I'm not surprised since these sorts of apps really hammer graphics cards. Was there much coil whine?
On my GTX 580, I've got
this one, running Folding@Home was fairly quiet for about a minute (fan spun up of course) but then the most godawful noise (about 4-500Hz tone) could be heard coming directly from the power coils on the card. On top of that, it somehow managed to find its way into the audio card as well, putting the same loud noise through the speakers. Of course, I didn't bother and forgot all about running it. Besides driving me nuts and potentially encouraging a neighbour complaint, I doubt the card would have lasted very long. Basically the thing is cheaply made to a price so can't stand a little stress.