once u start playin games ur temp will go over 38. have u tried installin the lastest agp drivers an chipset drivers??. download a thing called 3dmark03 and run it let it do the cpu tests as well then post back ur score that way i can tell if its performing right.
http://futuremark.com/
u really should of done games like hl2 or that use the hl2 engine because its really cpu dependent yah those cards will get high frames on games that use more gpu then cpu but when it comes to games that need cpu an u get into cpu intensive fights ur frames are gonna drop horribly.
it may make alot of noise but if u put on a cooler that keeps ur temps down on ur card really low u might give your card the cold bug some 7800gs's when their to cold loose performance
hey ive got the same card u can use a thing called coolbits but its have some wierd problems with me with my 93.71 drivers. an if u didnt know the 7800gs's are really overclockable = ).the only thing i can think of is installing like the 3dmark05 or 06 series an runnin them after its done it...