15" MBP too hot to handle, gpu artifacting in 3d apps

Just got a 15 inch / 2.16Ghz mbp the other day. Machine runs most programs just fine, but the cpu is idling at 57-60 degrees celcius, and peaking at close to 80C under any kind of load. The chassis (bottom and top rear of computer) becomes too hot to handle (yes, it burns, common problem with these machines, as I have recently discovered), and when I go to play games, I get absolutely massive artifacting.
I even tried (when playing games under windows XP) underclocking the GPU... even more than apple did at the factory. It won't even run properly at 200Mhz core / 180mhz vram. (Normal speed for the x1600 gpu is 470Mhz on the core, apple has it set at just over 300mhz by default, the thing generates too much heat for the cooling system and generates massive artifacts in games even at 200mhz...)
Being a system builder and overclocker in the PC world, I have seen these problems before... but usually only after increasing gpu speeds well past their factory defaults, not slowing them down.
Given that the machine gets too hot to touch under load under both Mac OS X and Windows, and I cant play any games, I am . <-- that close to sending the machine back to apple and getting it replaced (Heard several stories of people recieving Macbooks which overheated, and getting replacements that ran perfectly fine), but before I do, I was wondering if anyone here knew of any solutions to the heat problem OTHER than...
a) the SMC firmware update (its already installed)
b) the thermal paste change (don't want to void warrantee, so opening the machine is out)
Seems silly to cripple a machine like this- if the fans just ran at a reasonable speed, it would be plenty-cool, but they just dont seem to turn on enough. I understand that there's a tradeoff between the thin/lightness of a package and speed, and was ready to accept a warmer-than-your-average-notebook chassis and slightly underclocked gpu, but having the thing burn me and prove to be incapable of rendering 3d content strikes me as being slightly unacceptable.
Anyway, any solutions that don't involve RMA'ing my new machine or voiding the warrantee would be most welcome. Thanks.

Just for the sake of satisfying my curiosity, I tried reinstalling the Apple-supplied GPU drivers.
Still no-go. Here's what planetside (a 3-4 year old game, by the way, nothing super demanding...) looks like after about one minute of gameplay!
[img]http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/9518/artifacts002fo6.jpg[/img]
Notice the... well, lack of WALLS where WALLS should be, et cetera. Absolutely massive artifacting. Thats under XPsp2 w/ apples drivers. Same thing happens using Omega drivers for the GPU.
Im going to run some loops of 3Dmark now just to document the issue a little better. Oh, and in other news, when Planetside is launching there is loud fan noise and airflow, but once I launch the game and start playing, the fans seem to turn off. Since the fan voltages should vary based on temperatures as measured by various sensors on the machine (usually a diode built into the CPU, plus whatever other sensors apple chose to install), it seems illogical that the fans should run when I go to load the game, or sit at the main menu, and then turn off again once I start playing. Temperatures should either remain the same in-game as at the menu or increase during gamplay due to increased CPU load.
Anyway... yes. If it continues to artifact in a benchmarking program like 3dmark, I guess I'll have to send the machine back. Is it true that they (apple) actually take your machine, take it apart, replace the logic board, and send your machine back to you? If so, I wouldn't have to worry about the harddrive I guess. Would be nice not to have to spend a day installing software and copying media again.
As for the purpose of the macbook... I really dont intend on using it as a "gaming machine" since I already have a desktop for that (which has a 2Ghz dual-core Opteron cpu installed which idles at 3-4 degrees C above ambient air temps on plain air-cooling I might add... and it's very quiet). I really wanted a laptop that was smallish, lightish, game-able laptop without sacrificing things like a decent CPU or optical drives, and well designed functionally. The MBP seemed to deliver in all these categories, and if the GPU would run properly at its stock speed, it would be the perfect machine for me. Quick enough to handle modern games like BF2 and Oblivion on "medium" graphics settings with playable framerates, small, thin, light, and able to boot OSX when I am not gaming (I do love OSX-- its like linux, but hastle free!)
Anyway. Yes. Time to request send-backage I guess. Anyone know where I can do that? (This "support" site seems to be designed as the ultimate decoy to protect apple's tech-support email addresses and phone numbers... lots of "did you try restarting your computer?" and "Are you sure your computer is on?" and "but its supposed to burn you a little" and such, but I can't manage to track down an RMA request phone number or email address. Maybe I should look through my box and stuff. Perhaps on the invoice or something. *shuffles off to dig through paperwork and miscellanious web pages*
Thanks

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