I viewed the LTT video and saw the PCIe slot was a x4 slot but closed.
You can modify the slot by cutting the end to open the slot, but that comes with some risk.
If the slot was open natively, it would allow larger AIC or GPUs to run and incease compatiability with PCIe.
It’s a suggestion/request for the PCIe slot to be open ended. I dont know if it can be done before first shipment.
Keep up the great work Framework Team.
Yes, this should be changed for later batches (fingers crossed)
I’m betting this will not happen for a while, which is a bummer. If I could add a proper 10g nic, I’d have pre-ordered one. I’m betting power draw along with thermal considerations have taken this off the table. Those SFPs can run quite hot.
I would like to also put in my request for an open ended slot. Thanks in adavance!
You might be interested to know that Intel recently upstreamed Linux drivers for a PCIe 4.0 x4 SFP+ NIC derived from the newly announced E610 series.
I’m trying to not be too sarcastic, and I am really wondering about the pros/cons that went in to not exposing the 4x PCIe slot. Either as a slot or external SAS/MCIO style port.
Even my little lenovo SFF boxes expose a HHHL 1x slot.
I get that this is just a Mini-ITX board and any old Mini-ITX case will do. Fair enough. But this does mean any folks that want to add an extra network card or similar now need to source a bunch more stuff like a case and PSU vs. building on the stock Framework Desktop.
Was some kind of bump-out or expanding case considered to allow room for a card? Or maybe a like a little rocket “staging ring” as a shim for the extra space? Or all that just to complex/costly?
David
My theory is a combo of cost, heat and power.
If someone can tell me how I can get 10g (preferably sfp) to one of these, I’d love to pre-order one.
@Brian_Devine I guess you are stuck just buying the MB and using your own Mini-ITX compatible case/psu. Still has value with Framework supporting the firmware, BIOS, etc. Just not as slick.
See: Framework | Framework Desktop Mainboard (AMD Ryzen™ AI Max 300 Series)
I’m sure there will be improvements as this product matures. I have a FW13 and a FW16 and have been please with both of them. Right now my FW16 is a desk queen. Eventually I’ll replace it with a desktop. This one is so close to what I want, but as much as I want to support Framework, I don’t want to spend this much for something that does not quite match what I want.
I think this was a real miss.
Oculink boards are so cheap and small they get put on m.2 style boards for ~25 USD.
No reason they couldn’t have fit one in and create a small cutout for the port.
I pre-purchased one of these little beauty’s but I really need that open slot as I want to put a SATA card in and hook up two NAS Hard drives in a Raid Array. Is there any discussion on making this a potential? For me this might be a make or break item.
You can put an Occulink port into the top M.2 slot with a sutiable adapter.
There are 10gbe m.2 cards
There are PCIe x4 10G SFP NICs. FebSmart PCIE X4 Interface to 10GbE SFP+ Fiber Port Ethernet Adapter for Gaming, Network Surfing, Intel 82599EN 10 Gigabit Ethernet Controller, 10GbE PCIE NIC Card, 10GbE SFP+ LAN Adapter (X520-DA1) : Amazon.ca: Electronics And before anyone turns up their nose at the manufacturer or chipset, it’s just an Intel 82599/X520-DA1 and it works just fine in Linux. In fact, because the controller is so old, it’s very well supported with incredibly mature, stable drivers.
Now, as for getting it out of that nice case…Dremel?
Would an open-ended slot incur significant cost and/or engineering challenges ? If not, given the additional flexibility it would afford, and the number of requests around it, I suggest the Framework product managers to seriously consider it.
Not got much to add here, just thats my major gripe with the desktop motherboard as-is.
I’m guessing an open ended slot would cost nearly nothing, but prevent much annoyance from customers…
(I really don’t want to dremel an expensive board!)
The PCIe slot should absolutely be accessible for adding some kind of device, whether the oculink as @Shawn_Lewis mentioned, or an additional ethernet slot, etc.
Please consider this suggest not waste the slot. The PCI-Ex4 on board can do many thing.
PCIe x4 can do many things that do not require accommodating it by cutting a hole. 
What is there that it currently cannot do that is not supplemented by an external device that is connectable via USB?
My ConnectX-4 25G NIC card is PCI-E 8x. I will consider to make a cluster and those NICs provide great speed and can afford 1 Port 25Gbps in PCI-E 4x.