Just a point about the loud graphics cards: all of them now don't even spin their fans unless you are gaming. So it is kinda nice to spend a bit of money on one to get two machines in one (work and play).
I've had some very cheap cards that ramp up to 100% when powered on, making quite a racket. After 5 seconds, they would slow to something more reasonable.
My motherboard does that too. I always assumed it was to get all the fans spinning, in case you have them volted down to a point where they will continue to run, just not start.
