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.
