The parts for the XP Game ‘box’ came in yesterday and I built it. Box is a funny term since it’s really a collection of parts spread across my desk at this point. It’s also funny, because I could care less how loud this computer is and it is one of the quietest ones. The Vista box is a noise machine in comparison.
It took about two hours to connect, install XP, update, install Silent Hunter, and update. I’m pretty impressed. This is one of the fastest computers I’ve seen. SH4 played very well for several hours. Graphics was turned all the way up and there usually wasn’t much lag. It’s great to watch ships exploding and sinking in the high detail.
One thing unusual that I’m going to try is NOT updating this computer with Windows Update. I suspect that part of the slowdown with computers as time goes by are the security patches conserned more with security than performance. Though I’ve never heard anyone bring this up. So, I might be out there. This is not a box for web surfing. It plays games. My little, upgradeable XBox. So, I’m forgoing the constant updating. It installs games or related programs, period. Hopefully, it’s as fast in a year as it is today.
Hehe, this thing installed XP and SH4 like it was on crack. Flying through the background images and the progress bar moved steadily from one side to the other.
