AMD has made an interesting move with the release of its 4700S Desktop Kit, a prebuilt solution consisting of the core guts of a desktop PC which appears to use a very similar chip to that found in the PS5.
As Tom’s Hardware reports, AMD’s 4700S Desktop Kit – which provides a compact motherboard with the CPU, cooler, and system RAM already on-board – is set to be used in over 80 systems from various PC makers, as confirmed by AMD itself.
These PCs are out there already it seems, albeit only in Asia, with the 4700S-powered machines having launched on June 24 according to AMD – though it’s not clear when these kit-based PCs will be out in other regions like the US or Europe.
Kitted out
The Desktop Kit provides the core components to slot into a small case, and all that’s then needed is a power supply (300W+ recommended) plus storage (SATA) and a graphics card (with only certain less powerful GPU models supported).
As mentioned, the included AMD 4700S processor with 8-cores looks to be very much like the chip powering the PS5, with the main difference apparently being its lack of integrated graphics – hence the need for that separate GPU, with a single PCIe x16 slot provided to house the graphics card.
As Tom’s Hardware observes, the pictures of the 4700S and PS5 SoC seem to show a very close match between the chips, at least physically on the surface, although as mentioned the PC version has no integrated graphics, and could be clocked slightly slower.
What might be happening here is that chips destined for the PS5 which failed to make the necessary grade could’ve been repurposed for use in the PC kit, running slightly slower and with disabled graphics to ensure that they’re good to go.
Tom’s Hardware did question AMD on whether this is actually a repurposed PS5 SoC, but the company wouldn’t be drawn to comment, issuing a generic statement in response: “AMD 4700S Desktop Kit is its own unique solution, designed to address the desire for robust, high-core count performance in the mainstream market – ideal for multi-tasking, productivity, and light 3D workflows.”
Incidentally, when we mentioned less powerful graphics cards for the 4700S Desktop Kit, if you’re wondering which ones are supported, on the AMD front, it’s the RX 550, 560, 570, 580 and 590 models. With Nvidia, it’s the GT 710, GT 730, GT 1030, GTX 1050 and 1050 Ti, and GTX 1060 GPUs.