So to preface, I basically built Jeff's machine; I already had some of the components, including (scarily enough) the exact same case¹. I've been buying bits and pieces over the past few months, which coincided perfectly with his recent post about three monitors, though not being a gamer outright, I opted for the second-from-the-bottom option. After finally plopping all the pieces lovingly into the case this evening, I turn it on...and it sounds like four professional grade hair-driers. Some quick regression analysis determined that with the video card out, the running machine sounded no louder than our house's vents.

Basically, my last desktop build included a $45-at-the-time graphics card, and it's been Macbook Pros and workstations since then, so I have zero idea whether I'll just be able to tune the fan speed later on. Will I be able to get this thing to quiet down every time I'm not playing Modern Warfare 2 at maximum framerate, or should I just send this thing back now, and get the quietest card in my pricerange?

¹ One thing of note is that I do not have noise-absorbing foam in the case, as is pictured in the article. I'm only mentioning that because I suspect it could drop the overall output a few decibels, but obviously not that many.