ehh, another afterthought: these days, graphics cards are like having another, powerful computer inside your computer. ive read that programmers are working on ways to harness that power when iits not in use for 3D processing: similar to math co-processors back in the day. should be interesting. the physics processors that are in development should also be interesting to see unfold. these days, physics calculations in games are pretty taxing, and not just in games like half-life 2 but in the most unexpected ones - like overhead view turn-based games such as silent storm. should be interesting to see all of this new techhnology put to use... then again, its getting kindof scary how expensive certain aspects of computers are becoming. while the mainstream computer market prices are plummeting (hell you can buy a complete machine for a few hundred bucks nowadays), the prices of anything geared towards the poweruser or gaming enthusiast are skyrocketing. i mean, $1400 for a video card that will be mediocre in less than 2 years? jesus.