Need help with optimal air flow and gtx 260 heat

This is a continuation of my other thread, where I thought that my EVGA GTX 260 was a problem because of its high temps:

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=578475

Concluded that my problem is more likely the airflow in my case and the hardware (specifically my chipset fan location) not getting along with my vid card. Basically, a part of my video card sits on top of, and covers half of my motherboard chipset fan. And it's the end of the card where the GPU fan is located. So, my GPU fan is sitting perpendicular to the mobo chipset fan, which kind of sucks because the chipset fan feels warm (can't tell if it's blowing air out or in, too small) while my GPU fan is blowing air inside the video card, probably taking some of that heat from the mobo chipset with it.

Another, smaller problem was my side case fan was blowing air outside, not inside the case (lol), which I just fixed by flipping it over. Idle temps for GPU are around 50C with fan at 60%. Can get them down to 46C if I take the side of the case off and increase idle fan speed to 85%. Load temp is 66C at full load (playing Crysis for 3+ hours) with 100% fan speed. Those temps seem way too high compared to most other people who set their fan speed up to those values. I'm using Rivatuner to change all the 'auto fan control settings' and currently it's set to 65% min, 100% max with the "T high limit" at 60C. Ambient temp is at 40C.

CPU is 37C idle, 55C load before I installed the gtx 260; went up to 58C load with the 260 at full load, but I guess that's unavoidable since the CPU and vid card are always close together. CPU cooled by Xigmatek HDT-S1283, with the fan blowing inside the heatsink. Case is a Xion II with 3 fans; one 120mm front, blowing air inside (towards my hard drives), one 120mm in the back near the CPU, blowing air outside the case, and an 80mm on side panel blowing air inside. Asus A8N-E motherboard.

All my cables are bundled and out of the way of all fans. Should I change anything with my cooling? Like the direction of the case fans? Or unplug the mobo chipset fan (which would probly be dumb, but never know)?

DO NOT unplug your chipset fan. That is just looking for trouble. If you feel that the chipset is not recieving enough airflow, rig up an additional case fan pointed at it. Other than that, your temps dont really look that far out of spec. Of course, everyone wants to lower their temps, but you have to deal with what you have to work with.

Your case fan config sounds like you have it set up properly, but you mentioned that your temps drop overall when you remove the side panel. That leads me to believe that you need more airflow overall thru your case. This can be accomplished by changing out your case fans for ones with increased airflow (cfm), cutting out the fangrills from your case to increase airflow, or various other case mods including cutting new fan locations into your case.

Overall, I would say that with your current setup, you are in no danger of burning anything out due to excessively high temps. If you want to lower the temps for peace of mind, swap out the case fans you have now for something more potent, maybe cut out the fan grills if you feel adventerous or enjoy modding.

Ok, did another 3+ hours of Crysis and it seems flipping the side fan helped a bit. Not much for GPU: 49C idle and 65C load most of the time, 66C for short periods of time, but my CPU went down to 53C load from 58C. This should be fine for now, but I'm still open to more suggestions.

Searched various forums and saw some threads that say switching the stock Xigmatek fan with a better one will give 7-10C improvement in temps. Any recommendations on a good 120mm fan? This would be mostly for the near future when I upgrade my CPU, as I don't plan on OC'ing farther with my current; it sucks too much to go any higher regardless of temps/voltages/any bios settings. It seems like the only way to help my GPU is to get a motherboard that doesn't have the stupid chipset dumping heat right on my vid card. I'll need a new mobo/ram for a new cpu anyway so that should work itself out.. just waiting for the prices to drop more because my budget is crappy.

Look at all the stickies about 4-5 inches above this thread. Lots of good info on fans there.

I see nothing wrong with your temps. Stop worrying about them and enjoy the card.

if your temps were getting up to like 95* then id be a little worried, your fine.