So primarily I’m going to be gaming on this thing and really I just want some advice in terms of both setting up software on the machine to be running optimally and also potential hardware options like external GPUs to improve performance if that’s even possible without an OCulink port. I also want to be able to run both Linux and Windows on this thing and as such should I get two separate storage devices (one for linux, one for windows). Sorry if I sound stupid I’m relatively new all this. I’m also wondering how much an external GPU would actually help this thing and how much of an impact one would actually make. Thanks for any help or advice anyone can give.
For the desktop? Essentially pointless. The iGPU is roughly equivalent to a 4060 IIRC. You could Frankenstein a GPU in there using a PCIe riser cable but it would be hamstrung for bandwidth I believe. You could also use the USB4 ports on the back for a eGPU. You def can game on the desktop but it isn’t the best price/performance.
That will save you a great deal of headache. No fussing around with GRUB and Windows Boot Manager fighting with one another or Bitlocker getting annoyed. Alternatively, throw an SSD into a USB enclosure and run Linux from that. More portable that way and performance should be acceptable for most anything except stuff that hammers the drive.
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I would highly recommend a USB 4 compatible eGPU setup if you are looking for more performance than the one built in (iGPU). I believe this should be a supported setup and although bandwidth-limited, a higher-end graphics card running over USB 4 will still provide much better performance than the iGPU. Also note that thunderbolt 3/4 should work over USB 4
OCuLink or other such PCIe solutions might be possible but aren’t officially supported setups by Framework at the moment. Others seem to have achieved various levels of success trying this method in other threads on this forum.
As for the same or separate boot drives for Linux and Windows, it’s a bit subjective as to which is better. I personally use a single drive with both. With this setup, you do have to deal with GRUB (essentially a menu that lets you pick which OS you want to boot). With separate drives, you have to bring up the native boot menu from the BIOS and select which drive you want to boot.
Feel free to ask if you have any more questions. I would be happy to help.
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