Q: I have a GeForce 8800GT, and it seems to be overheating quite a bit lately. On the desktop it sits at 69 degrees C, and using Folding @ Home nvidia client (the most intensive program for the GPU on my PC) it ran up to 91 degrees yesterday, today I'm running 98, the fan is at 100% constantly and I suspect I'm cooking the thermal gel, are my suspicions correct? The card is almost brand new, factory overclocked but I had it up to 720/1775/980 for a while. Stock heatsink (AFAIK). However it has been getting pretty warm around here lately so maybe its just the warm air. I own an Inspiron 531, the rear fan is powerful but it never runs full capacity for some odd reason (even with AMD C&Q off). And there is no room for a front fan unfortunately. I would buy a fan controller but all my PCI slots are taken up except the one under the video card (so its cooling isnt constricted) and the only front bay I have left is the disk drive which is covered and make it a hassle anyway... Actually, I do have a molex adapter that could run it full speed but its rediculously loud. Speedfan also doesnt work on the Inspiron 53x series. Maybe I'll upgrade to the 9800GTX, they're cheap enough now and blow the hot air out like your 3870. I installed the Molex adapter and turns out the powerful fan I can hear during boot isn't the back fan. Most likely the CPU fan then, either way, something is heating up the inside of the case and its not helping the GPU's situation. I would try the adapter on the CPU fan but I dont know if my PC would boot then. Can always put it back I guess...
A: Probably summer doing its deeds on your video card. Used to happen to me... then I bought another case fan and an ATI HD3850, 'nuff said, it doesn't overheat or come anywhere close to it anymore. What I did back then though, was put a desk fan on the table next to my computer. That keeps it cool, at obvious costs of course. Do that for a temporary solution -- then get more fans for your case ASAP.