At a notebook-specific forum I frequent[1], a user has noticed that the Framework 16 modular discrete graphics solution uses a connector first used by Dell in i

At a notebook-specific forum I frequent[1], a user has noticed that the Framework 16 modular discrete graphics solution uses a connector first used by Dell in its Precision 7530 and 7730 workstation notebooks, released in 2018. The connector is called 'Dell Graphics Form Factor' (DGFF), and is the array of gold LGA pads on the motherboard seen in the bottom-right screenshot in a photo, at the above link. Dell has been using DGFF ever since, in all Precision 7XXX notebooks and the Alienware Area-51m, to facilitate modular GPUs. However, Dell changes its notebook layout every two years, so these GPUs are not upgradeable after two generations (so a 7530 could be upgraded to a GPU from a 7540, but not a GPU from a 7550, released in 2020). It's going to be interesting how Framework adapts the connector for its own use. The Dell cards are fairly high-powered; in the most recent 7770 (17" workstation), the RTX 3080 Ti and Quadro RTX A5000 cards may draw up to 130 W. Some examples of previous and current DGFF discrete cards (all by Dell, for Dell notebooks) are here[2][3][4][5]. Notice the difference to the previous mobile GPU connection standard, MXM 3[6], which was used by Dell in its Precisions until 2018, when it changed to DGFF, HP in its ZBooks until about 2020 when it changed to a soldered solution. Other notebook ODMs like Clevo and Tongfang still use MXM cards in their desktop replacement notebooks. I'm not sure if Clevo still sells these monsters; they had a 780 W power brick, itself heavier than many slimmer notebooks. [1]: https://notebooktalk.net/topic/873-precision-7680-precision-7780-pre-release-discussion-raptor-lake-2023/?do=findComment&comment=29221&_rid=105 https://notebooktalk.net/topic/873-precision-7680-precision-... [2]: https://imgur.com/aMal40L https://imgur.com/aMal40L : Quadro P3200 (Pascal), Quadro RTX 3000, Quadro RTX 5000 (latter two Turing) [3]: https://www.notebookcheck.net/fileadmin/Notebooks/News/_nc3/IMG_20190109_162933.jpg https://www.notebookcheck.net/fileadmin/Notebooks/News/_nc3/... : GTX 1080? in Dell Alienware Area-51m [4]: https://dl.dell.com/content/guides/public/Html/precision_7560_sm/images/GUID-E73B16BE-6A77-4FD7-93A8-58F15884F77F-low.jpg https://dl.dell.com/content/guides/public/Html/precision_756... : new form factor for 7X50 and 7X60 generations [5]: https://dl.dell.com/content/guides/public/Html/precision_7670_sm/images/GUID-E4A43D93-E55E-4A75-A9E3-410D91DD4B68-low.jpg https://dl.dell.com/content/guides/public/Html/precision_767... : newer still form factor for 7X70 and now 7X80 generation [6]: https://i.imgur.com/Exp6w0g.png https://i.imgur.com/Exp6w0g.png : MXM GPUs