It is no secret that AMD is the supplier of the SONY PlayStation 5’s main processor or chip, nor is it that not all chips are good and fully suitable for use in the console. We already knew about the AMD 4700S and 4800S, but we didn’t expect to see PS5 hardware in a mining RIG, the ASRock BC-250.
The PlayStation 5 APU not only includes a powerful 8-core Zen 2 CPU, but also comes with an integrated RDNA 2 architecture graphics card with 36 Compute Units. Until now we knew that AMD used the Oberon processor from the PS5 for the creation of the 4700S and 4800S kits. These are based on buggy builds that have GPU disabled and therefore cannot be used to mount to the game console.
That is why we are surprised to see a mining RIG that is based on the graphics processor of the SONY console, since for this it is necessary that the graphics be fully functional or at least partially so. Let’s not forget that the console only works with specific specifications. What happens when a consignment of chips does not give the expected result? In PC, a new range is created with these chips and they are released on the market at a lower price before discarding them. On consoles no, the configuration is unique and immovable. So AMD has had to find a way out.
ASRock BC-250, mining RIG based on PS5 processor
As you can see in the images, the ASRock BC-250 mining is made up of 12 cards in total, each of them is chaired by the same central processor as the PS5accompanied by their corresponding 16GB of GDDR6 memory. The PCB is not the same as the one on the console, so the layout of the components is not the same and you will not see exclusive parts like the integrated SSD drive or the console-exclusive chipset. You are also not going to see interfaces such as the HDMI output, the M.2 expansion port. After all, it is AMD and ASRock who have designed the board on which the processor goes.
As for the information on the performance of this RIG for mining, it is as follows: it achieves a performance of 610MH/s mining Ethereum under a consumption of 2400W provided by two sources of 1200 W each. So this tells us that the AMD BC-250 cannot reach the clock speed that the console requires to work. In any case, we do not know what are the specifications at which the GPU works in these cases.
Let’s not forget that the PS5 graphics processor can reach up to 2230 MHz and that is why it needs a large and complex cooling system. What little cooling that can be seen in the images is provided by five 80 x 38mm fans that are found to move air throughout the case, at the level of each of the 12 cards in the ASRock BC-250. So the cooling is passive and confirms that each of the processors work at a lower clock speed than in the console.
