I’d like to be able to charge my Laptop 16 via the RX 7700S graphics module’s rear USB-C port, in order to free up one of the expansion card slots for other things. I know the RTX 5070 module supports battery charging via its USB-C port, but I don’t like NVIDIA at the moment for moral/ethical reasons. I assume some sort of hardware change in the RX 7700S board would have to be made for this to work, but what specifically might need to be changed, and why hasn’t Framework already done this with the RX 7700S?
This is mostly a curiosity question, but on some level, I would like to see the RX 7700S module ultimately gain USB-C charging support if it wouldn’t be too difficult to implement.
I’m going to start with saying that I would love for the 7700S to support USB-C charging! Unfortunately I don’t think it ever will because I feel like there would need to be an entire rework of the 7700S PCB to run power through the 7700S back to the laptop.
I won’t speculate why they didn’t do it in the first place, but given that they have it for the 5070 I suspect that all GPUs going forward will be able to charge though the USB-C on the back.
You’ll probably have to wait for a next Gen AMD GPU in order to get it.
I’d say you’re probably correct on all counts, but I’m no expert.
What I’d really like is for a Framework team member to respond to this thread, but I don’t know how likely that is.
As a side note, I’ll probably wait to get any kind of GPU upgrade for my 16 unless/until there’s a higher VRAM option (say, 12GB), because otherwise I’m not sure if there would be much of a point to it.
The gen 2 of the 7700S doesn’t support UBS-C charging. I forget exactly which video it was mentioned it but should be in the one that mentioned the gen 2 model.
It does not have a PD controller. It would need a PD controller. It is unlikely to be financially worth designing, validating and producing a whole second generation of the PCBA to add a PD controller.
