Are PCIe extenders all the same?

[NumLock21]

With the introduction of RGB video cards and cases with tempered glass side panel. There are some that would like to show it to others, on how awesome it look when it changes its 16.7 million colors. One problem though, all motherboards are mounted vertically, inside a case and this make it impossible to show off the RGB video card. The solution is to get a PCIe extender cable so, the video card can be mounted in a standing position within the case, thus showing its beauty for everyone to see. Now which one is the best, do they all perform the same, and why do some cost more than others?

Videocardz did a test on a variety of them, to see if more expensive ones actually perform better than the cheaper ones or not.

 

https://videocardz.com/review/pci-express-riser-extender-test

[DXMember]

yes it's just wires

[Nicnac]

In general I have heard a lot of bad things about those risers (simple ribbon cables). They are either extremely low quality or break easily or produce other weird issues with the graphics card. The ones used for mining rigs seem to be much better as they use usb cables for the connection and are also powered. However I have only seen those for x1 slots, not for x16 unfortunately.

[Sakkura]

There are differences in how well they're shielded and how good the signal integrity ends up being. That gets more important the longer the ribbon cable is.

[PCGuy_5960]

11 minutes ago, DXMember said:

yes it's just wires

Nope

 

[Mira Yurizaki]

On a higher level, that might be the case. It's just wires or a PCB with copper traces no?

 

However depending on the length you need and the application, you'll definitely want to get extenders with shielding. Otherwise you'll run into signal integrity issues. High speed communication is a fickle mistress and even being off by a couple of millimeters can throw off. Like if you looked at some PCB traces and noticed squiggly lines, those are there to artificially increase trace length so whatever signal it's transmitting arrives at the same time as another one.

 

So basically, if you're gaming, get a shielded cable.

[DXMember]

1 hour ago, PCGuy_5960 said:

Nope

 

well the ones that only extend half of the PCI-E pins are obviously fake...

but in the end unless you make 'em more than 15cm without power... you'll be fine

[yawacool]

There is a complete technical review here
Http://cryinginthenight68.wixsite.com/liheat/gallery