People can accept different levels of noise. For me the 480 other than at idle was FAR FAR too loud.
It's not like my rig is silent, I'm not a nutjob who passive cools everything and has all his hdd's suspended with bungee cord!
I've got a 200mm, 4 x Apache's and whatever's in my PSU whirring away at a moderate RPM.
If I can hear the GPU
clearly over
every other fan in my system... then the GPU cooler is too loud, simple as that.
The 480 honestly sounds like a hairdryer on a medium setting once it gets warmed up, it's not a noise I'm willing to put up with no matter what performance it brings.
And there is no reason to put up with it either, there are many cards out there that offer great performance without costing you your hearing
+ Warranty = instantly gone