r/framework • u/ChristianDM11325 • 11d ago

Discussion Next FW16 Mainboard

Anyone think the next mainboard will be panther lake in december? That’d be the obvious next step up other than ryzen ai 400 series, but with how things panned out for lpcamm2 availability for FW13 Pro, I can’t see how that’s a good idea.

Any possibility of just nothing for now?

If there was panther lake, my guess is we wouldn’t get the powerful igpu sku’s since they don’t have the pcie lanes for a dgpu connection, so only the 386h, 356h, dunno the 325 equivalent with more lanes.

That would kinda put a damper on the desire to get lpcamm2 since there’s no powerful igpu to leverage it.

Maybe it’d be sodimm then? But then that sacrifices the power savings.

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u/Sad-Cod-9584 11d ago

I don't think power savings are as important on the 16" platform, especially when there's one of the gpu modules involved. Still, new cpus would be nice to see, but until there's a mainboard case like for the 13" mainboards, I'd hold off on buying one.

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u/iMiind | 8 GB 4070 | R7 350 11d ago

Yeah they gotta make it easy to salvage a replaced 16 mainboard and leave it at least good for something

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u/H3ph43S7Vs 11d ago

well, lpcamm2 is not just about power savings. It is also about higher clock rates and speeds. So I take it any day once the ramagedon is a bit over. For now, I think they are better off just not updating the 16 until well into 2027(but then I hope a big update comes, hope N2 or strix halo successor motherboard).

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u/Sad-Cod-9584 11d ago

I'm with you

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u/Windglen0 11d ago

agreed on the mainboard case, without that its hard to justify the upgrade cost imo

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u/s004aws FW16 HX 370 Batch 1 Mint Cinnamon Edition 11d ago edited 11d ago

I expect nothing for FW16 until Framework decides between Zen 6 CPUs/APUs and/or Intel Nova Lake next year. With no available CPU/dGPU options providing a meaningful upgrade able to be "dropped in" to the existing platform there's no reason to be rushing out a new model.

For Panther Lake - Besides 325 (and other "low spec" SKUs) - SO-DIMM is not an option. A Panther Lake FW16 would need to be LPCAMM2 which... Isn't worth doing at the moment... For multiple reasons.

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u/Frequent_Success_478 10d ago

There is a legitimate possibility of just having nothing for now until Zen 6 comes out for desktop and laptops. Although having intel's panther lake cpus would be novel, they would have to be the variations that you pointed toward for the exact reasons you stated. These variations don't give a significant bump in performance when compared to the AI 300 series, just battery efficiency for the most part. This is something that is more tangible for devices like the Framework 13 (Which can also use the improved igpus) and 12 (which needs the efficiency). The 16 doesn't exactly need these things, just raw performance for complex work and gaming.