My video card started running a little hotter then in recent games. It actually shut down yesterday.

I got my system opened up and am cleaning it right now, but it is not helping much.

Video Card - XFX Alpha Dog 8800gt 670 Mhz, 512 mb running at 975Mhz. The card has not been overclocked.

The card is running over 70 on load. The fan is set to automatic. I can force it to run at 100% but that is quite loud and helps a little. In the past it has not gotten over 70.

Any one ever add an aftermarket cooler to their video card? How hard is it to install and can anyone recommend one.

Thanks.

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Turn down the framerate/clock speed.

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Stick 2 of the 120 or 140 mm fans in front and back of it. Get ones with high cfm of about 100. You can get a 6" fan to blow into the front of the pc also.
If it just started doing this perhaps you had tried an ntune benchmark, or if ati, one of theirs. Often times when I've played with the stock settings it can mess
up the gpu even though I did not overclock the graphics card. Work hard to get all the dust off of its fan and capacitors. It shouldn't run hotter than 56 degrees c.
My computer sounds like a jet idling and I don't mind the noise at all.

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First of all what is your stock fan speed?  Minor increases in fan speed may help.  I assume you are using GPUZ  to monitor temps.

If the card suddenly increased in temp then maybe the card is going south.  Adding an additional fan will prolong the inevitable.  Your card does run warm under load and 70c is getting up there.  I would diagnose the problem first being cleaning and then fan speeds  before investing in an additional cooler.  I have an 8800GTX with a stock fan speed of 55% and run it at 80% and no problems and kinda quiet.  Can't here the noise while in game.

Maybe XFX has a lifetime warranty like most graphic card manufactures.  Their tech support may be of help.

If you are cleaning the case now I would suggest pulling the card out and blowing the dust away separately from the case.