Hyte’s swanky GPU riser cable includes a fake graphics card

Building your own desktop computer is all about performance. Actually, that’s a lie; for a substantial portion of the community, the look and aesthetic quality of a PC and its components is at least as important as what it can do. There’s just something so satisfying about making a miniature RGB warehouse rave, complete with extras like screens for your RAM. If you can’t stand for your next build to be anything less than awesome to the max, you might want to check out the latest GPU riser design from Hyte.

If you’re not in the know, a GPU riser is essentially an extension cable for one of your motherboard’s PCIe slots, allowing you to place a graphics card into an alternate mount in your case. It’s what enables builders to place a GPU vertically on the side of gaming case, or placing them in weird, non-traditional cases like the Azza Pyramid Mini. But what if you don’t like the look of bare cables running to your motherboard instead of a graphics card? That’s where the Hyte PCIe 4.0 cable comes in: it includes a little plastic dummy card sitting in the PCIe slot. It even comes in your choice of black, white, or hot rod red.

Hyte

Does the little mini card (spotted by Guru3D) add any functionality? Of course not! But it looks nice, it performs all the functions of a standard PCIe 4.0 x16 riser cable, extends to 200mm from your motherboard, and it can be mounted at full height for half height for compact ITX builds. The only thing that could make it better is if it were stuffed with LEDs or, for preference, a superfluous video screen. I’m sure Hyte is working on it.

The card is available to order now for $80. If that sounds expensive, it’s actually not that bad. Less aesthetically pleasing designs from name brands like Lian Li and Thermaltake run around the same price. Just make sure there’s room in your case (and in your cable routing scheme) for the extra hardware.