Sapphire RX 6700 XT Nitro+ Review

1. Introduction2. Sapphire RX 6700 XT Nitro+3. Testing Methodology4. 3DMark Fire Strike & Time Spy5. 3DMark DirectX Raytracing6. Assassin's Creed Valhalla7. Control8. Cyberpunk 20779. Dirt 510. The Division 211. F1 202012. Gears 513. Hitman 314. Metro Exodus15. Red Dead Redemption 216. Total War Saga: Troy17. Watch Dogs: Legion18. Performance Summary (12 Game Average)19. Clock Speed20. Temperatures21. Acoustics22. Noise-Normalised Temperatures23. Power Consumption24. Overclocking25. Closing Thoughts26. View All Pages

After the launch of AMD's RX 6700 XT earlier this month, today we are checking out Sapphire's RX 6700 XT Nitro+. A huge triple-fan card, it comes factory overclocked with dual-BIOS functionality and a dedicated heatsink for the GDDR6 memory. We put it to the test against the reference design to find out how much better it really is.

We've already reviewed one Sapphire Nitro+ card this generation, specifically the RX 6800 XT. This RX 6700 XT Nitro+ is almost identical in terms of appearance, but it's not the exact same PCB and cooler. The PCB used here is slightly thinner for instance, and the dedicated memory heatsink is lacking a heatpipe which is present for the RX 6800 XT model.

Still, the RX 6700 XT is a lower power GPU compared to the 6800 XT, and this cooler still looks more than big enough to deal with the heat, so let's dive in and find out how it got on in our testing.

	RX 6900 XT	RX 6800 XT	RX 6800	RX 6700 XT	RX 5700 XT
Architecture	RDNA 2	RDNA 2	RDNA 2	RDNA 2	RDNA
Manufacturing Process	7nm	7nm	7nm	7nm	7nm
Transistor Count	26.8 billion	26.8 billion	26.8 billion	17.2 billion	10.3 billion
Die Size	519 mm²	519 mm²	519 mm²	336 mm²	251 mm²
Ray Accelerators	80	72	60	40	n/a
Compute Units	80	72	60	40	40
Stream Processors	5120	4608	3840	2560	2560
Game GPU Clock	Up to 2015MHz	Up to 2015MHz	Up to 1815MHz	Up to 2424MHz	Up to 1755MHz
Boost GPU Clock	Up to 2250MHz	Up to 2250MHz	Up to 2105MHz	Up to 2581MHz	Up to 1905MHz
Peak SP Performance	Up to 23.04 TFLOPS	Up to 20.74 TFLOPS	Up to 16.17 TFLOPS	Up to 13.21 TFLOPS	Up to 9.75 TFLOPS
Peak Half Precision Performance	Up to 46.08 TFLOPS	Up to 41.47 TFLOPS	Up to 32.33 TFLOPS	Up to 26.43 TFLOPS	Up to 19.5 TFLOPS
Peak Texture Fill-Rate	Up to 720 GT/s	Up to 648.0 GT/s	Up to 505.2 GT/s	Up to 413.0 GT/s	Up to 304.8 GT/s
ROPs	128	128	96	64	64
Peak Pixel Fill-Rate	Up to 288.0 GP/s	Up to 288.0 GP/s	Up to 202.1 GP/s	Up to 165.2 GP/s	Up to 121.9 GP/s
AMD Infinity Cache	128MB	128MB	128MB	96MB	n/a
Memory	16GB GDDR6	16GB GDDR6	16GB GDDR6	12GB GDDR6	8GB GDDR6
Memory Bandwidth	512 GB/s	512 GB/s	512 GB/s	384 GB/s	448 GB/s
Memory Interface	256-bit	256-bit	256-bit	192-bit	256-bit
Board Power	300W	300W	250W	230W	225W

RX 6700 XT is built using the Navi 22 GPU, a physically smaller die than Navi 21, measuring 336 mm². It houses 40 Compute Units (CUs), with 64 stream processors per CU, giving a total of 2560. RX 6700 XT features a fully populated Navi 22 GPU, but we can expect cut-down versions to appear with the RX 6700, and potentially RX 6600 XT if that comes to market.

RDNA 2 houses one ray accelerator per CU, so there's a total of 40 with the RX 6700 XT. Four texture units per CU gives a total of 160, while there's also 64 ROPs. The reference 6700 XT has a rated game clock of 2424MHz, but Sapphire has increased this to 2548MHz.

As for the memory configuration, AMD has opted to use a 192-bit memory interface paired with 12GB of GDDR6 memory. Using 16Gbps modules, total memory bandwidth hits 384 GB/s, which is lower than its predecessor, the RX 5700 XT. RDNA 2 GPUs, however, have the benefit of AMD's Infinity Cache, with a 96MB cache used here.

Lastly, reference total board power (TBP) is rated at 230W, but Sapphire has increased this to 260W when using the Performance BIOS. This is something we test later in the review.

The Sapphire RX 6700 XT Nitro+ ships in a very eye-catching box, with mostly yellow and orange used on the front. There's no photo of the card itself, just the branding and the Nitro logo in the middle. On the back, Sapphire highlights some key specs and features of the GPU.

There's not much in the way of included accessories, with just a warranty card and quick start guide in the box.

As for the card itself, it is using the same shroud design that we saw with the RX 6800 XT Nitro+. So that means it is mostly black plastic, but with a few silver areas which adds some contrast. I personally think it's a great-looking card, although the silver sections may not appeal to everyone if you have a stealthy black-out build.

The cooler is using three fans, with the central fan measuring 90mm while the outer two measure 100mm. All three feature a ring around the outer edge of the fan, and Sapphire calls the new design a ‘Hybrid Fan’, as they say it is meant to offer the increased pressure of a blower fan combined with the traditional low noise levels of an axial fan. We can also see the central fan spins in reverse, relative to the outer two, similar to what we’ve seen from the likes of Gigabyte and ASUS over the past year or two.

It's certainly a large card too, measuring 310.05 x 130.75 x 51.4mm. Anyone with a smaller ATX case will want to double check that this will fit.

The Nitro+ also features a BIOS switch towards the I/O bracket. The switch furthest from the I/O bracket engages the Performance BIOS, while the central position engages the Silent BIOS. There is a third position, but this is not a third BIOS – rather it lets you use Sapphire's TriXX software to change which BIOS is used without physically moving the switch.

As for the backplate, it's a silver metal plate with some black sections. There's a large cut-out at the end of the card though, to allow direct airflow through the heatsink, with another cut-out behind the GPU core.

Power requirements and display outputs are the same as reference – meaning the card needs 1x 8-pin and 1x 6-pin power connectors, and it offers 3x DisplayPort 1.4 and 1x HDMI 2.1 video outputs.

Taking the card apart, we can see a dedicated heatsink used for cooling the memory. This is a little smaller than the heatsink used with the RX 6800 XT Nitro+, and it is only a finned heatsink – there's no heatpipe as found with the RX 6800 XT model.

Removing the heatsink gives us a good look at the PCB, with Sapphire's design appearing very close to the reference board. It uses 11 power phases, split with 9 for the GPU and 2 for the memory. The GPU VRM is controlled by International Rectifier's IR35217, while the memory controller used is OnSemi's NCP81022N. Vishay SIC632A and SIC649A MOSFETs are used throughout.

We can also see the heatsink design is different compared to the RX 6800 XT Nitro+. Instead of 6x 6mm heatpipes, the RX 6700 XT uses four long heatpipes across two fin stacks. There's two separate plates to contact with the MOSFETs via thermal pads, while the GPU die contacts with a central copper baseplate.

There is a single thermal pad used to contact the PCB to the backplate (it's not visible in the above image as it stuck to the back of the PCB.)

Driver Notes

• All Nvidia GPUs (except RTX 3060) were benchmarked with the 461.40 driver.
• RTX 3060 was benchmarked with the 461.64 driver supplied to press.
• All AMD GPUs (except RX 6700 XT) were benchmarked with the Adrenalin 21.2.2 driver.
• RX 6700 XT was benchmarked with the Adrenalin 20.50 driver supplied to press.

Test System

We test using the a custom built system from PCSpecialist, based on Intel's Comet Lake-S platform. You can read more about it over HERE, and configure your own system from PCSpecialist HERE.

CPU	Intel Core i9-10900K Overclocked to 5.1GHz on all cores
Motherboard	ASUS ROG Maximus XII Hero Wi-Fi
Memory	Corsair Vengeance DDR4 3600MHz (4 X 8GB) CL 18-22-22-42
Graphics Card	Varies
System Drive	500GB Samsung 970 Evo Plus M.2
Games Drive	2TB Samsung 860 QVO 2.5″ SSD
Chassis	Fractal Meshify S2 Blackout Tempered Glass
CPU Cooler	Corsair H115i RGB Platinum Hydro Series
Power Supply	Corsair 1200W HX Series Modular 80 Plus Platinum
Operating System	Windows 10 2004

Comparison Graphics Cards List

• Nvidia RTX 3070 FE 8GB
• Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti FE 8GB
• Gigabyte RTX 3060 Gaming OC 12GB
• Nvidia RTX 2070 Super FE 8GB
• Nvidia RTX 2060 Super FE 8GB
• Nvidia RTX 2060 FE 6GB
• AMD RX 6800 16GB
• AMD RX 6700 XT 12GB
• AMD RX 5700 XT 8GB
• AMD RX 5700 8GB
• Sapphire RX 5600 XT Pulse 6GB

Software and Games List

• 3DMark Fire Strike & Fire Strike Ultra (DX11 Synthetic)
• 3DMark Time Spy (DX12 Synthetic)
• 3DMark Raytracing Feature Test (DXR Synthetic)
• Assassin's Creed Valhalla (DX12)
• Control (DX12)
• Cyberpunk 2077 (DX12)
• Dirt 5 (DX12)
• The Division 2 (DX12)
• F1 2020 (DX12)
• Gears 5 (DX12)
• Hitman 3 (DX12)
• Metro: Exodus (DX12)
• Red Dead Redemption 2 (Vulkan)
• Total War Saga: Troy (DX11)
• Watch Dogs: Legion (DX12)

We run each benchmark/game three times, and present mean averages in our graphs. We use OCAT to measure average frame rates as well as 1% low values across our three runs.

Fire Strike is a showcase DirectX 11 benchmark for modern gaming PCs. Its ambitious real-time graphics are rendered with detail and complexity far beyond other DirectX 11 benchmarks and games. Fire Strike includes two graphics tests, a physics test and a combined test that stresses the CPU and GPU. (UL).

3DMark Time Spy is a DirectX 12 benchmark test for Windows 10 gaming PCs. Time Spy is one of the first DirectX 12 apps to be built the right way from the ground up to fully realize the performance gains that the new API offers. With its pure DirectX 12 engine, which supports new API features like asynchronous compute, explicit multi-adapter, and multi-threading, Time Spy is the ideal test for benchmarking the latest graphics cards. (UL).

Kicking off with 3DMark, the Nitro+ outperforms the reference RX 6700 XT by 1-2% depending on the specific benchmark. It's also fractionally faster than the RTX 3070 in Fire Strike Ultra, when the reference card was marginally slower.

Real-time ray tracing is incredibly demanding. The latest graphics cards have dedicated hardware that’s optimized for ray-tracing. The 3DMark DirectX Raytracing feature test measures the performance of this dedicated hardware. Instead of using traditional rendering techniques, the whole scene is ray-traced and drawn in one pass. The result of the test depends entirely on ray-tracing performance. (UL).

Ray tracing performance is 2% ahead of the reference RX 6700 XT. That still puts it behind the RTX 2060 Super however, which launched in mid-2019.

Assassin's Creed Valhalla is an action role-playing video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It is the twelfth major installment and the twenty-second release in the Assassin's Creed series, and a successor to the 2018's Assassin's Creed Odyssey. The game was released on November 10, 2020, for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S, and Stadia, while the PlayStation 5 version was released on November 12. (Wikipedia.)

Engine: AnvilNext 2.0. We test using the Ultra High preset, DX12 API.

 

Starting the game benchmarks with AC Valhalla, here the Nitro+ is actually fractionally slower than the reference card. Not by much at all, but it is 1% behind at both 1080p and 1440p.

Control is an action-adventure video game developed by Remedy Entertainment and published by 505 Games. Control was released on 27 August 2019 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. (Wikipedia).

Engine: Northlight Engine. We test using the High preset, with 4x MSAA, DX12 API.

Next is Remedy's Control, where the Nitro+ is dead level with the reference RX 6700 XT, averaging 70FPS at 1440p.

Cyberpunk 2077 is a 2020 action role-playing video game developed and published by CD Projekt. The story takes place in Night City, an open world set in the Cyberpunk universe. Players assume the first-person perspective of a customisable mercenary known as V, who can acquire skills in hacking and machinery with options for melee and ranged combat. Cyberpunk 2077 was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Stadia, and Xbox One on 10 December 2020. (Wikipedia)

Engine: REDengine 4. We test using the Ultra preset, DX12 API.

Cyberpunk 2077 is the most demanding game we test, and at 1440p the Nitro+ averages 55FPS, which is again on par with the reference RX 6700 XT.

Dirt 5 (stylised as DIRT5) is a racing video game developed and published by Codemasters. It is the fourteenth game in the Colin McRae Rally series and the eighth game to carry the Dirt title. The game was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on 6 November 2020. (Wikipedia).

Engine: Onrush. We test using the Ultra High preset, DX12 API.

Dirt 5 is another game where there's no difference between the Nitro+ and the reference card at 1080p, but at 1440p the Nitro does take a 2% lead over AMD's design.

Tom Clancy's The Division 2 is an online action role-playing video game developed by Massive Entertainment and published by Ubisoft. The sequel to Tom Clancy's The Division (2016), it is set in a near-future Washington, D.C. in the aftermath of a smallpox pandemic, and follows an agent of the Strategic Homeland Division as they try to rebuild the city. (Wikipedia).

Engine: Snowdrop. We test using the Ultra preset, but with V-Sync disabled, DX12 API.

In The Division 2, we can see the Nitro+ outperforming AMD's reference card by 1% at 1080p, and by 3% at 1440p. That latter result is the biggest margin we will see between the two cards today.

F1 2020 is the official video game of the 2020 Formula 1 and Formula 2 Championships developed and published by Codemasters. It is the thirteenth title in the Formula 1 series developed by the studio and was released on 7 July 2020 for pre-orders of the Michael Schumacher Edition and 10 July 2020 for the Seventy Edition on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One. (Wikipedia).

Engine: EGO. We test using the Ultra High preset, DX12 API.

F1 2020 sees the Nitro+ come in 1% slower than the reference 6700 XT at 1080p, but it pushes into a 2% lead at 1440p.

Gears 5 is a third-person shooter video game developed by The Coalition and published by Xbox Game Studios for Xbox One, Microsoft Windows and Xbox Series X. It is the fifth installment of the Gears of War series and the sequel to Gears of War 4. The ultimate edition was released on September 6, 2019, while the standard edition of the game was released worldwide on September 10, 2019. (Wikipedia).

Engine: Unreal Engine 4. We test using the Ultra preset, with Best Animation Quality (instead of Auto), VRS disabled, DX12 API.

As for Gears 5, this AMD-sponsored title sees the Nitro+ deliver an extra 2FPS compared to the reference card at 1440p – a difference of 3%.

Hitman 3 (stylized as HITMAN III) is a stealth game developed and published by IO Interactive for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Stadia (under the title Hitman: World of Assassination), and Nintendo Switch on 20 January 2021. It is the eighth main installment in the Hitman series and the final entry in the World of Assassination trilogy, following Hitman (2016) and Hitman 2 (2018). (Wikipedia).

Engine: Glacier. We test using Ultra settings (or High where Ultra is not available), VRS off, DX12 API.

Hitman 3 is another close-run affair, with the Nitro+ 1% slower than the reference card at 1080p, but 1% faster at 1440p.

Metro Exodus is a first-person shooter video game developed by 4A Games and published by Deep Silver in 2019. It is the third instalment in the Metro video game series based on Dmitry Glukhovsky's novels, following the events of Metro 2033 and Metro: Last Light. (Wikipedia).

Engine: 4A Engine. We test using the Ultra preset, but with Hairworks and Advanced PhysX turned off, DX12 API.

Metro Exodus, meanwhile, sees another £5 gain for the Nitro+ over the reference card at 1440p, a real-world difference of just 3FPS.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is a 2018 action-adventure game developed and published by Rockstar Games. The game is the third entry in the Red Dead series and is a prequel to the 2010 game Red Dead Redemption. Red Dead Redemption 2 was released for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in October 2018, and for Microsoft Windows and Stadia in November 2019. (Wikipedia).

Engine: Rockstar Advance Game Engine (RAGE). We test by manually selecting Ultra settings (or High where Ultra is not available), TAA, Vulkan API.

Moving onto Read Dead Redemption 2, here the Nitro+ is exactly as fast as the reference card, at both 1080p at 1440p.

Total War Saga: Troy is a 2020 turn-based strategy video game developed by Creative Assembly Sofia and published by Sega. The game was released for Windows on 13 August 2020 as the second installment in the Total War Saga subseries, succeeding Thrones of Britannia (2018). (Wikipedia).

Engine: TW 3 Engine. We test using the Ultra preset, with unlimited video memory enabled, DX11 API.

Total War Saga: Troy is exactly the same as Red Dead Redemption 2, as we see no difference in frame rates between the Nitro+ and AMD's reference card, at either resolution tested.

Watch Dogs: Legion is a 2020 action-adventure game published by Ubisoft and developed by its Toronto studio. It is the third instalment in the Watch Dogs series, and the sequel to 2016's Watch Dogs 2. Legion was released on October 29, 2020 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Stadia. (Wikipedia).

Engine: Disrupt. We test using the Ultra preset, DX12 API.

Finally, Watch Dogs: Legion sees the Nitro+ come in 1% slower than the reference card, at both 1080p and 1440p, with the difference being just 1FPS in both instances.

Here we present frame rate figures for each graphics card, averaged across all 12 games on test today. These figures can disguise significant variations in performance from game to game, but provide a useful overview of the sort of performance you can expect at each resolution tested.

Averaged across the 12 games we tested, the Nitro+ is no faster than the reference card at 1080p, as both deliver 121FPS. At 1440p, the Nitro+ is fractionally faster, on average by just 1%.

Here we present the average clock speed for each graphics card while running Cyberpunk 2077 for 30 minutes. We use GPU-Z to record the GPU core frequency during gameplay. We calculate the average core frequency during the 30 minute run to present here.

As for the clock speed behaviour of the Nitro+, both BIOS run effectively as fast as each over, with just an 11MHz difference when averaged over our thirty minute stress test. Compared to the reference card, the Nitro+ is about 50MHz faster, and while this is certainly not a big difference, we can see from the scatter graph above that the clock frequency is more stable with the Nitro+, with a much tighter plot compared to the reference card.

For our temperature testing, we measure the peak GPU core temperature under load. A reading under load comes from running Cyberpunk 2077 for 30 minutes.

The Nitro+ is a clear improvement on the reference card in terms of thermals. The Performance BIOS runs 9C cooler in terms of edge temperature, while the Silent BIOS is still 5C cooler too. Both also deliver improved hot spot – or junction – temperatures.We take our noise measurements with the sound meter positioned 1 foot from the graphics card. I measured the noise floor to be 32 dBA, thus anything above this level can be attributed to the graphics cards. The power supply is passive for the entire power output range we tested all graphics cards in, while all CPU and system fans were disabled. A reading under load comes from running Cyberpunk 2077 for 30 minutes.

The thermal results only tell half the story however. The fact is, despite running a fair bit cooler, the Nitro+ is also significantly quieter, to the point where it is practically inaudible. There isn't a big difference between the Silent BIOS, which saw the fans spin at 950rpm, versus the Performance BIOS which had the fans at 1040rpm, but either way, this is one of the quietest graphics cards I have ever tested.

Following on from our stock thermal and acoustic testing, here we re-test the operating temperature of the GPU, but with noise levels normalised to 40dBa. This allows us to measure the efficiency of the overall cooling solution as varying noise levels as a result of more aggressive fan curves are no longer a factor.

As the fan curve is so conservative, we had to increase fan speed to 2030rpm before hitting 40dBa of noise. This means the fans are effectively spinning twice as fast as default behaviour, so it's no surprise that thermals dropped hugely – down to just 52C on the edge, and 74-75C junction temperature depending which BIOS was used. In terms of cooler efficiency, the Nitro+ is clearly streets ahead of the reference design.

We measure system-wide power draw from the wall while running the 3DMark Time Spy stress test for 30 minutes.

We also use Nvidia PCAT to measure power draw of the graphics card only, with readings from both the PCIe slot and the PCIe power cables combined into a single figure. This provides us with significantly more accurate data to work with as it is measuring only the GPU power, and not total system power which is a fundamentally imprecise measurement.

The really interesting thing is that power draw hasn't changed compared to the reference card. Both average 222W over three games, despite the Nitro+ running at a higher clock speed. The Silent BIOS is slightly more frugal, but only draws 10W less.

When overclocking the Nitro+, our best result came with the power limit slider maximised at +15%. We were able to push the GPU core to 2850MHz, with the memory at 2100MHz.

This resulted in a real-world frequency increase of about 180MHz.

That didn't result in huge gains in our real-world testing, with frame rates increasing between 3-6% in the games we tested.

The upshot is that power draw didn't increase much either, by only 6W up to 228W.

As the first custom RX 6700 XT card to pass through our labs, today we have assessed Sapphire's RX 6700 XT Nitro+. Using a large triple-fan cooler with a metal backplate and dual-BIOS functionality, this is a premium RX 6700 XT model, and that is reflected in the £539 UK MSRP.

Starting first with overall performance, this was an interesting area to look at. By and large, we saw no real difference between the Nitro+ and AMD's reference card in terms of frame rates. In a couple of games, the Nitro+ was even fractionally slower, but ran up to 3% faster in other titles. This meant averaged across all 12 games we tested, the Nitro+ proved just 1% faster on average for 1440p gaming.

This is slightly unusual, as most factory overclocked cards will deliver consistent gains of 3-4% when compared to the reference model, which is exactly what we found with the RX 6800 XT Nitro+. We did also test the Gigabyte RX 6700 XT Gaming OC, and that behaved in exactly the same way, so it's not an issue with Sapphire's card, but it does mean gaming performance isn't a reason to buy this card over another.

Instead, the reason to opt for the Nitro+ over a different model will come down to the cooler, and here Sapphire really delivers the goods. Not only does the Nitro+ run 5-9C cooler than AMD's reference card, but it is significantly quieter too. The fans barely spin up to 1000rpm, at which point they are effectively inaudible. Inside a case, there is no way you would hear the Nitro+ over the noise of your system fans.

Noise-normalised thermals show the improvement over the reference design most clearly however. With both cards producing 40dBa of noise, the Nitro+ ran 21C cooler in terms of GPU edge temperature, also beating out the Gigabyte Gaming OC. Pound for pound, this has to be one of the best GPU coolers we have seen from this generation of graphics cards.

Overclocking was a slight disappointment however, as I couldn't push the core as far as I managed with the reference card. It still hit 2850MHz and was perfectly stable, but fell a frame or two short of the reference card in terms of overclocked gaming performance. As always, this will vary from card to card.

Overall, the Sapphire's RX 6700 XT Nitro+ is a very impressive graphics card, specifically when looking at just how much of an improvement the cooler is compared against AMD's reference card. The problem is, with the MSRP £119 over AMD's £420 baseline figure, it's a significant premium to pay, and puts it right in the mix with RTX 3070, which is clearly the faster GPU while offering better ray tracing performance, as well as DLSS.

Of course, the market being what it is right now means they simply won't be available at £539, at least not for the foreseeable future. I certainly would love to recommend this card, as it is technically very impressive, but based on the MSRP pricing, it is a lot to pay for a RX 6700 XT, when RTX 3070s should start at £469.

We found the Nitro+ listed at Overclockers UK HERE, but without any pricing information or indication of when stock may come in.

Discuss on our Facebook page HERE.

Pros

• Terrific cooler.
• Effectively inaudible under load.
• Looks great (subjectively speaking).

Cons

• Not really any faster than the reference card.
• MSRP is significantly higher than AMD's baseline.

KitGuru says: The cooler is a huge improvement over AMD's reference RX 6700 XT, but if you could get an RTX 3070 for less money, that'd be the smarter buy.

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