Well i can prob say now quite obviously ure be getting lower temps than me as i am only using the stock cooler, although after reading up about my card here
XFX 9800GTX+ Review » Page 15 - Conclusion - Overclockers Club

I felt that it was stable enough as it was to oc a little and i have achieved the oc as stated in that review. Im getting my idle temps at about 52 degrees with the oc need to try full load.

If ya could post ure temps that'l be grand m8 just curious as to see how different they are with the extra cooling.

I just checked my idle temp and it is sitting at 49C.

This PC is OC'd from a stock 2.66Ghz to 3.2Ghz so there would be a bit more heat present especially since it runs under full load.

If you told me what to load the GPU with I could give more input provided I have the software to test with.

If I may intrude here, why not try EVGA Precision instead of Riva Tuner?? I have XFX, Gigabyte, & EVGA brand cards and it works just fine on all of them.

@Lone Wolf,

May I suggest running 3DMark06 (freeware version) for the GPU stress test in case you don't have anything else??

Indeed try the free 3D mark demo will stress ure system high enough to get some nice temp readings.

@Cob
So this EVGA precision works well does it ? I have found that the last 2 drivers from Nvidia havent worked well at all with Riva, ive had to force the driver versions within riva just to get my fan settings back within the program.
This also made me think that perhaps OC while this issue persisted was not clever so have reverted back to my stock settings on my card.

Have u tried this EVGA precision with the latest Nvidia beta drivers ? and if so does it work ? Im there downloading it if they do!

I want to make it clear I'm not attempting to take over this thread, just curious and nosy.

I've used EVGA Precision for the last 3 or 4 revisions, and it overclocks and controls the fan just fine. I always wait for nVidia's releases, and have never run any of their Beta drivers. At the present time, I've got '186.18' installed.

You'll have to register (open an account) with EVGA to be able to download EVGA Precision. They also have a program which allows overvolting a GPU in case you're an O/C'ing fanatic. It's called EGVT.

Aye ive made the login and just downloaded im running the 186.18 driver aswel and as you say it works well so ill give it a go.

Cheers for the heads up!

All working fine and getting more reliable temp readings than i was in Riva, much nicer interface aswel.

Achieved the OC i wanted aswel with nice low temps.

ive attached a screenie for ya to av a ganda, Cheers again!