Thanks for the answers.
@Chester
I checked more thoroughly cos of what you said, and while the rear and PSU fans are definitely blowing out slightly warm air, the side one (my tower has a perspex wall with a side fan) is cool as a summer breeze.
Could the store have installed the fan the other way around?
The reason I'm asking is that a few days ago my 2 years old card (9800GTX) died on me after a year of bearable, minor artifacting. It used to idle on 60c in the summers and while Ive never seen it go beyond 72-73c, who knows, it might have.
Today I bought a new one (HD 6850) and this entire afternoon it idled on 36-38c - which made me very happy, almost the temps of a healthy human...- but towards the evening it went ten degrees up and around there it stays.