Building my own PC
 

Right, certain members here (you know who you are :D ) have persuaded me that I should build rather than buy. I'm going to have a stab at it but I'll probably need advice from time to time.

I am thinking of using the A8V-E Deluxe mobo with a Athlon 64 FX-55 Socket 939 and a GeForce 6800Ultra--but the 512mb version which should be on sale soon. I was thinking of the coolermaster CM Stacker (STC-T01) for the case as it's huge and appears to have filters for the air intake.

Any comments on this lot? Could I improve on my choices?
.........also, what ram should I go for? :dunce:

Re: Building my own PC
 

Is it difficult to build your own PC? I've always wanted to try but never had the guts to try it.

Re: Building my own PC
 

I cannot advise as I havent got a clue but want to build myself so this is very usefull.

What will the total cost be for that? Whats your budget?

Re: Building my own PC
 

Aren't the FX-55 chips hard to get hold of ?

Need:-
Memory
PSU
Disks
CD
DVD
Extra Fans
Screen
Sound Card
Keyboard
Mouse



Have to ask ... why the 512 Geforce ??

Re: Building my own PC
 

Think I'll pull up a chair and watch this one!
Well you never know............I might even build one, one day!!! :rofl:
(BTW Paul says it's a piece of p***, I'm sure you can PM him with any problems! :D)

Re: Building my own PC
 

Not sure but when I bought my FX53 I got it from scan.co.uk within 2 days. :)

As far as RAM goes, I've never looked back since getting 2x512MB of this:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Corsair_XL.html

The Athlon64 (939) needs the best low latency RAM you can give it to perform at it's best.

Re: Building my own PC
 

Good luck mate, I put together a pc a while ago, nout flash but it worked, if I can do it so can you, look forward to reading more on your blood, sweat and tears journey, as mentioned before ............... what sort of cost are you looking at overall ?

Re: Building my own PC
 

Well personally, i'd probably go for the ATI X800 instead of the NVidia, but thats just me.

For RAM, get decent branded RAM like Crucial or Kingston. Make sure it is DDR 400 or you won't get the total benefit. I looked last night and according to my system monitor I didn't use much more RAM in-game than I did out of it. Like 200meg or so. 1 gig should do you alright. But like we were saying, for the price of RAM, you might as well go 2 gig and at least you know you're covered for the future.

If you want those components, you are going to need some serious juice. I think those 2 graphics cards takes 2 power ports alone, regardless of fans and stuff, so make sure you pick a case with a lot of fans, and a huge PSU. 550w+ at least.

You might want a real nice sound card if you want to buy a decent 7 speaker setup and have decent 3D audio (Imagine hearing an explosion coming from the side of you, rather than having to see it!). The on-board sound support is generally a bit naff. I'd get something like... this Remember to get some nice speakers and a decent woofer. (although you might make 'er indoors regret the descision to allow you to have a new computer) but at least it will sound great while it lasts. Go to a proper Hi-Fi shop, and try before you buy Aim for a good 7.1 THX approved set of speakers.

With the DVD player, make sure you get a dual layer, and you can get 16x now. You might want to look for lighscribe which seems to save a lot of hassle as it writes the label to the DVD whilst its in the drive.

I think thats about it..... Anything else you need, lemme know.

Re: Building my own PC
 

Its dead easy if you can paint by numbers you can build a PC. Your only problem is if one of the main parts is faulty you could be pulling your hair out trying to find the problem.

Re: Building my own PC
 

Wise words;) Best thing to do is take your time and read the documentation that comes with the mobo as that is where things are likely to be confusing if anywhere. After that just go through it logically, double check all connections prior to powering up and have fun ;)

Re: Building my own PC
 

Too true. My first computer build was a frigging nightmare. which made things worse some components were second hand, and others were unbranded. I kept turning it on, and it would shut straight off.

I had to take out every piece one by one and restart to see if at least I could try and get the system to stay up. In the end I got down to the motherboard and processor. It still did it. Last gasp I took the mobo out of the case in case it was shorting and.... it was :) Re-did all my spacers, put it back and worked just peachy.

My language was quite colourful up until I found out what the problem was.

Re: Building my own PC
 

So whats the difference between the pro twinx/platinum twinx/pro cas2...etc.......'cos they are all XMS3200XL :disturbd:

You are looking at a nvidia fanboy here :D

'cos it's the biggest and baddest :smokin: :D

I'll try to stay at the £2k-£2.5k mark........obviously the less it costs the less Mandy will complain :D
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Once I start building I will provide pics of the process :)



Anyone have any comments on the case I'm thinking of using?
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I'm not going the SLI route (sorry KP) 'cos I can't really see the benefit

Re: Building my own PC
 

Oh, no sorry, I meant each of those graphics cards will take at least 2 power plugs from the PSU. Why is why you need a huge PSU, with loads of plugs :)

Re: Building my own PC
 

I'm thinking of at least a 600W psu

As for HDD's, I would like two 10 000 rpm SATA's in raid 1 (which I believe will mirror them) 'cos I've had HDD's fail on me before..........am I correct in thinking that a raid 1 setup will allow me to boot off either one if the other goes down? I am a complete novice at HDD setup :dunce:
Anyone know if it is possible to get 10 000 rpm drives bigger than 74 mb?
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I'm not interested in speakers as I am pretty much forced to use headphones but I have a pair of Sennheiser PC150's (headset/mic)
I will either pull my existing audigy 2 zs soundcard out of my current machine or perhaps go for a M-Audio card

Re: Building my own PC
 

That case certainly looks pretty serious stuff. Unlikely to get overheated in there!

You can get 10K 140Gb disk mechs, but only in corporate disk arrays (EMC, HP etc). If you need more than the 74Gb mirror, you could either add a large IDE drive or get a PCI Sata RAID controller (such as http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/s...tml?ADA-105715) and a couple of slower large SATA drives, eg Maxtor DiamondMax10's, in RAID 1 again.

As far as the memory goes, I think the main difference between some of those Corsair chips is the number of LED's attached! If you're going to have a window on your case then get nice flashy LED memory, otherwise just get the lowest latency matched Corsair sticks you can afford. Personally I went for GEIL, but afaik both have a good reputation.

Sounds like one big mama of a system your building - let use know how you get on!

HTH

Re: Building my own PC
 

I'm not going to have a window on the case so I'm not bothered about the led's :D
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The Corsair 512MB DDR XMS3200XL Platinum CAS2 (MY-048-CS) looks like the one I'd likely go for :)

As far as I can see, the only thing stopping me buying the parts right now is the fact that I can't get hold of the 512mb GPU................anyone know where I can get my hands on one?
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Does anyone know if the corsair xms-2 ram would work in that mobo?

Re: Building my own PC
 

No, the XMS-2 is DDR2 and that Asus only supports DDR. IIRC all 939 mobos only support DDR and they get almost the same memory bandwidth as Intel DDR2 chipsets. (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/06...ew_socket_939/)

Re: Building my own PC
 

Cheers m8..........that answers that question. I'll probably go for the ram that Rich M suggested..........unless anyone can recommend anything with lower latency (wtf is 'latency' anyway? :dunce: )

Re: Building my own PC
 

In laymans terms, it's the clock cycles taken to retrieve data from a location in memory. Most 'fast' memory has CL=2. Mine is CL=2.5, Most 'bog standard' generic memory is CL=3.

Re: Building my own PC
 

What you put it is up to your bank account as for building it the mobo cd will have instructions on it ( good luck )

Re: Building my own PC
 

Okeydokey.......so lower number is better :dunce: :D .................what does it mean when they put '2-5-2-2' as a latency?

Re: Building my own PC
 

It means it's fast. :D
More here:
http://www.ocfaq.com/article.php/overclocking/63

Re: Building my own PC
 

They are CAS Latency

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/...1637826,00.asp

Re: Building my own PC
 

:Yikes: OMG this is going to be worse than teaching the wife to drive ;)

Good luck rammy I am on the end of the phone if needed. It realy is not that difficult once you have all the parts.

:tu: to you mate

Re: Building my own PC
 

Cheers guys :tu: :)
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Thanks m8 :)
edit--speaking of all the parts.....I still cant find the new nvidia 512mb gpu for sale anywhere :(
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Now...are we all agreed that the mobo I selected is the best for gaming with a FX64 cpu and if it is that it will fit properly in that case I like :D
Or does anyone have any other suggestions for a cpu/mobo combination?
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I suppose that this would do but even that doesn't have a due date :mad:

Re: Building my own PC
 

Board is standard ATX size so should fit in any ATX based case.

Also http://uk.asus.com/products/mb/qvl/A8V-E_Deluxe.pdf shows the approved memory for that board

Re: Building my own PC
 

Yep, noticed that .pdf on my trawl but thanks for that :tu:
It looks like the ram I want to use (Corsair 512MB DDR XMS3200XL Platinum CAS2) isn't on that list......but it should work :disturbd: ...Off to look at the corsair site for more info.............

Re: Building my own PC
 

Getting 2 banks of DDR memory gives better performance than 1. So for 1gb of memory get 2 512MBs sticks etc. This only gives a 15% increase though allegedly...

Re: Building my own PC
 

Should I go for 'matched' memory or does it not really matter?

Re: Building my own PC
 

How can I put this?............should I buy the 'twin' sticks or can I just get 2 sticks of the same memory.( If you look at the overclockers page that you linked to, some memory is sold as a pair and some isn't)

Re: Building my own PC
 

As long as the memory is the same, you don't need a 'Dual Channel Kit'.
Found this useful guide to Dual Channel - http://www.devhardware.com/c/a/Memory/Dual-Channel/

Re: Building my own PC
 

taken from there.......... So it would be preferable to go for the 'twinned' memories

Re: Building my own PC
 

I used this book (Amazon Linky) which is a Haynes style book. very user friendly and helpful, gave me a real degree of confidence. Compared to the cost of buggering it up, I thought it was money well spent.

Overall though I would recommend building your own, that way you can ensure you only use quality components, and the upgrade path is easier

Re: Building my own PC
 

Yep.
Probably cheaper anyway.

Re: Building my own PC
 

Hang on one cotton pickin' minute--what do you mean by that Rich?........I don't want the cheapest option, I want the fastest option.

Re: Building my own PC
 

I mean it might be cheaper to buy a twin pack rather than buy 2 separate sticks.
Then again, the only 512MB I can see here [http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Corsair_XL.html] is different from the 2x512MB so I can't be sure.

Re: Building my own PC
 

This one: is the one I was thinking of getting but it's sold as single units.
Whereas this one: Is already twinned.......... and so might be the safest option :confused:

Re: Building my own PC
 

For playing Patience? :confused: :D

Re: Building my own PC
 

There is speed and there is speed. To get that final 4% of speed you pay an inordinate amount of money and most of the time those cpu / gpu cycles are going on the idle process and heating your house. They are also 50% cheaper 6 months later. Surely you are better spending £1500 on a killer machine now and the other grand in a few months time enhancing it back to killer status.

Re: Building my own PC
 

Absalutely........but I was only talking about the RAM :D

Re: Building my own PC
 

Pointless, that is expensive registered memory which only socket 940 needs.
I'd seriously get the black ones nearest (but not at) the top here:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Corsair_XL.html

Re: Building my own PC
 

Whats registered memory? :dunce:

Re: Building my own PC
 

Just a quick Google:
http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/40684/

Re: Building my own PC
 

Okeydokey........tnx m8 :)

Re: Building my own PC
 

How's this for the PSU?
Enermax Noisetaker 600W EG701AX-VE(W) SFMA ATX2.0 SLI Compliant PSU (CA-021-EN) --The first one on the page...............


.............or does anyone have any other suggestions...........is 600W overkill? :)



Now, lets talk HDD's...........how about a couple of these in RAID 1? ('course I don't yet know how to put together a RAID 1 setup) :dunce: :disturbd:

Re: Building my own PC
 

*bump* ('cos I'm thinking of ordering the majority of the components today--so I could use the input here) :D

Re: Building my own PC
 

Both of those are fine .... nice PSU :), plenty of room for expansion ...

Re: Building my own PC
 

Cheers m8 :tu:
Now I just need to fuigure out what GPU to get (ie. which is the biggest, baddest one :D ) and then I'll order everything.
(I'm going to leave the fans and other bits and pieces till later.)

Re: Building my own PC
 

The V9999 Ultra Deluxe 256 is v nice .... I got the V9999 GT 128, and no problems here at all :D

Now the problem is to find it :)

Re: Building my own PC
 

I know......I'd like to get it from Dabs but they don't have the pci one :mad:

Re: Building my own PC
 

That's because it is AGP only http://uk.asus.com/prog/spec.asp?m=V...eluxe&langs=11

Asus don't seem to make an equivilent PCI-E one. The closest they do is slightly scaled down.

An equivilent one in PCI-E though: http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...duct_uid=85868

Re: Building my own PC
 

In what way is the pci one scaled down? :dunce:
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That merits a rep :tu: :nworthy:

Re: Building my own PC
 

Looking around......the Asus EN6800ULTRA/2DT GeForce 6800 Ultra 256MB DDR3 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) appears to be the nvidia 'big daddy' atm.

edit......which is why KP's getting 2 of them :disturbd:

Re: Building my own PC
 

That PCI-E one I posted isn't scaled down... Thats why I said it was equivilent ;) That one I posted isn't Asus... The Asus PCI-E version of the one you wanted one is scaled down.

Re: Building my own PC
 

I think I'll go for the second one down here

Re: Building my own PC
 

Right, I have just bought:
Asus EN6800ULTRA/2DT GeForce 6800 Ultra 256MB DDR3 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-082-AS) GPU £422.94
CoolerMaster Stacker STC-T01 - Silver Trim (No PSU) (CA-054-CM)
Case £105.40
A8V-E/Deluxe Socket 939 VIA K8T890 PCI-E ATX
MOBO £94.51
Athlon 64 FX-55 Socket 939 1MB Inc Fan
CPU £539.32
TWINX1024-3200XLPT XMS3200 2x512MB 2-2-2-5 Silver
RAM £163.97
Raptor 74GB SATA150x2 HDD's £241.97

I don't need a sound card and I'll look at getting fans when the case arrives......

Grand total of £1591.3 2..................KP, If this beast doesn't work when it's assembled I'm holding you personally responsible :p:

Re: Building my own PC
 

:Yikes: do realise if you plug that whatchama filp into the thingy bob you ordered it will go bang :D

What made you go for the single GPU? im still strugling on that point for my new machine

small hard drive?? 10000 rpm i presumme?

Re: Building my own PC
 

Yep, now I won't be the only one waiting for ages by myself when the map changes on the gameserver! :D

Re: Building my own PC
 

I don't see :-

• Plasters for fingers, from tightening up the screws
• Superglue for attaching wires that break
• Velcro for trying to seal rattling case problems
• Mini Maglite for seeing inside packed case
• Sellotape for tying straggling wires togethers
• Pliers for bending annoying bits of case
• Hammer for emergencies
• Msc in Science for understanding Motherboard Manual

:D :D :rofl:

Re: Building my own PC
 

Small hard drives...hoping to get them setup in RAID 1
I went for a single GPU because according to the Tomshardware article, SLI only really kicks in noticably at 1600 x 1200 resolution. Monitors that support that resolution are either too big for my taste or don't have sub 20ms response times--making their use for gaming questionable and hence making the entire SLI experience questionable.
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Yeah.....I know..............fingers crossed :disturbd:


Do you know what the earthing strap thingy is called.....I'd better get one........
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:ninja: :smokin: :D

Re: Building my own PC
 

And a pint of compatible blood for when he slices his hand open on the case ;):D

Re: Building my own PC
 

i did, it was here http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/at...achmentid=6196
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The one that comes with the evesham 64 Decimator SLi is 17" and 8ms response time :confused:

ahhh optimum resolution on that monitor is 1280x1024. So why would Evesham match that monitor with a dual GPU machine if you arent going to get the benefits?

Re: Building my own PC
 

Sweet :) That wern't on the Asus site though, weird...

Thats going to be a sweet computer though... I am still orphaned alone in this country if change your mind to adopt me :)

Re: Building my own PC
 

Got a link.........I went mad looking for a suitable screen. Not that it matters really.......I'm perfectly happy with the 'puter I should have when it's put together. :)
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Yeah, that asus uk site is a bit basic :confused:

Do you do washing/cooking/ironing?--our au-pairs gone home :p:

Re: Building my own PC
 

I got my anti-static strap & mat from Maplin - £10 for the two at the time, £15 now I think. Better than knackering your £160 memory :D

Re: Building my own PC
 

Just got one on e-bay....... £4.30 (postage inc.) :)

Re: Building my own PC
 

Yep....all except the GPU (they don't do those) and the case (out of stock--and so is their supplier)
Thanks for that :)

Re: Building my own PC
 

Why do you want a TFT for gaming anyway?
The colours are usually wrong unless you set the colour profiles properly which is usually a pain in the backside, plus they are so much more expensive.
I have a 19" black/silver CRT which will do 1600x1200 @ 75Hz, no problems with it in the year I've had it.

Re: Building my own PC
 

I think my TFT makes my graphics look bad, certainly worse than my CRT, but its better than going blind :)

Re: Building my own PC
 

I run on a LG 782LE 15" TFT ..... never had a problem ... :shrug:

Re: Building my own PC
 

when you consider the years of development that has gone into a CRT as opposed to a TFT then its bound to be better. I watched a program recently where some technical guy from Bang and Oulfsen was saying that people that buy TFT TV's and monitors are being conned in terms of quality. They want them because they can hang on the wall not because the have a good picture! His view was steer well clear of them due to price, quality of image and reliability

Re: Building my own PC
 

I get it the other way round - I get massive headaches with CRT's - even ones that are running at 100Mhz

Re: Building my own PC
 

For TV's, I agree.....but when you sit as close to the screen as you do when using a 'puter I think a TFT is the best option. :disturbd:
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I edited my post m8 :D
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I have a 3yr old TFT and it's great! I plan to use it with my new PC :tu:

Re: Building my own PC
 

Hey it's on Cable Forum, inevitably it will drift :notopic: and into the gutter. That is the rules around here despite the endeavours of the mods ;)

Re: Building my own PC
 

Well look at what just turned up from overclockers :smokin:

Re: Building my own PC
 

:erm: Why the strategically placed ruler?
Not trying to emphasise the size of your components are you??:D

Like the stripped floorboards ;)

Re: Building my own PC
 

Exactly! I can't believe the size of that case :erm: As for the box the GPU came in.....thats huge as well. The GPU itself is very heavy :disturbd:

Thank you :)

Re: Building my own PC
 

I remember thinking that when mine arrived ....

What's the eta on the disks/memory/motherboard/etc

Re: Building my own PC
 

Funny you should ask.........the doorbell just rang and...........
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Considering that I only ordered this lot yesterday at 3pm.............. :shocked: :tu:

Just waiting for the CPU now.....dabs are getting them soon.....next week prolly.

The case has 3 coolermaster fans in it already :tu: :D
Better get a new keyboard as well
.......and the OS ;)

Re: Building my own PC
 

Enjoy it while it lasts. You still have to build the thing remember :D

Re: Building my own PC
 

OS will be sorted over the weekend.

Don't forget to visit the Asus site for newer drivers for the board and GPU.

Note: The GPU uses 2 drivers .... the Geforce 6800 ones and the Asus Advanced ones. The Advanced ones allow the overclocking and the Asus SmartDoctor to work properly. If you update the Geforce drivers, you must either reinstall the Asus Enhanced ones or install new Asus enhanced ones. It doesn't stop the card from working, but Asus have obviously enhanced some of the features.

Re: Building my own PC
 

Just took a look at the mobo..........thats one mutha of a motherboard.....I think I know what 2 of the cables are for :disturbd:

The HDD's don't have any manuals with them..........so how do I mount them? :erm: :disturbd: :D

Re: Building my own PC
 

I have downloaded a copy of your user manual for the GPU and the MB, so if you want to talk things through then call me :D

Re: Building my own PC
 

two screws in each side go through the HD caddy and into the drive

you might foind that they are with the case as they wont be with the drives by the looks of it you have got bare drives

Re: Building my own PC
 

By the looks of the case, there are plastic rails to slide the drives in and out. Normally attached to those plastic rails there are screws. Attach the rails to the sides of the disks using the screws. With the amount of space you have leave a bay space between the drives .... airflow ;)

Re: Building my own PC
 

Don't know if it's any help but:
AMD Athlon 64 4000 32/64Bit CPU S939 Clawhammer Retail inc Heat Sink Fan & 3 Years Warranty £298.40 £350.62 In stock
AMD Athlon 64 FX-55 32/64Bit (2.6GHz) CPU S939 Retail inc Heat Sink Fan & 3 Years Warranty £499.55 £586.97 Out of stock

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...Thumbnails=yes

Re: Building my own PC
 

Hmmm

http://www.coolermaster.com/installa...r_manul_en.pdf

Page 8 ;)

Re: Building my own PC
 

Doh! The case has a big box of bits and pieces tucked away in one of the power supply bays :dunce:
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Double doh!.......Just realised that I've forgotten to order the PSU! :D
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The lady I dealt with says eta is next week.......

Re: Building my own PC
 

I am so jealous now im glowing bright green.

Re: Building my own PC
 

:dunce::monkey: :D

Re: Building my own PC
 

Just rectified that :dunce: :p:
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I'm so glad :tu: :p: :D

Re: Building my own PC
 

Nope.....but I didn't ask :p:
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:nworthy:

Re: Building my own PC
 

Well, you deserve it. Didn't your last computer have a big hole in the case with duct tape over it?

Re: Building my own PC
 

Did the MB come with mounting screws .... or did the case come with them ?

Re: Building my own PC
 

The case.
HDD enclosure pics......
Nem---You weren't joking about the band-aid were you? I'm bleeding already! :D :disturbd:
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You are correct about the hole.......I put it there last summer to aid cooling :D

Re: Building my own PC
 

Productive ;)

Re: Building my own PC
 

full system mate, from scratch like. Never built one before but have always fancied having a go!
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Been looking at Dell and in PC world too, but wondered if I'd be cheaper to build my own and build a better system in the process.

Re: Building my own PC
 

Here we go.........HDD's mounted in drive bay (hopefully using the correct screws :disturbd: ) and drive bay back in case :)

Edit............I left room at the top in case I want to have a floppy drive in there as well.............

Re: Building my own PC
 

Jeesus that case is huuuuuuuuuuuuuge.

Re: Building my own PC
 

*ahem* New thread perhaps :)
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It looks even bigger on my dining room table :D

edit--You get a nice echo in there as well :D