Other The HDPLEX Silicon flexible PCIe riser

iFreilicht

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Feb 28, 2015
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No, that's not possible. It was designed for the HDPLEX H5, and there the GPU is raised:

 

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Shrink Ray Wielder
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Nov 1, 2015
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I recently ordered a used HD-PLEX riser from Larry, for $15. I can't wait to get it and try it out!
 

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Shrink Ray Wielder
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Okay, so I finally got a chance to try the riser out and decided to use it in an orientation where the GPU cooler faces upward, pointing in the same direction as the CPU cooler. See this S3 mini picture for reference.

The S3 build uses a different riser- 3M I believe. But given the feedback I read of the HDPLEX riser, I expected the shielding as described by @iFreilicht to be adequate to orient the card so that the exposed backside of the PCB will not cause interference or short-circuiting. But the card will not work when using the riser. The fan doesn't spin, and there is no video output.

I haven't seen actual case uses of this orientation with the HDPLEX. My guess is that the GPU can't be resting right on top of the cable. I also have tested it with the GPU oriented vertically, 90 degrees to the cable, but it still doesn't run either.

I'm not sure if the cable I got is faulty (it was bought used) or I didn't check the slot connections well enough. I'll give it another go later today.
 

Josh | NFC

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It could be the riser, it could be the board or GPU just don't like it. Some boards and GPU combos can be picky when using risers--any risers. I've not seen this happen often, but it does happen. The EVGA Micro 2 X99 board for example would just not work with the Fury X when using riser ribbons. The Fury X obviously did...used tons of different cables with it. And likewise for other X99 boards, but those two just had issues together.

I don't know if it helps, but the MINI used a specially developed cable from ADEX electronics for Paladin, but is now available and in custom lengths, but it is pretty expensive and needs to be called in.
 

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Shrink Ray Wielder
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Josh, you could be right. I don't have a multitude of cards to test the riser with, but even with a flat orientation the card would not work. I moved back to the 5cm Sintech riser and it works again. Since you have more experience with these risers than I do, I'll chalk it up to being a bad board-GPU combo. The card is a Zotac GTX 1050, so nothing really high-end.

A longer ribbon cable is not super critical to my build, but I'll just have to re-orient the card in the other direction. I'll see if I can get some of my money back and return the cable to Larry.
 

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Shrink Ray Wielder
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I just realized something- is the reason my cable not working because it cannot supply the full amperage for cards that are powered entirely from the PCIe slot? That just occurred to me.
 

Josh | NFC

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I just realized something- is the reason my cable not working because it cannot supply the full amperage for cards that are powered entirely from the PCIe slot? That just occurred to me.

Could be, but I use the HDPLEX cable to power the 1050ti 4GB and don't have any issues. I also have couple older GPUs that draw power from the ribbon and countless broadcast cards that range from 50-75w and they all work fine.
 
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Shrink Ray Wielder
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Nov 1, 2015
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Could be, but I use the HDPLEX cable to power the 1050ti 4GB and don't have any issues. I also have couple older GPUs that draw power from the ribbon and countless broadcast cards that range from 50-75w and they all work fine.

Huh, interesting. What model 1050 Ti do you have? Hopefully I don't have a faulty cable (I bought used, at a discount). I have a spare GPU I can try with later, a R7 240, that doesn't require 6-pin and rated at 60W.
 

Pat-Roner

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Feb 18, 2016
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Imo this is one of the best risers on the marked. Used it for a while in my ncase, and worked flawless. Cheap and easy to deal with.

 

iFreilicht

FlexATX Authority
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Feb 28, 2015
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Imo this is one of the best risers on the marked. Used it for a while in my ncase, and worked flawless. Cheap and easy to deal with.

It's not really guaranteed to be working well, though. I agree that it can be a good option, especially if you want the cable to have a certain length, but it's far from being a robust solution. Good to know that it can work, though, mind sharing which mainboard and GPU you used?
 
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Pat-Roner

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Feb 18, 2016
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It's not really guaranteed to be working well, though. I agree that it can be a good option, especially if you want the cable to have a certain length, but it's far from being a robust solution. Good to know that it can work, though, mind sharing which mainboard and GPU you used?

Well few things except the 3m one is, though. It's super flexible, and you can replace the ribbons if you where to break one of them.
I used it with a asus z97i plus and a 980 reference, 980 TI msi gaming/EVGA SC+ / Palit super jet stream / Gigabyte extreme gaming (not the luckiest one with my 980 ti's) and worked well despite many card replacements and build changes.
 
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lordzahl

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Feb 7, 2016
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Well few things except the 3m one is, though. It's super flexible, and you can replace the ribbons if you where to break one of them.
I used it with a asus z97i plus and a 980 reference, 980 TI msi gaming/EVGA SC+ / Palit super jet stream / Gigabyte extreme gaming (not the luckiest one with my 980 ti's) and worked well despite many card replacements and build changes.
Interesting riser.
I like the possibility of the interchangeable cable.
In one version it comes with two different cable lengths in set.
I would be interesting to hear if you reach 16x Gen3 with the cable and maybe a photo, please?
 

Pat-Roner

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Feb 18, 2016
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Had no issues reaching 16x Gen3 (according to GPU-Z at least). Not using it anymore, (no need) so have no detailed pictures. (only pictures of the build where you can see a some of the cable)