Modders Unlock Half-Price PS5 Performance With the Salience Mining Board Project

Sony raised PS5 console prices twice in recent months, pushing the Digital Edition to roughly six hundred dollars and the disc model even higher. Memory shortages and broader component costs left little room for the usual late-generation discounts. For people willing to handle some assembly and software setup, a community project around leftover mining hardware now delivers comparable silicon for about half that outlay.

These boards, which were originally part of cryptocurrency mining rigs in 2022, were designed to run cut down versions of the proprietary AMD CPU that drives the PlayStation 5. After Ethereum switched to a more efficient approach, the racks became excess, and vendors in China and elsewhere began selling individual boards for $100-$200. It didn’t take long for enthusiasts to notice the silicon and begin figuring out how to convert these boards into actual, functional computers.

A normal unit has 6 Zen 2 processing cores and 24 graphics compute units active, however the chip itself has 8 processor cores and 40 compute units, which is identical to the full PS5 chip. Firmware just disables those extra units. The RAM is a respectable 16GB of GDDR6, split between the processor and the graphics, which is the same as the console’s configuration. Storage is housed in a regular M.2 slot but operates at a slower pace than the PS5’s bespoke drive. You receive one DisplayPort for video output. It uses a regular PCIe 8-pin connector plus two smaller plugs and requires 12 volts.

Forum users created several useful tools for changing the default settings without causing permanent damage. Before re-enabling the two extra CPU cores, one script ensures their stability. Another sets two graphics registers at driver launch, allowing the system to see all 40 compute units. Not every board can take the complete unlock, however; some have flaws that result in less than the full works, such as 32 or 36 units, but you can always reverse the settings and the board will return to its original state.

Setting up involves a few practical steps. You’ll need a power supply that can provide a nice consistent 12-volts, which is usually a Flex-ATX device or a server-style brick. Then you’ll need to slap some new thermal glue on the OEM heatsinks and add some extra fans because the original cooling system believed it’d be sitting in a rack with other boards. This leaves only the M.2 SSD for your operating system. Most people choose a modern Linux distribution, such as CachyOS or Bazzite, which already includes the necessary kernel and graphics drivers. On the first boot, you run the unlock scripts, adjust the fan curves, and divide the memory between the processor and the graphics. To keep everything organized, simply place it all in a 3D printed case or a simple enclosure.

When you turn it on, the device operates more like a compact gaming PC than a console. Games are loaded using Steam or your preferred Linux client. Tests at 1080p on high settings show a considerable increase after the system is unlocked. For example, in one round of testing, we saw GTA V jump from plodding along at fifty-eight frames per second on the default settings to a smooth seventy-two frames once all compute units and extra cores were blazing. Hitman 3 also increased from fifty-eight to sixty-nine frames, while Spider-Man 2 increased from thirty-six to a far more playable forty-six frames. Cyberpunk 2077 was still playable, but with slightly toned-down graphics and a few upscaling tricks. Most games had frame rates that didn’t quite match that of a regular PlayStation 5, most likely due to slower clocks and storage, but they were still high enough to enjoy on a desk or living room television.

Building one of these systems, however, is rather inexpensive, with a total cost of $250 to $300 after accounting for a power supply, some storage, and a suitable cooling system. That’s about half the price of a brand-new PlayStation 5 Digital Edition. Of course, there are certain tradeoffs to consider. There is no formal support, disk drive, or console-like interface to speak of. Video playback is dependent on the processor rather than having its own hardware, and some of the boards are fussy and require some trial and error to get them functioning properly at full speed. Also, the power drain increases with the additional compute units, so don’t compromise on cooling.