It’s no secret that AMD is the main processor or chip supplier for the SONY PlayStation 5, nor is it that not all chips are good and perfectly suited for use in 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 features a powerful 8-core Zen 2 processor, but also comes with an integrated RDNA 2 architecture graphics card with 36 compute units. Until now, we knew that AMD was using the Oberon processor from the PS5 for the creation of the 4700S and 4800S kits. These are based on buggy builds that have the GPU disabled and therefore cannot be used to mount on the game console.
That’s why we are surprised to see a mining RIG based on the SONY console GPU, because for this it requires the graphics to be fully or at least partially functional. Let’s not forget that the console only works with specific specifications. What happens when a batch of chips does not give the expected result? In PC, a new range is created with these chips and they are put on the market at a lower price before they are thrown away. On consoles no, the configuration is unique and irremovable. AMD therefore had to find a way out.
ASRock BC-250, PS5 CPU Based Mining RIG
As you can see from the pictures, ASRock BC-250 mining consists of 12 cards in total, each of them is chaired by the same central processor as the PS5accompanied by their correspondents 16 GB of GDDR6 memory. The PCB is not the same as the console, so the layout of the components is not the same and you won’t see any exclusive parts like the built-in SSD drive or the console exclusive chipset. You also won’t see any interfaces such as HDMI output, M.2 expansion port. After all, it was AMD and ASRock who designed the board the CPU goes on.
As for the information on the performance of this RIG for mining, they are as follows: it achieves a performance of 610MH/s mine Ethereum under a consumption of 2400W provided by two sources of 1200 W each. So this tells us that the AMD BC-250 can’t reach the clock speed the console needs to run. In any case, we don’t know what specs the GPU is running at 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 you can see in the pictures is provided by five 80 x 38mm fans that come together to move air throughout the case, at each of the ASRock BC-250’s 12 cards . The cooling is therefore passive and confirms that each of the processors operates at a lower clock speed than the console.
