Hello.
I’m excited for the AMD 7700S GPU expansion bay, however, I’m just one push away from ordering it - what is the roadmap for the next years for the GPU expansion bay?
In future - could it offer some more powerful GPU? As I imagine this is bringing around the power of Nvidia RTX4060, but I wish for it to be more powerful, around RTX4070 level.
In your thoughts - what could be the peak GPU that could be released for framework 16 laptop model?
The only official statement that has been made is that “We are committed to making sure there are graphics modules beyond the initial launch.”
No exact timeline has been released.
The expansion bay is designed to deliver 210w @ 20v (238.1w total) to the GPU.
Currently the 7700S is a 100w GPU.
AMD also offers the new RX 7900M, which is rated for up to 180w, which is within the expansion bay’s capabilities.
Nvidia’s flagship laptop GPU, the RTX 4090 mobile (which is actually a desktop RTX 4080 except tuned better for low power) is rated for up to 150w, which is also within the expansion bay’s capabilities.
Flagship laptop GPUs from either Nvidia or AMD (or even Intel in the future) are all plausible options.
So if it is meant to deliver 210W it basically means it can support desktop type GPU’s? Or rather simply - it means that this module will be able to deliver us later a graphic card that would compete with top-end laptops in the industry?
If so, it is super exciting…
Many desktop GPUs can consume well over double that, however a large part of the reason that many desktop GPUs consume so much power is because squeezing out the last couple percent of performance that a chip is capable of requires a dramatic increase in power consumption.
Laptop GPUs on the other hand don’t attempt to squeeze out the absolute max performance and are instead a lot more efficient.
For example the desktop RTX 4080 and the laptop RTX 4090 use the same chip internally, however the laptop chip has less than half the rated power consumption but is only a couple hundred MHz slower.
Yep, the expansion bay can power any laptop GPU that is currently being offered, although it may require producing a bulkier version to achieve adequate cooling.
So in other words, it is promising expansion that may deliver us GPU upgrades over the time that won’t require for the laptop itself to change…(?)
I wonder how will cooling perform for that model - will it deliver the optimal temperatures while being on the medium noise level? Will wait for first reviews and then will put my order! 
Well did you order one?
What I’m trying to find out is, when is FW planing to put out a better GPU im not really interested in quiet or low power use I always want power in fact the only reason I got this weak Gpu is, it’s the only GPU
my answer has been I’m compromising for the capability to fix or replace old or broken parts. Or to this point, FW has to start some place.
I just won’t to give you my money in a year and will prob upgrade every 3 or 4 years after that. CPU and GPU
But what I won’t to know is what’s the dream/,plan will FW make new AMD GPUs and stay up with the Jones or are we to always long for the laptop A or B that has better hardware
Nvidia GPUs are implausible until Nvidia learns how to make a good Linux driver
Intel GPUs require ReBAR (on the FW16, as far as I know, this does not get enabled by default under Windows, and there are no user-facing controls in the firmware to override this)
Nvidia will not make a GPU for framework unless a miracle happens. Nvidia is keeping iron hand over board manufacturers and I doubt it would allow sth like the expansion bay. Just look at how big problems it has with using blower style cooling on consumer grade GPUs as they want to sell their datacenter models.
Sadly, the Radeon RX 7700S isn’t a very powerful GPU with a not great amount of vRAM and unfortunately, there isn’t any other option from AMD that can use 100 watts or less and still have the system use 240 watts or less total. I still love my Framework, but not having DLSS or even an AMD option with more VRAM is taking its toll on me…
Do you guys consider using the open source community-made oculink expansion bay?
With this you could connect any GPU housed in an externall enclosure to your laptop while stationary.
I know its not the same but most usecases with a powerfull GPU are mostly done on the Desktop and not on the go.
This way you can have both worlds with the small compromise of having no dGPU while traveling.
There’s already a project working on that …