GTX 275 and heat management (overheating)

My stats:

Intel Core2Duo E8200 @ 2.66GHZ
4GB RAM (only 3.5 in use -- XP32bit)
Zalman ZM-660XT
Mainboard: Gigabyte Technology EP35-DS3R
XFX Nvidia 275 GTX 896MB
130GB HDD
Samsung 22" (Native resolution: 1680x1050)

Just upgraded tonight. Went from the 500w PSU to the Zalman 660w, and put in a GFX 275.

I think I underestimated the size of the new components with respect to the size of my box, as it was actually pretty difficult getting both the new PSU cables and the GTX 275 in there. Luckily, the Zalman PSU has a decent fan inside (and funky blue LEDs) but I'm still worried about my GTX 275's idle temperatures.

To give you an idea of how small my box is, the GTX 275 actually nearly extends into one of the HDD bays, prohibiting me from inserting my new 300GB hard drive. I could get the HDD in, but it would need to be resting up against the 275's fan which is a bad thing.

I use EVGA precision to keep the idle fan locked at 65%, which brings the card's temp down to 44c. Without that, EVGA Precision's auto fan mode keeps the fan around 40% and the temperature hovers around 50c. I did some searching online and saw that the card is supposed to idle at around 38-42c, so I'm a tad worried.

Should I buy a new fan or a whole new case? Which do you think will help? Or am I within acceptable parameters? (I always wanted to use "parameters" in legit sentence, tee-hee).

Does having the fan idling at 60% all the time decrease it's lifespan?

Thanks.