Key Takeaways
1. The ASRock BC-250 motherboard is a budget-friendly alternative to Steam Machines, particularly if purchased at a low price.
2. This motherboard is part of ASRock’s “cryptomining rig” line and features a simplified version of the PS5 APU.
3. YouTuber ETA Prime chose Bazzite over SteamOS for its flexibility, enabling significant performance tweaks to the system.
4. Modifications included allocating 8 GB of unified GDDR6 RAM to the GPU and overclocking it, resulting in a 30% performance boost.
5. The BC-250 can run games well for a $100 motherboard, though prices have risen to over $150 or even $200, still making it a viable option for 1080p gaming.
YouTuber ETA Prime has recently gotten an ASRock BC-250 motherboard and demonstrated how it can serve as an inexpensive alternative to Steam Machines, provided the motherboard is purchased at an affordable price. This isn’t the first time this board has been discussed; initial reports about it date back to March 2022.
Background on the BC-250
As we mentioned before, ASRock marketed these boards as part of their “cryptomining rig.” These motherboards come with a simplified version of the PS5 APU, offering fewer CPU cores and a reduced GPU. Nevertheless, as shown by YouTuber Budget-Builds Official, it still offers a fair amount of gaming capability. ETA Prime has now revealed what this board can achieve with Bazzite installed.
Choosing Bazzite Over SteamOS
ETA Prime opted for Bazzite instead of the official SteamOS due to the former’s more lenient stance on hardware permissions. This flexibility allowed the YouTuber to implement necessary adjustments to transform it into a “$100 Steam Machine” alternative.
One of the key modifications made was the VRAM allocation, with ETA assigning 8 GB from the 16 GB of unified GDDR6 RAM to the GPU. Additionally, the YouTuber has undervolted and overclocked the GPU from 1,500 MHz to 2,000 MHz. This alteration reportedly results in a 30% increase in performance.
Impressive Gaming Performance
The gaming capabilities are surprisingly good for a $100 motherboard. ETA tested five games, and the BC-250 managed to run them quite well.
While these are commendable results for a $100 board, which can be combined with a $10 system fan and a 350 W PSU, the current pricing has changed since the release of these videos. On eBay, the price has risen to over $150, and on AliExpress, it can exceed $200. Even at the $200 mark, this setup could still be a reasonable choice if aiming for 1080p resolution and if the tweaks don’t pose a major issue.
Source:
Link
Leave a Reply