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In case it saves anyone some time (from the article): "The AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395(Strix Halo) processor has been available since Spring 2025 and the Halo doesn’t
by kamranjon 3mo ago
In case it saves anyone some time (from the article):
"The AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395(Strix Halo) processor has been available since Spring 2025 and the Halo doesn’t offer anything new on that front."
It has the same 256 GB/s memory bandwidth limit as every board previously, not sure why this is even being released right now as if it's some new fangled thing - you can go get a Framework Desktop for roughly the same price or a GMKtec EVO-X2 for a bit cheaper.
- ekholm_e 3mo agoThis. I bought Framework Desktop in November 2025 with almost these exact specs for ~$2.5k
- ahmadyan 3mo agoSame spec Framework costs $4k+ today, this is actually cheaper (albeit not as upgradable as framework).
- 827a 3mo agoFramework, weirdly, overcharges considerably for their SSDs. You can currently get a Samsung 990 Pro 2TB on Amazon for $390; Framework charges $625 for the Sandisk 850x 2TB, which has similar performance (and is being sold on Amazon for $530). If you DIY your own SSD, you can spec a Framework Desktop for below $4k; but not much below. Roughly the same price.
- hamdingers 3mo agoIf you can supply your own SSD, case, and 120mm fan the mainboard is "only" $3,149
- icedchai 3mo agoAnd it was "only" $1700 last year!
- cowmix 3mo agoI got the EVO-X2 for $1,599! In 44+ years of buying computers, I've seen some appreciation, but nothing like this. Going from $1,599 to ~$3,500 in a year is just insane.
- moffkalast 3mo ago128GB of the most in demand chip on the planet will do that to you.
- warmwaffles 3mo ago128GB of the most in demand consumer chip when all the manufacturers are switching to HBM manufacturing because the margins are far better there will do that to you. It sucks.
- Bombthecat 3mo agoI was looking at buying hardware for me and as testing ground to learn. With those prices I just nipped out and will just rent in demand at runpod or so. Absolute insanity
- qingcharles 3mo agoI've never seen appreciation in buying PCs. They were always like cars, once you drive them off the lot...
- cowmix 3mo agoWell, GPUs sorta went up in the past 5 years.. but nothing like now.
- qingcharles 3mo agoRight. But they shouldn't have :) These are wild times. In the past memory and GPU prices always went down heavily.
- 3mo ago
- mistyvales 3mo agoI had a pre-order in for the 128GB DIY motherboard only model last Oct 2025, but cancelled it and just upgraded my current 5900x rig to 64GB instead and replaced the x370 board with a used x470. Really with I had pulled the trigger, but I honestly am just fine with the performance as is on my current system for now. The Framework should have lasted me just as long, but who knows. Hoping my current rig lasts at last another 4 years..
- hparadiz 3mo agoIt's being released right now because it's massively profitable and in high demand and has actually gone up in price over the past year so obviously AMD wants to cash in on that instead of selling these units to PC manufacturers at a lower price.
- SR2Z 3mo agoI also think this is forward looking and helps reanchor expectations for RAM and memory bandwidth, which historically have been areas where companies do value engineering. The memory shortages won't last forever; when companies start adding capacity I wouldn't be surprised to see massive sticks of RAM being sold for consumers.
- hparadiz 3mo agoBefore AI I kinda thought more ram and faster ram was kind of useless because I had written off increased speeds as sort of a luxury whose only application is bloated unoptimized software. Boy was I wrong about that. But then why stop there?
- SR2Z 3mo agoI mean, there's a difference between "my IDE opens 0.1s faster" and "my desktop can now write my code for me" and only one of those justifies increasing RAM production.
- aurareturn 3mo agoA year ago, you could have bought this computer for $2000. Basically double the price now.
- jmvoodoo 3mo agoI bought a bosgame version for $2199 back in February.
- cyberax 3mo agoIf you're not space-constrained, why go with a Framework Desktop? Just get a normal tower or a server rack computer.
- kamranjon 3mo agoOne of the big benefits I’ve heard about for the framework, especially with the Noctua cooler, is that it’s virtually silent.
- a96 3mo agohttps://community.frame.work/t/noisy-psu-fan/74751 https://community.frame.work/t/noisy-psu-fan/74751 Well, almost. Maybe. Not all units. But probably.
- cyberax 3mo agoYou can put Noctua fans in server rack computers. I even modified my NAS to use them: https://pics.ealex.net/s/noctua-fans-ftw https://pics.ealex.net/s/noctua-fans-ftw
- smcleod 3mo agoYeah the 256GB/s bandwidth is really very limiting
- rao-v 3mo agoIt’s tragic that memory is so expensive, and yet, we don’t have chipsets to exploit the bandwidth possibilities of the memory being burnt on these devices. Absolutely no reason that these need to be capped at 256 GB/s other than shortsighted design from three years ago.
- anaisbetts 3mo agoThe extremely charitable answer is that this is AMD's chance to control the built-in software, so they can ship a bunch of built-in AI stuff and a controlled environment similar to what NVIDIA does with their DGX OS, rather than e.g. Framework which is going to give you a stock Linux distro. (I agree that you almost certainly don't need this)