LucT123EVGA has had the 1080 based SC17 on their site on sale for $1799 a few times in the past 6 months and an identical version of this one + more RAM for $1399 (with G.Sync) or $1299 (without). Pretty sure they discontinued their models though and had them on fire sale.
Oh, and sound was moderate, not the loudest I've heard nor the quietest. Wish I could give an objective measurement, but I don't really have a good one. I can say the microsoft surface 3 I had before the x5 would sometimes produce a much more annoying (higher pitched) fan noise.
zypherionCool, thanks. Sorry to hear about your issues with Gigabyte. I may end up waiting and checking out the MD version when it is finally available... uses the Max-Q version of the 1080 but been debating on this and the MSI Stealth