iFixitFeb 28
The @frameworkcomputer Desktop is a powerhouse that gives Apple’s Mac Studio a run for its money at half the price. But it has also created confusion over the soldered down APU and memory. Here’s why we think this device is different, a thread:
Show threadToranpettoMar 1

@iFixit @frameworkcomputer

I love upgradeable electronics.

But to reduce power consumption we are now at the point that we have to reduce the lateral distance data is traveling. Inside a processor feature shrink did this now between dies is the bottleneck. Memory on package helps but on the cost of upgradeability.

More attention should take to the software side to allow upgrades to the recent version and still keep old hardware.

My Linux still runs on a 6 year old NUC with 5 watts idle.

Show threadSteven ReedMar 1
@toranpetto @iFixit @frameworkcomputer my whacky idea is to have a socket for a RAM disk, something loads faster than SSD, even if it's not as fast as the on-board / on-die RAM. Plenty of workloads could be tweaked to take advantage of it, I'm sure. If nothing else, the memory allocators in modern languages are poor enough that swap is always a benefit, even better if it can be on an ultra-fast disk.
Show threadFoxVK
@srtcd424 @toranpetto @iFixit @frameworkcomputer SImilar thing came to my mind too. To have high performace soldered ram + slower socekted ram. Of course it would need to have additinal logic guessing which data need to be where. And another question is if there is market for it. Except few hunderds of us.
Mar 1 at 9:47pmWeb
Show threadSteven ReedMar 1
@FoxVK @toranpetto @iFixit @frameworkcomputer I wonder if the NUMA / fake NUMA stuff in Linux could be made to handle something like that? Have the slow memory on a virtual NUMA node that doesn't actually belong to a CPU?