Journal: Linux running faster with each upgrade

It has seemed to me that every time I upgrade my Gentoo Linux notebook with the latest kernel and packages everything seems to be more responsive and programs execute faster. It had gotten to the point where it was noticeably faster recently. So I ventured to try to run Powermanga a arcade style shootem up while I was emerging dozens of packages using. To my surpise the game ran faster and was more responsive that it had ever been before. Previously Powermanga had been almost unplayable on my Thinkpad T22 900Mhz PIII. But now it was only halting occasionally and was extremely playable while compiling kde 3.3.1 and gnome 2.8 in a screen window. Has anyone else seen performance gains like these on their older machines. Where games that were previously unplayable or agonizingly playable suddenly run at full speed and become playable?