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The Daily Insight Hub

What is a riser card used for?

Author

Matthew Harrington

Updated on February 17, 2026

Riser Card is an expansion card that is used to extend a slot for an I/O card in a fully loaded computer to make room to plug it in. It may also refer to a card that contains several slots used in low-profile, space-saving enclosure.

Does a riser card affect performance?

The riser probably does affect performance a bit. 3700 vs 3800 is only like 2%, so in the grand scheme of gaming if you were getting 90FPS in a game before, with the riser you’d get 2% less, so 1.8 less FPS, or 88.2 FPS. No real difference you’d see.

What is GPU riser card?

GPU risers are the adapters that allow a GPU to connect to a motherboard via USB cable. Moreover, GPU risers convert the x1 PCIe slots of a motherboard into x16 PCIe lanes so that more GPUs can attach to the motherboard.

Can riser damage GPU?

If you switched the riser to one that is working and the GPU won’t work in another rig, then you most likely fried it. Always be very careful when plugging in risers, never do it in a hurry.

How does a riser work?

How Do Risers Work? Similar to pipelines or flowlines, risers transport produced hydrocarbons, as well as production materials, such as injection fluids, control fluids and gas lift. Usually insulated to withstand seafloor temperatures, risers can be either rigid or flexible.

What does mean riser?

1 : one that rises (as from sleep) 2 : the upright member between two stair treads. 3 : a stage platform on which performers are placed for greater visibility. 4 : a vertical pipe (as for water or gas) or a vertical portion of an electric wiring system.

Do riser cables affect mining performance?

The riser will always work on 1x speed, which doesn’t affect the mining performance at all. With games, you need broad CPU-GPU bandwidth handling constant data transfer.

Are riser cables good?

There are two main reasons why you might want to use PCIe Riser cables: Space constraints: Better / Possible GPU placement for Single- or Multi-GPU Configurations & possibly better cooling. Especially for low-profile GPUs in Small Form Factor Cases that would otherwise clash with low-profile CPU Coolers.

How many Pcies are needed for mining?

Luckily for us, when using the best GPUs for mining, we don’t require PCI 16x slots. In reality, because of the way the mining calculations work, we only require a PCIe 1x slot.

What is a riser card and what does it mean?

(1) An expansion card that is used to extend a slot for a chip or card in a fully loaded computer to make room to plug it in. It may also refer to a card that contains several slots used in low-profile, space-saving cabinets. The cards are plugged into the riser card and reside parallel with the motherboard.

Can a riser card be used in a PCI slot?

While a consumer would not up-grade using a Riser slot, opting for a PCI slot implementation instead. So Riser implementations are only seen as deliverables from computer manufacturers, and not as up-grade cards in commercial stores.

Where does the riser card go on a motherboard?

(1) A printed circuit board for low-profile motherboards. The peripheral controller cards plug into the riser card and sit parallel with the motherboard. See low-profile motherboard.

What’s the difference between a 1U and 2U riser card?

This is due to the height limitations of a 1U and 2U system which are 1.75″ and 3.5″ respectively. Typically, a 1U system uses a 1U single slot riser card whereas a 2U system uses a 2U 3 slot riser card.