Possibility of a community built product and completely upgradeable gpu

Creators & Developers
1

I feel like the modularity of the current framework laptops isn’t good enough, be it my pedantic reasoning or pure idiocy, I think that it is possible to be able to make a fully modular laptop with a completely upgradeable GPU, CPU, RAM, and storage. I have developed an overall design but have almost no knowledge of PCB design. Every part can be replaced, no strings attached, and it is even easier to build and upgrade.
(note: both AMD and nvidia cpus can be compatible along with both AMD and Nvidia GPUs. the GPU can be external but not internal due to space and complexity )
is it possible to submit this laptop design to framework or am I all alone here?

2

Welcome to the forum

Which CPU?
Intel and AMD no longer make any socketed / upgradeable mobile CPU. And using a desktop CPU would be so bad for battery life that few would accept it.

3

Same for the GPU. The problem is that you basically have to design a board for each GPU you need to support because the chips are not socketed and RAM signaling is so fragile that you wouldn’t do socketed GDDR.

There was a standard for mobile GPU boards - MXM, but it got abandoned at some point by the manufacturers, and no community stepped up to produce those modules for newer GPU chips.

Then there was Alienware Area-51m which didn’t receive even a single generation of upgrades due to differing power and cooling requirements of Nvidia 3000 vs 2000 series GPUs.

So, IMO, you have to have a third-party committed to investing engineering efforts into producing future GPU upgrades, otherwise the uptake of the platform will be very low. And if the uptake of the platform is low, such a third-party will not materialize.

I dream of the future where Framework 16 is so popular, you’ll be able to get bootleg Nvidia modules off Aliexpress :slight_smile:

4

i think that for those who want a better battery life, they can just use a soldered CPU, but for those who are more performance inclined, they can switch out the board

5

the pcie slots on regular computers can be mounted onto the laptop chassis but it will be a little slimmed down. ( the GPU will be external so we can get rid of Nvidias bullcrap)