Framework Desktop Computer
In September I received a new toy, the Framework Desktop .
I sold my custom built gaming PC back in March 2025, a mini-ITX computer with an AMD 5900x CPU and NVIDIA RTX 3070 GPU which I built during the COVID-19 global pandemic. It had served me well since that time, but I always like having new tech, so it was time for an upgrade.
I pre-ordered the Framework Desktop a day or so after the announcements. I was already aware of the AMD Ryzen AI Max 300 Series APU's after their announcement at CES 2025 and had my eyes on the HP Z2 Mini G1a. Reviews for the Asus ROG Flow Z13 for gaming and AI workloads looked incredible, but knowing that this processor would be constrained by laptop cooling solutions and TDP I wanted to see what this chip could do with a cooling solution capable of handling the full 140W of power throughput.
Framework usually make laptops but I was delighted to find out that they would be selling a mini desktop PC using this new AMD chip. I just had to wait seven months.
I switched to using my Steam Deck instead of my recently sold gaming PC. The cash from selling the gaming PC supplemented my funds for the ~£2,000 Framework Desktop. I was happy to play through some indie and older games on the Deck. Factorio runs on practically any PC from the last 15 years so that kept me busy whilst I waited. As the Deck is just a PC I could also carry out any home-lab and server maintenance related tasks from it as well.
…
September arrived, and so did the Framework Desktop This thing has 128GB of (soldered on) RAM. dmidecode --type memory displays the Micron Technology part number MT62F4G32D8DV-023 which runs at 8000 mega transfers per second. Uber fast, and heaps of it. The APU is an AMD RYZEN AI MAX+ 395, 16 core processor with an integrated AMD Radeon 8060S GPU. It can basically do anything I need a computer to do.
For the operating system, I chose to run CachyOS with the COSMIC desktop environment. I heard about Cachy through Wendell at Level1Techs for its blazing fast Linux kernel and Arch Linux base. I've used System76's Pop OS for the last 6 years and I really like what they've done with the COSMIC desktop environment.. particularly for the shortcut keys and tiling window manager. It is also written in Rust and is very light weight and responsive.
The excitement of getting the new device was quickly tarnished as I noticed graphical glitches and glyphs appearing on on the display. Running the Heaven benchmark illustrates the issue:
To cut a long story short, I contacted Framework's support team. After some hardware and software troubleshooting and running MemTest86 diagnostics they agreed something was wrong and they would send me a new motherboard. I wait for a week or so and the new (working!) board arrived.
It worked fantastically well.
It is able to run OpenAI's GPT oss 120b model on a computer that will fit in a backpack…! It can run substantial virtual machines, docker containers, interface with thunderbolt peripherals (through USB-4.0), and on top of that can play triple A video games.. on a machine that fits in a 4.5L volume box.
I am thrilled to use this computer every day, though it was on the expensive side.
There are some draw backs that I'll go through here:
Soldered RAM The soldered LPDDR5 RAM on this thing cannot be removed (unless you can micro-solder) it does bring some slight anxiety around what would happen if any of the RAM modules were to fail.. I'd probably have to pay someone with the right skills a fair amount of money to go in and solder on a new module. But then on the other hand, this isn't something that I am concerned about for a device such as my mobile phone.. and apparently on a device like the Ryzen AI MAX 395, the memory speeds and memory allocation to the graphics would not be achievable with regular removable RAM modules.
Soldered processor The processor is also soldered on.. but it is a "laptop" chip.. in the Framework Desktop's case it also has a comparatively massive cooling solution but still, no swapping it out. But I really don't think I'll need anything more than what is in this device for a good few years. I'm hoping it'll go on as my main computing device until at least 2030 at which point I will probably use it as a home server device tucked away in some corner of my home.
Thank you for reading if you've made it this far,
Cheers, T