Storm-puter lives!

Well, we finished the assembly today and installed the operating system and downloaded all the updates and ran through all the configuration screens and ...

... and everything worked!

Well, there were a few stumbles here and there: the wireless card popped out of its slot after we installed it, and we had to re-seat it; the optical DVD drive turned out to have two different configuration settings on the motherboard and we had picked the wrong one, so the first 3 times we tried to boot from the Windows 10 install DVD we just got a "boot error" message with no useful information.

But those sort of trivial items were nothing for Dan; he breezed through them with barely a sideways look.

And it's running!

If you've never seen The Witcher 3 at 2560 x 1440 resolution with all the settings on "ultra"; well, all I can say is that you've never lived.

Actually, the more interesting thing to me was how The Witcher 3 reacted to the massively upgraded sound system in Storm-puter. It's simply a completely different game when you can actually HEAR it:

• As you are creeping through the forest, searching for the entrance to a hidden cave, you can now hear the panther that is tracking you, rustling in the greenery over the next ridge
• As you approach the scene of a pitched battle for the center of town, with bodies strewn about, you can now hear the flies buzzing, circling about your head and seeming to come from all directions
• As you take a back alley through the city, making for the city gate near daybreak, you can now hear the drunken hiccup of a peasant lying on a bench as he mutters something most un-flattering about your escape.

It is, indeed, a whole different game.

And even though I'm nearly through with the final expansion, and So Many Other Games beckon, I have this funny feeling that 18 months of playing The Witcher 3 will not have been enough, and I'll be starting over soon, just to re-experience it all in its full glory...

Anyway, for the folks who asked, a few more details:

• It's a Gigabyte GA-Z170Z-Gaming 7 motherboard
• The power supply is a EVGA SuperNova 650 G2
• The monitor is an ASUS PG278Q
• The CPU is an Intel i7 4000Ghz
• The video card is a GTX 1070
• The case is an NZXT Phantom 410
• The mouse is a Corsair Raptor G45
• The keyboard is a Corsair STRAFE
• The boot device is a Samsung 500 GB SSD
• The deep storage device is a Western Digital 4 TB HDD
• The liquid cooler is a Corsair H115i
• The sound system is a HyperX Cloud II

What did I forget? Anything?