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colourful_hippie

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I Think I'm Ready for Next-Gen

Finally, after much planning, research, and work, I have finally brought my dream PC into existence! My previous build isn't exactly a light weight. It was one of those Alienware X51's but I decided to swap out the video card with a 660 ti and it was more than able to handle it (but that's just about it because of PSU constraints).

My PC before that was a "gaming laptop" so clearly I know a thing or two about making bad decisions...but no longer! I have finally wised up and put together the PC that I have wanted for quite some time and it came together just in time to be ready to tackle the upcoming next-gen so without further ado here are some specs and pics!

No Caption Provided

  • Phantom 410 case
  • i7 4770k (Haswell)
  • Asus Z87-A
  • XIGMATEK 92mm HYPRO Bearing CPU Cooler
  • Seagate 2 TB 7200 RPM HDD
  • 128 gig SanDisk SSD
  • 2x4 gig 1866 G.Skill RAM
  • GTX 660ti
  • Seasonic modular 750w PSU

So I went with Haswell for the new mobo architecture more than anything and I went i7 because I'm into emulation. I didn't feel the need to go for a sabertooth mobo because the one I have seemed just fine and the CPU will be more than enough to handle the faster 1866 RAM speed. As for the video card, I went with the one that I have in my alienware, the card is OK and will last until around Black Friday which will be when I intend to pick up a GTX 770 (I want to play Watchdogs with all the pretty visuals!). I was thinking about going 780 but I know that the first thing I'll have to swap out to stay next-gen competitive would be the video card so I'll go 770 and then maybe 880 next year. Oh and it's running Windows 8 because I removed it from my old PC and put it on here.

Only things left would be a wifi adapter that I don't need at this moment, 8 more gigs of RAM that I'll also pick up around Black Friday, and then a bluray drive to replace the PS3 that I'll eventually be selling and oh right, almost forgot pictures.

If there's one that is extremely noticeable it's how quiet the thing is and the stupid fast boot time because of the SSD (5~8 seconds)

Feel free to leave your thoughts, suggestions, or possible insults below, thanks

47 Comments

48 Comments

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MariachiMacabre

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Edited By MariachiMacabre

Hey, I'm leaving my thoughts, suggestions and insults here. You're welcome!

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Enigma777

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Eww, it's so ugly.

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DarthOrange

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lol PC gaming.
Should have bought a Wii U.

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colourful_hippie

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@mariachimacabre: Leave them back behind the pile of Darth's favorite citizen kane games in the corner.

@enigma777: Like your face!

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McGhee

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Your PC looks like a spaceship. I'm jealous.

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MariachiMacabre

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Edited By MariachiMacabre

@darthorange said:

lol PC gaming.

Should have bought a Wii U.

Shut the fuck up. I will cut your face. How many games you got on that brick? Two? Three? Sweet.

I hate you, Darth. I love you, but I hate you.

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Justin258

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lol PC gaming.

Should have bought a Wii U.

Troll!

Didn't you, at one time, make a thread about how frustrated you were with trying to figure out PC's?

Looks awesome, @colourful_hippie! I was wondering why you only got 8GB of RAM and a 660ti, but I've seen other people spend more on the parts that aren't as easily replaceable (processor, power supply, mobo) and get a better card later, which in the long run is probably a better idea.

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TheManWithNoPlan

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Edited By TheManWithNoPlan

Watch out Next Gen! Looks great.

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xyzygy

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Edited By xyzygy

That is one beautiful looking PC. Some day...

Also, glad to see another Windows 8 user ^.^

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I_Stay_Puft

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Edited By I_Stay_Puft

Congratulations, @colourful_hippie. Built mine back in 2009 and now I'm due for a new rig for this coming generation.

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colourful_hippie

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Edited By colourful_hippie

@themanwithnoplan: Yeah, seriously. I'm glad I can ignore the Xbox One's existence with Titanfall and Witcher 3 being on PC.

@mariachimacabre said:

@darthorange said:

lol PC gaming.

Should have bought a Wii U.

Shut the fuck up. I will cut your face. How many games you got on that brick? Two? Three? Sweet.

He's being disingenuous. He should know that the only current gen options out there is an Xbox 360, PS3, or Wii U.

@believer258: Below the specs I say why I went with those parts. I'll swap out the 660ti for a 770 come Black Friday time and thanks!

@i_stay_puft: Thanks and the time is now! I would suggest Haswell (not i7) mainly for the new architecture so that you have some kind of an upgrade path but I highly doubt that there will be a serious need for a CPU change sometime in the next-gen. The video card is a different story.

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JasonR86

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Edited By JasonR86

Nerd.

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falserelic

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When next gen arrives I'll be ready...

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ChaosDent

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If there's one that is extremely noticeable it's how quiet the thing is and the stupid fast boot time because of the SSD (5~8 seconds)

Yeah, cooling has gotten much easier over the last few years thanks to Intel's power efficiency focus. My home workstation is an Ivy Bridge system I built last year with stock cooling that is almost completely silent. My gaming PC is a 3 year old AMD Phenom II with 2 ATI 5770 cards (speaking of bad decisions) that sounds like a jet engine idling on the Windows desktop. I'm almost due for a rebuild, but I'm putting it off until next summer.

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DarthOrange

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@darthorange said:

lol PC gaming.

Should have bought a Wii U.

Troll!

Didn't you, at one time, make a thread about how frustrated you were with trying to figure out PC's?

I totally did. I was going to build a PC too but it was all to complicated so I decided "fuck it."

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Justin258

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@believer258 said:

@darthorange said:

lol PC gaming.

Should have bought a Wii U.

Troll!

Didn't you, at one time, make a thread about how frustrated you were with trying to figure out PC's?

I totally did. I was going to build a PC too but it was all to complicated so I decided "fuck it."

I'll let you in on a secret: It's not. It requires some patience and a will to learn a little bit, but it's not actually complicated to put one together.

But if it's not for you, then it's not for you.

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Andorski

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Edited By Andorski

If you are waiting until November to upgrade your GPU, you might want to see what AMD will be offering. Last I heard they were aiming to launch the 9XXX series (or R9-9XX... forgot how their new naming scheme works) around October. It'll be interesting to see if they decide to restructure their GPU tiers so that there is an even gap between whatever takes place of the 7970 and the 7990 like nVidia did with the GTX 780.

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colourful_hippie

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@believer258 said:

@darthorange said:

lol PC gaming.

Should have bought a Wii U.

Troll!

Didn't you, at one time, make a thread about how frustrated you were with trying to figure out PC's?

I totally did. I was going to build a PC too but it was all to complicated so I decided "fuck it."

Pussy. You could have just asked the community for help or even me. I could have given you plenty of snark filled advice, but nope.

I went from being a console lover who knew jack shit about PC parts (which is why I got a gaming laptop at first) to a PC elitist lover.

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colourful_hippie

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@andorski: I'm more into Nvidia. They have been more reliable when it comes to performance, driver updates, etc. People like to say that AMD might get the upper hand with their cards because the next-gen consoles are all AMD/ATI but that doesn't mean anything because mobile cards don't equate to desktop ones.

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Justin258

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@andorski: I'm more into Nvidia. They have been more reliable when it comes to performance, driver updates, etc. People like to say that AMD might get the upper hand with their cards because the next-gen consoles are all AMD/ATI but that doesn't mean anything because mobile cards don't equate to desktop ones.


What? That doesn't make any sense. Maybe I'm wrong, but aren't current gen consoles based on AMD? And hasn't Nvidia had better graphics cards for quite some time?

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colourful_hippie

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@colourful_hippie said:

@andorski: I'm more into Nvidia. They have been more reliable when it comes to performance, driver updates, etc. People like to say that AMD might get the upper hand with their cards because the next-gen consoles are all AMD/ATI but that doesn't mean anything because mobile cards don't equate to desktop ones.

What? That doesn't make any sense. Maybe I'm wrong, but aren't current gen consoles based on AMD? And hasn't Nvidia had better graphics cards for quite some time?

I think you're right. I'm only saying what others have said so yeah that makes even less sense now and Nvidia only recently pushed far ahead AMD that they can charge what they want for cards (look at 780) because AMD had to sit out for a while dealing with console stuff. AMD use to be have a great performance/price ratio that gave you more power for your buck but it isn't as consistent with its performance like Nvidia is.

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korwin

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Shiny, built a similar upgrade for myself recent.

  • 4770K clocked to 4.5ghz
  • Asus Z87 Deluxe
  • 16GB Corsair Dominator 2400mhz
  • Samsung 840 Pro 512gb Game drive

Re-using my SLI 680's since they aren't due for replacement for some time, same PSU as the old machine as well.

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Claude

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Sexy beast, your computer looks nice too.

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colourful_hippie

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@claude: Thank you kindly

@korwin: Nice mobo/RAM. I was eyeing that mobo but decided to just stick with the basic one. I don't have any overclocking aspirations either to try out water cooling and all of that jazz.

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Hunter5024

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You don't actually play it on the floor do you?

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WasabiCurry

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Edited By WasabiCurry

The only thing I would critique would be your cable management. Other than that, it is definitely a rock solid build. I really do love the NZXT Phantom design (dat futuristic look) I may have to bite the bullet on the next paycheck and buy myself one instead of getting a 3DS (the Animal Crossing Bundle). I am not a big fan of my current case, but I love NZXT stuff and will get it soon enough! Still, @colourful_hippie congratulation on your build and future power to PC players!

@andorski I haven't been following up the tech news because of work. I was planning to upgrade to either a 770 or (if my SO will allow it) to a 780. However, if AMD is planning to release new cards by October that is perfect timing for me. I don't have any loyalty, just want the best card that I can afford at a given time.

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awesomeusername

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Pfffffft! You don't need no dumb PC. You have a perfectly fine Vita!!!

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colourful_hippie

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@wasabicurry: Thanks! What does your cable management look like?

@hunter5024: I'm not as uptight as some PC guys when it comes to that stuff but no, I plan on propping it up off the floor with something. I was just moving stuff into that PC in that picture.

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Hunter5024

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colourful_hippie

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awesomeusername

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Edited By awesomeusername

@colourful_hippie: It's probably under that stack of Vita games you have! Because it has soooooooo many games.

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TheSouthernDandy

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I LIKE YOUR PC IT LOOKS LIKE A ROBIT.

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JJWeatherman

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Seems pretty great. I'm not in love with the convex-ness of that particular case, but it's nice and white, which I do appreciate in a case (seems they're all ugly black these days).

How are your temps at idle and load with that CPU cooler? And are you planning on overclocking at all?

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awesomeusername

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Edited By awesomeusername
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Rowr

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That graphic card aint going to make it.

SSD's are awesome.

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Seppli

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Edited By Seppli

Nice PC, but I believe now's the time to buy a new gen console, and not to upgrade/build a PC. The time for that will be in 2-3 years, when hardware that'll outperform consoles sufficiently to remain viable through the tail end of the new generation will become reasonably priced.

I doubt anything less than highest end current components will be able to keep up with PS4/Xbox One in terms of multiplatform releases.

That aside, congratulations to you for assembling your own gaming PC! Enjoy all those frames man. I really should do the same the next time I'm in need.

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Rowr

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@seppli said:

Nice PC, but I believe now's the time to buy a new gen console, and not to upgrade/build a PC. The time for that will be in 2-3 years, when hardware that'll outperform consoles sufficiently to remain viable through the tail end of the new generation will become reasonably priced.

I doubt anything less than highest end current components will be able to keep up with PS4/Xbox One in terms of multiplatform releases.

That aside, congratulations to you for assembling your own gaming PC! Enjoy all those frames man. I really should do the same the next time I'm in need.

Which is probably why he skimped on the GPU in order to save for one when it's needed. Probably a clever move really since there is very little out there at the moment taking advantage of top tier cards. Really it's always time to buy or build a pc otherwise, because the cpu and motherboard, as well as everything else really aren't at much risk of becoming outdated any time soon from anything but an aesthetic standpoint. The consoles are going to bring a few exclusives sure, but they will also bring a bunch of multiplats that are engineered to work with pc's architecture. Really theres nothing pushing GPU's at the minute on PC but hopefully the console cycle can kick off and remedy that a little.

I'd say the best time will be the first year of the new consoles, when the current crop of video cards are at their mid age and cheapest, while games are releasing with higher specs.

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oraknabo

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That looks like a really fat scanner standing upright.

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colourful_hippie

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Edited By colourful_hippie

@jjweatherman: I haven't had time yet to check temps and stuff, I'll update when I can and no I don't plan on OCing.

@colourful_hippie: It's probably under that stack of Vita games you have! Because it has soooooooo many games.

but all my games were downloaded! All 4 of them!

@seppli said:

Nice PC, but I believe now's the time to buy a new gen console, and not to upgrade/build a PC. The time for that will be in 2-3 years, when hardware that'll outperform consoles sufficiently to remain viable through the tail end of the new generation will become reasonably priced.

I doubt anything less than highest end current components will be able to keep up with PS4/Xbox One in terms of multiplatform releases.

That aside, congratulations to you for assembling your own gaming PC! Enjoy all those frames man. I really should do the same the next time I'm in need.

I disagree. The CPU's in those consoles won't light the world on fire, devs are going to have to take advantage of the multiple cores to do whatever they need to do because they simply are not all that fast which is why they will need to become better at dividing tasks well among all of the cores. You should consider reading this

The one thing I know that I'll have to upgrade a few times will be the video card because that will be the one that needs to go through several revisions to become strong enough to last through a generation.

@rowr said:

That graphic card aint going to make it.

SSD's are awesome.

If you read my post you would have seen that the 660 ti was a holdover from last PC that I'm using till Black Friday which will be when I get a 770. I was going to get a 780 but there's no point because I can see these cards aging fast and I would rather stick with the 770 till the 800 series come out and then maybe pick up a 880.

@oraknabo said:

That looks like a really fat scanner standing upright.

You look like a really fat scanner standing upright.

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Rowr

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Edited By Rowr

@colourful_hippie said:

@rowr said:

That graphic card aint going to make it.

SSD's are awesome.

If you read my post you would have seen that the 660 ti was a holdover from last PC that I'm using till Black Friday which will be when I get a 770. I was going to get a 780 but there's no point because I can see these cards aging fast and I would rather stick with the 770 till the 800 series come out and then maybe pick up a 880.

@rowr said:

@seppli said:

Nice PC, but I believe now's the time to buy a new gen console, and not to upgrade/build a PC. The time for that will be in 2-3 years, when hardware that'll outperform consoles sufficiently to remain viable through the tail end of the new generation will become reasonably priced.

I doubt anything less than highest end current components will be able to keep up with PS4/Xbox One in terms of multiplatform releases.

That aside, congratulations to you for assembling your own gaming PC! Enjoy all those frames man. I really should do the same the next time I'm in need.

Which is probably why he skimped on the GPU in order to save for one when it's needed. Probably a clever move really since there is very little out there at the moment taking advantage of top tier cards. Really it's always time to buy or build a pc otherwise, because the cpu and motherboard, as well as everything else really aren't at much risk of becoming outdated any time soon from anything but an aesthetic standpoint. The consoles are going to bring a few exclusives sure, but they will also bring a bunch of multiplats that are engineered to work with pc's architecture. Really theres nothing pushing GPU's at the minute on PC but hopefully the console cycle can kick off and remedy that a little.

I'd say the best time will be the first year of the new consoles, when the current crop of video cards are at their mid age and cheapest, while games are releasing with higher specs.

yup, I think the title should say, "i'm mostly ready for next gen"

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colourful_hippie

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Edited By colourful_hippie

@rowr: Whoops, must have scrolled through too fast.

and fair enough but there really isn't any way to truly be next-gen ready at this moment, I just made sure to leave myself an upgrade path.

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Rowr

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Edited By Rowr

@rowr: Whoops, must have scrolled through too fast.

and fair enough but there really isn't any way to truly be next-gen ready at this moment, I just made sure to leave myself an upgrade path.

Well i suppose you can be in different states of readyness technically.

I commend you on your forward thinking. Something i didn't use when i went ahead and bought a 690 for my build. Though i don't regret it at this stage, when or if they release a 790 at a time when the only thing i've played thus far to make it worthwhile is crysis 3, i'll be a little sad.

Hurry the fuck up next gen!

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oraknabo

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zenmastah

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Im betting a 770 and a i53550 with 8GB or RAM will hold me over till The Witcher 3 arrives, might have to get a new GPU then..Im also getting a SSD in the very near future.

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@colourful_hippie: I took this with my phone since I am rushing off to work. The first part I am upgrading would be the case. X3

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deactivated-5c7ea8553cb72

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awesomeusername

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