SENTRY: Console-sized gaming PC case project

Update: 9900K is in the Sentry. TDP limited to 95W. Voltage offset -20mV

AIDA64 stability test sees CPU hitting 100C, but no thermal throttling.

System specs:
-i9-9900K (Using LP53 with Noctua slim fan)
-32GB G.Skill 3200Mhz
-No GPU at this time (still deciding what to get)
-Samsung 970 Pro 1TB x2 (Raid 0 2TB)
-AsRock Phantom Gaming ITX Z390
-SilverStone 800W SFX-L 80 Plus Titanium PSU

It’s a good system. I wanted to be able to undervolt my 9900K more, but I could be doing it wrong, because there’s not much headroom at all, or I really lost the silicon lottery.
Are we to assume that any greater negative voltage offset you attempted caused stystem instability/crashes?

There's no doubt you can get the chip to "work", but there will likely have to be sacrifices. Hopefully others who are more knowlegable than myself regarding Z390 bios settings may be able to help.
 
Update: 9900K is in the Sentry. TDP limited to 95W. Voltage offset -20mV

AIDA64 stability test sees CPU hitting 100C, but no thermal throttling.

System specs:
-i9-9900K (Using LP53 with Noctua slim fan)
-32GB G.Skill 3200Mhz
-No GPU at this time (still deciding what to get)
-Samsung 970 Pro 1TB x2 (Raid 0 2TB)
-AsRock Phantom Gaming ITX Z390
-SilverStone 800W SFX-L 80 Plus Titanium PSU

It’s a good system. I wanted to be able to undervolt my 9900K more, but I could be doing it wrong, because there’s not much headroom at all, or I really lost the silicon lottery.

Can you check idle temps and temps in cinebench + some games?

Also I'm wondering what's your usecase for such CPU - video editing maybe?
 
OK, I really am building this time around. I have all my parts except the GPU. I’m using a Ryzen 2600 with an L9i that I will probably put some kind of shroud on. There are two 2070’s I’m deciding between: the Gigabyte Gaming 8G and the Asus Turbo. Both are $530 at Amazon, where I have 10% off. The Gigabyte is an open-air cooler and I know it has four heat pipes, while the Turbo is a blower-style. I’m not sure how many heat pipes the Turbo has, but lower model Gigabyte cards have two so it’s possible the Asus does. I would use weather stripping or a shroud with both cards. What do you guys suggest?

Edit: Got any specific weather stripping models for sealing off fans? Not sure on what dimensions would be best.
 
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OK, I really am building this time around. I have all my parts except the GPU. I’m using a Ryzen 2600 with an L9i that I will probably put some kind of shroud on. There are two 2070’s I’m deciding between: the Gigabyte Gaming 8G and the Asus Turbo. Both are $530 at Amazon, where I have 10% off. The Gigabyte is an open-air cooler and I know it has four heat pipes, while the Turbo is a blower-style. I’m not sure how many heat pipes the Turbo has, but lower model Gigabyte cards have two so it’s possible the Asus does. I would use weather stripping or a shroud with both cards. What do you guys suggest?

Edit: Got any specific weather stripping models for sealing off fans? Not sure on what dimensions would be best.
based on the cooling style, i would imagine weatherstripping to be more effective on the blower, pretty sure the gigabyte would just dump heat inside.
 
As for the blower cooler, it really depends on the heatsink inside. I found the GTX 1070 Founders edition was vastly inferior to the GTX 1080 Founders edition cooler, even though the GTX 1080 has 30W higher TDP. That's because the 1080, 1080ti and Titan blowers have a vapor chamber between the gpu and fins to absorb and distribute the heat. The 1070 and some of the cheaper 1080 blowers (like the MSI blower and Asus blower models) don't have the vapor chamber and get quite a bit warmer, requires high fan rpm (thus more noise) and are just much more difficult to keep cool. So do try to figure out if the blower cooler has a vapor chamber or not, in my experience it makes a big difference.

I had a decent experience with my GTX 1080 Founders Edition in my Sentry system. I just recently picked up a used EVGA 1080ti SC Black edition which is an open air cooler. I put weatherstripping around the perimeter of the face of the card so it doesn't recycle it's own exhaust. Its ok. It maxes out at 76C with a pretty aggressive fan curve which has the fan at 2400-2600rpm, so honestly it's almost the same noise level as my GTX 1080 Founders Edition. So for a lower TDP GPU like the RTX 2070, if the blower style has a vapor chamber, I say go with that. If it doesn't have a vapor chamber, go with the open air style.
 
Adding to my previous post I thought I'd provide a more specific update.

I opted not to go with an RTX card, but rather just get a used 1080ti for my Sentry PC. I got the EVGA 1080ti SC Balck with the ICX cooler. I placed closed cell foam rubber weather stripping around the face of the card to keep it from recycling hot air. I have a rather aggressive fan curve in MSI Afterburner that ramps up to ~65-70% fan speed (~2600rpm) at 70C. It maxes out at like 76C like I said before, that's after cleaning and repasting it with Thermal Grizzly Cryonaut. It's definitely louder than I was expecting. I have the fan set to idle at ~25% so idle temps are basically room temp.

CPU temps changed very little for my delidded undervolted i7-4790K, maxes out at around 70-74C in most games with the LP53-NF-A9x14. However, my undervolt became very unstable. Tons of random bluescreens and crashes in games. I wonder if it has something to do with the beefy GPU pulling more current on the 12v rail of the PSU? Maybe a degree or two C warmer just made it less stable at the lower voltage? I had to go from -0.065V offset to more like -0.04V offset to get back to stability at stock clocks (4.4ghz all core).

I have two SATA SSDs in my Sentry and the one closer to the CPU now gets crazy warm during gaming ( its also closer to the GPU die). According to HW Monitor, 58C. I've never seen a sata SSD that warm in Sentry. The one closer to the PSU only gets up to ~48C. They can handle it but it's not ideal. I had a game crash due to an "unrecoverable file system error". Strange, maybe a coincidence. Fixing the undervolt on the CPU seems to have fixed the random crashes, so maybe that was it.

In my experience with a GTX 1060, GTX 1080, and GTX 1080ti in a Sentry pc, I'd say the 180W TDP of the 1080 was the sweet spot. Totally manageable temperatures, high performance, not too loud, didn't have to worry about anything else getting too hot. The 1080ti has netted me maybe 20% high fps at best, but I still can't do 4K60 Ultra in many games and 1440p doesn't always work well with my TV (usually get capped at 30fps, maybe a limitation of my AV receiver? Or the TV?) so most of the time I end up using it at 1080p anyway.

Long story short, probably avoid the top tier card. Just go with the xx80 card rather than the Ti. I can't imagine an RTX 2080ti in Sentry.
 
Here are some images of my fully protable Sentry with 1080p touch monitor and 25mm fan attached. (As well as wireless keyboard/mouse) perfect case for portability. Everything fits in my backpack. Only a regular power cord required to power everything. Turned my PC into an ALL In One PC.
IMG_20181202_152621[1].jpg IMG_20181202_152722[1].jpg IMG_20181202_152841[1].jpg IMG_20181202_152734[1].jpg
 
Hi everyone,

jus wanted to share my build to you guys.. as Im very sure there are someone out there who wants to throw in a AIO cooler for our SENTRY case, but why not an external AIO ? =)) I'm planning to make a custom stand for the radiator so it'll stand nicely beside my SENTRY .

cheers from Singapore


Updated photo with a simple custom stand for the 280mm rad
 

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Update: 9900K is in the Sentry. TDP limited to 95W. Voltage offset -20mV

AIDA64 stability test sees CPU hitting 100C, but no thermal throttling.

System specs:
-i9-9900K (Using LP53 with Noctua slim fan)
-32GB G.Skill 3200Mhz
-No GPU at this time (still deciding what to get)
-Samsung 970 Pro 1TB x2 (Raid 0 2TB)
-AsRock Phantom Gaming ITX Z390
-SilverStone 800W SFX-L 80 Plus Titanium PSU

It’s a good system. I wanted to be able to undervolt my 9900K more, but I could be doing it wrong, because there’s not much headroom at all, or I really lost the silicon lottery.


Update;

System specs are the same as above still, no voltage changes to CPU. 9900K seems to run fine without throttling when slightly undervolted and TDP limited to 105W.

Radeon VII was added. Barely fits, had to purchase low profile, 90 degree 8 pin cables to make it fit. Radeon VII is slightly taller than top of PCIE bracket, barely clears the Zaber Sentry serial # plate screws/rivets.

The Radeon VII is a pretty hot card, but like the 9900K, I undervolted it from it's stock ~1100mV down to 999mV, and overclocked the 16GB HBM2 from 1000MHz to 1100MHz. Stability tests are ongoing. Difficult to ascertain whether any instabilities found are due to bad voltage settings or immature drivers. Card seems to be stable with these settings. Noise is also reasonable.


What I've learned;
If I really want a no-compromises PC within this Sentry,
10nm Intel CPU with a lower TDP but higher performance than 9900K needs to come out. Can't use LP53+Noctua combo on AMD CPU's. Can't find a comparable cooler that fits in Sentry with full size GPU and is also compatible with AM4.
NVIDIA's die shrunk future (7nm?) RTX cards comparable to 2080 Ti or better with lower heat output needs to come out.

As it sits, I'm satisfied with my Sentry. I think I've crammed a lot of performance into it, much more than initially hoped, and my 9900K undervolted and TDP limited seems to still outperform the Ryzen 2700X.

As a bonus, 9900K seems to run just a tad cooler after Radeon VII was installed. The way the heatsink in that card is shaped, causes the card to blow fresh air down into the choked up CPU compartment.
 
Update;

System specs are the same as above still, no voltage changes to CPU. 9900K seems to run fine without throttling when slightly undervolted and TDP limited to 105W.

Radeon VII was added. Barely fits, had to purchase low profile, 90 degree 8 pin cables to make it fit. Radeon VII is slightly taller than top of PCIE bracket, barely clears the Zaber Sentry serial # plate screws/rivets.

The Radeon VII is a pretty hot card, but like the 9900K, I undervolted it from it's stock ~1100mV down to 999mV, and overclocked the 16GB HBM2 from 1000MHz to 1100MHz. Stability tests are ongoing. Difficult to ascertain whether any instabilities found are due to bad voltage settings or immature drivers. Card seems to be stable with these settings. Noise is also reasonable.


What I've learned;
If I really want a no-compromises PC within this Sentry,
10nm Intel CPU with a lower TDP but higher performance than 9900K needs to come out. Can't use LP53+Noctua combo on AMD CPU's. Can't find a comparable cooler that fits in Sentry with full size GPU and is also compatible with AM4.
NVIDIA's die shrunk future (7nm?) RTX cards comparable to 2080 Ti or better with lower heat output needs to come out.

As it sits, I'm satisfied with my Sentry. I think I've crammed a lot of performance into it, much more than initially hoped, and my 9900K undervolted and TDP limited seems to still outperform the Ryzen 2700X.

As a bonus, 9900K seems to run just a tad cooler after Radeon VII was installed. The way the heatsink in that card is shaped, causes the card to blow fresh air down into the choked up CPU compartment.

Very impressive setup! If you're looking for a different CPU cooler you could try the Alpenfohn Blackridge. Its compatible with everything as far as modern platforms go. Though it can be difficult in Sentry if you're using the 2.5in drive mounts. I got it but haven't used it in Sentry yet due to this incompatibility as I'm using both 2.5in mounts.

Edit: it should physically be compatible with modern sockets from Intel and AMD but whether or not it works well in the particular case of Sentry remains to be proven.
 
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If you're looking for a different CPU cooler you could try the Alpenfohn Blackridge. Its compatible with everything as far as modern platforms go.

I'd be careful with such bold statements. I broke two risers testing black ridge and returned it for RMA but got only refunded. There are two main issues of black ridge: it's designed for A4-SFX and it ignores some of restrictions/requirements of ATX form factor around the CPU.
 
I'd be careful with such bold statements. I broke two risers testing black ridge and returned it for RMA but got only refunded. There are two main issues of black ridge: it's designed for A4-SFX and it ignores some of restrictions/requirements of ATX form factor around the CPU.

True, I suppose I should clarify, it can be mounted to any modern platform. However it may not be fully compatible with all cases, or motherboard layouts.
 
One last post of my final setup now the new one is coming out. I did mount the crazy Morpheus cooler to a nano and got the C7 cobber. I bend a sheet of 4mm steel hole plate so airflow and temps are quite good now. Cant recommend the morpheus as it did fit the mounting holes, but the chip is like 5mm further back than the furry model so had to take out the central support to make space for the heatpipes on the back, but it did end up working fine.
 

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It's been a while. My mini itx mobo ended up blowing, and kaby lake isn't supported(thanks intel). My little sentry is sitting in a box with it's sfx psu.

I've been thinking of getting a laptop, but I've also been thinking of rebuilding the sentry, and finding a portable monitor for roughly under $200. I could easily build a system in it that compares to the specs of a ~$1000 laptop.

What I need is feet for the sentry. Horizontal feet. Has anyone been able to find a competent portable monitor? I see some USB-C ones, and my question is would I be able to use video over USB-C with any mobo that has a USB-C port on the back? Or does the mobo manufacturer have to have something special like thunderbolt?
 
It's been a while. My mini itx mobo ended up blowing, and kaby lake isn't supported(thanks intel). My little sentry is sitting in a box with it's sfx psu.

I've been thinking of getting a laptop, but I've also been thinking of rebuilding the sentry, and finding a portable monitor for roughly under $200. I could easily build a system in it that compares to the specs of a ~$1000 laptop.

What I need is feet for the sentry. Horizontal feet. Has anyone been able to find a competent portable monitor? I see some USB-C ones, and my question is would I be able to use video over USB-C with any mobo that has a USB-C port on the back? Or does the mobo manufacturer have to have something special like thunderbolt?
didn't the sentry come with a set of rubber feet?
 
Hello all, I vertically stand my Sentry, and regularly transport it to my girlfriend's house to play on LAN with her computer. One of my Sentry's rubber feet seems to have fallen off at some point. I didn't notice it until a couple of days ago, so it honestly could have happened at any time. I checked the bag that I transport it in, and of course, it's not there. Can't find it anywhere. I assumed, apparently wrongly, that there is adhesive holding these on. I checked the other feet, and alas, they slip right off with almost no effort.

I guess I'm going to get adhesive to adhere the remaining three.

I'm not rough with this thing, but given these slide right off, I'm not surprised I lost one at some point.

Anyways. I need a replacement rubber foot. Can anyone tip me off on where to purchase more? I emailed the Sentry team-- No response yet.
 
Anyways. I need a replacement rubber foot. Can anyone tip me off on where to purchase more? I emailed the Sentry team-- No response yet.

We have your email, and you will get answer about your particular situation, but it takes time. Every day we are receiving many emails, and sometimes we just can't answer to everybody within 48 hours. We are replying to emails according to the order in which we received them. Sometimes we get 10-20 emails and you will get your answer faster and sometimes we are processing more of them, and you just have to wait. Right now we are in campaign for new Sentry 2.0, and we are receiving a lot of emails, and it takes time to answer properly to them (as you know, we don't answer with just 'yes' and 'no').

Probably in the evening you will get your answer. Please be patient.
 
Hi all! I'm planning my future sentry 2.0 build and currently investigating cpu cooling options with lower noise level in mind (65w, possibly zen2 ryzen).

It seems lp53 should give better thermals (thus it should possible to keep rpm low), however this cooler is hard to buy, whereas l9a with fan shroud is expected to bring acceptable thermals as well as low noise level.

So, I decided to model such a shroud (inspired by this solution - it seems to me velocity thing could indeed optimize airflow while reducing turbulence).
Unfortunately I don't have appropriate chassis to test it myself, so I'd just share the shroud model with community - I'd be happy if someone could share noise/thermals results (with it or similar solution) :)

It's first attempt and pretty rough, but it shouldn't be hard to 'manually adjust' it for ram compatibility issues if any (I expect it to fit tightly with 40mm height ram)
 
Hi all! I'm planning my future sentry 2.0 build and currently investigating cpu cooling options with lower noise level in mind (65w, possibly zen2 ryzen).

It seems lp53 should give better thermals (thus it should possible to keep rpm low), however this cooler is hard to buy, whereas l9a with fan shroud is expected to bring acceptable thermals as well as low noise level.

So, I decided to model such a shroud (inspired by this solution - it seems to me velocity thing could indeed optimize airflow while reducing turbulence).
Unfortunately I don't have appropriate chassis to test it myself, so I'd just share the shroud model with community - I'd be happy if someone could share noise/thermals results (with it or similar solution) :)

It's first attempt and pretty rough, but it shouldn't be hard to 'manually adjust' it for ram compatibility issues if any (I expect it to fit tightly with 40mm height ram)

That's awesome! I don't have access to a 3D printer, but it looks like that site has printing options. I'd love to print this. I can speak from experience with the l9a, as it is what I have in my Sentry 1.1 now. Even without a fan, it's temps stay around 50-60 under load (vertical position).

So, I also came to see what people thought on the forum about this little gem. It seems a bit pricey, but, if I'm looking at Sentry dimensions correctly, it would fit the Sentry and almost anything that you needed to connect, if you wanted to travel with it. I've had some good and bad travel stories (mostly around hotel internet), but this, if it works, would make all of my problems with bringing a bunch of extra gear go away! Thoughts? My only guess would be that you would need sufficient rubber feet to allow airflow at the bottom, in order to not starve the GPU for air.
 
Does anyone know what the shipping weight was of the original v1.1 Sentry?

I believe it was ~4.8 kg, but note that couriers count the volumetric weight or something like that where if your volume is high it will counted as more than it actually weights. The package was 60x40x15cm iirc.
 
Built a desk out of plywood and iron pipes that fits the sentry nicely. I made the drawer height 3.5" and threw in 2 external 80mm fans connected via usb. Temps are the same as before when the case was on the floor. This setup makes wire management a breeze as there is only 1 power cable coming out of the desk for the whole setup. I'm surprised desks on wheels are not that common. It's totally a game changer as you don't have to sit in the same part of the room all the time.


image.jpg
 
Neat. I've got an ikea desk with just two wheels at the back only for mobility to make sure it doesn't move easily when not needed. Bad part of it is that ikea's wheeled legs have completely different look than the standard ones.
 
I still have a v1 Sentry (Black) in its original unopened packaging if anyone is interested in buying it off of me for what I paid + shipping costs. It looks like my next PC build is further away than initially anticipated and I'm sure someone that missed out on the initial crowdfunding campaign would appreciate the opportunity to get their hands on one.

However, to be courteous to thread subscribers, please don't reply here. Instead, send me a private message (eBay Feedback).
For anyone interested, I've now put this up on eBay.
 
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Hello Sentry friends!

I am reviving this as a proud Sentry 1.0 owner.

Can anyone give me some recommendations for a travel monitor that would go along with a Sentry, as well as a carry-on friendly bag that could house both items + a travel keyboard and mouse?
I am going to re-locate to a new place every few months and I would like to take my Sentry with me, as buying a high-spec laptop for tons of cash and having my PC rot in a basement does not appeal to me at all...

I guess at least some of you have gotten the Sentry for its portability, so I would love to hear your solutions!

Thanks!
 
Hello Sentry friends!

I am reviving this as a proud Sentry 1.0 owner.

Can anyone give me some recommendations for a travel monitor that would go along with a Sentry, as well as a carry-on friendly bag that could house both items + a travel keyboard and mouse?
I am going to re-locate to a new place every few months and I would like to take my Sentry with me, as buying a high-spec laptop for tons of cash and having my PC rot in a basement does not appeal to me at all...

I guess at least some of you have gotten the Sentry for its portability, so I would love to hear your solutions!

Thanks!

Hello,

Take a look at a G-Story monitor. I have a 17.3 inch version 2k 120hz. Realy nice monitor. Easy to carry around. It is used in a video review of the Sentry 2.0. Check out that post ( may 25, 2019).
 
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I'm holding out for the Asus XG17. Haven't heard anything since Computex though and you just know it won't be cheap but it looks the goods.
 
I've tried to look on the site and look at the GPU width size limit of the orginal 1.1 Sentry (I think 2.0 is the same size, but just saying what I have for reference and confirmation). I have the normal page for height/length dimensions for the Sentry and have been having very little issues with finding what I need to get it to work with cards. However, I am interested in cards that are as much as 51mm full width and...something tells me that's going to be a little wide to fit in the Sentry 1.1 GPU compartment. I'm sure it's listed somewhere ZombiPL and SaperPL and I apologize for not being able to find it. For example, the PowerColor Red Devil 5700XT looks like it will fit height and length (295mmx125mm) but the width they referenced on it 51mm might put it right up against the case wall, if it will fit at all. Thoughts?

Update: I take it back, the 2x8 pin connectors look like they come out into the dead zone for the Red Devil, so that card is probably out excepting the width already. Regardless, it seems like 2.5 and 3 slot cards are becoming more and more common, so I'm curious what the width (depth) of the sentry limits are. Obviously, I don't want a card that will go right to the edge. Looks like Sapphire's partner card might work though with recessed pin connectors though.
 
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We are supporting 2 slot card meaning ~41mm thick. There's ~9mm of space between the card and the perforation so theoretically you can sqeeze in a 50mm thick card, but practically it will get really loud because of the turbulence when fans get closer to the perforation with risk of fan blades scratching themselves against perforation and getting even louder.

Also 2.5 and 3 slot cards are made this way because they are consuming more and more power because nvidia didn't do a die shrink yet for 20 series lineup and is increasing power draw. Our recommendation is to simply not use those 2.5 and 3 slot cards because they are too hot for SFF case like this.
 
SaperPL thank you so much for that. Now I know. I will shy away from basically anything that gets close to that marker. I tried the Sapphire Pulse Vega 56 when it came out (50mm) and it was indeed too loud, being too close to the case. My current 2060S fits nicely with plenty of room and is a solid card.

I was interested in seeing if there was a possibility of getting a 5700XT partner card in there. Currently, Sapphire's offering seems to be the only one yet that will remotely fit, though it's a 2.3 slot card at 46.5mm. Somehow, I think I'm going to get similar results to the Pulse 56 with noise being so close to the case, but maybe 3.5mm makes more of a difference than I think it does.
 
I hadn't seen that card yet! Thanks for the recommendation. I'll likely wait for some videos about temps and other things. I be potentially concerned about the height. 137mm will work if they are measuring from the bottom of the I/O plate and not the bottom of the card itself. The Sentry reference page shows only 130mm from the bottom of the card with the oversize area included.
 
The height seems to be measured with the end of the pci bracket and we were talking about it in the sentry 2.0 topic on sff.net, so you can check it out there on most recent pages.
 
I've tried to look on the site and look at the GPU width size limit of the orginal 1.1 Sentry (I think 2.0 is the same size, but just saying what I have for reference and confirmation). I have the normal page for height/length dimensions for the Sentry and have been having very little issues with finding what I need to get it to work with cards. However, I am interested in cards that are as much as 51mm full width and...something tells me that's going to be a little wide to fit in the Sentry 1.1 GPU compartment. I'm sure it's listed somewhere ZombiPL and SaperPL and I apologize for not being able to find it. For example, the PowerColor Red Devil 5700XT looks like it will fit height and length (295mmx125mm) but the width they referenced on it 51mm might put it right up against the case wall, if it will fit at all. Thoughts?

Update: I take it back, the 2x8 pin connectors look like they come out into the dead zone for the Red Devil, so that card is probably out excepting the width already. Regardless, it seems like 2.5 and 3 slot cards are becoming more and more common, so I'm curious what the width (depth) of the sentry limits are. Obviously, I don't want a card that will go right to the edge. Looks like Sapphire's partner card might work though with recessed pin connectors though.

I agree with SaperPL, In my personal experience with both Sentry 1.1 and 2.0, I strongly suggest staying around 180W or less. Any more power/heat and no matter what gpu you have, green team or red team, it's going to completely saturate itself and the system with heat. Hot gpu's throttle (not necessarily because they hit their junction temperature but they don't boost as high as possible). So why get the 5700xt if it can't boost high enough to significantly beat the 5700 anyway? A 5700 will run cooler, quieter, and boost clocks better. You could put the extra money towards a larger ssd or something.

Ultra sff almost always requires some compromise. Ultimately its up to you though. There is definitely something bad ass about having a monster gpu in a tiny case.
 
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