i can certainly vouch for the aspire s7, ive had mine for about a month now and it still blows me away. the screen is amazing, and you cant really beat the 3 second boot time
read the manual, it'll be something to do with the display settings of the monitor itself. try playing around with the menu on the monitor to find the aspect ratio
its the card switching between inputs and channels with relays, like you said, i have an stx and it does the same. its not defective
you can do it manually by going into the software and changing between the settings on the inputs and outputs
noiseblocker e-loops are super quiet. not for radiators though. pure airflow and theyll be fine
these : http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FG-054-NB