OcuLink Expansion Bay Module

I emailed you now, Thanks again.

With the Framework 16 now shipping from inventory, hopefully Nirav will have time to get you the documentation! Anything we can promote or upvote to assist with getting the documentation sent over?

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Cool, I put in my order. Any pictures you can share, even if they’re just “in progress” samples?

@Josh_Cook Your pcb is great, but you don’t publish the project so we can build it ourselves without reselling it. Anyway, I really appreciate all the time you put into this framework.

I’ll publish everything to GitHub on a non-commercial licence once the design has been validated.

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For those of you wanting to move to Oculink later, you can use USB 4 for now.

https://www.reddit.com/r/eGPU/s/hcPiW2asuR

I know it’s x4 and not the full x8 lanes that this project supports, but you have options.

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For anyone interested in a GPU dock, a company called Minisforum just released a dock that allows for a OcuLink 4i (PCIe 4x) connection.

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Are you still selling this? If so what are shipping times like and do you have any images of it? I would be very interested. Also, I have the basic shell, what is assembly like? Is it non destructive? Can I undo it if needed?

To answer some of the questions based on previous answers on this form topic:

This is the latest update from Josh:

I am gonna assume that Josh is still waiting on that reply to validate the design. So right now we don’t have an expected shipping time or images of it. He said that he will publish the design when it has been validated:


Basically the product includes a bracket that you can use to replace the existing bracket with. From what I recall, you just have to screw in the design in to the existing screws of the expansion bay (correct me if I am wrong).


In short, the product has not been released yet since Josh is still waiting on a response from Nirav to validate his design.

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Pretty much spot on summarisation, I am still waiting on documentation, and I’ve been getting the same response, of “the team is overloaded and unable to allocate time”

To buy it, just go to https://i2clabs.com.au/expansion-bay-modules/

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Hi, would it be possible to have images of the product (or, maybe prototypes) on the website itself? I’d happily buy the expansion bay with an M.2 and OCuLink x4, once it’s been validated.

Thank you for going through the effort of developing this, by the way! I’m sure there’s already a hefty list of people willing to try out this kind of solution.

I agree that I prefer the x4 with M.2 to the x8.

for now, I’m setting up a jhh link in oculink x4 with thunderbolt nvme, to make the transition.

because the jhh oculink automatically turns on the egpu

https://fr.aliexpress.com/item/1005006316029054.html
https://fr.aliexpress.com/item/1005006417949458.html

If we are waiting on Nirav to validate the design, I hope he does soon: As soon as we can attach desktop class GPUs to the Framework 16, it will be the only legitimate desktop replacement laptop besides the Razer Blade 18 which is the only other laptop to support an eGPU in a non-bottlenecked way.

Can’t wait for a Framework 16 and a 5090.

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Not quite entirely true, I think. Unless I’m missing something you are missing the Lenovo Thinkbook 14+ and 16+ 2024 that are available for a few months in China, Vietnam and Indonesia. We can find it available via Aliexpress (for obvious reason I won’t post the link here because I want to support Framework progress)

The TGX port that they added to the laptops are Oculink ports with hotplug capabilities that works with eGPUs such as the OCuP4V2 besides their own Lenovo TGX dock.

What I like about this is that we have it in a laptop small 14" (without the dGPU) weighting less than 1.5kg. It may even work with Linux out of the box.

My point is that this thread started almost a year ago, I contacted the support a year ago asking for it (probably not alone) and still that there isn’t Framework laptops launched OEM with Oculink ports. I hope this is a fair criticism.

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@Josh_Cook I will be living in another country from end of July onwards. How do I best change my address for the order?

Send me an email at josh_cook@i2clabs.com.au with your new address and your order ID.

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Any progress on this? Any noise we can help make to so you get the information you’re waiting for?

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Hi @Josh_Cook,
I’m an researcher in Europe and would like to order a FW16.
It’s highly dependable on what expansion modules you have available, though.
Can you give me a eta of shipping for e.g. the RP2040 module, the LTE module, the serial port and the Dongle module?
And of course, as everybody in this thread, I’m waiting for any news on the OcuLink module.
Could you add pictures to all your products on your side? Chances are zero, that my purchase department will order products with no picture or description (looking at the LTE module).

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At the rate Nirav and Framework are moving, we’ll likely see intel thunderbolt 5 laptops widely available before this project is completed unfortunately. How long does it take Nirav to send an email with some documentation?

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Nah, I think Framework have been able to find time to get the documentation done, so I would be surprised if its more than a month or 2.

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