I have an NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT and I'm wondering at what temperature should the GPU idle and where should I check the idle temp? I'm not sure I can check it in the BIOS but I do have a program that came with the card to let me check the temp while the computer is running.

Idle temps mean nothing. Max temps under load are what you want to know.
If you got close to 90C I would look at better cooling.

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