I purchased the stand alone mainboard, and I would like additional opinions on my proposed hardware choices since I haven’t put together a PC in about a decade.
I’m not sure if I should get the WiFi card from Frame.Work with the antennas or if I should just get a Wi-Fi card that goes in the PCIEx4 slot, and if I go with the Wi-Fi card from Frame.Work, should I just get an I/O expansion card to fill the PCIEx4 slot?
My intended use is programming and AI, but also some gaming. I’m considering CachyOS, or a clean Arch Linux install with KDE Plasma.
2- 850W Corsair SF850 (a liiittle bit higher than other…) >> 0 fan activation, that works like a charm.
3- Same fan, awesome build quality, loved it when I oppened it! However I had to force a little to fit it over the MB, don’t be afraid if it doesn’t fit at the first try.
4- SN8100, but I have the 850x to and at first I considered it, but the blackfriday knocked on my door
For now I started with fedora, I’m not yet advanced enough to think arch or whatever distro is better.
I haven’t yet ordered wifi m2 but I was considering the Be200 for Wifi 7 x Bluetooth.
I’m still considering it but I see many variable prices between amazon and Aliexpress so idk…
I saw your build on another post, it just seems super expensive for that case and psu, I’m trying to keep total cost under $2k (not including the SSD). Plus, PSUs are most efficient between the 50% and 80% range (80 Plus - Wikipedia)
I just went for equivalently priced components than those framework sells, but with higher specs. Had I bought the full framework desktop I would have spent over 2.45K, as in Europe motherboard only is 2K
Guess I could have saved a little on the PSU and the case but the case was also only 20€ more than the framework case (without tiles!)
I’m planing to use it for all and nothing, as it will be my main computer for games at home, but also to explore local AI, combined with code (I’m an software engineer so that was my geek investment)
Also the efficiency, as the psu is platinum label, only moves from 92% to 90%.
And in 2/3 years if the better Medusa halo gets out and can get full Pcie x16 for gpu the setup will be in place
If you want something quite cool and some advice from someone who did quite a bit professional (and not so professional, meaning personal) PC building, here’s an entire recipe with approximate prices (in EUR because I am too tired to convert to USD atm)
Mainboard: Framework AI Max series (you already have this)
RAM: Integrated
GPU: Integrated
SSD #1: Your SN850X (free)
SSD #2: Additional SN850X if you want
CPU Fan: The one you picked should be fine = ~33 EUR
Case: Fractal Design Ridge in white or black = ~136 EUR
Note this case might look small, but I’ve seen people slapping a Sapphire Nitro+ 9070XT in it which, from my own experience, is a absolute beast of a card given size and weight.
PSU: Corsair SF750 = ~EUR 177
If I calculated correctly this will add just ~EUR 350 to the cost of your build, which will end up mighty sleek and pretty
(Hell, in fact… maybe a project for next year lol)
Agreed, the sf750 was the one I was looking for, but the 850 came at the same price. Idk if Amazon FR works where you live but it was 167€ last time I checked
However I would still check for mainboard + fan size before buying this case, as they are quite massive
That’s why I mentioned the Sapphire Nitro+, it gets a little bit crowded due to the sheer size of this card, but it fits and takes all three external slots. Mind you, together with a enthousiast UATX AMD gaming mainboard.
So this Framework mainboard without a external discrete GPU should also fit I suppose.
I started off with the Framework Noctua NF-A12x25 HS-PWM (2400rpm), but have replaced it with an NF-A14x25r G2 PWM chromax.black (1500rpm). The NF-A14 is basically silent at half speed and with a CPU stress test running, the max temps with both fans are basically the same.
Another thumbs up for the Corsair 750/850 (2024), nice cables, & beyond an initial spin up when it’s powered on, so far it runs 100% passive
There are several versions of NF-A12x25, all with different speed, airflow and static pressure ratings. So any fan choice is a compromise between noise levels and performance.
I tested both fans using CPU-Z’s CPU stress test in a 22-23°C room and after 15 minutes of 100% CPU, the Framework NF-A12x25 HS-PWM & NF-A14x25r G2 PWM produced very similar Tdie temps.
In my testing, Core Temp Tdie #0 & HWiNFO CPU (Tctl/Tdie) produce basically the same temperature results & with 100% CPU load, HWiNFO CPU (Tctl/Tdie) & CPU Core are very similar as well.
Noctua’s testing How to make the Framework Desktop run even quieter suggests that Framework’s version of the NF-A12x25 has more headroom under worse case scenarios, which is why I’ll keep it and use it again in the summer if needed.
the Fractal Design Ridge looks beautiful but the specs list it as only having 70mm clearance for the CPU cooler, where Frame.Work recommends a minimum of 92mm.
I’m not sure plugging in an AMD RX 9070XT would give much benefit considering that the PCIE slot is limited to x4, and even then I’d need an adapter to go from x4 to x16.
No the be200 is using pcie, just in a way that apparently really offends some amd platforms. If intel or amd are the ones violating the spec is a question mere mortals without pcie logic analyzers can’t answer and it’s also a somewhat moot point as intel could not fix it at this point even if they wanted to. We’d need a microcode update from amd that stops throwing a fit over whatever is going on on the pcie layer with the be200 and I doubt amd cares all that much about that.
