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Framework's first desktop is a strange–but unique–mini ITX gaming PC

arstechnica.com

431–440 of 554 posts

Re: Framework's first desktop is a strange–but unique–mini ITX gaming PC

#431

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looks like the Ryzen AI Max chips do have x16: https://www.amd.com/en/products/processors/laptop/ryzen/ai-3... But you probably want M.2 slots over a single x16 slot.

They could have added a 16 lane upstream, 32 lane downstream PLX switch to packet switch between those devices.

PLX switches are too expensive for a consumer device. There's not enough competition in the PCIe switch market.

Re: Framework's first desktop is a strange–but unique–mini ITX gaming PC

#432
post #336

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So they're exactly like the gaming PC community. "Decibels aren't a benchmark", as an enthusiast acquaintance says. If you want to go fanless, you need to go to a silent PC community. Where their forums is actively hostile--even brutal--to people who do want a fan. There are a lot of more or less weird, very dedicated, very opinionated subcultures in the PC hardware world.

> So they're exactly like the gaming PC community. "Decibels aren't a benchmark", as an enthusiast acquaintance says. wut? Gamers love to pay extra for a tiny bit of less noise. Noctua and expensive water cooled systems are widespread in the gaming community.

The issue is kind of on the other side, though: you can pay more to improve your cooling in a way that might be quieter or better; but, if you absolutely do not want any fan noise--nor any fragile mechanical motors to move air/water/oil/ether/whatever--you get to a point where money can't buy better cooling... you simply have to put up with less cooling, with less powerful chips that have lower thermal bounds and often simply aren't fast. Like, I don't buy a computer because it is fast, and as soon as a company starts telling me how fast their computer is I start bemoaning the lost battery life and certainty of a noisy active cooling solution that I don't want :(.

Re: Framework's first desktop is a strange–but unique–mini ITX gaming PC

#433
post #163

It is a weird product for the Framework brand. The pitch for the Framework laptop is that it is repairable/upgradable/modular. Something that is uncommon for laptops nowadays. This is the opposite. Desktops are modular by default, so much is that my computer is like the Ship of Theseus, I never changed it, but upgrade to upgrade, it is a completely different machine than it once was (it started off as a 486!). This o…

It seems that Framework desktop is less modular than regular desktops.

Re: Framework's first desktop is a strange–but unique–mini ITX gaming PC

#434
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://youtu.be/-lErGZZgUbY The ceo kind of explains why in this video. In essence it seems to be a limitation of the chip from AMD

Yep. They could've had socketed RAM but they wouldn't have gotten the same bandwidth and that's really important for running things like LLMs.

> really important for running things like LLMs

and games, having really speedy/low latency memory helps a lot with being competitive to some mid range dedicated GPUs

Re: Framework's first desktop is a strange–but unique–mini ITX gaming PC

#435

I wisth the 12" wouldn't have a garbage screen - although I'm hopeful for more options later on. This format would be equally if not more useful for gaming/business use case, I wonder why they start at the entry level.

Curiously, what do you feel is wrong about the 12" screen? Two years ago, I switched from my 15" MacBook Pro to the 12" Framework, never looked back. What am I missing?

The Framework Laptop 12 is new, you probably switched to a Framework Laptop 13.

As it's visible from existing material the bezels on the Framework Laptop 12 will be huge and as it's a touchscreen, its readability will be worse.

Re: Framework's first desktop is a strange–but unique–mini ITX gaming PC

#436
post #14

Framework is great because they took an entshittified category and made a good and repairable product in it, upgradeable in a way the other vendors refused to enable. That was the laptop. Now they made a less repairable desktop PC. This brings nothing to the market. The soldered ram is particularly unacceptable. I get and believe that they could not make it work otherwise, but then they should have stopped the produc…

The soldered ram was necessary for Strix Halo. There is a large group of people who really want Strix Halo, and are willing to pay for it. There is no reason they should have avoided making this product. (The 32GB config is silly, though. With that little RAM, there is nothing it does better than a cheaper machine with a discrete GPU.)

32gb should be plenty for a little emulation station to sit beneath my TV.

Re: Framework's first desktop is a strange–but unique–mini ITX gaming PC

#437
post #165

I’m happy to answer questions folks have on the Framework Desktop (though probably not until later today).

There's absolutely nothing repairable about this computer. The motherboard is the entire computer. Only the storage can be replaced.

Do you plan to make computers which can actually be repaired? How exactly is the Framework Desktop any better than what Apple is doing with the Mac? I prefer to build my own machines. Why would I ever choose such a product which can't have parts replaced over something better which enables me to repair and upgrade my computer?

I ask because you were on "Buy now!" which also tackles greenwashing. I fail to see how this product is any better than all of the disposable junk sold by other companies (soldered RAM, soldered CPU, no PCI-E, no second NIC, no expandability of any kind).

Do you plan to sell products with PCI-E ports for dedicated GPUs and other devices?

Has Framework's customer support improved? Do you plan to do something about that? I've read countless posts from people who state they didn't receive a reply from Framework's customer support or that their hardware problems were never resolved. Why should a new customer trust your company?

It seems that the Framework Desktop 1st gen has a 4x PCI-E port. That's not exactly useful for a GPU. I've learned this after watching the LTT video.

Re: Framework's first desktop is a strange–but unique–mini ITX gaming PC

#438
post #22

Two other Framework announcements: New 12-inch laptop form factor with 360 degree hinge (ie "tablet mode") and a touchscreen. No price announced, but it is aimed at students: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/02/frameworks-laptop-12... New mainboard upgrade options for Framework 13 models: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/02/framework-gives-its-...

I still think very fondly of my 11” MacBook Air. The idea of a 12” framework laptop is very appealing.

Same here. The 12" Macbook Retina was just about the perfect laptop size and weight, just had not enough HP, and obviously not serviceable in the same way as Framework.

The 12" form factor tho..

Re: Framework's first desktop is a strange–but unique–mini ITX gaming PC

#439
post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the first time I’ve ever seen a CloudFlare “wait time” screen at “15 minutes”.

Looks like their entire website is behind a waiting room at the moment. You’d think they could make their most popular pages static for now and serve them out of the CloudFlare cache, though.

Maybe they're outgrowing the free Cloudflare plan.

Re: Framework's first desktop is a strange–but unique–mini ITX gaming PC

#440

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would you prefer AMD? price, heat/fan noise?

i don't know about other people's experience - but my framework with intel cpu is always running that fan relatively maxed out even when it's not doing anything. And it has massive issues staying asleep which is some sort of driver issue with Windows. But I can be an airport and all of a sudden my backpack feels like it's about to combust and i can hear my laptop fan rippin', even though it should be asleep.

I'm not sure I had the same issue, it is a different laptop, but it would not go to sleep. The current solution is to make it hybernate instead of sleep.
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