Ya mine actually ran cooler when I took the side of my Antec 300 off. I didn't like the dust, so I put it back on, and had the fan by the GPU blowing out, not in.
Flipping the fans on the side did the trick. It's still running kind of hot for my taste (above 80C), but I'm not concerned about it anymore. Although this works, I still wouldn't recommend this card. I'll do a mountain of research once I have the time and see about getting a 3rd 7970, preferably without a locked voltage, I'll see how it compares and add to this thread.
Make sure that the fans on your case aren't being controlled by your motherboard. I have them plugged right into a molex adapter, so they're running at 100% off the 12V line.
Idk why your temps are so high. As I said, I'm OC'd to 1200MHz and I'm only using an Antec 300 case, and my temps right now are 69C. Try taking the heatsink off and repasting it? I always do that to any GPU I get.