AMD only supports 4 displays on the Max+ 395 so it will be limited to the AMD maximum, but I suppose having 5 outputs means you can have at least a touch more flexibility about what cables to use depending on your use case. I went ahead and ordered one, wish me luck that it actually gets delivered and isn’t trash and having me regretting cancelling my Framework order because of all the Framework PSU problems reported.
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The first reviews seem to be out: One of the most powerful mini PCs of 2025! Minisforum MS-S1 Max review - AMD Strix Halo Power, 128 GB RAM & Radeon 8060S for professionals & AI - NotebookCheck.net Reviews
For AI, a working x16 slot even at x4 speeds is very useful. You can put something like RTX4000 SFF Ada in it to accelerate inferencing or run smaller dense models fully in VRAM.
Or at least put an Oculink adapter and have an external full-size card. I wish Framework thought about that use case. Having a useless PCI slot is weird coming from a company like Framework. I hope they have plans for it - risers, Oculink cards, anything that can make it useful.
Wasn’t that true of Framework also before they shipped any units?
I hope someone tests the PCIe slot - does it actually work with low profile GPUs?
there is :
- 4x PCIe for the “16x” PCIe socket
- 4x PCIe for 1 NVMe
- 1x PCIe for 2e NVMe !!!
- 2 PCIe for the 2 10Gb eth
- 1 (or 2?) for the Wifi/BT (if it is in a normal M2 socket like framework it is 2)
=> 12/13 lines use on the 16
=> there is only at mose 4x PCie left (may be more 2x) for the USB4 V2.0
=> at most 2x 32Gb/s data path for the 2x USB4 V2. (but may be only 16Gb/s)
On framework ther is:
- 1 HDMI
- 2 DP
vs only 1 HDMI output.
=> so more likely that it is “only” for hight speed DP output.
The only thing missing for me on the framework is the 2 USB2 ports. I find it a shame to use USB3 ports to connect my keyboard/mouse 
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It’ll be interesting to hear your review @workintw Thank you for taking the risk
I’m quite sure, given the NVIDIA GPU add on for the FW16 that there would have been a few conversations about an add-on GPU for the Desktop. I mean, they clearly understand their market wants my GPU, otherwise why do the add-on?
My disappointment is that there has been silence on these questions from this community to the Framework team. I understood, from @Lukew4lker, that Framework may be deliberately diswading adding a GPU via firmware design. That would be something that should be explained by FW.
I don’t thing there is anything in BIOS that restrict dGPU support from FW.
But this API is not design for dGPU:
it has only 16 line of PCIE4 (no PCIE-5 .)
some a needed for ethernet / wifi and 4 for a Nvme… so most likely no more than 8 is available for anything else.
the chose is:
- 1 8x PCie 4.0 and nothing else
- 1 4x PCie 4.0 and 1 more M2 x4 SSD => this is the chose of FW.
Never GPU have PCie 5.0 connection 8x (for lower) or 16x for bigger. use it on 4xPCIe 4.0 mean 1/4 or 1/8 of the design bandwidth => for me it is rely not interesting to use a recent dGPU in that case (This is my personal opinion.)
For me this x4 PCie4 (64Gbit/s == 8GByte/s vs 256GByte/s of the RAM) is for small Pcie Card:
- 1 more NVMe
- hight speed Ethernet ( 25/40Gbit/s => did not find one with PCie4.0)
- SATA connection
…
the FW16 AMD Ryzen™ 9 7940HS have 20 Pcie lines so it have a 8x Pcie4 connection for the GPU .
the new FW16 300 serie have made some chose because it have only 16 Pcie line:
- 1 NVMe is a 4x
- 1 NVMe is a 2x (vs 4x on Ryzen 7X40HS)
Looks like the PCIe slot in Minisforum is just 1-slot width, and no extra power connectors are available. The internal space is very tight too and not enough ventilation is available there, so I guess it’s better suited for Oculink adapter use case than dGPU.
Given this and complains about fan noise, I’m going to stick with my Framework preorder.
At least Framework motherboard is standard mini-ITX design, so if someone comes up with a riser solution for x4 slot, it will be a better path forward.
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I see that the MS-S1 runs the Intel JHL9580 TB5 chip. IOMMU groups can be seen at 17:45 in this vid. A bit further on (21:50) you get to hear the fans that are “nice and quiet”
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I strongly suspect it will be like my last GMKtec. An hour or two of playing with BIOS settings will be required to land on the right mix of performance and fan noise.
and only a Low Profile to.
I don’t tink anyone can find a GPU to fit.
So if for dGPU you need a external card with OCuLink it is working on Framework laptop to, nothing new.
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They will have a motherboard version, just like Framework
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Got any supporting links? There is nothing about it on their website.
Nope, they haven’t publish any news yet, I have a friend has connection with them and told me this.
The difference is the motherboard version doesn’t have TB5.
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for rack support there is now:
for framework desktop MB… and other ITX MB.
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Do you think it will be a promising choice? bios and build quality wise.
I would be INCREDIBLY careful before ordering this. First of all, it doesn’t have enough lanes to accommodate all those interfaces. AMD’s Strix Halo APU is equipped with a total of 16 PCIe Gen 4.0 lanes. Second, I have had VERY bad luck with my former MINI IS FORUM using cheap and defective chipsets (ESP FOR USB!). Mine died after about a year. The thermals on it were WAY high and I think it killed itself for heat death.
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Thanks for the first hand info!