Well I personally don't keep my cd drive / dvd drive / whatever I have available plugged to my computer if at all possible, since my mainboard is kinda old-ish and the less drives plugged, the longer it works
I did not see any slowdowns in my friend's comp though, but I think I know what you're talking about, I have the same problems with halflife2 (same engine) when I set the graphics to maximum..
Oh and btw halflife2 takes around a weekend if you have a lot of time (apparently I did
)
PS:
@Grumpy I just noticed I kinda stole your name >< I think I'll make a new one now
