The Framework Desktop modular mini PC has received rave reviews from the repair experts at iFixit, even with the soldered-on motherboard memory for the AMD Ryzen AI Max processor.
Image source: ifixit.com
The iFixit guys who were there for the company’s presentation noted that the Framework Desktop comes apart with minimal effort, with standard connectors and off-the-shelf components throughout, making it easy to take apart and upgrade the machine without causing stress. “We were impressed before we even laid our hands on a screwdriver. The case panels? Thumb screws and magnets. The cooling? Noctua fan, but it’s replaceable with any 120mm fan. The storage? M.2 SSDs, both easily accessible. Now that’s the kind of thoughtful design we want to see in every gadget,” iFixit said.
The motherboard is a standard Mini-ITX form factor with standard ATX power connectors, a PCIe x4 slot, and a standard set of ports on the rear panel: two USB4, two DisplayPort, one HDMI, and 5-gigabit Ethernet. This means that it can be placed in any other case and you can assemble your own PC from components from any manufacturer. Removing the fan and M.2 solid-state drives requires unscrewing a few screws; the positive side is the expansion cards, which allow you to choose a set of ports on the front panel.
The main problem is the memory soldered to the motherboard instead of the usual slots and bars. But this is a necessary evil: Framework Desktop comes with an AMD Ryzen AI Max chip with integrated AMD Radeon 8060S graphics, which need a tight connection with LPDDR5x memory for high performance. As a result, the computer turns out to be “a beast in gaming and AI. With up to 96GB of dedicated GPU memory, this machine can locally run large AI models in real time, including large-scale ones like Llama 3.3 70B.”
The machine that iFixit’s experts examined is an engineering sample, so it has not yet been assigned a repairability rating. We’ll have to wait for the version that goes into mass production. But if it retains all the advantages of the sample, the rating will be high.