I came from a system that was watercooled. It seemed to run fine- did not have any issues except I had to fill it up with water ALL the time, which was a major PITA. I am wondering if I should be considering water cooling again or if the traditional heatsink/fan and now Heatpipe stuff is just as good, and you don't have to mess with the water. I would like to keep my system as cool as possible, but I do not want to have something really loud that becomes distracting- which was one nice thing with the watercooling, it is pretty much silent.

I have been looking at the Thermaltake CL-W0005-01 Big Water SE if i went for watercooling. For $100 it seems to be a good deal, and easy to refill.

I have no idea what to really look for in regards to the traditional forms of cooling so any advice/recommendations would be appreciated!

High-end air cooling is always going to beat midrange water cooling, and high-end water cooling is always going to beat high-end air cooling. If $100 is all your willing to spend on cooling just get a good hsf like the Tuniq Tower or Thermalright Ultra 120, not much worst then most kits in the $100 price range, less cash, less hastle.

So the Tuniq Tower or Thermalright Ultra 120 would give me pretty similar cooling ability to the Thermaltake Big Water cooling system. I do not want to go beyond $100-$120, but want most bang for the buck, and on the side hopefully that will allow me to make my system easier to maintain.

Yeah, with the Big Water you might get 5ºc or 6ºc less, not worth it for an extra $50 IMO, especially since your not oc'ing, like you said in your other thread.

I noticed your run the Tuniq, if you were to do it again would you stick with that? I really want something quiet, but I do not ever want to sacrifice power

High-end aircooling has the best bang for the buck. Get one of the Ultra 120s or and Ultra 120 Extreme and put on a good quiet fan. A couple of suggestions:
1. Yate Loon D12SL-12 for $5
2. Scythe S-Flex SFF21E for $14
or
3. Noctua NF-S12 for $20.

Take a look at the recommended fans at Silent PC Review. This is a great site for all things in silent computing. The Nexus Real Silent Case Fan is a rebadged Yate Loon D12SL-12 that I linked above. Always looking for a good deal - I go with the $5 Loons...

I'm pretty damn happy with my Big Typhoon VX. Yeah I know the thing is huge but I love it.

In a heartbeat. I love my Tuniq. The only thing I would do before hand though, would be to get replacment mounting screws, the stock ones stuck. I've actually been holding one of them together with super glue for the past ~6 months, I only got around to getting the new ones this week.