before the card burns itself out.