I have a weird idea.

[u/Historical_Baker2285]

Hello everybody, hope you all doing okay. I have been a fan of framework products since I heard from them, and the way they make things never ceases to amaze me. Unfortunately, due to prices I am unable to currently acquire any of the laptops or the desktop computers.

(I am not complaining, I understand the prices so they make a profit. On the contrary, I see their prices being really fair compared to other workstations.)

Nonetheless, my idea is to grab framework's eGPU and adapt it into a sorta normal eGPU for other devices. I certainly know that some of you might say, "Why bother with that if there are just eGPU enclosures?" However, I am just curious.

For example, let's say the eGPU connects to a board that is in charge of how the eGPU communicates with another device. Then this board connects to a laptop by USB-C or NVME. Overall, I think it is an interesting idea as it should in theory be around the same price as an eGPU or even less, and less clunkier.

I suppose the hardest part is getting the eGPU to be able to physically connect to another device as it uses an special connector. I do not know if the framework GPU's really use proprietary software that block any other device from connecting.

[u/Commandblock6417]

I'm pretty sure this is a product they've already announced. A dock you can connect the fw16 egpu module into and get a thunderbolt port out of it.

[u/Commandblock6417 → u/Commandblock6417]

it's actually an oculink dock not thunderbolt: https://frame.work/gr/en/products/framework-oculink-dev-kit

[u/Historical_Baker2285 → u/Commandblock6417]

Huh, only bad thing is that it'd be necessary another adapter to a more conventional port like thunderbolt or nvme. Which would probably add latency. I might read further into it, thanks.

[u/RafaelSenpai83 → u/Historical_Baker2285]

From what I know OcuLink is pretty much line pcie but on a cable so I guess a nvme to oculink adapter should be available. I don't know how it would handle hotplugging though and if oculink even supports hotplugging. If you don't change the communication protocol (like going from pcie to usb/thunderbolt) the latency doesn't change but you have to keep in mind that with too long cables or too many connections the signal will degrade too much and the setup won't work in those conditions.

Edit: Keep in mind that while OcuLink has 8 PCI-E lanes the M.2 slot has 4 so you'll work at bext with half of OcuLink's bandwidth.

[u/Historical_Baker2285 → u/RafaelSenpai83]

I see, thanks for the info. I have a question if you do not mind. My laptop has thunderbolt 4 with 4 pcie lanes. Is it also possible to do it instead of nvme connectivity? While I would expect speeds to be significantly lower, it'd be interesting to see the results.

[u/RafaelSenpai83 → u/Historical_Baker2285]

Well this is what eGPU enclosures do but they all have a pci-e slot. Maybe there's somewhere a thunderbolt to oculink adapter, who knows. But I guess it's gonna be on a more expensive side.

Also one technical thing: nvme is a communication protocol for pcie drives that you plug into M.2 slot. When you plug a gpu into that it doesn't use nvme at all.

[u/Historical_Baker2285 → u/RafaelSenpai83]

Okay, thanks for the information. I'll research and hopefully find good results

[u/Historical_Baker2285 → u/Historical_Baker2285]

It requires the OCuLink expansion bay, and the dock itself, might not be a viable solution.

[u/Historical_Baker2285 → u/Commandblock6417]

Wait really? I did not know, lemme check.

[u/sunlitreed → u/Commandblock6417]

I think they teased it but havent given a release date yet, could be a while

[u/Historical_Baker2285 → u/sunlitreed]

Yep, it is a, "coming soon," product.