8800GT Sli Cooling Problems

The Zalman cooler blows the hot air back into the case as does the other 8800GT. This increases the temps in the case which in turn increases the temps of the card. Its a vicious cycle.

Luckily the solution is normally quite simple. Better airflow. Get the hot air out quicker.

Well ive opened up the side of the case to no avail. the graphics may keep for an extra few minutes
I may get a desk fan then until i can afford water cooling.

Yeah a case with better airflow would help, an aftermarket cooler that blows hot air out of the case would be even better. I suppose you could also up the fan speed on those cards to see if that helps. Nvidia cards tend to have their fans set low by default, around 33% or something like that. Upping the fanspeed to 70% or above should help cut temps.

Also you could try wiring your case better, clamping everything out of the way of your front fan (you do have a front fan?) so that airflow isn't impeded. It's good to have a nice clear channel from front to back. After rewiring my case, which was a pain, I noticed 15C drops in temps on my gpu and slightly less on my cpu. It's worth the hassle and it costs you nothing but time.

Use Rivatuner to set the fan speed.
Remove the dust.

The side of the panel will only help a little bit and not nearly as much as a closed case with strong (and silent) fans in the correct places. I have 3 intake fans and 1 exhaust fan(and 2 4870 blowing air out), all 80CFM. Works wonders however removing actually increases my temps. Not enough movement. My 4870s hardly ever go over 65C with a 20% fan bump, not bad considering my room hits up to 30C at the moment.

PS, yeah the cabling thing helps... I should apply it sometime through.