Heat/Restart troubles

[AlwaysAngryGuy]

Before I go messing around inside my case, I thought I'd post this. I've been having issues with heat ever since I built my rig a few months back (posted a few threads about it here, but haven't been able to improve anything). I'm really at a loss as to why. First of all , here's what I have:

AMD 3500 S939
MSI K8N Neo2
eVGA 6800GT (on 66.93)
2x 512 PC4000 Crucial Ballistix
Antec Neopower 480W

My 6800GT has been idling at around 56C lately, with ambient of 36C. As for load, it gets up around 86C. MBM has been reporting my CPU at 33C idle but looking in my BIOS I saw it at 40-41C. 45C load is what MBM reports. I'm going to reapply AS5 as soon as I get it in the mail.

I haven't really had any problems except for the fact that after I quit playing some games the computer will restart itself (and it's just disturbing to have to look at temps like that on my card). Most recently, Brothers in Arms.

I have a theory as to why my card might be so hot and it is about my case. I have a Lian-Li PC-V1000, which flips the mobo upside down and puts the PSU on the bottom of the case.

There's a fan down by the hard drives and one in the back below the CPU. My concern is the top area above my graphics card where all the heat is rising to and possibly getting stuck there and heating my card up. But then, I haven't really heard anybody else with this complain about temps like mine, so I'm probably wrong. I have opened up my case and didn't notice any difference in temps (a few weeks I put a fan next to it, and saw almost no change in temperature. Gonna dig my fan out and try again though).

Anyway, I uhh.. I'm just looking for ideas and any help I can get. This computer has given me such headaches

 

[HvyMtl]

pop the side off and see if there is improvement -
what is your cpu heatsink? fan? double check to ensure that the heatsink is properly seated (after the case is upright as "slippage" can occur.)
with the vid card look hard at its heatsink - some do not properly seat on the gpu. Look at it upside down with a flashlight pointed at the side - see if you can tell if there is a space between the heatsink & gpu.
perhaps something as simple as a card cooler
www.thecardcooler.com - (I personally have had both the older original twin 80mm card cooler and presently use the card cooler XT (dual 120mm fans)
Or mod the box - cut a blow hole on top for a 120mm fan and have it suck out the heat.
add holes in the side of the case. (or as you have a lian-li, look for a pre-modded side panel - some places carry them.) Improve your cooling by replacing the fans you presently have with higher volume (unfortunately louder) ones.
or you could have a bad vid card -
you could try an aftermarket vid card heatsink replacement (voids warranty...)
Good Luck