As to the laser, I put a piece of white foam tape over mine, which muted it nicely but left it visible.
I've got all kinds of stuff to unload. I need to do that before I even think about a GTX970. I want a short model like the Gigabyte version (when it's out), but would accept a 2-fan model also, perhaps MSI or EVGA.
I have everything I need to build another system around an i3-3240 except the mobo, but a suitable B75 (I want USB3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s) will only cost me ~$65.