Well, it certainly is nice not to have to wait for each level to load. It certainly is nice to be able to set the graphics to the highest possible settings while playing, and it certainly is nice to have fluid, even movement throughout the game. Guild Wars on the new computer is absolutely amazing. I think I'm about done with this computer for the night though. Office is installed, Guild Wars runs perfectly, and there's not much else I can think of to do.

Oh yeah, the computer is quieter than my previous one (still running though) and runs about 15 degrees celsius cooler as well. The Thermalright XP90 is a sweet cooler even if it was a pain in the ass to install.

URL: Guild Wars - Welcome to the Guild Wars Website!

Well, this is post #1 from Arion. I think I've got the basics up and running. Installed the nVidia GeForce4 drivers for the motherboard (audio, USB, etc.) and then installed the nVidia GeForce 6600 GT drivers for my video card and everything seems to be working well (the latest drivers (version 77.72) didn't work perfectly, so I just rolled back to the WHQL 71.62 drivers - certified by Microsoft to work).

Then I installed Avast! Antivirus and all my Windows updates and everything's running smoothly. I'm currently listening to a classic rock station through Windows Media player (I wonder if Foobar has a 64 bit version?). Oh yeah, I've got Trillian 3.1 running as well.

All installations were managed through Total Uninstall 3.1 - a nifty little program that monitors your installations and can completely remove a program if it's giving you problems - all files, all directories, all registry keys - everything. I'm on day 1 of the 30 day trial, but this is too nice of a program to not register.

Next up for installation - GUILD WARS!

URL: Total Uninstall Software Home - martau.com

The new computer has now been named. Keeping with the names from mythology, the new computer is now known as Arion. "Arion is the name of the lightning-fast and immortal horse of Adrastus." I needed something fast and powerful, so Arion seemed to fit the bill. It will join Achilles, Acheron, Pegasus, Behemoth (wich doesn't really fit, but was an apt name for my huge case of old) and Daedalus.

URL: Arion

Success! The computer arrived today at 4:28pm and was installed in the new case with the new DVD+-RW and the new power supply by 6:00pm. And...despite Greg's setbacks last night, my computer works! Windows XP 64 bit edition is currently formatting my nice new Western Digital 10,000RPM 74GB hard drive and soon I should be up and running in Windows XP (and then the fun of installing drivers comes).

But I'm very happy thus far that it worked, though I'm kinda upset that Greg's computer isn't working. He's got an RMA number and will ship it back to Monarch tomorrow, but it'll probably be a good 2 weeks before he's got another board to work with. Oh well, c'est la vie.

URL: FedEx | Track

While my computer is set to be delivered a little bit later today, I'm not all that optimistic about getting it working. Greg's computer arrived yesterday and upon plugging it all in, we couldn't get any video. Everything else seemed to work - the power supply worked, the cpu fan worked, the ram lit up (nice little lights on top), and the floppy drive seemed to be read - but the video wouldn't work. We tried another video card (my waiting GeForce 6600 GT) and we tried different monitors, keyboards, and everything else in the book. Unfortunately, nothing worked and he's got an RMA number and will be shipping the motherboard back via FedEx later today. Monarch was good about taking the parts back, however, it's just a bit unnerving that he couldn't get the computer working. Hopefully things will go smoother for me later today and I'll be up and running on Windows XP 64 bit edition and playing some Guild Wars and perhaps some Farcry 64 bit edition later tonight.

URL: MonarchComputer.com

Well, we've got a new design here. I was just getting upset that my pages weren't displaying correctly in IE, so I've switched over to this basic template. It's not bad on the eyes and should be adequate for what I'm doing here.

I also had three spam comments in the past 2 days, so I guess the spambots found my site. All old comments are still on the server, however, they won't show up on these pages. Feel free to comment with the blogger system - it's open to everyone for now - but may require blogger registration in the future if it is abused.

URL: Blogger

Congrats to Lance Armstrong on his 7th consecutive Tour de France win. And how sweet it is to see the American flag raised over Paris accompanied by the U.S. National Anthem for the 7th straight year. Simply an amazing feat, one which may never be equaled.

URL: ESPN.com: TOUR DE FRANCE 2005