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Every bit you lot probably know by now, the PS4 is essentially a $400 PC. Information technology has an x86 PC CPU, a standard PC GPU, and the same kind of RAM that you'd discover on a PC graphics card. In that location are a few custom chips on the PS4's motherboard, but for the most role it's just a normal PC with some custom software. This led me to wonder… could you actually build a comparable PC for $400? More chiefly, given how Sony has crippled the PS4'southward home theatre functionality, is it possible to build a PC for $400 that is actually improve for games and equally a living room media box?

To answer that question, we first demand to hold on the PS4's hardware specification. Information technology has a motherboard, an AMD APU (viii-core Jaguar CPU + GPU on the same chip), 8GB of GDDR5 RAM, a 500GB difficult drive, and a PSU. The PS4 also has WiFi and Bluetooth — and we'll also need a example, of form. I think it'll be very hard to build a PC with the aforementioned specification for $400, but we'll see.

Setting some ground rules

DM 387 Micro ATX case

DM 387 Micro ATX case: Not quite a PS4, merely as close as we're gonna get for $400

From the kickoff, nosotros have a problem: The APU in the PS4 is unique. It pairs an viii-cadre Jaguar CPU with, essentially, the Radeon Hard disk 7850. The best AMD APU currently on the market (the Richland A10-6800K) has about i third of the processing power of the PS4's GPU. There are no 8-cadre Jaguar parts on the market — but the quad-cadre Kabini A6-5200, which is paired with an even weaker GPU than the A10. Kaveri, when information technology comes to market in January 2014, will be a closer match — only the PS4 will still have around twice the graphics grunt. In curt, we're forced to use a CPU and detached GPU. It just got a lot harder to hit our $400 target.

The other large problem is the 8GB of GDDR5 RAM, which has an utterly insane peak bandwidth of 176 gigabytes per 2d. There is no way to build a PC with such a configuration. In the PS4, the RAM is used past both the CPU and GPU in a HSA 2.0 configuration, providing a sizable speed boost — an option that isn't available to the PC world until Kaveri launches. It'south of import to note that even if we could slot some GDDR5 RAM into a PC motherboard, it would probably be much more expensive than conventional DDR3.

Can you build a PS4-akin PC for $400?

We'll be using Newegg for component prices, considering that'south our components supplier of selection when we build new rigs hither in the ExtremeTech bunker.

  • Motherboard:ASRock H61M-DGS ($50). A no-frills motherboard, just you get integrated Gigabit Ethernet and 6-channel audio. It just supports DDR3 1600 RAM, simply that's a compromise we're forced to make.
  • CPU:Intel Celeron G1610 ($50). This chip is only a dual-core, but for lightly threaded workloads it has comparable theoretical performance to the PS4's 8-core Jaguar CPU.
  • GPU: Asus HD7850-DC-1GD5 ($140, or $120 after rebate).
  • RAM: Kingston HyperX Blackness 8GB ($65). This stuff is DDR3 1600 — which has a fraction of the bandwidth of the PS4's GDDR5.
  • Storage: 500GB Samsung Spinpoint M8 ($55). 500GB of 2.5-inch storage goodness.
  • Other: USB Bluetooth + WiFi dongle ($xi)
  • Example and power supply: Apex DM-387 Micro ATX case ($45). This bad male child is cheap, includes a PSU, and can stand up on its side — like the PS4!

Full cost: $416, or $396 afterward rebate

So, there yous take it: Information technology is but about possible to build a PS4-comparable PC for $400. You make a lot of concessions, though: Nosotros haven't included the price of an operating organisation, nor a keyboard/mouse/gamepad. The DM-387 case is a lot bigger than the PS4. In that location'south no optical drive, and so you lot're forced to load games via USB or digitally download them via Steam. Only everyone has an former copy of Windows XP/7 and a spare Xbox 360 or DualShock gamepad boot effectually, right?

PS4 system board, and other hardware bits

The insides of your $400 PS4-similar PC won't look quite as pretty

Overall, I am very surprised at how close we got to the PS4 for $400, especially when Sony says it'south losing $60 per console. If we had a budget of $460, we could've got a nicer case or a much faster CPU. In that location are some who will point to the drastically unlike RAM, but in reality, with 1GB of GDDR5 on the graphics carte du jour, the real-globe difference betwixt the PS4 and our $400 PC volition exist marginal.

For $400, so, yous tin can have a PC with PS4-like functioning that'due south (probably) capable of playing the same games at like resolution and detail levels. The PS4 volition likely have an advantage because games can exist specifically tailored towards the console'southward hardware provisions, just good, high-budget PC ports should exist almost comparable. For $400, you also go a full-fat PC that can play every file blazon y'all throw at it, either locally, via the LAN, or streaming video/music from a website.

At present read: The PS4 takes the 'pure gaming car' thing style as well far