I have a question regarding the PCIe slots on the Rampage III Extreme before I purchase for a new PC build. I need a MB that has enough PCIe slots for the following: 2 x GTX 570 SLI, OCZ RevoDrive X2 240gb (uses PCIe x4), Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty (uses PCIe x1), and a eSATA controller card for a Rosewill 8 Drive Enclosure (uses PCIe x1). So I need at least 5 PCIe ports. This motherboard looks like I would be able to get all of the above plugged in, skipping the PCI port since I don't need one.

I understand that to get x16 on both video cards, they should be plugged into slot 1 and slot 3. My confusion is whether or not having the other PCIe cards, although not video cards, will cause the ports to drop down to lower speeds? Or should I even be concerned? Obviously this is only a concern for the video cards since the others don't require fast PCIe ports. I can only ever find explanations on PCIe port speed based on the number of video cards plugged in for SLI/CF...never just plain old slower PCIe cards. To be honest, I'm not sure if it evens matter if a port drops from x16 to x8 for video cards? Maybe a little decrease?

Oh, how about a top end cpu air cooler? I've been looking at the Thermalright Archon with an additional fan. It looks like it cools well, and is very quiet. I also heard the Corsair H70 is pretty awesome too, but subjectively loud too...under full load. Never done water cooling, so not sure if I'm ready to introduce my new electronics to H2O just yet.

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I'm ready to buy this baby now.