@pastrychef,
Thanks for your very informative post, temps and with it fan noise have always been a problem on my main video editing rig, in the last major update that i did some 4 to 5 years ago i decided to go with AIO CPU cooler and a Hybrid Water cooled GPU. Both GPU and CPU never get over 60 degrees C at full load, my i7 4590K is over clocked to 4.5Ghz at stock voltage and is rock solid. I too only use Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut its great stuff worth at least -10 degrees compared to stock or cheaper thermal paste.
Ever since then I've been a big fan of AIO CPY & GPU cooling solutions, custom water cooling looks good but its not for me ... the AIO solutions are factory sealed and just work without having to worry about leaks and filling .. etc. I don't care what the system looks like on the inside, I really cant understand this RGB lighting and glass sided cases fad ..
I'll take on board your advice .... I think Nvidia have had enough chances so it's time to switch to the red team (thanks for confirmation of the UI stuttering) ... I live in the UK so Vega prices are a bit random, widely there are a few places selling Sapphire Nitro+ Vega 64 cards at £488 including tax which is less that what other places are selling Vega 56 cards for ?
Its tempting to get one those and fit a AIO Vega water cooling kit to it ... which would still be cheaper than a second hand OEM liquid cooled Vega 64 which seem to be going for around £600 on eBay.
I just need to work out how i'm going to finance it ... The GTX 980-Ti is only worth around £300 tops used so will probably hang on to it for a future windows system.
Cheers
Jay