PCIe riser cables allow you to extend your motherboard’s PCIe slot, meaning you can mount your graphics card further away from your motherboard. The cables act as an extension, similar to how extension power cables work. In a compatible chassis, this means you can place your GPU in a vertical position and show off your epic gaming graphics card. In short, absolutely yes, you can! The design of the physical slot itself has not changed, and any Gen 3 device, such as a graphics card or sound card, will continue to work in a Gen 4 slot. On some motherboards, you may need to enter the BIOS and manually set the slot to PCIe 3.0 or 4.0, whereas on others, they will automatically detect the correct speed and set it for you. Over the last few years, we’ve seen an influx of increasingly attractive graphics cards as manufacturers begin to compete in not just performance but aesthetics. This raises the problem of how to fully flex your epic GPU without compromising on performance. The solution? A PCIe 4.0 riser cable! Riser cables are available in both PCIe 3.0 and 4.0 variants, with the latter offering a significant boost in data transfer speed. Currently, graphics cards don’t fully utilise this extra bandwidth. However, there is a slight performance boost, especially with higher-end GPUs. This is set to change as both Nvidia and AMD are likely to leverage this additional bandwidth for more gaming performance in upcoming GPUs. If you’re looking to flaunt your GPU whilst taking full advantage of Gen 4 speeds, a PCIe riser cable is the perfect addition to your PC. What are PCIe Riser Cables?