FK2tame

That’s a pretty decent price for a 2070 Super. But if you want to play at 1440p 144 Hz then you might want to buy a 3070 (at twice the price). It will give you a much better experience overall. 

The minimalist flat look in white is rather unique and there are already only a few options in white.
Neptwin white is good: https://www.lelong.com.my/deepcool-neptwin-white-air-cpu-cooler-easyit2u-215641026-2020-11-Sale-P.htm
If you don't need much cooling performance but just want white, alternatives include
Hyper 212 LED Turbo WE: https://www.lelong.com.my/cooler-master-hyper-212-led-turbo-white-edition-cpu-cooler-netstorecommy-I6253355-2007-01-Sale-I.htm
SE-214L: https://www.lelong.com.my/id-cooling-se-214l-snow-cpu-cooler-130mm-pwm-fan-lingloong-I5705420B-2007-01-Sale-I.htm
 
If you're not satisfied with any of these options, it's not very difficult to get a different cooler and mask / paint the top fin white. 

No. None of the AMD cards currently available make sense to get into when you have a GTX 1070. To make such purchase worth it, it needs to have significant gains (when you buy something new, it instantly loses 20% of its resale value on your hand).  The problem is, even if you go Vega 56 (not 64 because that cost too much), it's still more than $100 of net expense for extra 15% performance at best, plus all the hassle.
 
Just somehow keep the frame rates above the refresh rate of the Freesync monitor and you won't be needing Freesync at all.

I'm more impressed by how the 'too long' cooler managed to look ok because of the cover.

well done, and those temps are pretty good

great job
 

My understanding is that removing any of those stickers circled would void the warranty, and I guess you would need to remove at least one, maybe two of those to fit an aftermarket cooler.

If it was me, and I wanted to install an aftermarket cooler, I would probably still go ahead with the switch but beforehand I would run as many different stress tests and benchmarks on the card as possible to make sure there is definitely nothing wrong with it.

If there are no problems with the card out of the box fresh from the factory and you take reasonably good care of it then it will almost certainly work fine for the duration of the warranty period anyway.

But there is still the element of risk there which you may not be comfortable with. It's a judgment call really.

I know that's maybe not the concrete advice you were looking for, but hopefully it helps a little.

Cheaper method:
https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/926301-2-noctua-fans-on-a-gtx-1080ti-results/
https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/131944-two-120mm-case-fans-to-gpu/
 
All you need is a few 120's.

You *SHOULD* be able to maintain your GPU (which means thorough cleaning, replacing Thermal pads, and TIM) which means disassembling the cooler is required. There should be no problem with removing or otherwise destroying the stickers circled in Yellow HOWEVER, the sticker with the serial number on it does not need to be removed for maintenance to be performed and is an identifier of the card in case RMA is needed and the card is completely electrically dead.

Here is the comparison between my old and new case.

after getting either the 56/64, i will sell my 1070 to recover my budget