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calmacfan

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 15, 2020
16
1
Placerville CA
Does anyone have any ideas on a solution to free up a blocked x16 PCIE port when using a thicker GPU?

I have a XFX RX 5700XT GPU that is pretty thick. Right now the GPU card takes up the x16 Slot 1 and also covers the x16 PCIE Slot 2. I have a AbleConn Dual NVME M.2 PCIE Carrier Adapter that needs the x16 PCIE Slot to hit full speeds. I moved the GPU to slot 2 and the NVME Carrier will work at full speeds in Slot 1 but then the GPU covers both of the x4 Slots 3 and 4 meaning that I can't use my AbleConn 3.1 USB C PCIE Card. Is there a way to leave the GPU in Slot 1 and extend/90 cable the x16 Slot 2 behind the GPU and pull the cable above the GPU to approximately the Slot 3 location for my NVME Carrier while maintaining access to Slot 4 where the AbleConn 3.1 USB C PCIE Card would be? May be a bit of a stretch but thought I'd ask to see if anyone else had tried to do something similar. I see some extender/90/right angle cables on Amazon but I'm a bit fuzzy on how you would work with the cables and mount the NVME Carrier in the Slot 3 location in a cMP 5,1. Any ideas?
 

calmacfan

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 15, 2020
16
1
Placerville CA
I was never able to find an alternative to sacrificing access to 4XPCIE 3 & 4 Slots to accommodate both the XFX RX 5700XT video card and the AbleConn Dual NVME Drive PCIE Adapter in the 16X PCIE 1 & 2 Slots. I figured there would be some kind of adapter/cable to get the 16X slot moved up the board but I guess not. It sucks that I've had to lose the USB 3.1 PCIE board I was using. Shame it's not easier to upgrade the stock USB 2.0 ports on the front or back to 3.1. I saw a post regarding being able to upgrade them but it seems to no longer be an active thread and the replacement boards it linked to are OOS and seem to have been for a while. Is anyone else aware of an alternative way to upgrade the stock USB 2.0 ports to 3.0 or 3.1 Gen 2?
 

krakman

macrumors 6502
Dec 3, 2009
419
446
Could you not just get a PCIE extension cable and connect the the AbleConn Dual NVME Drive PCIE Adapter to that? You can use some insulating pads or tape to attach it somewhere inside the case or on top of the GPU, I realise its not the most aesthetic solution but in your situation it may be the only one.
 
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