Local AIAI workstation review
Framework Desktop review: the home AI machine you can actually open
128 GB of shared memory in a small box, running large AI models that a normal graphics card can't fit. It costs $1,999, and unlike most mini PCs you can take it apart.
Is the Framework Desktop (Ryzen AI Max+ 395) worth buying?
Only if you specifically want to run large AI models at home. The Framework Desktop's 128 GB of shared memory holds models a normal graphics card can't, it's serviceable with standard parts, and it costs $1,999. If mid-size models are all you need, a 32 GB Mac mini does that for half the price and less power.
The pick if you want to run the large models at home and you want a machine you can service yourself. Fast enough, quiet enough, and built to last — but the memory is soldered and it's not cheap.
Where it's good
- 128 GB of shared memory runs models most machines can't load at all
- Standard mini-ITX case — swap the storage, fans, even the mainboard later
- Quiet under load and reasonably efficient for the performance
- Framework's track record on parts and repairability is real
Where it bites
- $1,999 to start
- The 128 GB memory is soldered — a limit of the AMD chip, but still a limit
- A dedicated graphics card is still faster for models that do fit in 24 GB
- Overkill if you only ever run mid-size models
Some links below are affiliate links. How this works.
The Framework Desktop is a small computer built around AMD’s Ryzen AI Max+ 395 chip, which comes paired with 128 GB of memory shared between the processor and a large built-in graphics chip. That shared pool is the whole point: it lets you load AI models that a $1,000 graphics card physically cannot hold.
What the extra memory buys you
Most people running local AI are working with 24–32 GB and mid-size models. This machine is for the tier above that — the large models that start to feel like the paid services. On 128 GB you can load one, keep it resident, and have it respond in a few seconds.
It’s not the fastest way to run a model that does fit in 24 GB — a dedicated graphics card wins that race. It’s the only way to comfortably run the ones that don’t.
The Framework part
Every other machine in this class is a sealed box. This one uses a standard mini-ITX case and standard parts. The storage is user-replaceable, the fans are standard, and Framework sells the mainboard on its own if you want to reuse the case later or move the guts into something else.
The memory is the exception — it’s soldered, because the chip requires it. So the 128 GB decision is permanent. Given that 128 GB is already the top option, that’s easier to live with here than on a Mac mini.
Who should buy it — and who shouldn’t
Buy it if you specifically want to run large models at home, you’d rather buy once than upgrade, and repairability matters to you.
Buy something else if mid-size models are all you need — a 32 GB Mac mini does that for half the price and less power — or if speed on smaller models matters more than size, in which case a used RTX 3090 in a PC you already own is the cheaper path.
The specs, in plain English
- CPU
- AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 (16C/32T)
- Graphics
- Radeon 8060S (integrated, 40 CU)
- RAM
- 128 GB LPDDR5X (soldered)Same 128 GB shared-memory trick as the GMKtec — enough to run large models at home. Also soldered; that's a limitation of the chip, not Framework.
- Storage
- User-replaceable NVMe (2x M.2 2280)
- Networking
- 5GbE, Wi-Fi 7
- Case
- 4.5 L, standard mini-ITX, user-serviceableUnlike most mini PCs, you can open it, swap the storage and fans, and it uses standard parts. You're not buying a sealed box.
- Load power
- ~140 WAround $18 a year if you leave it running a model 24/7.
The bottom line
If running the big models at home is the goal and you want to buy once, this is the machine. If you mostly run mid-size models, save the money and get a 32 GB Mac mini or a Beelink SER8 — you won't use what this offers.