Thursday, February 27th 2025
iFixit Documents Early Teardown of Framework's Modular Mini Desktop PC
Shahram Mokhtari and Elizabeth Chamberlain—members of the iFixit Teardown Team—spent hands-on time with Framework's freshly introduced 4.5 liter Mini-ITX "Desktop" PC system. Official press material revealed cooling solution partnerships with Cooler Master and Noctua, but only a minority of "2nd Gen event" attendees were allowed to handle these pre-release modular parts. iFixit employees did not perform a full evaluation of Framework's new desktop model, since they were dealing with a prototype unit. A "repairability score" will be awarded once finalized hardware is delivered to iFixit's base of operations. In the meantime, their video team was hosted at Framework's Northern California office.
According to a follow-up report, Mokhtari and Chamberlain enjoyed their visit: "it's teardown time. Framework has been a beacon of repairability in the laptop space, and now they're bringing that ethos to desktops...Taking this thing apart was exactly as easy as we've come to expect from Framework. They brought us to their HQ to rip into it, and from the very first step, it was clear: this desktop was designed to be opened." Potential buyers—of Framework Desktop—are faced with many configurations, but a crucial choice will focus on available APU options. The highest-end builds will feature AMD's 16-core Ryzen AI Max+ 395 "Strix Halo" processor—iFixit's teardown did not reveal any major revelations in terms of the APU's physical appearance. Even Framework's own press release contains an exposed shot—hardcore processor design enthusiasts are better catered to with a more in-depth analysis of "Strix Halo."
The compact PC community has welcomed Framework's forthcoming entry, but many have questioned the company's selection of soldered-on RAM. iFixit weighed in on this topic of debate, after absorbing official company statements: "we know what you're thinking. 'Framework? Soldered RAM? What's going on?' And yeah, we asked the same thing...In short: detachable RAM would have tanked performance—potentially cutting bandwidth in half. Framework prides itself on repairability, but they weren't willing to compromise speed to get it. We respect that level of transparency."
iFixit's video description stated: "we traveled to San Francisco to get an exclusive first look at Framework's exciting new products unveiled at their Framework 2nd Gen event! While they had plenty of big announcements, we were among the first to go hands-on with the all-new Framework Desktop. As Framework's first entry into the desktop category, this device promises to deliver the same innovation and modularity that made their laptops a game-changer. Join us as we dive into what makes the Framework Desktop so exciting!" The iFixit Teardown team anticipates a "very high" repairability score, post-testing of retail Framework Desktop models. The "Engineering Sample" showed a lot of promise during preview sessions.
Sources:
iFixit News, iFixit YouTube Channel, Tom's Hardware
According to a follow-up report, Mokhtari and Chamberlain enjoyed their visit: "it's teardown time. Framework has been a beacon of repairability in the laptop space, and now they're bringing that ethos to desktops...Taking this thing apart was exactly as easy as we've come to expect from Framework. They brought us to their HQ to rip into it, and from the very first step, it was clear: this desktop was designed to be opened." Potential buyers—of Framework Desktop—are faced with many configurations, but a crucial choice will focus on available APU options. The highest-end builds will feature AMD's 16-core Ryzen AI Max+ 395 "Strix Halo" processor—iFixit's teardown did not reveal any major revelations in terms of the APU's physical appearance. Even Framework's own press release contains an exposed shot—hardcore processor design enthusiasts are better catered to with a more in-depth analysis of "Strix Halo."
iFixit's video description stated: "we traveled to San Francisco to get an exclusive first look at Framework's exciting new products unveiled at their Framework 2nd Gen event! While they had plenty of big announcements, we were among the first to go hands-on with the all-new Framework Desktop. As Framework's first entry into the desktop category, this device promises to deliver the same innovation and modularity that made their laptops a game-changer. Join us as we dive into what makes the Framework Desktop so exciting!" The iFixit Teardown team anticipates a "very high" repairability score, post-testing of retail Framework Desktop models. The "Engineering Sample" showed a lot of promise during preview sessions.
23 Comments on iFixit Documents Early Teardown of Framework's Modular Mini Desktop PC
But if Framework always ships it with 128GB, which is the support limit, then I guess there are some cost savings there.
Now, I've been building/tearing apart/repairing pc's for almost 20 years, so I'm pretty familiar with all the parts & pieces and the tech behind them, but I've apparently missed something about the LPCAMM2 & the intricacies of it's bus connections etc, and I just don't get how having non-soldered ram would "tank performance"....
And Frameworks forcing buyers into a non-up gradable machine seems like extremely poor choice for their 1st entry into the desktop market, given their ethos of "make everything replaceable", unless of course they've been bitten by the greed-monger bug (like a certain GPU maker) and just want everyone to have to buy the top-end models or suffer the consequences...:(
And what is available right now at all? I can only find Lenovo 7500 MT/s modules. Also Crucial 7500 MT/s modules, which come with their own QVLs - which makes me think that general compatibility still can't be taken for granted. But Strix Halo deserves better than 7500.
Also, would not surprise me that Strix Halo is mainly aimed at soldered configurations to begin with, considering it's designed for LPDDR5x, for which the highest performance comes in BGA setups (like it has for LPDDR since forever).
QVL doesn't really mean much, it's just what the vendor tested and the market is miniscule, not many options to begin with.
I can accept Strix Halo is a new class of product and maybe AMD fucked up something so we don't get modular memory this time around, my hope is that they improve that next time and stop with the borderline made up excuses (sure 8500MT > 8000 > 7500, but the performance difference won't be significant, even less when most machines aren't using the fastest option anyway)
It is mentioned on AMD's specs page that it only accepts 256-bit LPDDR5x and no alternative RAM type.
The HX 370 can take either RAM type, but is of course a lower-powered APU:
Besides, I have not seen any SO-DIMMs that can achieve faster speeds without overclocking (must be JEDEC and low-voltage). LPCAMM2 cannot come sooner.
Due this iGPU looks bandwidth starved at higher TDP ;)
Fingers crossed for the next generation to do betterIt's already available, afaik Lenovo was the only one to use it so far but it does exist. Micron has product pages up but no buying option, understandable given there's basically no market for it yet, but it's technically here.
www.crucial.com/compatible-upgrade-for/lenovo/thinkpad-p1-gen-7
www.crucial.com/memory/ddr5/CT32G75C2LP5X