Geforce 6800 overheat PANIC!

I am in PANIC!
Some days ago my computer was fine, the average temperature was 60 degrees C on the graphics card etc.

Now only a few days later the temperature has skyrocketed and the graphic temp is now up in 113 degrees C

I have no idea what might have gone wrong and i now turn for advice on this matter.

P.S. The fan is normal and no options have been altered in my knowlage.

Perhaps it's time to take a break from the game.

Hi Metal_Chef and welcome to DevShed.

Are you running anything when the temperature is this high or is this when the machine is sitting idle ?

Something like this has happened to me a few times... The problem originated from too much heat-sink compound. Over time heatsink compound can become thicker (or even dry up) and expand. When it expands it greats small gaps between the heatsink and cpu, causing the cpu to overheat quickly.

The problem was always resolved when I re-applied the heatsink compount, but in very very tiny ammounts. When I apply it, i usually put a small dab on the core of the cpu/gpu and spread it evenly with a razor blade or small puddy knife. The amount of heatsink compound is so thin you can't see it easily and it only fills the tiniest of gaps.
This a better practice than just gooping it on, since the heatsink conducts heat better than the compound anyways. This way even if the compound hardens and expands it doesn't create gaps.

Hope this helps.