The Framework Desktop is a deep disappointment to me. Framework, the company that got into the business with an explicit purpose of building modular and repairable computers, went into a space where that was the norm (desktops), and introduced a PC that was none of those things, at an exorbitant price. When they debuted it, it was marketed specifically as a gaming machine. As much as I want to support them, I cannot reward them for this specific product, as it abandons their fundamental tenets.
Here’s the build. You can see similar builds featured on many YT channels at this point with the new NV10 case and 5060 LP GPU.
Here’s one from ETA Prime
And another from “MRGUI on PC”
This build: ~$1100
Comparable Framework build: ~$1700
I will concede the Framework is still better at a few things:
- Efficiency (I’m not sure that this is to any degree that’s worth being factored in)
- Being that it’s more efficient, it’s also quieter
- Local LLMs (which no one should care about or be using)
- A bit thinner due to not have a dGPU
I saw it more as an AI bro machine rather than gaming-centric. It happens to play games fairly decently though provisions a great deal of gfx die area in doing so.
I agree with you that it’s daft for a company like framework to put that out. wouldn’t it be lovely if something like strix halo could work on a socketed system, perhaps leveraging a different memory technology than DDR5 UDIMMs
The whole point of this chip is unified memory, which can only be done using soldered memory. Using DIMMs would mean it must be typical shared memory, like any other APU/iGPU.
If the framework desktop came with a “normal” CPU/APU with non-soldered RAM, it would just be exactly the same as any other prebuilt desktop.
I’m aware of that and even though I was alluding to ‘other memory technologies’, I don’t think something like CAMM2 (for example) could work for several reasons.
Then maybe they just shouldn’t have made a desktop? It’s like I said, this is a market segment that’s already extremely repairable/upgradeable, and doesn’t require their attention.