xfx 8600gts overheating

This is my first post in this forum... hi



I have a problem from months ago, but I was not sure about the source of it until a month ago. These months have been like a nightmare... random freezes and crashes... a time works better, other times works worse... ..................

I have 2 x xfx8600gts and the both of them overheats like hell. 65ºC on load, 55-61ºC if you put the fan at 100%.

At games... the temp goes up very fast and the system becomes unstable when it reaches 78 - 80ºC.

With the game Neverwinter 2 (playing the campaing of the first expansion), the game scalates from 55 to 78º in 5-10 minutes... and I am forced to reduce the resolution and level of detail to be able to play a bit. The worst case I had to reduce the resolution to 800x600...

My main board is an asus striker extreme.

the cpu temp goes in the range of 36 - 42ºC. System temp goes from 45 to 51ºC.

I have tried a lot of things to evade this graphic cards temperature problem, but I have not no good result.
I have tried:
* one card
* the other card
* 2 cards in sli
* the pc box opened
* the lateral fan inverted
* to dismount one card, dismantling its cooling system, replacing the grease by a good artic silver 3 one...


But... the problem persists and the both cards heat like hell...

Is this a common issue because they are overclocked from factory? It is not just from common sense that I pay a bit more for an overclocked card this card should work????

Factory (and in use) core bus: 730mhz
Factory (and in use) memory bus: 1130mhz






ANOTHER PROBLEM: when I activate sli and use a resolution of 1200x1024, dirty horizontal lines appears randomly, mainly in the upper part and some in the lower part of the screen. It remembers me a bit of seeying an old film cassete on a VCR... ... ... ...

This 'dirty' appears only in 3d mode, not in desktop mode, nor in a 3d mode windows over the desktop.... ¡¡¡weird!!!

The cards have the same bios, are almost sisters (same serial number + 1), etc.

I am not sure if I am forgoting something...

Help. please!!!!