In an exciting twist for gaming enthusiasts, a group of gamers has found a creative method to assemble a budget-friendly gaming PC resembling Valve's Steam Machine.
This innovative approach involves repurposing the APU (Accelerated Processing Unit) from the PlayStation 5 (PS5). According to reports from Tom's Hardware, the APU in question is the BC-250, which is a variant derived from the PS5's chip architecture.
Understanding the APU BC-250
The BC-250 APU features six Zen 2 CPU cores and an RDNA 2 GPU equipped with 24 Compute Units (CUs). Additionally, it houses 16 GB of GDDR5 RAM, which is shared between the CPU and GPU. To put this into perspective, the standard PS5 APU is designed with eight Zen 2 cores and a GPU that boasts 36 CUs. This means the BC-250 is a slightly scaled-down version of Sony's original configuration.
Enhancing Performance
Despite its reduced specifications, there is potential to maximize the capabilities of the BC-250 APU. Specific tools can be utilized to enhance the number of CPU and GPU cores present in the APU. In fact, reports suggest that the GPU's CUs can be nearly doubled from 24 to 40 CUs using these tools.
Additional Features of BC-250
Alongside the CPU, GPU, and RAM, the BC-250 APU also includes support for NVMe PCIe 2.0 storage, DisplayPort 1.4 connectivity, Gigabit Ethernet, and multiple USB-A ports. Given that the PS5's architecture is primarily designed for console gaming, there's curiosity about how these components can be effectively used in a gaming PC.
Setting Up Your Gaming PC
As per the aforementioned report, gamers can combine the APU with an SSD and install a Linux-based operating system, such as SteamOS. This is what makes this gaming PC akin to the Steam Machine, which utilizes its proprietary OS rather than a conventional Windows-based setup.
The choice of Linux is strategic, as it offers better compatibility with AMD drivers and makes the BC-250 more accessible as a gaming machine, even if it's not standard PC hardware.
Internal testing by Tom's Hardware indicates that PCs utilizing the BC-250 APU can run various games at 1080p resolution with commendable performance. When the GPU is unlocked using the specified tools, the performance can even approach that of an official Steam Machine.
Source: https://tekno.kompas.com/read/2026/08/20/16040017/gamer-rakit-steam-machine-murah-dari-papan-chip-bekas-ps5
