This morning I ran some temperature tests using my vanilla stock GTX 470. I wanted to set a base line so that when I retested the card, after making the modifications, I could see some improvement.
 
TEST             DESCRIPTION        BEFORE(C) FAN%       AFTER (C) FAN%
 
Vantage..........New Calico.............83         80               81          80
 
Heaven............Benchmark.............85         88               84          80
 
OC Scanner......12 Minutes.............99         92               92          92
 
The before tests were done in the morning when the room was a little cooler. The after tests were done in the afternoon when the room was about 8F warmer.
 
For Vantage and Heaven I used my own custom Precision auto fan_step graph_settings. For OC Scanner I used Nvidias default fan auto settings.
 
All in all, I think the improvement was well worth the $36.00 investment. I'm not really sure why OC Scanner saw the greatest improvment. I really like this card and now I need to start playing with some overclocks.
 
 
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the highflow bracket reduced my temps by 3-4 degrees and the backplate another 1-2 degrees.
 
IMO worth it. the backplate has a thermal pad that rests on the back of the gf100 chip to help transfer heat to the backplate itself and the high flow bracket just opens up the exhaust even more.
 
my 480 never idles @ 38 degrees (no more no less) and never rises above 65 degrees under max load for hours.
 
im sure my case and cooling play a good part as well though. hope this info helps a bit.

Ta1k0n

Dumb question:
What TIM did you use?

Got the high-flow brackets. Thinking about doing the backplates, and might as well do the TIM at the same time.
Thanks.

I'm using Shin-Etsu G-751. I've been using this heavy paste for about 4 months on my cpu with good results. Interestingly the stock paste that I removed looks similar to the stuff I used, but some of it was hardening...the 751 seems to stay elastic for a longer period of time.

Man, I still can't get over the poor job the factory seems to do when applying the compound.  Judging by your pics, it looks like they put so much on it spilled over onto the sides (in your first pic with the heatsink off it looks like there is a giant smudge of the stuff at the top of the GPU). You would figure by now they would have found a way to apply just the right amount every time.  Oh well, I guess if you want it done right, do it yourself! Good results, BTW.