PCI-E Riser Cable / GPU Mining Cable Install and Usage

DISCLAIMER: The instructions below are provided free of charge and with absolutley no warranty of accuracy. We take no respsonibality for any hardware you may damage or personal property destroyed. ALWAYS BE CAREFUL and make sure your hardware is completly shutdown and disconnected from power outlets.

Common Usage:

These cables are commonly used by GPU miners to connect multiple video cards to a motherboard by "lifting them" off and away from the motherboard. This also allows for more efficient cooling, thereby increasing the life of the cards, as well as possibly running at higher speeds.

Are All Cables The Same?

In theroy they all do the same thing (see above) but there are some differences.

1. Motherboards have two different sized PCI-E slot sizes. They are commonly refered to as PCI-E 1X and PCI-E 16X - See below for example.
2. Video cards are designed to use the 16X size on your motherboard due to this size allowing much more performance in gaming enviorments; it allows for upto 16 connections/lanes to the motherboard which is why it is called 16X.
3. The 1X size allows only one connection/lane to the motherboard which would reduce gaming performance. This does not decrease mining performance.
4. Some cables are called Powered Cables. Video cards connected to your motherboard either directly or via cables use some level of power from the motherboard. Instead of using the motherboard power supply, the powered cables have an additional Molex connector to plug into the cable thereby directly supplying the 12 volt line, which in turn does not consume power from the motherboard - as long as the cable is made correctly and the 12 volt lines are properly connected.

Common Questions About Cables:

Do you need a powered connector?

This is a heated subject with people on both sides of the fence. The final answer really depends on your specific system componets. Usually, if you decide to use powered cables, it is only after you have more than 3 video cards in one system. Lower performance video cards that do not use PCI-E power supply connectors (the 6/8 pin outputs on the power supply) would more likley require the powered connectors since all their power comes directly from the motherboard. Today, all high performace video cards use PCI-E power supply connections which reduces the load on the motherboard. Some motherboards also have a Molex connector built directly into the board. This is used to power the PCI-E slots and would not require a powered riser.

Do PCI-E 1X Slot Reduce Mining Performance?

They do not. Your video card will mine just as fast on 1X compared to 16X slots.

Is There A Trick To Using PCI-E 1X Cables With My Video Card and Motherboard?

Some motherboards will require the use of a simple Jumper Wire to recognize the slot is in use by a video card. Please see below for more information.

Is The Use of Riser Cables Dangerous To My Hardware?

If used improperly, yes. They can possibly short your motherboard or video card but unlikley. The connector must be firmly plugged into the motherboard and to the video card. See install instructions below.

Do I need additional Drivers For My Motherboard?

No riser that we have used, or sell, requires the use of additional drivers.

How Do I Install A Riser Cables:

The instructions below should work with any system but take caution when proceeding. If something is not right, please e-mail us a detailed question and we will try to help you! Before using the riser cables, please secure your motherboard and video cards.

NOTE: The motherboard used in the photos below is not a board we use or suggest for mining. It was just used for example purposes.

1. Mount your motherboard and video card so the cable will not be strained and pulled.
2. First decide what kind of slot you are using (1X or 16X). For an example picture of slot size, click the link below.
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3. Properly align the cable to the slot on the motherboard until no gold connectors are visible. The 16x cables may take a little pressure but do not apply too much. Look carefully at the key (see photo) slot to make sure the cable is going in the correct way. Make sure the alignment is correct for the 1X cable to slot since the cable is much smaller.
   Show Example Photo
   PCI-E Key Example
   

   PCI-E 1X Example	PCI-E 16X Example

4. Insert the cable into your video card until you can not see any gold connectors on the video card .The cables may take a little pressure but do not apply too much. If your cable has a locking clip, make sure it securly attaches to the video card. Depending on the locking clip, you will need to disengage it to remove the cable.
   Show Example Photo
   The examples below are showing a 16X cable. The 1X install process is the same procedure.
   

How To Install A PCI-E 1X Jumper Wire

Some motherboards will require the use of a simple Jumper Wire to reconize the slot is in use by a video card.

The Jumper Wire itself is nothing more than a thin insulated strand of copper wire such as the insulated strands inside telephone wiring (about 26 gauge). Make sure you retain the insulation so you do not short anything out. The motherboard used in the below example has very small holes to insert into which maded it difficult to push in (most have much larger). It would of required thinner wiring than shown below.

1. First obtain and prepare the jumper wire. I suggest using telephone or cat 5 wiring strands since it is copper and pretty thin. Cut it to approximately 2 inch in legnth and remove a quater to a third inch of insulation from both ends of the wire.
2. Insert the stripped ends of the wire into the PCI-E 1X slot as shown below. Make sure you insert it far enough that most of the copper is not visible on the wire.
   Please make sure it is exact or else you can damage the hardware!
   
3. Insert the PCI-E 1X cable into the slot and you are done. Verify the position of the cable - that it is not touching any capacitor‎s or anything else since the hardware does get hot while running. Please note, the wire in the phot below is extruded a bit more outwards than it should have been. You should try to tuck it up against the cable to not impact other devices of fans of nearby video cards if not all are mounted on riser cables.
   

That's all to it. Go Start Mining!

If you have any questions or comments with the above procedure, please let us know.

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