Just a small update... upgraded the PC finally. The old XP3200+ processor was okay, but I found that it just wasn't enough for some of the games I wanted to play, plus Hyperspin really needed a bit more horsepower behind it.
Here's the new motor:
- AMD Athlon II X2 245 CPU (dual core)
- 2GB Kingston DDR3 Hyper-X RAM
- Gigabyte ATI 4550 512MB Passively Cooled Video Card
- MSI GF615M-P33 Socket AM3 Motherboard
Anyway, not a rocket by today's standards, but it's a huge step up from what I was running.
There was one 'gotcha' though... the motherboard apparently doesn't play nice with the IPAC2 connected via PS2 port. The IPAC won't activate on cold bootup. I currently have to boot up the system, then restart it (warm reboot) to get the IPAC working. I chatted with Andy about it, and consistent with his reputation for great customer service, he offered to ship me a USB cable for it, free of charge. He also requested the details on the motherboard so he can pursue a possible fix.
Anyway, hopefully when the cable arrives I'll be good to go.
I haven't put it through its paces yet, but it definitely made a huge improvement in Hyperspin. Very smooth and responsive now. I'm glad, because it's such a cool FE!