I am using 2 (3 once I have PCI raisers) PowerColor HD7950s, I guess it's the reference design. Doesn't make for great cooling, it's always around 80 Celsius, and if I want to push the hashes, the system gets unstable. Aside from moving the whole rig to my garage...

http://www.powercolor.com/us/products_features.asp?id=387

Anyone here knows, has done, tried, to remove the whole cover and leaving only the fan on? Usually the cooling is designed for a chassi with air in/out at specific points. Since the typical rig is just "open", it might help without the cover?
Thoughts?

(water cooling would be "cool", have that on my gaming PC with an old 5850, it never goes over 42 C and is silent... but a bit expensive for a hobby mining rig....)