nVidia cards run hot (always have, always will). And yes, I know about them ... my last one was a 9800gt (great card for it's day). nVidia says they are built it run hot.

What are you running your PCIe fan at (is it being cooled with cool air or hot air)?

Also see:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=273581

Nexc1127,

What is the temp when the video card Fan Speed is at MAX?

Thats the fan going at 100% for 1 hour

The PCI slot fan is at 30%

60c idle is still high, even for a dual GPU card.

That is actually a bit abnormal to me. I had an EVGA GTX 295 CO-OP a year ago, and it ran way cooler than that. Idle with Auto Fan Control was always around 47-50C on both GPU cores. The auto fan speed was usually around 40%. I did hit as high as 85C in some games, but that is with auto fan control. With 100% fan speed, I never went above 70-75 really.

I dont know if Dell uses the "sandwiched" cards or the Co-OP versions, and I dont know if the design really makes that big of a difference either. But IMO, I would try and get the card replaced and see what happens. Wouldnt hurt to try.

not to say this hasent already been tried BUT  being it sounds like it just under a year old.. DUST might be accumilated and obstructing the flow of air inside the plastic covering were the heatsink fins are i know my 5970 (non dell system) after 3 months temps rose about 10C average due to dust  hell i clean dust out of my M17X every week and my desktop whenever temps get stupid  otherwise this is just a thought  might be in left left but worth a shot !

There's virtually no dust on the GPU fan and barely any dust in the case at all. 

It's been having these kind of temps ever since I bought this desktop around Feb-March this year. This was my first dual GPU card so I naturally thought these temps were normal until I started doing some research and saw most users with 295s getting around 50c idle with the fan at 40%.

My warranty expires in a few months and I don't want to risk the card burning out after.

My dual GTX 295's idle temps were 40c give or take. Max loads maybe,maybe,maybe they would hit 80c...did i say maybe? That was stock GPU fan and 30% PCI-E fan

While the temps are fine and won't hurt the card they are still to high and not normal. Check for dust like 89FordProbee said and make sure nothing is blocking air to the card. Did you update the driver lately? Some drivers are junk and can cause what you are seeing. I have had that happen to me a few times. There was a driver bug with my GTX 480's where dual monitors caused the card temps to go really high...like they dont run hot enough to start with lol. Maybe something like this is happening to you.

If all else fails have Dell replace the card.

Going to contact Dell to get a replacement, will post my new temps when I get it.

Here's the new card with the fan on auto

And here's with the fan on 100%

I'm getting a huge difference in temps now