SPCR

My watercooled GTX runs hotter than the stock air cooler by about 10 degrees C. The block is warm but not hot, and the temps aren't increasing OR decreasing. Mounting pressure is pretty high too.

Are 80 degree temps normal for a 9800 GTX with a DD block?

EDIT: And load temps are reported at over 110C.

This doesn't sound right to me - my 9800GTX in the same loop as my 3.6 GHz-clocked Q9450 runs ~40 idle, 45 load with a Swifty MCW-60 block on it. I'd remount if I was you, double-checking to make sure you didn't do something clueless like accidentally leave the protective plastic on the block when mounting it (a scenario I may know something about ). In my case I pulled that one off with the D-Tek FuZion v2 block on my Q9450 and thought my temps on it looked awfully high (but even then it was perfectly stable even with a mild OC ).

I think it just needed to settle in. It's been stable in Assassin's Creed for a few hours, and the temps have dropped steadily to about 65C idle. It may go lower.