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[JCK75]

I was expecting my gaming experiences to be far more toned down than they are, I simply cannot get over how amazing games look on this thing.
So far I've played Elden Ring, Shadow Warrior 3, Witcher 3, God of War, Valheim and Batman Arkham City...
my mind is seriously blown at how crisp and pristine the graphics are.. going from Witcher 3 on the switch to this.. just wow.

 

[U n i o n 0015]

I was expecting my gaming experiences to be far more toned down than they are, I simply cannot get over how amazing games look on this thing.
So far I've played Elden Ring, Shadow Warrior 3, Witcher 3, God of War, Valheim and Batman Arkham City...
my mind is seriously blown at how crisp and pristine the graphics are.. going from Witcher 3 on the switch to this.. just wow.

It's insane for a portable. I had a Vita and thought Uncharted: Golden Abyss was probably the best-looking portable game I'd ever see, but with the Deck you can have that experience a thousand times over.

I'm also a big fan of dropping the graphics a bit to get 40-60 fps fluidity; again, unreal on a handheld. The screen is small enough that I don't need ultra textures, for example.

 

[Griffon]

Got my brand new deck after getting the whiney one RMAd. Looks like I was lucky, the fan is not completely without whine, but it is much more silent than before. Happy to have done it, and valve support was helpful and fast to answer

With that said people, don't expect the deck to be 100% silent anyway. What I found out is that beyond 4500 to 5000 fan speed, you're better off using headphones.

I found out that limiting my deck to about 10watts is the way to go (depending on the heat you get at home). It's more than good enough to run everything, tho you do have to limit at 40 or 30fps on demanding games like elden ring.

 

[CrustyBritches]

Got my brand new deck after getting the whiney one RMAd. Looks like I was lucky, the fan is not completely without whine, but it is much more silent than before. Happy to have done it, and valve support was helpful and fast to answer

With that said people, don't expect the deck to be 100% silent anyway. What I found out is that beyond 4500 to 5000 fan speed, you're better off using headphones.

I found out that limiting my deck to about 10watts is the way to go (depending on the heat you get at home). It's more than good enough to run everything, tho you do have to limit at 40 or 30fps on demanding games like elden ring.

I was hoping everything would work out ok for you. I had heard some horror stories about people sending in their Deck and getting back one with a different issue. That was my biggest fear when I sent mine in. I just couldn't take that fan whine anymore, so I gambled.

 

[CrustyBritches]

Picked up some new accessories. Got magnetic USB-C charging adapters. My new Deck has a little wiggle when a cable was inserted. I was doing a lot of swapping, too, when switching between charging, USB-C dock(charge, data, HDMI-out), and the ghetto-rigged external SSD I was trying. Got a little nervous I might wear out the port, so this seemed like a good solution. I've read that you have to be careful that you don't end up with cheapy adapters, but these were listed at 100W and had 4.5/5 rating out of 163 reviews, so I went with them.

My ghetto-rigged external 1TB SSD was randomly disconnecting in certain games like RDR 2. Just didn't work out, unfortunately. I already have a 256GB card I use on SteamOS and had told myself I would save for a 1TB internal drive instead of putting more money towards a microSD. Alas, the 1TB 2230 NVMe drives are crazy expensive at $175-200 and I didn't have the money, so for now I just went with a $50 Teamgroup 512GB microSD like my son has on his Deck. I'm using it on Windows and Game Pass, so I do have to swap microSD cards when I switch between SteamOS and Windows. Planning on mounting a little ejectable microSD slot on the back of my Deck to hold the cards for convenience. Eventually I'll upgrade to a 1TB 2230 and just use the 512GB only.

Also picked up some "refurbished"(they were like new in sealed box) Skull Candy Grind Fuel bluetooth earbuds from Ebay for only $16.99 with a coupon. They work great and I don't notice any latency.

^amFilm screen protector applied. Anti-glare properties are gone now. P.S.- That moisture is on the mirror, not the Deck. Did steamy bathroom application method.

In hindsight I should have just gone with the basic 64GB model and upgraded it. I didn't care so much about the anti-glare, and it's pointless now since I was a little freaked out that I'd scratch the screen, so I added a amFilm protector like my son's Deck has. I mostly wanted max storage without opening the Deck and I was hoping to get it faster since it was the most expensive model. Irony was that I ended up wanting to upgrade the storage immediately and the 512GB unit ended up being the most popular version. Oh well, you live and you learn. I love my Deck and regret nothing.

Thanks for reading my novel about my Deck life. The end.

 

[Griffon]

I was hoping everything would work out ok for you. I had heard some horror stories about people sending in their Deck and getting back one with a different issue. That was my biggest fear when I sent mine in. I just couldn't take that fan whine anymore, so I gambled.

I too was worried about getting other surprise defects, but actually my new unit has been better on all counts.

Face buttons are less wobbly, dpad is significantly better to the point I can do reliable diagonals and play fighting games, and the right haptics are not as comically loud as it was.
I had no idea all of those were defects of my old unit. I really did well to RMA it.

 

[U n i o n 0015]

In hindsight I should have just gone with the basic 64GB model and upgraded it. I didn't care so much about the anti-glare, and it's pointless now since I was a little freaked out that I'd scratch the screen, so I added a amFilm protector like my son's Deck has.

I did the same thing to my 512, put a screen protector on it. Anti-glare doesn't really matter to me compared to scratch protection.

 

[MachRc]

Jesus finally!

Getting this on time for my son's 13th birthday. Already planning to fix the screen, just in case it gets broken.....

Steam Deck (512GB) Screen: Genuine Anti-Glare Glass

Replace a front glass digitizer and display assembly, with premium anti-glare etched glass, compatible with a 512GB Valve Steam Deck game console.

www.ifixit.com

 

[pasterpl]

Mine finally shipped today

 

[WalterSobchak]

Jesus finally!

Getting this on time for my son's 13th birthday. Already planning to fix the screen, just in case it gets broken.....

http://[URL]https://www.ifixit.com/Store/Miscellanous/Steam-Deck-512GB-Screen/IF260-003?o=2

[/URL]

Shiiet I just got the same notification about a 512gb unit too.

I guess it's time to pay the piper . Still on the fence a bit but think I am just gonna order it. Don't have a Steam library yet , but have been looking for a way to causualy get back into PC gaming after a 20 year hiatus. Hope you enjoy yours.

 

[pasterpl]

Shiiet I just got the same notification about a 512gb unit too.

I guess it's time to pay the piper . Still on the fence a bit but think I am just gonna order it. Don't have a Steam library yet , but have been looking for a way to causualy get back into PC gaming after a 20 year hiatus. Hope you enjoy yours.

I have recently purchased this while it was on sale https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/18941/Eidos_Anthology/ for £39 or £49, if you want to get into pc gaming get the gamepass app on steam deck and test it for £1 for first month. If you like it, PC only sub cost is only £7.99/month. You can also get free pc AAA games with prime gaming if you are Amazon prime subscriber and via epic game store. Lots of ways to get back into pc gaming without need to spend too much on your games.

 

[Meowtor]

Mine is getting delivered tomorrow and I feel like I'm waiting for Santa lmao

 

[Maiden Voyage]

Shiiet I just got the same notification about a 512gb unit too.

I guess it's time to pay the piper . Still on the fence a bit but think I am just gonna order it. Don't have a Steam library yet , but have been looking for a way to causualy get back into PC gaming after a 20 year hiatus. Hope you enjoy yours.

Bro, welcome to the PC fam. A few places to keep an eye on to help you build your library:

Humble Bundle - Not as good as they used to be, but they still do bundles that are decent, this website alone probably accounts for like 30-40% of my 1k+ games on Steam​

Fanatical - Every now and again, there is a killer bundle here but mostly the bundles are smaller, indie titles. Bigger games are often sold at a better discount than Steam. I still tend to buy my games directly from Steam, but Fanatical is a solid storefront.​

Isthereanydeal - this website will give you price history, best price, etc. for any game you might be interested in buying. There's others, like SteamDB, CheapShark​

There's also a browser plugin called Augmented Steam (shoutout to our own jshackles for the original Enhanced Steam ). This is useful for keeping track of pricing, etc. on your browser.

There's Archi Steam Farm, which farms and sells your trading cards. Yes, there are collectables on Steam. You are free to ignore these, but I would recommend to sell off any cards you do not want to turn into badges, as it can be a decent way to help cut costs when buying games.

 

[WalterSobchak]

Bro, welcome to the PC fam. A few places to keep an eye on to help you build your library:

Humble Bundle - Not as good as they used to be, but they still do bundles that are decent, this website alone probably accounts for like 30-40% of my 1k+ games on Steam​

Fanatical - Every now and again, there is a killer bundle here but mostly the bundles are smaller, indie titles. Bigger games are often sold at a better discount than Steam. I still tend to buy my games directly from Steam, but Fanatical is a solid storefront.​

Isthereanydeal - this website will give you price history, best price, etc. for any game you might be interested in buying. There's others, like SteamDB, CheapShark​

There's also a browser plugin called Augmented Steam (shoutout to our own jshackles for the original Enhanced Steam ). This is useful for keeping track of pricing, etc. on your browser.

There's Archi Steam Farm, which farms and sells your trading cards. Yes, there are collectables on Steam. You are free to ignore these, but I would recommend to sell off any cards you do not want to turn into badges, as it can be a decent way to help cut costs when buying games.

Hopefully this is user friendly cause I suck with computer knowhow. Want to play some old Sierra games and hopefully Warcraft 2 and 3 , Diablo 1 maybe. Also some new games too.

Wonder how long it takes to get here once it's all paid ?

 

[Maiden Voyage]

Hopefully this is user friendly cause I suck with computer knowhow. Want to play some old Sierra games and hopefully Warcraft 2 and 3 , Diablo 1 maybe. Also some new games too.

Wonder how long it takes to get here once it's all paid ?

In the continental US--it was ~1 week. I think it shipped out Thursday or Friday and was here Wednesday the following week.

For older games, I would recommend GOG.com. I really should have put that on the list in my previous post. The owners are the same as the devs for Withcher games. They are a godsend for making older games run on modern hardware.

Those older Blizzard titles are not (yet) on Steam. Battle.net (Blizzard's storefront) and GOG have them for sale. You can set your Deck to run them directly from the launcher, but you'll need to switch over to Desktop mode to get the games downloaded, I believe.

 

[demigod]

Does everyone here install windows on their deck? Can you mod without windows? What’s the best way to install windows, on the nvme or microsd?

Is there an issue with the fps counter? Playing monster hunter rise sunbreak and there’s obviously dips yet my counter shows 60fps.

The battery life stinks. I lowered the settings and turned on fsr and vrs, it feels like it didn’t help much with battery life if at all. Getting like 2-2.5 hours only. Has there been any battery replacements yet?

 

[Spukc]

anyone tried outriders? not booting on my steam deck

 

[DavidGzz]

I'm loving this thing. Finally got it a couple of weeks ago and have been working through some backlog games since it's just so convenient to just boot up and play. I have a usb-c hub coming so that I can play mouse and kb only games and so that I can connect to an external monitor.

 

[CrustyBritches]

I didn't have the money to upgrade my internal drive since the 1TB 2230s run $175-225, so I got a $50 Teamgroup 512GB card that my son also has on his unit. Now I have 512GB internal(~200GB for SteamOS, ~270GB for Win10), 256GB microSD card for SteamOS, and 512GB microSD for Win10. I bought a little pack of replacement ejectable microSD slots from Amazon for $6 and attached it to the back of my Deck with a Command strip wall mount I cut to size. I like how it turned out. Now I can swap cards when switching between OSes without having to worry about losing them. Fast and effective, although a little ghetto...

 

[Apocryphon]

anyone tried outriders? not booting on my steam deck

 

[Apocryphon]

Mine is getting delivered tomorrow and I feel like I'm waiting for Santa lmao

Congrats dude! It really is like Christmas morning when it arrives.

Despite its flaws, the Steam Deck is easily one of my favorite electronics purchases ever. It's crazy to play games like Arkham Knight at effectively highest settings at a locked 40fps.

It's not perfect, but for first attempt at a handheld PC, I think they nailed it.

 

[Spukc]

Nah this is outdated it now natively supports it according to steam no tinkering

 

[rkofan87]

just got my email hell yes

 

[ahtlas7]

Ordered today! Will have before I move to EU.

 

[BadBurger]

I’m playing P4 Golden every chance I get lately. I’ve had it on steam but I think I just want to play this on a handheld ever since my Vita was destroyed…and now I can!

My VIta died as I was playing through Persona 4 Golden. I haven't had the will to start it over yet on another platform, but at $20 on Steam maybe my heart is ready to be hurt again.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

Damn, almost in August and still waiting to ship.

 

[BadBurger]

 

[Deleted member 1159]

My VIta died as I was playing through Persona 4 Golden. I haven't had the will to start it over yet on another platform, but at $20 on Steam maybe my heart is ready to be hurt again.

At least on steam you’ll know it won’t ever go away…it’s really the perfect game for a handheld, just tragic what happened to my Vita and at the time I wasn’t able to justify buying a replacement.

I think I’m about 30 hours in now and that’s probably 90% of the time I’ve put on the Deck so far

 

[lachesis]

Was just checking up my reservation (Reserved pretty late - Oct7 2021). I was on the After Q3, but it got updated that I will be getting it on Q3 (July-Sept)
Will be on the lookout for the emails. If I get in Sept, it would be a nice birthday gift for myself.

Perhaps the production is really picking up..!

 

[BadBurger]

OK I just fired up Persona 4 Golden on Deck, and this opening song brought me back a decade or so just like that.

 

[Damien Crowley]

Was just checking up my reservation (Reserved pretty late - Oct7 2021). I was on the After Q3, but it got updated that I will be getting it on Q3 (July-Sept)
Will be on the lookout for the emails. If I get in Sept, it would be a nice birthday gift for myself.

Perhaps the production is really picking up..!

They had a news article about that the other day:

Steam Deck Deposit - Steam Deck production update (it's good news) - Steam News

Hello! We're excited to announce that we're going to be able to fulfill demand sooner than we had estimated for everyone in the reservation queue. Many of the supply chain shortfalls that affect Steam Deck are gradually clearing up, and we're continuing to ramp production, so we're able to...

store.steampowered.com

 

[JCK75]

When I placed my order last year I really thought I'd last a week before replacing SteamOS with Windows 11...
I had to follow a few steps but I friggen got Overwatch running at 60fps and it runs and looks amazing.. I'm finding my desire to install windows reduces every single day.. SteamOS has nailed this..
I had gotten OW on the switch but it was a horrible nearly unplayable experience.

 

[KiteGr]

Holly Shit!
My order went from "after Q3" to "Q3"!

I live in EU.
I've ordered the 512gb model.
My order was made on 22 of August.
I'll let you know if I recieve any E-mail.
Let me know if you have an estimate for me compared to other EU 512 models.

 

[AndrewRyan]

When I placed my order last year I really thought I'd last a week before replacing SteamOS with Windows 11...

Same here. Only used the SD card for the first week since I wanted to re-partition the main drive but now I'm completely satisfied with SteamOS and don't need Windows. Honestly didn't expect it to work so well but Valve really pulled it off.

 

[OmegaSupreme]

Been playing a lot of ff6 while I'm at the hotel here in Chicago. Great game for this device. Great game period. It slipped past me back in the day as I was a Genesis kid.

 

[Romulus]

Been playing a lot of ff6 while I'm at the hotel here in Chicago. Great game for this device. Great game period. It slipped past me back in the day as I was a Genesis kid.

Speaking of the hotel, how difficult is it to just hook it up to a TV? Is it mostly plug and play? Is it hassle with a ps4 controller attached for example?
I don't like staring down at a switch screen for hours on end I guess, it's fine for less than a hour and I enjoy that. But my biggest issue is I would find myself just using docked mode but the hardware has been outdated for years now and it's just an eyesore on any TV. Can't even play highly optimized doom 2016 without low frames and resolution.

 

[CrustyBritches]

When I placed my order last year I really thought I'd last a week before replacing SteamOS with Windows 11...
I had to follow a few steps but I friggen got Overwatch running at 60fps and it runs and looks amazing.. I'm finding my desire to install windows reduces every single day.. SteamOS has nailed this..
I had gotten OW on the switch but it was a horrible nearly unplayable experience.

SteamOS is really amazing, but I'm in the "why not both?" camp with SteamOS+Windows 10. I like having access to Game Pass and knowing that a EGS game will run without tweaking. Sometimes I just want something to work without all the research and tweaking. Like 3DMark. On Windows 10 you just run it. On SteamOS it glitches and goes to white screen. Maybe there's somebody out there who has a way to get it running on SteamOS, but there's no need for me to look because I have Windows 10.

That said, the speed with which you can change settings on the fly on SteamOS is amazing. If you don't use Game Pass and you don't mind a little research and tweaking than SteamOS is all you need.

Speaking of the hotel, how difficult is it to just hook it up to a TV? Is it mostly plug and play? Is it hassle with a ps4 controller attached for example?
I don't like staring down at a screen for hours on end I guess, it's fine for less than a hour and I enjoy that. But my biggest issue is I would find myself just using docked mode but the hardware has been outdated for years now and it's just an eyesore on any TV. Can't even play highly optimized doom 2016 without low frames and resolution.

I went into Settings->Bluetooth and quickly paired a DS4. Connected the Deck to a TV with a USB-C to HDMI cable, then ran God of War right out of Game Mode...

 

[poodaddy]

Welp, I finally reserved one of these for my daughter. The Steam Deck will be my daughter's first PC lol. Is there anything I need to be aware of for set up with these things to make the process quicker and easier for her to get used to it? I wanna prepare it to be mostly a get up and go kind of experience ya know? I want her to get I to PC's so we can have fun with building them and PC gaming in general together, but she's notoriously impatient so I've had no luck getting her into PC's, yet she really wants a Steam Deck lol. I dunno, I'm just glad she wants a PC at all.

Bonus question, how usable is this thing for normal PC functions and productivity? Not a huge deal, just curious if she'd be able to type up essays on this too or should I still get her a laptop or desktop at some point. Thanks guys.

 

[ShikabaneHime13]

Finally got my email to purchase my 512gb. Never moved so fast in my life to get a checkout done . Now just waiting for shipping

 

[CrustyBritches]

I did a comparison video for the DLSS-to-FSR 2.0 mod for RDR2. In 'Performance' mode it boosts frame rate by about 25%. On the Deck it's harder to notice, but upon closer inspection there's definitely a good amount of ghosting going on with FSR 2.0 'Performance'. I'll try out Quality and Balanced a little later. Recording process reduces frame rate by about 2-3fps.

 

[BadBurger]

Speaking of the hotel, how difficult is it to just hook it up to a TV? Is it mostly plug and play? Is it hassle with a ps4 controller attached for example?
I don't like staring down at a switch screen for hours on end I guess, it's fine for less than a hour and I enjoy that. But my biggest issue is I would find myself just using docked mode but the hardware has been outdated for years now and it's just an eyesore on any TV. Can't even play highly optimized doom 2016 without low frames and resolution.

All you need is a simple USB-C dongle with a HDMI port. If in SteamOS you don't have to do anything special, just connect the HDMI and it will automatically output video. There's a lot of dock options out there now. I have a simple Anker dongle that provides 100W power input, so that the Deck won't drain while I use it connected to an old 1080p monitor (my dongle is on the list for the best cheap option).

Best Steam Deck dock 2024

We've tested the best Steam Deck dock options, and our list includes the official Valve docking station and alternatives by Jsaux, Belkin, and Anker.

www.pcgamesn.com

As for the display, you could get a small 1080p ZenScreen or something like it to take along with you while traveling. Which you could also use for other purposes if needed. You'll still likely be playing in 720-800p, but at least it won't look as bad as it would on a large screen.

 

[Romulus]

All you need is a simple USB-C dongle with a HDMI port. If in SteamOS you don't have to do anything special, just connect the HDMI and it will automatically output video. There's a lot of dock options out there now. I have a simple Anker dongle that provides 100W power input, so that the Deck won't drain while I use it connected to an old 1080p monitor (my dongle is on the list for the best cheap option).

Best Steam Deck dock 2024

We've tested the best Steam Deck dock options, and our list includes the official Valve docking station and alternatives by Jsaux, Belkin, and Anker.

www.pcgamesn.com

Nice. How does it look onscreen? Do you play on a TV with a 3rd party controller or the deck itself?

 

[BadBurger]

Nice. How does it look onscreen? Do you play on a TV with a 3rd party controller or the deck itself?

I use a really old 13" 1080p portable monitor, I can't even remember the name brand (literally rubbed off). We used to use it at my job in a pinch when we couldn't connect to a server or device via KVM or iLO. I play most games at 720p and it looks fine. Though I mostly play handheld - I use the monitor when I boot into desktop mode to setup stuff like emulation.

When playing on the monitor I use a Xbox One controller, though just about any bluetooth controller will work. SteamOS best supports, in my experience, the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 controllers.

 

[TintoConCasera]

Not 100% sure if I want one, so I just put a deposit just in case.

What do you guys think of the anti-glare screen? Is it worthy for someone who's going to use it indoors?

Great OP by the way!

 

[Evil Calvin]

Got my brand new deck after getting the whiney one RMAd. Looks like I was lucky, the fan is not completely without whine, but it is much more silent than before. Happy to have done it, and valve support was helpful and fast to answer

With that said people, don't expect the deck to be 100% silent anyway. What I found out is that beyond 4500 to 5000 fan speed, you're better off using headphones.

I found out that limiting my deck to about 10watts is the way to go (depending on the heat you get at home). It's more than good enough to run everything, tho you do have to limit at 40 or 30fps on demanding games like elden ring.

I got mine 2+ months ago (256) and haven't mess with watts at all and have zero fan whine. I have to put it up to my face to make sure it's working. Now, I don't play AAA current games but I play GTA4, Neon White, Strange Brigade and other action games and have not heard the fan.

 

[Griffon]

I got mine 2+ months ago (256) and haven't mess with watts at all and have zero fan whine. I have to put it up to my face to make sure it's working. Now, I don't play AAA current games but I play GTA4, Neon White, Strange Brigade and other action games and have not heard the fan.

Likely you got a better deal than I got. My luck build isn't that high.

Looking at youtube comparisons from people who replaced their delta fans, the difference isn't that massive most of the time (beyond eliminating the whine at low RPMs). I'm fine as long as I can play FF14 in dead silence.

... tho I might still want to keep an eye out for ifixit parts in the future...

 

[PhaseJump]

Welp, I finally reserved one of these for my daughter. The Steam Deck will be my daughter's first PC lol. Is there anything I need to be aware of for set up with these things to make the process quicker and easier for her to get used to it? I wanna prepare it to be mostly a get up and go kind of experience ya know? I want her to get I to PC's so we can have fun with building them and PC gaming in general together, but she's notoriously impatient so I've had no luck getting her into PC's, yet she really wants a Steam Deck lol. I dunno, I'm just glad she wants a PC at all.

Bonus question, how usable is this thing for normal PC functions and productivity? Not a huge deal, just curious if she'd be able to type up essays on this too or should I still get her a laptop or desktop at some point. Thanks guys.

It's not ideal to use as a desktop. You can do it, but it requires daisy chaining peripherals through a hub or dock, and the OS is KDE Arch Linux on an immutable file system.

It sucks compared to any practical laptop or desktop deployment for productivity due to jankiness, and the deck itself is more "proton game console" than "steam on a linux PC" in how you use it. It's more console than the Steam Machines were. The new SteamOS game mode UI is much more refined, and goes toe to toe with Switch, Xbox, and Playstation design.

The only jank I notice in game mode is using the web browser to scroll Steam discussions. It occasionally locks both up and down to "up", scrolling to the top when trying to go down a list. Happens in wishlist and Steam store once in a while. Always in Steam discussions under games though.

 

[jshackles]

Bonus question, how usable is this thing for normal PC functions and productivity? Not a huge deal, just curious if she'd be able to type up essays on this too or should I still get her a laptop or desktop at some point. Thanks guys.

Honestly, I'd consider it to be a "less useful Chromebook" - since in desktop mode it's mostly just going to have Chromebook-like functionality and speed, but you'll also have to get a USB-C docking station so you can connect a monitor, keyboard, and mouse to it. You could install LibreOffice on it for word processing, but you'd be better served just running the web browser and using the Google or Microsoft cloud offerings.

While that's all technically possible to do on a single device, the expense of the dock and peripherals will far outweigh just buying something like the Acer N4000 for $129.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/acer-chromebook-315-15-6-hd-laptop-intel-celeron-n4000-4gb-lpddr4-32gb-emmc/6505902.p?skuId=6505902

 

[Maiden Voyage]

Rogue Legacy 2 is fantastic on the Deck. I've beaten the second area boss so far and absolutely zero issues.

 

[Holammer]