Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

arstechnica.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 554 posts

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

#61

Post by nolist_policy »

cogman10 wrote: post #43
sunshowers wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no other way to get 256 GB/s of memory bandwidth for this cheap, and that's quite valuable in many workloads. I'm curious to get one for compiling code too. You can get similar bandwidth with server boards that cost 5-10x as much, or with a Mac Studio that costs 2.5x as much.

> You can get similar bandwidth with server boards Could be wrong, but I don't think you can. The bandwidth limit, AFAIK, is a problem with the DDR5 spec. These soldered solutions can go faster specifically because they aren't DDR5.

Desktop platforms only have 2 memory channels, amd's latest Epyc servers have 12 channels per socket. Strix Halo has 4 channels.

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

#62

Post by AshamedCaptain »

coldpie wrote: 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-...

Yet another 1080p garbage screen. Please! I had tablets with higher DPI 10 years ago!

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

#63

Post by jsheard »

unethical_ban wrote: post #48
ThinkBeat wrote: post #28

It seems unframeworky Memory, CPU and GPU once piece of metal, sitting in a tiny box. A regular PC in a regular case, it a lot more modular and upgradable. It does seem like an interesting box, and matches against Apple Studio I would presume. Yet customers of Apple are used to having (near) 0 user modifiable parts. It might well have a good market, It might b a great box. It is unframeworky.

There is a balance between forgetting your purpose and thinking too narrowly about your business. At first, Framework is "laptops that are repairable". But if you broaden what they are, they are a disruptor of direct-to-consumer computing equipment, with a core competency of repairability and upgradability. An integrated CPU/RAM is a decrease in that measure, but it is for a valid benefit - a large improvement in per…

> I wonder if modular memory will continue to evolve and be competitive bandwidth wise with soldered.

That's the promise of CAMM2, which is supposed to enable socketed LPDDR with almost the same performance as soldered-down LPDDR. It's still pretty bleeding-edge though so it's hard to blame Framework for sticking with soldered memory for now.

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

#64

Post by ktallett »

coldpie wrote: 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-...

The 12 inch is what I will be considering purchasing as I already have a 13 inch AMD that I am pretty happy with.

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

#65

Post by 9283409232 »

It's always interesting watching different segments people react to a product announcement. When Intel announced their new GPUs, AI people talked about how lame it is and they should've put my VRAM while gaming people talked about what a steal it is.

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

#66

Post by yonatan8070 »

cosmic_cheese wrote: post #38
coldpie wrote: 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-...

Reserved one of the updated base model 13’s. Battery life for this gen of Ryzen seems solid in other laptops so I’m hoping it’ll do reasonably well at stretching the FW13’s 61Wh battery for low intensity tasks, particularly in power save mode under Linux.

I really want to get a Framework to replace my aging IdeaPad, but they don't ship to my region yet.

I was planning on ordering the 7840U version to where I'm staying in a trip to the US, but now it feels a bit of a let down to order a last-gen model since the new one might not arrive in time for my trip in mid-April.

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

#67

Post by kingsleyopara »

sunshowers wrote: post #54
kingsleyopara wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A Mac mini with an M4 Pro and 64GB of memory has the same bandwidth and costs £1,999, compared to £1,750 for the Framework Desktop when factoring in the minimum costs for storage, tiles, and necessary expansion cards.

True, but less RAM.

One thing to note on the more RAM: for the 128GB option, my understanding is that the GPU is limited to using only 96GB [1]. In contrast, on Macs, you can safely increase this to, for example, 116GB using `sysctl`.

[1] https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cpus/amds-beastly...

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

#69

Post by ortusdux »

coldpie wrote: 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 wonder if the 12-inch form factor could be modified to support a 360 deg hinge? I enjoyed the Lenovo Yoga's tablet configuration.

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

#70

Post by adgjlsfhk1 »

kingsleyopara wrote: post #67
sunshowers wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, but less RAM.

One thing to note on the more RAM: for the 128GB option, my understanding is that the GPU is limited to using only 96GB [1]. In contrast, on Macs, you can safely increase this to, for example, 116GB using `sysctl`. [1] https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cpus/amds-beastly...

On linux, the gpu can go up to 110 GB.
Post reply on HN