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.. **Date**: |today|

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.. image:: _static/images/acquisition-board.jpg
  :alt: Photograph of the Open Ephys acquisition board

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The **Open Ephys Acquisition Board** is an open-source interface for acquiring up to 512 channels of extracellular electrophysiology data over a USB connection. 

You can order an assembled Acquisition Board from `Open Ephys Production Site <https://open-ephys.org/acquisition-system/acquisition-board>`_. You can also order an `Open Ephys Starter Kit <https://open-ephys.org/acquisition-system/starter-kit>`_, which contains everything you need to get started (except for electrodes and a computer).

Because all the designs are freely available, you can also build the Acquisition Board yourself. We estimate you'll spend about 2-3 days of work and about $1000. Follow the instructions :ref:`here <buildinstructions>` to learn how to build your own board.

Besides the acquisition board, you will need :ref:`these other components <acsystemparts>` to start collecting data. If you already have all of the necessary parts in your lab, follow the :ref:`quickstartguide` to learn how to start collecting data right away. Otherwise, we recommend reading through the sub-pages to help you decide which components to buy.

Key Specifications

* 4 headstage connections (up to 2 64-channel headstages per connection)
* Up to 512 channels
* USB data transmission
* 8 analog inputs
* 8 digital inputs

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                <h5 class="card-title">Quickstart Guide</h5>
                <p class="card-text">Read this if you're just starting out.</p>
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                <h5 class="card-title">Software Guide</h5>
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                <h5 class="card-title">Assembly instructions</h5>
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                <h5 class="card-title">Tutorials</h5>
                <p class="card-text">Guided tours on a variety of topics.</p>
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    User-Manual/index
    Build-Instructions/index
    Tutorials/index
    FAQ/index