I would like to make a request for an option for a 7945HX motherboard. While the 7700S has met and surpassed my expectations for a mobile GPU, the CPU, which is the 7940HS, while pretty good, doesn’t have the capability to compete with high end laptop systems in CPU performance.
I do a lot of compiling large projects (LLVM in particular), and the Ryzen 9 7945HX is nearly twice as fast as the Ryzen 9 7940HS, which is the fastest option for the FW 16 currently available. It would be really nice to have some extra power available on the CPU side.
I understand why Framework might not want to put in this CPU from a battery life perspective, but it would be nice to have it as an option, even if it’s DIY-only so only people who know what they’re getting into install it.
The 7945HX does have higher multi-core performance, however it achieves that being essentially a desktop CPU that has been repurposed into laptops, which has some severe compromises (see here) compared to the 7040 series CPUs.
Not exactly.
Based on testing by NotebookCheck the 7945HX achieves double the performance of the 7940HS by drawing 2.5 times as much power and outputting 2.5 times as much heat. The Framework Laptop 16’s design allows for immense flexibility in terms of GPU cooling, however CPU cooling would require a major chassis redesign to push significantly higher than the current power levels.
When turned down to power levels feasible for the Framework Laptop 16 to adequately cool the 7945hx is only around 50% higher multi-core performance than the 7940hs.
Based on leaked benchmarks the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370, AMD’s successor to the 7940hs, may offer multi-core performance much closer to the 7945hx but without the downsides. Considering how close that chip is to launching I expect that even if Framework were considering the 7945hx they would probably skip to the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370.