AMD's 4800S desktop kit may deliver a salvaged Xbox or PlayStation chip to PC builders
AMD is the manufacturer behind the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X System-on-Chips (SoCs) and since both architectures are x86 based, AMD can, and has, repurpose them for desktop and Windows usage. Enter the 4800S motherboard kit. According to Videocardz, the 4800S is possibly the Xbox Series X silicon, though it can't be sure, but it does add some useful functionality over the very basic 4700S kit that included the PS5 SoC.
The 4700S, which included the eight-core Zen 2 based CPU from the PS5, didn’t feature integrated graphics, indicating the included chips didn’t make the grade to make it into PS5 consoles. The very basic motherboard included a PCIe 2.0 x4 slot and lacked M.2 support which significantly limited its appeal and usefulness.
The 4800S reportedly includes a PCIe 4.0 slot and we can see an M.2 slot next to the main power connector. These inclusions means it could serve as a genuine gaming machine. The CPU portion of the Xbox Series X is clocked at 3.8 GHz versus the 3.5GHz of the PS5 and though the Zen 2 architecture is aging, having eight cores at a reasonable TDP in a prebuilt small form factor could find itself winning many fans.
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Now if only AMD would enable the graphics portion of the chip! That’s unlikely to happen though as there are surely agreements in place to prevent that. Not to mentioned it's likely the GPU that's b0rked for any SoC to end up in a desktop kit rather than a console.
Even without integrated graphics, AMD could consider entering the NUC market, an area that Intel dominates. We’re a little surprised that AMD hasn’t done so given the traditional strength of its APUs. Perhaps it will think about it when it releases its 6nm Rembrandt APUs with RDNA2 graphics, expected at CES in January.
The 4800S kit is expected to launch in Q1 2022. It will be manufactured by MSI and bundled with a PowerColor RX 6600 graphics card. There's no word on pricing and its availability is likely to be limited to certain regions. Even though the 4800S kit shows potential, the kit may end up being relegated to a regional OEM gaming machine that receives little fanfare.
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