We have a rescue machine here. Soni gave her (reasonably powerful) workstation to a family member in exchange for their tired old machine. It's a consumer-level Compaq, nothing special and I'm sure quite normal seeming to most people.

But it's driving me nuts! It's so loud and annoying!

As of having to replace the old workstation/server all of the machines in the house are now either laptops or the super-quiet server. The server is still audible (as in my own laptop), but you have to listen to hear them normally. When working there's noise, but it's well below the level of the sound of keys on the keyboard, shuffling paper, or putting down a coffee cup. It's not silent, but it's pretty close.

The rescue machine's not really all that loud, I suppose. If I were to turn on the old workstation/server I'm sure it would completely drown it out, but the old server rumbled... this one whines... much like I'm doing now :) .