In combination, the custom side panel and duct design provided a massive noise reduction compared to the stock configuration, particularly in lower fan speed ranges. We have measured around 7 dB(A) lower noise levels at around 50% fan speed, and up to 5 dB(A) lower at higher fan speeds, when compared at the same APU operating temperature.
While the custom side panel with our signature Noctua grill as well as the custom fan duct are not slated for mass production at this point, we are more than happy to share the 3D CAD files for everyone who is looking to make their Framework Desktop run even quieter.
Both the custom side panel and the customised fan ductare available to download at Printables.com for you to 3D-print at home
To be fair, Framework’s limited by the AMD platform here, which requires soldered RAM for electrical reasons. SODIMM sticks are not going to cut it (it already caps DDR5 speeds and baloons voltages), and apparently even LPCAMM wasn’t stable in testing.
The platform is also physically limited to 4X PCIE 4.0 x4; that’s simply all the chip has. They expose one x4 port internally, and the rest are eaten up by NVMe, ethernet and such. They may even be splitting some of its internal USB4 up, which would explain the weird adapters.
If you don’t need the fast RAM/CPU/iGPU though, you aren’t wrong; it’s not super modular and doesn’t make a lot of sense. For the price, most would be better served with a standard laptop CPU + dGPU, like most mini PCs have… but if that’s the case, you can buy a Framework laptop.
Tbh, where’s the point of them choosing a by-design non-modular platform for a form factor where modularity is the basic paradigm?
Because AMD Strix Halo is awesome. For the price+power, one simply can’t get its performance from any other platform, not even close, and they made it as modular as physically possible.
Hence, it’s selling well.
Making the RAM swappable was also their intent, it just didn’t physically work in the time/budget they had to develop it; and they were upfront about this.