when the side of the case is on.... all i can hear is the hd working (just a little) thats only if you have the fans on low, but when you have games playing, turn them to medium, still no big deal on sound but to have a very quiet system i recommend zalman as internal parts especially with the 7700 and the dual heatpipe fanless vga cooler (buy the optional fan for higher end cards)
oh and one more thing, im sure you can make it look a lot better than mine, im a wiring noob