i just got my card, the one in question, like a week ago. (In NEVER fails that the part i buy goes on sale 1-2 weeks after i decide to finally buy it, this is the fourth time!!)
and i think the cooling on this card is great. I couldn't hear it over my 6 fan case, so as for sound... *shrug*
but do yourself a favor if you plan on OC'ing... if you buy this card, buy some arctic silver 5 at the same time. And re-install the heatsink, with the AS5 on there. That'd be just as cool as getting an arctic silencer 5 (which is what i did)
my GPU runs at 48 celcius idleing, granted its a little nippy in the house right now. but it did run at 61 degrees stock. So i can't say it'll drop down to 48 just from Asilver5 *shrug* i absolutely love this card though. you're lookin at one of the best deals (in terms of cost/performance ratio) out there for this class of GPU.
The way i saw it was, "I just saved 100$ by chosing this card. I guess i'll order some decent cooling stuff to stick on there with the money i saved."
Turned out to be the best purchase i've made yet building my first rig.