The reason for the concern is this machine is 85% business machine and 15% gaming machine. I also know I should not be gaming on a business machine but I do not have the money or space for a second computer. The machine is running at standard speeds and will never be overclocked.
"Pretty similar in total heat generated. You don't mention what the other temps are when you load the system...because if it's just the GPU getting toasty, it's not a big deal."
I believe this would be the case and the extra heat may affect hard drive temps but would not affect the Cpu as much.
Total system specs:
Windows 7 x64
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-P55-UD5 - has 12 SATA ports
Processor: I7-870
Cpu Heat Sink: Thermalright mux-120 (has 120mm fan that spins at 1200 rpm)
Memory 16GB - 4 x 4 GB modules (needed for Photoshop)
Video Card ?
Power Supply: Enermax Platimax EPM600AWT 600W
3 Sythe Slipstream 800 rpm fans. 1 at 12 volts exhaust in back. 2 at 10 volts intake at front
Antec Solo II with 24 holes drilled in Drive Cage to provide suspended drive mounting for three 7200 rpm hard drives. Used 3/16 shock cord from McMaster Carr for suspension. Acousti-Pack sound damping applied to sides, top, and front.
Hard Drives:
Intel X-25-M 80 GB SSD for OS and application programs
Seagate ST32000641AS XT 2GB General Purpose Storage
Seagate ST32000641AS XT 2GB Photoshop Storage Drive
Seagate ST3000DM001 3GB System Backup Drive
2 external Redundant Hard Drives (eSATA) for Photoshop Backup (only on when in use)
Sony DVD RW Optical Drive
Pioneer BLU-Ray RW Optical Drive
System Temperatures:
CPU 28 -32 C Idle Normal Use 35 C Gaming 45C (50C Peak)
Hard Drives 32-34 C Winter 37 - 39 C Summer Add 1 C or 2 C when doing backups
Current Video Card 41 C When gaming 80C (6870)
Cpu will reach a maximum of 55 - 60 C when doing Backups (all 4 cores are running at 100 percent using Acronis True Image, but there is no heavy video card load while this happens).
When using Photoshop the GPU can heat up to 58 C but the Video card fan speed does not increase.
At this point I am leaning towards a 7870 video card with a reference design. Diamond 7870PE52G Radeon HD7870.
If I go with a open air card I will get the Sapphire Card.
I did look at this article which is close to the system I have.
Fanless Power Supply PC Build Guide
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1221-page1.html