Alienware Aurora Front Port Issue and More

Hello, all. I have had my Alienware for going on 4 years now. It is still a very reliable machine and I can say that without a shadow of a doubt that I am very pleased with my investment. That being said, there are a couple things that have been annoying me lately.

Issue #1:

Believe it or not I have never really used a headset with this machine; however, this past Christmas I received a rather nice set and decided to give it a try. To my dismay, there is a perpetual static interference when using the front ports. I did a bit of trouble shooting and it appears that literally any other viable port, either on the back of the system or through my Logitech 5.1 surround system volume controller, works absolutely fine. I'm absolutely certain that the sound card is not the issue, but perhaps some electrical interference instead. I read up on it a bit and discovered that a Dell agent that works in these forums, Chris M., may have come up with a solution. I was just hoping that either he, or some other individual, could help me resolve this issue. I'd much prefer to use the front ports over switching between 2.1 and 5.1, in addition to yanking cables, when I want to switch between my headset and speakers.

Issue #2:

There is  the most irritating fan rattle coming from my HD5970. This, like I would assume with the headphone jack issue, is not necessarily new, but I have simply come to my wits end with it. From what I can tell, the HD5970's stock fan has a mounting issue or is simply just bad, but if I could get some advice on a solution, either with  the stock fan or a suggestion/guide for replacement, that would be great. This particular issue is something that I've battled with ever since I received my Aurora back in 2010. I had the card replaced by Dell twice and the issue was never entirely resolved. Needless to say I gave up, but now with some new games and some interesting PC related gifts from Christmas, I've gained interest in my machine again.

The most unfortunate part about this is that my 3-year extended warranty lapsed in February. I suppose that is not too bad, though, considering all of the hardware works perfectly fine, albeit a little quirky an irritating in non-critical aspects.

I appreciate any help that can be offered, and again, I'd like especially if Chris M. could take a look at this post himself.