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The "$60 Gaming PC" – AMD BC-250 (2025)

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Re: The "$60 Gaming PC" – AMD BC-250 (2025)

#111

Post by rbanffy »

mplewis wrote: post #94
rbanffy wrote: post #76

It’s an intriguing machine, but, by now, I’d have imagined someone would offer a sheet metal case with a PSU and fan (or mounting holes, at least). The form factor is unfortunate. I wonder what was the intended usage (server side gaming?) and if other high-volume parts (as game console APUs are) can become small similar systems, preferably with expandable memory). The history of how this thing came into being must be…

The intended usage was crypto mining. You bought a 4U of these in a rack of 12 blades.

Sad. That doesn’t look like a segment that’ll have massive growth in the near future.

That said, a 12-blade system of these in a tower enclosure would be an interesting home lab.

That brings up another rant I have about physical form factors - I expected OCP would bring about opportunities for having desktop workstations using OCP server parts.

Re: The "$60 Gaming PC" – AMD BC-250 (2025)

#112

Post by thenthenthen »

tiahura wrote: post #19

"many PS5 APUs that didn’t meet console spec (“binned” or “defective” for console use) got repurposed. Instead of being discarded, these chips were re-used for mining/higher-density hardware." Not discussed much in the article, but it looks like: TSMC → AMD controlled/qualified the usable off-spec parts → AMD supplied BC-250 parts to ASRock → ASRock sold mining hardware.

I think this is one of the more interesting parts of this machine. How did they end up at ASRock?

Re: The "$60 Gaming PC" – AMD BC-250 (2025)

#113

Post by MegaDeKay »

bpye wrote: post #80
nsbk wrote: post #12

I built one of these. It is not possible to do so for 60$ anymore since the board itself goes for 150+. On top of that you still need a PSU, NVMe, a high pressure fan, DP to HDMI adapter, possibly BT and Wifi adapters, and a 3d-printed or DIY case. It is also a very hacky build. You need to flash the BIOS which enables a few interesting unlocks: from 24 to 40 GPU compute units and 6 to 8 CPU cores. It's a bit of a si…

Are there DP-HDMI adapters that work with HD audio bitstreaming and VRR? Different use case, but I've not had much luck finding good options.

Might the UGreen adapter mentioned in this Reddit post do the trick?

https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/1pkdfcm/ugree...

It was all the rage towards getting 4K 120 Hz VRR on Linux before AMD came along to contribute proper HDMI 2.1 support to the kernel. There is also mention in that thread of a CableMatters adapter that could be flashed with an alternate firmware but it wasn't as stable.

Re: The "$60 Gaming PC" – AMD BC-250 (2025)

#114

Post by gambiting »

nsbk wrote: post #12

I built one of these. It is not possible to do so for 60$ anymore since the board itself goes for 150+. On top of that you still need a PSU, NVMe, a high pressure fan, DP to HDMI adapter, possibly BT and Wifi adapters, and a 3d-printed or DIY case. It is also a very hacky build. You need to flash the BIOS which enables a few interesting unlocks: from 24 to 40 GPU compute units and 6 to 8 CPU cores. It's a bit of a si…

Why would the GPU context be limited to only 2GB?

Re: The "$60 Gaming PC" – AMD BC-250 (2025)

#115

Post by nfriedly »

NooneAtAll3 wrote: post #39
nsbk wrote: post #12

I built one of these. It is not possible to do so for 60$ anymore since the board itself goes for 150+. On top of that you still need a PSU, NVMe, a high pressure fan, DP to HDMI adapter, possibly BT and Wifi adapters, and a 3d-printed or DIY case. It is also a very hacky build. You need to flash the BIOS which enables a few interesting unlocks: from 24 to 40 GPU compute units and 6 to 8 CPU cores. It's a bit of a si…

> you still need ... DP to HDMI adapter what for? just use DP

Not sure why you got downvoted for this - all but the cheapest monitors include DisplayPort because DisplayPort is both technically superior to HDMI and royalty-free.

The only thing HDMI really has going for it TV's/home theater equipment. (And that's partially because most of the manufacturers are part of the HDMI forum, so they're the ones receiving the royalties that everyone else pays to use HDMI.)

Re: The "$60 Gaming PC" – AMD BC-250 (2025)

#116

Post by shadowpho »

spicySpy wrote: post #89

For anyone wondering about local LLM applications: - current price $200+ - limited VRAM (12-14 GB) - poor performamce in clusters [1] - only 2 lanes of PCI-e 2.0 (still better than CMP XX HX mining cards) [1] https://ciroluciotecce.it/en/posts/bc250-cluster-inferenza-l...

Jeez I checked eBay and they are up to $300+ now
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