2012 iMac with 3.1Ghz i5 and 6970M

I'm looking at getting an iMac for a family member to move them away from windows. This is not meant to be a gaming computer, but it will be playing Diablo 3.
My question is, how well would the high-end iMac (not getting the 'online only' upgrades) run the game?

We don't know when new models will be released nor how they would compare to the current models. One can only assume that new models will somehow be better than the old ones.

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[Guide] Install and run Windows 7/8 from an external drive without using bootcamp (works for late 2012 iMacs with 3TB drive)

This is a copy of a post from my blog, you can also Read it on my blog...
Introduction
After I received my new iMac with a 3 TB Fusion Drive, I was disappointed when I realized that Bootcamp was not running on this model and prevented me from installing Windows on it. I wanted to take advantage of the powerful iMac hardware to play games but I couldn't.
There are a few ways of working around this limitation, but I found most of them quite complex and most of the time they required formatting the internal hard drive or repartitioning it and go for a brand new installation of Mac OS X. I was not comfortable with that.
But there is another way, and that is to install Windows on an external hard drive, using either USB or Thunderbolt. Personally I used a Lacie Rugged 1 TB drive that has both USB3 and Thunderbolt connectors. Both work very well.
This guide may interest you if:
You have an internal hard drive of more than 2TB and you can't run bootcamp at all (like late 2012 iMacs with a 3TB drive)
You have limited space or you don't want to dedicate disk space on your internal hard disk drive to a Windows installation
What this guide will make you do:
It will make you erase all your data from your external USB3/Thunderbolt hard drive
It will make you install Windows on your external USB3/Thunderbolt hard drive
It will make you install bootcamp drivers
What this will not make you do:
It will not make you modify anything on your internal Mac hard drive
It will not make you use or install the bootcamp assistant
It will not activate the Preference Pane for the default boot drive. You have to boot by pressing the ALT key to manually select your boot drive each tome you want to boot Windows.
What you'll need
An external hard drive with a USB3 and/or Thunderbolt connector. This drive will be formatted so ensure you saved your files before going further. You can use either an SSD drive or a classic hard drive.
A Windows 7 or 8 install DVD or ISO (check whether to install 32 or 64 bits versions based on your Bootcamp drivers) and the corresponding Windows serial number.
One of the following:
Mac OS X with a Windows 7 or 8 Virtual Machine (use VMWare Fusion or Parallels Desktop for example. Note: VMWare Fusion seems to have some issues with Thunderbolt and USB3. Plug your drive to a USB2 enclosure or hub to work around this -it worked for me-, or use another VM software) → Read the important note below
A PC running Windows 7 or 8 → Read the important note below
Windows AIK (free) running on your Virtual Machine or on your PC, or just the imagex.exe file (the rest of the Windows AIK package is not needed)
Download imagex.exe
Download Windows AIK (this download and installation is not required if you have already downloaded imagex.exe)
Bootcamp drivers for your Mac. You can get these either by running bootcamp from your Mac (Applications > Utilities > Bootcamp) or, if like me you have a 3TB drive and can't run bootcamp at all, use the direct download links here.
A USB stick to store your bootcamp drivers
IMPORTANT: If your Mac has a 64 bits processor, your Windows Virtual Machine on OSX, your Windows installation on your PC and your Windows DVD/ISO must also be in 64 bits!
Step by Step guide
Step 1: Get the install.wim file
If you have a Windows ISO file:
Mount the ISO
If you're on OS X: double click on the ISO file
If you're on on Windows 7: Use a software like Virtual Clone Drive (free)
If you're on Windows 8: double click on the ISO file
Open the mounted drive, then go to the "sources" folder and locate the "install.wim" file. Save this file to C:\wim\ on your Windows installation or virtual machine.
If you have a Windows DVD: open the "sources" folder on the DVD and locate the "install.wim" file. Save this file to C:\wim\ on your Windows installation or virtual machine.
IMPORTANT: If instead of a "install.wim" file, you have "install.esd", you can not continue this step by step guide. And an ESD file can not be converted into a WIM file. So you must get a version of the Windows installation DVD/ISO that has an install.wim file.
Step 2: Clean, partition and format your external hard drive
On your Windows installation or virtual machine, plug in your external hard drive (can be plugged using USB2, USB3 or Thunderbolt at this stage)
Open the command prompt in administrator mode (cmd.exe). To run it in administrator mode, right click on cmd.exe > Run as admin.
Type the following and hit enter to open the disk partitioner utility:
diskpartType the following and hit enter to list your drives:
list disk
This will display a list of disks mounted on your computer or virtual machine. Make sure your drive is listed here before you continue.Identify the disk ID of your external hard drive. Replace # by your real external disk ID in the command below:
select disk #Clean all partitions by typing the following (warning: this will erase all data from your external drive!):
clean
Create the boot parition by typing the following followed by the enter key:
create partition primary size=350
This will create a 350MB partition on your external driveFormat the partition in FAT32 by typing the following:
format fs=fat32 quick
Set this partition to active by typing:
active
Assign a letter to mount this partition. We will use letter B in our example. If B is already used on your PC, replace B by any other available letter:
assign letter=b
Windows will detect a new drive and probably display a pop-up. Ignore that.Create the Windows installation partition using all the remaining space available on the external drive by typing the following:
create partition primary
Format the new partition in NTFS:
format fs=ntfs quick
Assign a letter to mount this partition. We will use letter O in our example. If O is already used on your PC, replace O by any other available letter:
assign letter=o
Windows will detect a new drive and probably display a pop-up. Ignore that.Exit the disk partitioner utility by typing:
exit
Step 3: Deploy the Windows installation image
Still using the command prompt in admin mode (you didn't close it, did you? ), locate the imagex.exe file mentioned in the "What you'll need" section and access its folder. In our example, we have put this file in C:\imagex\imagex.exe
Type the following and hit enter (remember to replace o: with the letter you have chosen in the previous step):
imagex.exe /apply C:\wim\install.wim 1 o:
This will take some time. The Windows installation image is being deployed to your external driveOnce done, type the following to create the boot section (remember to replace o: and b: with the letters you've chosen in the previous step):
o:\windows\system32\bcdboot o:\windows /f ALL /s b:
If you get an error message saying that you can't run this program on your PC, then most probably you are running on a 32 bits installation of windows and you're trying to deploy a 64 bits install. This means you did not read the important notes in the beginning of this guide
If you get an error message on the options that can be used with the BCDBOOT command, then it's because you're installing Windows 7, and the /f option is not supported. If that is the case, remove /f ALL from the command and retry.
Step 4: Boot from your external drive and install Windows
Plug in your external drive:
If you've done all the previous steps from a Windows PC, unplug your external drive from your PC and plug it to your Mac, either on a USB3 or a Thunderbolt port.
If you've done all the previous steps from your Mac using a Virtual Machine, ensure the external drive is plugged in to a USB3 or Thunderbolt port. Using USB2 should also work but you'll get very poor performance so I don't recommend doing that.
Reboot your Mac and once the bootup sound is over, immediately press the ALT (option) key and release it only when the boot drives selection screen appears. If you did not get the boot drives selection screen, reboot and try again. The timing to press the ALT (option) key is quite short. It must not be too early or too late.
On the boot selection screen, choose "Windows" using the arrow keys on your keyboard, then press enter.
The Windows installation starts. Follow the on-screen instructions as normal. The installation program will restart your computer one or 2 times. Don't forget to press ALT (option) right after the bootup sound, and boot on Windows again each time to continue the installation.
Step 5: Install bootcamp drivers
Once the Windows installation is complete, plug in the USB stick where you stored the bootcamp drivers (see "what you'll need" section), open it and right click on "setup.exe" and select "Run as admin". Follow the on-screen instructions.If you have an error saying that you can't run this program on this PC, obviously you have installed a 32 bits version of Windows and the bootcamp drivers for your Mac are made for a 64 bits version. You have to restart the whole guide and make sure to get a 64 bits version of Windows this time!
Once the bootcamp drivers are all installed, reboot and press ALT (option) after the bootup sound to boot on Windows again. And Voilà, you have Windows installed on your USB3/Thunderbolt drive running on your Mac.
Now each time you want to boot on Windows, press and hold the ALT (option) key after the startup sound and select "Windows", then press Enter.

Hi i'm trying to follow your guide, I installed windows 8 on bootcamp to do it planning to remove it after the operation is done, but i get stuck at part 3: every command i give to imagex i get a pop-up ftom windws asking how do I want to open this kind of file install.wim and imagex does nothing, what do i have to do to stop those pop-ups?

I have 2012 iMac with 4 GB RAM. Every time I'm importing vedeo using MiniDV HDV Sony camera, FCP X is importing normally, with 2.5 GB of RAM free. Then, after 10 or 15 min of importing, FCP is frozen, and free RAM is close to zero. What happens?

I have 2012 iMac with 4 GB RAM. When I turn FCP X, I usually have 2.5 RAM free and the program works normally when I edit. The issue is importing video. I use a Sony HDV camera to import from miniDV tapes, and Apple says Sony HDVs are supported. Yet every time I'm importing, it works normally for 10-15 min, then the amount of free RAM quickly (yet gradually) is reduced to almost zero (I used Memory Clean to dicover it) and then FCP X got frozen and I need to force quit it and start all over again, to work for another 15 min. Horrible! What is it?

Are using 10.0.7 (the latest version)?
Memory problems seem to have been alleviated with 10.0.6 and 10.0.7.
Please post the screenshots of Activity Monitor, as Tom asked. This will at least let us see if it is FCP X itself gobbling a lot of RAM or if you are suffering from the problem of OS X not releasing "Inactive Memory" in a timely manner - an issue that has been there for a long time :-(
You didn't mention whether you have the 27" or 21.5" iMac. Unfortunately, in the 21.5" adding RAM is a big hassle. But if you have the 27", then seriously consider upping the RAM. It is quite inexpensive, from the likes of Crucial or other reputable third parties.

We have an imac with os10.6.8 and safari 5.1.10 if we upgrade to the new safari will it be compatible, and will it work with our bank?

We have an imac with os10.6.8 and safari 5.1.10 we have been getting messages that some site no longer support 5.1.10. I am concerned about upgrading, as we had trouble with a previous update with our bank. I checked with the bank and they are suggesting waiting, but other sites like youtube what the upgrade. Has anyone had problems with the new safari? Our imac is pushing 8 years old, but we are not ready to replace it.

Upgrading from 10.6.8 to a newer OS has implications for many Mac owners. Lion (10.7) ended support for software that was originally written for older Macs that used Motorola processors. Owners who kept their software current had few issues upgrading to Lion when it was released but a lot of people suddenly found they had software that wouldn’t run any longer.
Another thing to consider is the age of your computer. A 2007 or 2008 iMac can run Lion fine and even Mt Lion (10.8) but Mavericks is a reach. It was Mavericks that prompted my purchase of a new iMac in late 2012. Given that you say your iMac is pushing 8 and you don’t want to replace it yet, don’t consider upgrading beyond Mt Lion. You won’t find Lion or Mt Lion for sale at the App store but I believe that you can still purchase them by contacting Apple directly.

Speeding up my iMac late 2012 iMac with external Thunderbolt SSD

I am a motion graphics editor and would like to get better speed from my late 2012 iMac with a 3 TB Fusion Drive.
I have three questions:
1. Does the Fusion drive in this iMac always run the iOS and apps on the ssd part of the fusion drive?
2. If not, is there a way to make that happen?
3. If I add an External Thunderbolt 512GB SSD Drive, will I get a significant boost in performance by keeping the files (video and images) on the SSD, or would After Effects need to reside on the new SSD as well?
I would really appreciate help from anyone that has the expertise to answer this question.
Thank you.
Will H.

Hi there ScharadL,
I would recommend taking a look at the troubleshooting steps boot issues found in the article below.
Mac OS X: Gray screen appears during startup
-Griff W.

I have an iMac with 2 internal drives and set-up with multiple user accounts. How do I create a path to store data files on my second drive within an application?

I have an iMac with 2 internal drives and a multiple user account set-up. Hw do I create a path to store data files on the second drive within an application?

This is the Mac mini forum not the iMac forum however...
Applications written for average users like Photoshop, Word, i.e. GUI based applications provide a 'Save' dialog box which while allow selecting second drives or any drive. The dialob box initially shown might be in the simple mode but you just need to click on the triangle to show the full set of options. You should then see the different drive names amongst other options.
If your referring to an application your writing yourself then you need to build a pathname. This can be in one of two styles depending on the programming system your using. This could be a POSIX style path or a Mac style path.
POSIX = /Volumes/volname/foldername
Mac style = Volname:foldername:

My quicktime is very jerky with 1080p video but when I play the video file in FCPX its smooth. I recently upgraded to OS mavericks on iMac with 16gb of ram and should not be having this problem. Is it possible to reinstall older software?

My quicktime is very jerky with 1080p video but when I play the video file in FCPX its smooth. I recently upgraded to OS mavericks on 2011 iMac with 16gb of ram and should not be having this problem. Is it possible to reinstall older software? I cant figure whats causing the jerky video so I'm assuming its the new OS. Any one have any suggestions?

I have the same but not the same problem. When I play a sound or a video on a website (other than youtube)on safari, a weird nois is comeing from the speakers, the sound has pops/clicks but if I play the same video/sound on mozilla it works fine.. If wnyone know what's the problem.. please let us know

Do you have any ideas why Motion 5 would run slow on a computer? I have an Imac with 8Gigs of ram, and plenty of hard drive space, but it still gives me the beach ball when I add a few lights and effects. I'm at the end of my rope.

Do you have any ideas why Motion 5 would run slow on a computer? I have an Imac with 8Gigs of ram, and plenty of hard drive space, but it still gives me the beach ball when I add a few lights and effects. I'm at the end of my rope.

You probably don't really need 1080 at 60 for your finished projects but since you're just starting out with Motion, you need to lower your expectations. A long way. 1080 is about 2 million pixels per frame, DV is only about 400,000. That's not just five times as many pixels for the Mac to track; everything in video is exponential.
Explore the training tutorials available by Mark Spencer. You will get an idea of how his super powerful machine reacts with the software.
Adding a light roughly doubles the processing time over flat scenes. Two lights increases processing again. Reflections require processing the lights and then calculating the reflections so add another quarter of the time required for flat scenes. Add camera movement, motion blur, and depth of field and you need exponentially more processing time for every frame. The preload of renders into RAM is one of the cooler features of Motion, as comapred to After Effects, but that takes tons of time, to.
Try working in ye olde DV resolution for a few days. Get to know the software's limitations and what gets imposed by your Macintosh. Step up to 720p/30 and see how things slow down.

I am unable to install Lion. I have a Core 2 Duo iMac with 4GB of Ram and 120GB of free space - and no Bootcamp or other partitions - and yet repeatedly get the 'no recovery' error. Can anyone help?

I am unable to install Lion. I have a Core 2 Duo iMac with 4GB of Ram and 120GB of free space - and no Bootcamp or other partitions - and yet repeatedly get the 'no recovery' error. Can anyone help?

Run Disk Utility located in /Applications/Utilities before trying to upgrade to Lion in case the startup disk needs repairing.
Using Disk Utility to verify or repair disks

I have a 2008 vintage iMac with 2.8GHz processor and recently upgraded to OS X 10.9.5. Soon after theupgrade the mail system started switching the senders address to another address, but same user name. How do you fix this?

I have a 2008 vintage iMac with 2.8GHz processor and recently upgraded to OS X 10.9.5. Soon after theupgrade the mail system started switching the senders address to another address, but same user name. How do you fix this?

Thanks for the reply,. I went to the site provided and executed the directions but this did not solve the issue.
Even more details:
If I send a message to the Jane Doe address from another account on this machine (all my family uses the same email services provider and each have accounts set up on this machine), when you open it, it shows Jane Doe then the <applejax.xx> address AND the picture associated with the Apple Jax account.
So the problem shows up when the message is sent to this account from this machine, AND when it is sent from this machine from this account. No other accounts on the machine are effected.
I have sent and received email messages from the mail service provider's website, and everything is fine.

I have an iMac with 10.9.1 and an iPhone 5 also updated to the newest system and I cannot get a sync set up between Ical and the iPhone or Outlook 2011 mac calendar with the iphone

I have an iMac with 10.9.1 and an iPhone 5 also updated to the newest system and I cannot get a sync set up between Ical and the iPhone or Outlook 2011 mac calendar with the iphone. I would perfer using outlook but will settle for the Imac calendar

It depends on what iMac you have. If it is an old PPC (G4 orG5) iMac then no further upgrades are possible. If it an Intel iMac:
Start by checking if you can run Snow Leopard:
Requirements for OS X 10.6 'Snow Leopard'
http://support.apple.com/kb/SP575
(NB: PowerPC applications can still be run in Snow Leopard using Rosetta, but they will not work in later versions of OS X.)
The OS 10.6 Snow Leopard install DVD is available for $19.99 from the Apple Store:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC573/mac-os-x-106-snow-leopard
and in the UK:
http://store.apple.com/uk/product/MC573/mac-os-x-106-snow-leopard
When you have installed it, run Software Update to download and install the latest updates for Snow Leopard to bring it up to 10.6.8, or download the combo update from here:
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1399
Check via Software Update whether any further updates are required, particularly to iTunes.
You should now see the App Store icon in iTunes, and you now need to set up your account:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4479
You can now upgrade to Mavericks OS 10.9 for free IF you have one of the following Macs, with not less than 2GB of RAM, and at least 8GB of available space on your hard drive:
iMac (Mid-2007 or later)
MacBook (13-inch Aluminum, Late 2008), (13-inch, Early 2009 or later)
MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid-2009 or later), (15-inch, Mid/Late 2007 or later), (17-inch, Late 2007 or later)
MacBook Air (Late 2008 or later)
Mac Mini (Early 2009 or later)
Mac Pro (Early 2008 or later)
Xserve (Early 2009)
iCloud system requirements:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4759
If you cannot run Mavericks you can purchase the code to use to download Lion from the App Store (Lion requires an Intel-based Mac with a Core 2 Duo, i3, i5, i7 or Xeon processor and 2GB of RAM, running the latest version of Snow Leopard):
http://store.apple.com/us/product/D6106Z/A/os-x-lion
or Mountain Lion:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/D6377Z/A/os-x-mountain-lion

I have an iMac with 10.4.11 and a Mac Air 10.6.7. Will the Extreme be compatable with the 10.4.11?

I have an iMac with 10.4.11 and a Mac Air 10.6.7. Will the Extreme be compatable with the 10.4.11?

10.4.11 Macs will have Kernel Panics when trying to use Dual Band Airport Extreme Base Station. There are a few forums here dealing with it. I just purchased an Airport Extreme Base Station and spent two days now figuring out why the old iMac G5 running 10.4.11 (Tiger) was Kernel Panicing. There is a way that I am testing now that seems to be working. I will post the link in a minute when I find it. Other solution is to upgrade to 10.5 .
Here is the post
Aug 22, 2010 2:09 PM (in response to Acin)
Greetings... I have just found a resolution to this problem, at lease if you're using one of the newer Dual Band Airport Extreme base stations. This fix was provided by an AppleCare representative named Rebecca, and I am deeply in her debt. To review: MY PROBLEM - After installing a new Dual Band Airport Extreme in July 2010, I began to have frequent kernel panics with my older laptops running Tiger (10.4.11). My newer Intel/Leopard MacBook Pro ran fine with the new base station, but these older Power PC Macs with Tiger just crashed again and again. Pulling the Airport Card was the only fix. I tried every conceivable software and network fix; nothing helped. THE SOLUTION - The AppleCare rep talked me through this, but I'm pretty sure this was the procedure. Please note that I cannot guarantee that I have not forgotten a step! But I am fairly sure this is it. (If an Apple specialist is reading, please check this!) Keep in mind, this will only work if you have a dual-band Airport base station. I performed this on a Mac Pro running OS 10.6.4, with Airport Utility version 5.5.1 and firmware 7.5. 1. Launch Airport Utility.
2. With the dual-band base station selected, click Manual Setup.
3. Click the Wireless tab.
4. Click the "Wireless Network Options" button near the bottom.
5. Check the box that says "5 GHz Network," then enter a new network name in the Name field. (Your existing network name appears there now. Just delete it and type a new one.)
6. Click Done. That dialogue will close.
7. Now click Update. The Airport base station will now take about a minute to reboot. Here's what happens when you perform these steps... The utility changes your existing Airport network to 2.5 Ghz, and then creates a new 5 Ghz network with the new name. (It will apply the same password to both.) You will use the 5 Ghz network, the new name, for any new wireless computers using Leopard or newer OS. You will use the 2.5 Ghz network (bearing the original network name) for the older laptops running Tiger. This fix worked immediately, no problems. The issue is that Tiger does not perform well with 5 Ghz networks, and this causes the kernel panics. I now have two old G4 laptops running Tiger, both using my new Airport base station with the 2.5 Ghz network and running perfectly. At the same time, my new machine is using the 5 Ghz network at the same time. It seems quite stable. Good luck, and I hope this info is useful.

2012 iMac 27" fails to boot AND wake from sleep

Hi all,
My 2012 iMac has recently started giving my trouble when booting and waking from sleep.
When booting - A normal power up results in the apple logo screen being stuck, then I have to hold down the power button for a few seconds until power off, then i power it back up and the computer boots up normally. NOTE: only at the second time does the computer succeed in getting past the apple logo screen to the sign in screen.
Waking from Sleep - When ever the mac goes to sleep he doesn’t seem to be able to wake up. Usually stuck on a black screen with just the spinning wheel shown. At times i waited more then an hour to see if he can get passed the black screen but in vain.
Other then that the mac works fine.
Both issues started roughly two weeks ago and roughly at the same time.
My mac is mostly used for work, I'm familiar with computers so I am trying to be extra careful with installing weird applications but you could never know..
SPEC:
Late 2012 iMac 27'' - 3.4 Ghz i7.
16GB RAM.
1TB Fusion drive.
2GB NVIDIA GTX 680MX
Wired keyboard and a Magic mouse.
Mountain Lion 10.8.5 (Updated and backed up on a regular basis)
Things I've tried:
Boot to Recovery and Repair Disk/Permissions.
Safe Boot.
SMC reset.
PRAM reset.
* The first two produced a single case of a normal start up, but after a shut down the problem remains.
Any ideas/thoughts/help would be much appriciated,
Thanks in advance,
Idan.

Bump.

Issues with CS5 Liquify in my iMac with a AMD Radeon HD 6970M 2048 MB Graphics Card

I have been trying to get to the bottom of this issue on my own, but to no avail. I am running Photoshop CS5.1 Extended on an iMac with an i7, 16 GB of RAM and an AMD Radeon HD 6970M 2048 MB graphic card. I am running OSX Lion. Speed of the computer should NOT be an issue, but my liquify tool is impossibly slow. I have seen others having this issue, but am not finding resolutions. I have updated all of my software (Lion, CS5) and updated my drivers. I have uninstalled Photoshop and reinstalled it, but still, no help.
My Liquify tool is so slow that it is impossible to use. It does not register if I release the mouse either and I often have to click a few times to release the brush. I have Photoshop 5.1 on a PC and the Liquify runs very smoothly.
Has this issue been addressed? I am wondering if it has a root in how CS5 is reacting to the graphics card? When I called Adobe, they swore it was Apple's fault. When I talked to Apple, they were positive the blame lay with Adobe. I just want a fix. (Hey, I'll take a CS6 beta if that'll fix it. )
Thank you,
Rachel

Do you have any third party plugins installed? If so, have you tried disabling them? (one was showng to cause a slowdown, but I don't have my office notes handy at the moment to remember which one)
Also, there was one obscure third party utiliity program (haxie) that also caused slowdowns in Liquify. (and again, my notes are at the office, so I don't recall the name)
And you can try the usual: trash/reset Photoshop's preferences.
Oh, and Lion still has a bunch of video driver bugs that Apple is continuing to work on.
Sorry I don't have more definite info right now.

Why does my 2012 iMac with a 512 gfx card only recongise 256 in bootcamp

Hi,
I brought an 21" 2012 iMac recently, and i have installed windows 8 on bootcamp for games.
I have installed latest bootcamp drivers and downloaded the Nvidia GeForce GT 640M drivers and installed everything.
But for some reason when i check things like can i run it, the system only recgonises that i have 256MB of graphics memory.
I have rebooted into osx and check and it is defo 512.
Any ideas?

I have exact same problem with my 15in MacBook Pro with 1GB graphics memory. It only recognises 256MB. Is this just a software reporting bug or is it really restricted to 256MB?? Wish I could find the answer. Apple support is non existant.... of course....blame it on Windows!
Can't help.... but you're not alone!

2012 iMac with 3.1Ghz i5 and 6970M

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