This is an interesting challenge from the “why not?” files — [GPUSpecs] over on YouTube built a gaming PC without using a single component from NVIDIA, Intel, or AMD. That immediately makes us think of the high-power ARM workstations or perhaps even perhaps the new “AI workstations” coming available with RISC V architecture, but the challenge here was specifically “gaming PC,” not workstation. A gaming PC, without a GPU by one of those three? To make it even more interesting, the x86 CPU isn’t Intel or AMD either.
If you’re of a certain vintage, you may remember Cyrix. Cyrix reverse-engineered the x86 ISA and made their own compatible chips in the 90s, before being bought out by National Semiconductor, and then VIA Technologies. VIA partnered with the Government of Shanghai to found Zhaoxin, and it is from Zhaoxin that the KaiXian KX 7000 CPU hails — an x86-64 device, that isn’t Intel or AMD. We’ve actually covered the company before. This particular chip benchmarks like an old i5, so not spectacular, but usable.
The GPU is also Chinese: a Moore Threads MTT S80, with 16 GB of DDR6 vRAM, 4096 shading units, 256 texture mapping units, and 256 ROPs. On paper, that looks like a very respectable graphics card, but it’s not clear how well the games [GPUSpecs] tested were actually using it. Based on the numbers he was getting in his testing, there are some serious driver issues with this card. Even Black Myth: Wukong, which is supposed to be a game the card targets, was sitting at 13.6 FPS on low settings and 1080p. That almost feels like integrated graphics numbers, not something a beefy GPU would give you — but it matches what other reviewers were saying when the card first came out.
So if you’re looking for a sanction-proof gaming rig, we’re sorry to say it’s not quite ready for triple-A. On the other hand, it’s a neat hack and we didn’t know this box could even get built. Right now, it looks like you will need at least one of the big three names to game on–you can game on ARM with NVIDIA graphics, or even with Intel graphics, and of course AMD, which has been in the works the longest.
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