I’m happy to answer questions folks have on the Framework Desktop (though probably not until later today).
Does the desktop have a discrete physical TPM chip (needed for DRTM support on Windows/Linux/Qubes)? At present, AMD's PSP firmware emulates a "mobile" fTPM that does not support SKINIT.
Would you consider a future model with AMD Ryzen AI Max "Pro" SoC, which has additional security features?
Virtualization: interrupts, vIOMMU, nested paging, GMET, SLAT
Security: memory encryption, Windows Device Guard, VBS, Secured Core
Management: DASH for rack/cluster
It also seems HP will use the PRO version of the chip.
Kudos to framework for announcing the price and anchoring the market though!
I'm as cynical as it gets when it comes to tech companies, but Framework is the only one that seems to be on track to actually make the world a better place. Please keep doing what you're doing, stick to the mission, and I'll be a customer for life.
Also please make a smartphone so I can finally be on an all-Framework stack! :)
#1. Any insight into the 4x PCIe slot not having the end of the slot open which would allow the user to still physically insert 8x or 16x PCIe cards?
#2. Considering a lot of people would use the desktop with ethernet, is the wifi m.2 slot keyed to only accept wifi cards or can it fit a 3rd NVMe SSD as well? (maybe an idea to also pass along to the RISC-V mainboard guys)
#3. Lastly, any chance of revisiting the possibility of upgradable RAM on future desktop models i.e. Zen6 "big APU" if CAMM modules and the like aren't so bleeding edge? (it's looking like DDR6 for example might be CAMM-only) I mean, the fact that CAMM modules lay flat would open the opportunity to have them placed directly on the backside of the CPU which would theoretically result in very short trace lengths relative to front-side CAMM (let alone DIMM).
EDIT #4. Do these Ryzen Max chips support s1/s3 sleep like traditional socketable desktops? (though it sounds like it's starting to become less supported on AM5 sadly)
BONUS. Keyboard/touchpad module(s) for laptop(s) with three (left, middle, right) separate physical mouse buttons when? :P (Heck, on the 16" laptop there's already suspicious blank spaces both above and below the touchpad where they'd fit perfectly...)
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.
Because unified memory can't be socketed due to signal integrity issues. Framework asked AMD if there's a possibility and they investigated it, but found that it was just not possible.
I recommend watching the LinusTechTips video about the new framework products. They answered all your questions.
This product goes against their principles of building products which are more environmentally friendly. They've done this for the laptops by not forcing people to buy a new laptop when their motherboard is dead or no longer fast enough for the software they run. It's also possible to replace the keyboard, the hinge, the battery, the RAM, the wifi module, the SSD, the touchpad, the case, the display and the expansion modules.
This Framework Desktop 1st gen can have the following components replaced: wifi, SSD, CPU fan, maybe the heatsink, some front panel IO modules, some decorative tiles on the front, the PSU and some parts of the case. A single broken regulator or failing memory chip forces the owner to replace the entire computer. One is forced to replace the entire thing if they have no option to get someone to find the relevant part, desolder the existing one and solder the new one on. This is also not an option for the CPU.
This means that any kind of damage forces the owner to buy another board with CPU and RAM soldered on it for about the same price as the entire thing with the case.
This Framework Desktop computer can be repaired just like most laptops with soldered RAM by replacing the entire motherboard with CPU and RAM. Why would I downgrade the desktop PC's repairability down to that of a laptop? The tradeoff isn't worth it for that price.
There will be more options by the time this becomes available.
Would you consider adding keyboard options that include these keys?
I assume you are talking to AMD about OpenSIL, are you planning on switching to Coreboot with Linuxboot?
Also, any chance delivery to Switzerland? I can't recommend it to people if they can't order it.
1. Some kind of quantized version of DeepSeek R1?
2. Flux image generation models via popular tools like A1111 or Comfy?
You can do image generation as well! AMD has some demos of this, and they are maturing PyTorch support to broaden the software ecosystem.
Regarding LLMs, am I going to be able to run quantized models? Doesn't have to support all quantization methods, but at least one of the popular quantization methods would need to work (e.g. GGUF or EXL2). I ask this because quantized models provide the most "bang for buck" in LLMs.
Regarding image generation, in real workflows there is typically a lot of dependencies (much more than in LLMs, and much more than in toy examples for image generation). I'm wondering how many of these dependencies will in practice be limited to NVIDIA and CUDA. For example, if you grab some popular ComfyUI Flux workflow from Reddit, are you able to actually run that on Framework Desktop?
If there was a possibility to get amd dash working this would be the perfect system to use as a home server.
[0] https://forum.qubes-os.org/t/community-recommended-computers...
I was asking about the desktop.