Ok so just recently with a few newly installed games (dragon age, fear2, crysis) i've noticed them getting huge fps slowdowns 5-30 mins into gameplay sometimes lasting several minutes sometimes only 30 seconds. Been tweaking thousands of gpu settings using nvidia control panel (turning sli on/off etc) nothing seems to help.
The other day i downloaded hwmonitor after reading someone having similar problems due to gpu temps. The gpu temps on both cards are reading 100-120 degrees C while under heavy load in these new games, which is around the times i see the fps slowdowns.
Since then i've had the computer reformatted, swapped the cards and everything around had it cleaned, downloaded all spankin new drivers, checked fans were working.
Cant seem to work out why these temps are so high, the cards have a 105 max setting and im seeing them go 15 degrees higher?
Any help or advice as how to cool them down? I've been told gpu coolers are extemely hard to locate for these cards and the zalman tower im running has a huge fan in it that keeps the inside very cool and the pc is stored in a cool room.

Hello Kenna, and Welcome to Techspot!

Now, Reguarding your problem, do you have a Full Tower or no? Also, what's your Budget?

You said the fans are working, but have you been adjusting the speed before you play games? 100+ degrees is not acceptable and the stock cooler on the card should be able to suppress the heat without any modification. You can use RivaTuner to adjust the fan speed, it will be a percentage. You probably want to set it to 60% or higher when running GPU-intensive games.

I had some serious problems with my old 7800GT reaching 98 degrees celcius. If you have a steel case, and don't mind mess up the aesthetics a bit for functionality, I would install a fan or fans in the bottom left side of your case panel.

I have done so, and it has allowed my present HD4870 to be 38 idle, and 54 full load. I am using one 80mm fan running at full speed (2700RPM) via a molex psu connector.

The cooling effect of this supplementary case fan is maximized if your graphics card's large heat sink is exposed, as mine is.