Yeah they have a Wafer probe, runs a current through all the dies on a wafer, the probe observes each die and ensures it has no transmitter issues or flash etc and if it does there are some neat weird redundancies built into some dies where they can try to repair the chip. It’s interesting. Goes to the next station where the good dies/chiplets are chosen and picked out. The rest of the failed dies stay on the water going down the line!
There’s another testing phase after that which I’m not sure how they do it but I think this test is done more on a binning QC method unless things have changed from the last time I had the process explained, but sometimes they’ll batch test or sometimes this second test will be literally every chip on the line in smaller yield if they can handle it.
But yeah! “Unverified Assembly” doesn’t happen much anymore, I remember there were a few CPU batches way back in the day companies assembled with zero testing beyond a couple of units and a lot of them were pretty wonky out of the box haha. This was sometime back in 2002 ish if I recall. Luckly companies are a lot better than that now.
Questions regarding differences between 7840HS and 7940HS and how Framework plans to implement them (what features will be exposed in the firmware) is one of those things that can’t “wait until launch is closer” especially since they are already opened for people to pre-order.
Don’t know which to pre order without knowing the details. Otherwise, you may have lots of people changing their orders as details come out. I’ve already done a couple changes with new info on the GPU. Now I am wondering about the CPU. I figured not much difference between the two so went with the 7840HS. However, if Framework can confirm they’ll expose EXPO and Curve Optimizer settings in their firmware, this may be a good case for someone to consider the extra $200 for the 7940HS.
Just because AMD supports extra features doesn’t mean it’s available due to the motherboard’s firmware.
@Techie_Zeddie Yep, also very close to switching to a 7940HS, but I’m still waiting for confirmation. It’s to their benefit to make this clear now. I’m not paying 250€ more for a CPU I don’t know if I’ll get the desired benefits from anyway.
Also ECC support, it’s WAY overdue IMO to clear up if the motherboard has the required traces to support it. Please, we need more info. Even if you do not support it, you need to be clear about it - the deep dives so far left quite a few questions open, even if the answer is “no we do not support it”, that is a valuable thing to make clear in a deep dive - that’s what it is for.
Edit: Another thing is the level of HDR support for the display, at this point I doubt it has any since they would have almost certainly mentioned it, but considering how much info has been missing, and how high quality the display is otherwise, idk.
Absence of info from Framework invites outside info for us to use as reference.
Still no idea if Framework will expose all the features of the R9, but STH has a review of the GTR7 Pro and non-pro. The difference is Pro = R9 and non pro is R7.
If it’s truly only a 7-10% difference, and we can’t take advantage of higher memory clocks (EXPO disabled even on the R9), then the outlook is bleak for the R9. Especially since it’s a $200 USD difference.
At least Beelink is “only” $80 more. Not sure if they support all R9 features too. I’m sure STH only tested as is.
Yeah also contacted support to upgrade, but only under the condition that the bios would allow me to change the curve optimizer voltage offsets - so one of the most basic features of the 7940HS over the 7840HS - but sadly they weren’t able to confirm that will be the case.
So until I know that at the very least I will be able undervolt it while on linux (without the windows-only undervolting tools), I won’t take the gamble. I wish framework was a bit more proactive on some of the most critical information, it’s super annoying.
I totally agree with this. With the lack of info, I’ll stick with the 7840HS until they clarify if their implementation of 7940HS takes advantage of everything that AMD showed on their spec sheet (curve optimizer and EXPO). If they don’t, then there’s really no reason to pay an extra $200 for the 7940HS over the 7840HS. Even with those two things and a slight speed increase, $200 is already a hard ask. Removing them leaves only the slight clock bump which is silly for $200. Why even offer the Ryzen 9 if only for optics?
Like @Techie_Zeddie I’m also waiting more info about this to update my order too. But sadly unless waiting for first user’s review, Framework seem to not answer those technical details unless the shipping is real close.
Thanks for the finding. I did not pay attention on this point. Well, it’s a bit disapointing but … well understandable. I guess I’ll keep my order that way then and I will pay more attention when I’ll upgrade the mobo someday. My bad…
