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I would like to have more PCIe slots, and ideally I would like for them to be external to the computer.

What I think I am looking for is then a combination of PCIe extender (for additional slots) and riser (for external).

I have found something like this amazon but I am a bit skeptical because I can't really find it on electronics shops like Digikey etc...

I have a few questions on this, pardon my ignorance:

  • the computer end of the slot is a PCIe x1, while the others can go up to x16... How's that possible? Is there no consequence to not connecting to the full x16 slot on the computer side?

  • Is speed (or other) affected by having a USB cable between the computer end and the extender?

  • Are these things not standard? Is this why I can only find them on ebay and amazon?

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Even if you plug two PCIe devices into this... adapter... you'll lose a lot of performance for both of those PCIe devices. Think about it. If you connect a x16 PCIe device into a x1 PCIe slot, how many lanes do you think you'll be able to utilize for your x16 PCIe device? In this case, sure, you can use two x16 PCIe devices but are you willing to give up a large amount of performance? Seems like a waste of money. They probably sell this stuff on Amazon because, well, it's probably a much better way to get your product sold than using your own website. \$\endgroup\$
    – user103380
    Commented Nov 5, 2019 at 3:51
  • \$\begingroup\$ 1. adexelec.com/pci-express 2. onestopsystems.com/pcie-expansion \$\endgroup\$
    – user19579
    Commented Nov 5, 2019 at 4:41

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They are highly non-standard. They are simply using cheap USB 3 cables to carry a single lane of PCIe gen 2 (5 Gbps). The other end is an x16 connector, wired x1. So it's fine for crypto currency mining applications that require very little bandwidth, but no good for high bandwidth applications.

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    \$\begingroup\$ But what if the card(s) that I would plug into the extender are also x1? Would I have the same bandwidth (and speed?) or would I still lose some because of the USB cable and the duplicate slot? \$\endgroup\$
    – SuperCiocia
    Commented Nov 5, 2019 at 6:24
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    \$\begingroup\$ For extending x1, they probably work just fine. \$\endgroup\$
    – alex.forencich
    Commented Nov 5, 2019 at 6:48

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