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| System Name | RBMK-1000 |
|---|---|
| Processor | AMD Ryzen 7 5700G |
| Motherboard | ASUS ROG Strix B450-E Gaming |
| Cooling | DeepCool Gammax L240 V2 |
| Memory | 2x 8GB G.Skill Sniper X |
| Video Card(s) | Palit GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER GameRock |
| Storage | Western Digital Black NVMe 512GB |
| Display(s) | BenQ 1440p 60 Hz 27-inch |
| Case | Corsair Carbide 100R |
| Audio Device(s) | ASUS SupremeFX S1220A |
| Power Supply | Cooler Master MWE Gold 650W |
| Mouse | ASUS ROG Strix Impact |
| Keyboard | Gamdias Hermes E2 |
| Software | Windows 11 Pro |
The Fractal Design Ridge SFF tower-type case won critical praise including from us, for its unique design, well-planned interiors, and room for even triple-slot graphics cards with a little adjustments. The case relies on a PCIe riser cable to maintain its SFF form, since the graphics card has to be oriented vertically. The riser included with the case meets PCI-Express 4.0 standards, but end-users started experiencing problems running their latest-generation PCIe Gen 4 graphics cards with this case, with the problem being localized to the riser cable. Fractal investigated this issue, and confirmed the issue.
Apparently, the PCIe riser included with the Fractal Ridge, while rated for PCIe Gen 4, has a design flaw that affects signal integrity. The riser is found to be only stable with PCIe Gen 3 or lower. The company is recommending a workaround for end-users while it works on a solution: to confine PCIe to Gen 3 mode using the motherboard's UEFI setup program (BIOS setup program), in which you can restrict the x16 PEG slot to Gen 3 mode. "We are developing a solution to enable full PCIe 4.0 compatibility, but until that is ready, we will update our listings to reflect that only PCIe 3.0 compatibility is guaranteed," the company said in a statement.
In this above images from our review of the Fractal Ridge, you'll see that Fractal's PCIe Gen 4 riser is a wacky contraption of two PCBs, and the PCIe signal has to change hands twice before reaching your graphics card. The first, larger, rectangular PCB connects to your motherboard's PCIe slot, and turns it to a 90° angle; while the second shorter PCB slots into this one, and extends the slot to your graphics card, at a 0° angle. A simpler design choice would've been to use flexible PCIe Gen 4-rated cables, and a single point of exchange.
Our GeForce RTX 4090 PCI-Express Scaling article should give you a comprehensive look at how much performance you stand to lose by running an RTX 4090—currently the fastest graphics card—in PCIe Gen 3 mode. You lose about 2% performance at 4K Ultra HD when averaged across 25 games from our test bench, so not by much.
The complete statement by Fractal Design follows.
View at TechPowerUp Main Site
Apparently, the PCIe riser included with the Fractal Ridge, while rated for PCIe Gen 4, has a design flaw that affects signal integrity. The riser is found to be only stable with PCIe Gen 3 or lower. The company is recommending a workaround for end-users while it works on a solution: to confine PCIe to Gen 3 mode using the motherboard's UEFI setup program (BIOS setup program), in which you can restrict the x16 PEG slot to Gen 3 mode. "We are developing a solution to enable full PCIe 4.0 compatibility, but until that is ready, we will update our listings to reflect that only PCIe 3.0 compatibility is guaranteed," the company said in a statement.
In this above images from our review of the Fractal Ridge, you'll see that Fractal's PCIe Gen 4 riser is a wacky contraption of two PCBs, and the PCIe signal has to change hands twice before reaching your graphics card. The first, larger, rectangular PCB connects to your motherboard's PCIe slot, and turns it to a 90° angle; while the second shorter PCB slots into this one, and extends the slot to your graphics card, at a 0° angle. A simpler design choice would've been to use flexible PCIe Gen 4-rated cables, and a single point of exchange.
Our GeForce RTX 4090 PCI-Express Scaling article should give you a comprehensive look at how much performance you stand to lose by running an RTX 4090—currently the fastest graphics card—in PCIe Gen 3 mode. You lose about 2% performance at 4K Ultra HD when averaged across 25 games from our test bench, so not by much.
The complete statement by Fractal Design follows.
View at TechPowerUp Main Site
