7950 GT overheating!

The only way to test if heat is the problem is to put the card back in the system.
Use a Gpu temp monitor, and see how hot the card gets after an hour of use playing a game or something, 55c to 65c should be fine with the card after say an hour of playing a game. But if the temp reports back as 90 c to 100 c, then you may be looking at a cooling problem. You can turn the fan speed up on the card manually with the nvidia software and see if it helps. The only other thing it could be is a badly fitted cooling solution on the card, a lack of thermal paste between the Gpu and the cooling plate of the heat sink cooling solution of the card. Check if it feels nice and tight without moving around.
But if its new, and your not happy return the card under RMA for a replacement, if you have the delivery sheet for it or a receipt, or any kind of purchase record.
The Thermal limit of the Gpu is about 130 c at max before meltdown, and damage may happen BTW. But if you are getting any type of things like colored dots or squares it likely means the card is overheating ok.

What is the best GPU temp monitor? I tried ntune but it didn't work. It said it was around 55C but it was lying i think.

What 55c at idle without playing a game or playing one ?

I have decided not to try it agian personally i think it's so I have been looking at 8800GTS. Is it a good gpu for games?

7950 GT WOW now that's old.... But yes a 8800 GTS is MUCH MUCH better.

GPU-Z is a great monitoring utility, used it on my 7900 GS.

where on earth did you find a NEW 7950 gt?

Even an 8800 is ancient by GPU standards. What is your budget? Can probably get something newer and way better.

Edit: Depending on what games you want to play, your CPU may choke (Battlefield 3 multiplayer is an example).

all the older cards did run hot. this one is really old ( as is the 8800 ) ( same thing ) don't waste your time. buy newer.................. anyways, the card could have been bad from the giddy-up. if it was factory over clocked it could be bad. get software to under clock. whoever had it before you might have ran it into the ground. the newer drivers can force older cards to work too hard. try much older drivers. much older...............

Pre GeForce 8000 series cards didn't run that hot (except the FX cards...). My 7900 GS at max gets in the 70s with a weaker than stock cooler and that's with it substantially overclocked. I've also used a GeForce 7600 GS and 7900 GS with the last drivers nVIDIA released for the 6/7 series cards (306.97) and have no issues to report.