User Builds “Steam Machine” for Around 150 US Dollars: The Console Achieves 60 FPS in Full HD

A YouTuber builds a Steam Machine from an old mining motherboard. The performance is surprisingly good, yet there are some hurdles that the YouTuber has to overcome. This is mainly due to the very specific mining hardware.

The YouTube channel ETA Prime built a “Steam Machine” from a so-called mining blade in a video. A mining blade (or hash blade) is a specialized component designed for cryptocurrency mining. Another YouTuber also wanted to replicate the Steam Machine but failed due to the high price.

What exactly did the YouTuber use? ETA Prime relies on an ASRock BC-250 for his build. This is a special module that consists of a partially defective PS5 chip. The defective chips were then reused in such mining devices. In contrast to the fully functional PS5 chip, the partially defective variant is about 25% slower.

ETA Prime explained in his video that “ASRock BC-250 boards” can be purchased on eBay for prices between 100 and 120 US dollars. A current sample shows us that prices are currently somewhat higher. Today, you’re more likely to pay 150 to 200 US dollars when looking at prices on eBay excluding shipping costs.

However, since he cannot install SteamOS on the device due to very specific requirements, he used Bazzite. This is a Fedora-based distribution that resembles Valve’s own SteamOS.

Cyberpunk 2077 with 60 FPS on medium details at Full HD

How fast is the device?

• Left 4 Dead 2 at maximum settings with 150 FPS at Full HD
• Spider-Man 2 ran at about 60 FPS at Full HD and medium settings with FSR on “Balanced”,
• The Witcher 3 ran at about 75 FPS at Full HD and high settings
• Forza Horizon 5 ran at about 80 FPS at Full HD and medium settings.
• Cyberpunk 2077 also achieved an average of almost 60 FPS at Full HD and medium settings.

Can you replicate it? In principle, you can easily buy an Asrock BC-250 used over eBay or other platforms and connect it to a monitor. However, there are some hurdles before you can actually use the device as a proper gaming PC:

• The graphics drivers currently only work on Linux; Windows is not supported.
• You need both a special case and custom cooling, as the cryptocurrency mining module does not run with conventional hardware.
• Some users, for example, on Reddit, criticize the high power consumption at idle and the very slow M.2 slot.
• You need a special BIOS to even use the mining card as a gaming system.

ETA Prime had to update the BIOS to a custom version himself for it to work as a gaming computer.

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The Steam Machine is said to be faster than 70% of all gaming PCs on Steam. At least, that’s what a developer from Valve said in an interview. When developing the Steam Machine, they primarily focused on performance and price, and what interests most players: Valve says: The Steam Machine offers performance that matches or even exceeds most gaming PCs.