What on earth made me think I could start making my video card bang away at 100% for 24 hours a day and NOT have to do any modifications to my current cooling solution is beyond me.

After thumbing through ocforums.com, checking out some cases and modding -more specifically this thread by deathman20- I was inspired to open up my own rig to see if there wasn’t some cable management I could take care of, and to start eyeing up some new fan places for the day if/when I turn my P180 into the home of my dedicated folder/file-print-media server. HOLY CRAP was it hot in there! I after I took off the side panel and stuck my head in, I could feel the heat just pouring off my 8800GTS, not to mention the noticeably higher ambient temp in the case itself. So I fired up Rivatuner and CPUID’s Hardware Monitor to check on the temps of my video card. 80-freaking-degrees-Celsius!!! What on earth made me think I could start making my video card bang away at 100% for 24 hours a day and NOT have to do any modifications to my current cooling solution is beyond me. What a total lapse of judgment. So I dug out an old expansion slot blower fan I’ve had for years and installed it 2 slots below the 8800GTS. I stuck my hand behind the case to feel if any real progress was being made, and boy oh boy was it! I couldn’t believe how hot, and the amount of, air that was being pushed out. After letting the blower run for 10 minutes I checked the temps again: 74c. Outstanding! But I need to do better. So I went into Rivatuner and dropped the Core and memory clocks way down which brought the card down to 70c. After installing the blower, my overall temperature inside the case has been brought down to a much more respectable level. My CPU idle temp even dropped 3-4c!!! Step 2 now is to get some Arctic Cooling MX and replace the crappy TIM pads that come stock with the 8800GTS. So this was my first lesson learned when it comes to using my GPU to fold, and a lesson that will definitely be carried with me for further folding endeavors.