The transfer from the Q6600 running at 2.66 GHz to the Core i7 at 2.66 GHz went smooth. Overclocking the core to 4.2 GHz was effortless but I’ve settled for 3.6 GHz to increase hardware lifetime and allow me to run quieter by not needing to crank up the fans and 8 hours of searching for Mersenne primes over 8 threads has verified system stability. I think the austerity of Windows 7 may help.

Such is my loss. My war against slowness and crapware and unnecessary registry keys defined my relationship with my computer. Much like a couple that breaks up and misses the arguing the lack of conflict in my computing life is disconcerting.

Or at least that’s how I felt until I was in my kitchen, booted up my laptop and tried to make a quick photo edit in Photoshop. After waiting for Photoshop’s startup which I assume involves calculating Graham’s number from first principles followed by the flipbook effect of applying a mask my computation ennui passed.  Just in case I ever again miss technological knuckle dragging I’ve made a user on my new computer that’s identical to my main one except it runs SETI@Home, Folding@Home CPU and GPU apps, Einstein@Home and GIMPS at once.