In the exact same case, with the exact same system, my 480 runs 10-15c cooler and is quieter than my 295 that I replaced last week. That's a fact, that's not reviewer testing the card out of a case, of putting some stupid decibel meter directly on the card, or some lame microphone on the fan, etc. that's apples to apples, hands down, solid victory for the 480.
All of these reviews that you saw were pre-release with pre-release bios, and older drivers. My 480 has yet to hit 80c ON ANY GAME and it's never gone above 90c in ANYTHING, including Furmark, which flat out torched my 295.
The real truth is that since gamers have gotten a hold of these cards, the results are FAR different from just about every review that came before they were released. Hell, even Hardware Canuck, which is an excellent site, got fed up of listening to all the FUD and released a video showing what things are really like.
Who am I kidding, you guys who keep complaining about this stuff don't want the truth, you just wanna parrot what you read on some site like you know what you are talking about.