4850 fan fix problem

Ok, so i got the 4850 a couple of months ago, applied the fan fix, set it to 50% and my card idled at about 47 degrees and got to about 78 under load. Now a few months down the road, i noticed that it idles at around 53 and gets to about 86 under load. Is anyone else having this problem? Is my fan breaking down? Does this mean the card is degrading in general? Im kinda worried, can anyone help?

Take the heat sink off and replace the thermal paste with something better.

My 4870 came with really crappy and poorly installed thermal paste. I cleaned it off and replaced it with arctic freeze and it dropped the temps 20C. I would think that the 4850s have equally poor thermal paste out of the box.

With new thermal paste you won't have to run your fan as high also.

*Edit: Oh yeah, don't forget to check for dust too. A lot of times dust will build up around the fan an in the heatsink and block airflow.

Did you turn off the A/C?
Check for dust and don't wory to much about it.
It is still running cool for a 4850.

Thanks for all the replies guys. My ambient room temperature is actually very cool. plus the computer itself is on a concrete surface, so it's not a room temperature issue. I am aware that 80-90 is still an acceptable range, but i am still concerned that my average temps somehow went up over time. I'll check for dust, but i suspect my biggest problem is the thermal paste issue. Thanks to SpinachEater for suggesting that, i'll replace it immediately.