+1 on not installing ntune.
 
Msi afterburner also has a fan profile manager, IMO is more user friendly, and will allow easy overclocking.  Also if the game is only minimizing it will log your temps for a couple minutes, in the gui.
 
Afterburner is also bundled with kombuster which you can use to load your gpu to check for artifacts/problems.

Using GPU-Z and Everest both, the fan speed is hanging around 50 C when the IGT games goes blank.
I went and looked at a multitude of event logs, I believe at your suggestion. For that particular game, it says the game caused a audio timeout of 30000 milliseconds. I don't know what's with that. Since I don't have a sound card, I'll install the latest MOBO drivers again. However, I didn't have this problems until the video cards started acting up and don't know why it would cause me to lose video.
After that, I decided to run the Microsoft Fix-it center hardware check. Lo and behold, the problem card I had reinstalled the other day and, which, Vista installed the driver for, was turned off by Vista because of Code 43 without giving me a message. So I know that card is kaput. It's no wonder Riva wouldn't let me tweak it (it couldn't find it).
So the lone card is doing a good job. I'm working with the vendor to try to get the other replaced. The vendor says it's EVGA problem and EVGA says it's the vendors so I'm in a catch 22. If I can't get it replaced, I may just go with one card or consider buying a new one to replace both old ones. I'm thinking of the GTX 295, if I can find one, and assume it will run on my 780i MOBO with 600 watt power supply. Off to hunt down the audio timeout problem fix. Thanks for your helpful suggestions.
 

I reinstalled the latest MOBO drivers even though they were already installed. In the process, I had to reboot several times. When I got done and was playing a e-game that has been experiencing the same behavior as the IGT game, the video and audio were very iffy with flickering in the video and stuttering in the audio.
I then ran Everest and somehow both graphics cards were running. I then ran Riva Tuner and by fumbling around, I was able to set the fan on the problem graphics card to 50%.
This evening I played the IGT game for over an hour and it did not stop one time. When I checked the temperatures of both cards, they were both below 50 C.
Tomorrow I'm going to try enabling SLI and see what happens. 
 

Hey good to hear,  but chances are it will fault out again.  If it is sometimes recognized and sometimes not, it sounds like the card is on its way out.  If you registered the cards with Evga within' 30-days they should have no problem RMA'ing it. 
 
Also a Gtx295 on a 600w is a little iffy, depending on what psu you have.  A better, more efficient option that would run fine on a 600w psu and have DX11 support would be a GTX460 1gb, or a HD5850.
 
 
GL

Thanks for your reply. You're right, the problem child faulted out again. I found that out when I tried to enable SLI and the option wasn't in the NVIDIA Control Panel. So I've given it up for dead. The other one is still working fine except I still get those audio time outs and have no idea what is causing them.
Thanks for the information on the cards. It's funny you mention the 460 because just this morning I was reading an article in Maximum PC Minimum BS about the new Gigabyte 1 Gb GTX 460 which surpasses other similar cards according to test results they provided. I wonder how this card compares to two 8800 GT's in SLI if I just use one 460.
The issue with warranty I have is that EVGA says if it's provided by the computer vendor, then it's the vendor's problem. Even though I have a 3 year warranty (expires in 3 months), the vendor says it warrants the card for 1 year and then the card vendor warrants it. I can't get a straight answer on what a 3 year warranty means in regards to hardware issues.
 
 

I would think Evga would be responsible for the warranty if you have the invoice for the pre-built comp.
 
If you can validate that your warranty is NON existent, and you want to take a chance,  there is a baking method that has rived many 8800gtx/gts's.  Yes baking in the oven.  With the cards running hot all the time, some of the solder will actually soften,  baking in the oven will reflow the solder to the joints.
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=313769
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1421792
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_taI-CkPD3M
 
And yes a single gtx460 1gb will be faster than 8800gt sli.
 
Keep in mind the new HD6850 and 6870 just came out and they both beat the gtx460 1gb.  And the hd6850 is currently $20 cheaper, but the 6870 is a little beast.  They are the mid range cards, so when the high end new ati cards come out these prices my all drop a little more.
 

There's no question that there are more powerful cards out there than the 460c I referenced. It's simply a matter of price and power. With my 600 W PSU. I think I'd be pushing it to use the power hungry GTX 480, if I ran it full blast (since i'm not a gamer, that would be unlikely to happen). I just wanted to make sure that, if the second 8800 GT bites the dust, then I'd want to put in a single card that's as good as two of the 8800 GT's in SLI. I'll take your word for it. Of course the 480 is far too expensive for my needs.
 
This article- http://www.gamespot.com/news/6282811.html says that the 6850 was slightly behind the 460 but I don't know whose card they compared it to. Given that the Gigabyte card is very recent, I doubt it was that one.
I guess I'm going to have to talk with EVGA about warranties. Will need to find an e-mail address.

I agree the gtx480 would be overkill for your needs and psu.
 
A gtx460 768mb is about equal to 8800gt sli, the gtx 460 1gb being ~10% faster than its brother,  I would put it as an upgrade.   Just to put all of the cards in context so you can compare.
 
I'm not sure about those benchmarks from there,  it is showing the gtx460 owning the charts pretty much, even beating the hd5850, which is very suspect.  Here is a very reputable site that has everything you need for pc gaming (reviews, benchmarks, news, every driver, applications, and ect)
http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-6850-6870-review/
 
 

Wish there was a bios update like this for the 9800GT sc 512-p3-n976-fr. The fan stays at 100% no matter what the cards temp is.

needs working links

 
 
Verified links are working (Internet Explorer 8).
 
Note that Google Chrome does not support ftp, so if your using chrome the links won't work.  Try IE or FF.
 
 
Nick
 
 
 
Edit:   added to OP, as I have gotten many inquiries about this.

Hello nick hope you are fine.
Well I downloaded one of the bios for my xfx 8800gt alpha dog edition and i think i downloaded the very first link.So after downloading i did as you told that first uninstall the drivers then go into safemode and use driversweeper and whatever................. THEN when i launched the updater it disappeared after a while (almost after 6 or 7 sec ).So i turned of the  screen and went to kitchen.I came back after 8 or 9 min and when i turned on the screen there was still nothing on the screen. I ran  the task manager bcz i wanted to see that whether it was running in the backscreen but it wasnt. So i restarted the PC coz i thought that process has completed. But when the PC restarted there were red yellow and green lines or i should say artifacts on the screen i cant afford to buy a new card so plzz help
One more thing that i didnt restored my previous bios

Hello.
 
The update is only for evga reference 8800gt 512mb cards.  The updater will show up and upon bios verification will close if it sees a non-specified card.  Thats why it wasn't showing in the task manager, it opened and then closed and it didn't do anything, because it its not an evga card.
 
Also removing the drivers won't harm anything.  I would reinstall the drivers and use msi afterburner and make a custom fan profile.

Hey nick i would be very thankful to you if u give me the link of the original  bios of 8800gt alpha dog coz  i told you that my card is having artifacts on screen and i cant afford a new card
 

rockeyaaa


Hey nick i would be very thankful to you if u give me the link of the original  bios of 8800gt alpha dog coz  i told you that my card is having artifacts on screen and i cant afford a new card

 
You are on the wrong forums.
 
You do realized that you applied another manufacturer's BIOS onto your card made by XFX, which is not recommended by any vendor and very likely voids warranty.
 
If you are looking for the original BIOS, you will need to contact XFX for that, which I doubt will provide, since you voided your warranty.
 
EVGA would not have a BIOS for a XFX product.

 
And like I said, this bios update exe will not flash your card.  So it did not do anything to harm your card.  The xfx bios is still on it.
 
Why were you flashing the bios? Artifacts?
 
 
Artifacts are normally a sign of failing vram, or microfractures in the solder from age or a constantly high temps (as the 8800gt were noted for).  Downclocking the card by 50-100mhz on the core/shader and 50-100 mhz on the ram, might help the card last a little longer.
 
 
added:  TPU has a bunch of alpha dog bios's (670mhz core).  Use at your own risk.
http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/index.php?page=1&architecture=&manufacturer=XFX&model=8800+GT&interface=&memSize=512