Framework has announced many new products today, the most interesting of which is the Framework desktop. Like other products in the company, this is a modular desktop PC with a focus on modularity, upgradeability and repairability. Naturally, the first question is why the PC is already modular, upgradeable and repairable, but the point here is to make it available to people who may see “hot” and “paste” and need to go to the emergency room urgently. This is not the first time I have encountered something like this: in 2014, Razor promotion Christinea gaming PC with independent components is covered in the ink cartridge, which can be swapped in and out.
The second reason why this machine exists is the new reason AMD ryzen ai max chipThis was shown to the CES public in January. Ryzen AI Max is an all-in-one APU that wraps the CPU and GPU in the same package, reflecting the design of the Apple Silicon chip. Ryzen AI Max promises that despite the lack of discrete GPUs, such as 1440p gaming and native AI, it still has fairly spectacular performance. However, all of these benefits have one drawback – the RAM is soldered to the motherboard, making its stunning 256GB/S memory bandwidth, the framework says standard RAM is not feasible. To compensate, the framework has promised to ensure that it is priced reasonably with memory, thus making it “more reasonable than other brands”, i.e. Apple.
Framework knows it is using the product to swim in different waters, so it has promised to use as many standard components as possible. In this mini ITX case, you will find a custom motherboard with an ATX header, a PCIE X4 slot, two USB4s, two DisplayPorts, one HDMI and 5G Ethernet ports. The PCIE NVME slot will allow you to speculate up to 16TB of storage, and the case has two front expansion card slots that allow you to insert your own frame expansion card. The case comes with a semi-regular 400W power supply that uses a standard 120mm CPU fan, or, if you prefer, you can bring your own fan. The case has black or transparent sides, and the front is made up of 21 tiles you can design or 3D Print if you prefer.
Of course, if you’re willing to scroll by yourself, you can also buy the motherboard and stuff it into your own case.
Booking for frame desktops is now open, but shipping doesn’t begin until the third quarter of 2025. You can order the motherboard separately for $799, or use the base model of the AI Max 385 and 32GB RAM for $1,099. If you want a flagship AI Max+395 with 128GB RAM, it costs more than $1,999. All systems are sold in the form of “DIY version” and users can also get storage and operating systems from any vendor they like.
