Got this idea from EVGA, which is to modify the venting slots on rear of card.  EVGA claims 5 degrees C reduction from old venting to new.  Here's the old;



Here's the new;



Here's what I did, which was removing all the ribs.  This did not affect the structural integrity.  My variable dremel too is broken and stuck on the highest rpm, therefore my work was a little shoddy I achieved similar performance results to EVGA.



Just thought I'd share for those looking for a little xtra cooling benefit

I like that~I think I will make an appointment with MR. Dremel as well!

I think this is more for the 400 series cards. There fans on high fan speeds are pretty fast this there is a lot of air flow.

Although it wouldnt hurt a buddy of mine painted his whole card black to match his case.

You're right B, I noticed a significant difference in air flow volume when I upgraded from 8800gtx to the gtx480.  On high fan it howls   It's nice they're still designing cards to exhaust outside the case.  I use the fan control integrated in MSI's afterburner s/w, which keeps me around 41c at idle and 60-80c at load, depending on application.  This is very similar to my 8800gtx (s).

Regardless of what card you have, if it exhausts to the rear and has these ribs, you can benefit from this mod (albeit small).

The problem with the 200 series it it gets air from the bottom of the cards; so in sli the top card is about 10c hotter than the bottom.

In which isn't a problem my card barely gets over 60c at full load ;P ( with a decent OC btw )