LINKUP - AVA5 PCIE 5.0 Riser Cable | RTX5090 RX9070 GPU Ready | x16 128GB/s Speed | Compatible with PCIe 4.0 | Designed for ITX | Single Reverse Straight, Black 23cm (Total Length 27.5cm)

I built a new PC in a Dan A4-H2O case and was experiencing intermittent crashes and restarts. I thought it might be due to the riser cable included with the case. I ordered this cable as a replacement and the crashes and restarts stopped happening and have not happened since (it has been a month or so). This cable is rather expensive, and maybe I could have gotten a replacement cable from Lian Li, but I wanted something delivered quickly. This cable is also a few centimeters shorter than the original cable which had too much slack, so it is a more efficient use of limited space in the small case.

This is my second riser cable from LinkUp, the first was a longer double reverse in my old sandwich style build - which couldn't be reused for this one.So far so good in my new build - I installed the 5cm riser for my fat boi Astral 5090 in my Ncase M2. Even at 5cm, there is a bend in the cable, so I'm glad I didn't have to go with a longer one. Originally I ordered a 10cm, but Amazon returns made it easy to swap that out for the 5cm once I had the card in hand and realized it would be longer than I needed. I have the '3rd gen', which really doesn't matter since I don't have the cable attached to the case. Connection between the motherboard and the GPU is solid. Because of the right angle, I was able to place a slim fan underneath the GPU at the rear of the case. Some people don't like the red accents on the gen 1 and gen 3, it doesn't really matter to me. I guess I like the smaller board on the Gen 3 because it blocks less air flow from the fan, but that probably doesn't matter.No errors or black screens, it appears that I am getting full 5.0 without any degradation or need to lower the specs in the BIOS. What else can I say? It does what it's supposed to and lets me use this card in this case. I don't usually write reviews but I gather from Reddit that Linkup is a smaller company and listens to feedback from customers, so I wanted to give them props where it is due.

I have been vertically mounting GPU's for awhile, I upgraded to a 3090 RTX card when available and had to switch back to horizontal mounting. Why? Because the vertical mounting kit I was previously using had a riser cable that simply did not work with Nvidia 3000 series GPU's.Ordered this cable and it works now, back to vertical mounting! I ordered the 20cm, my case is a Lian Li 011 XL. To be honest it is a tiny bit long, I think I could have gotten by with the 15cm cable, but it would have been a close fit.With newer cards like the 3080 etc I would even suggest vertical mounting is functionally a better choice too in a large case. I saw the temps on my RAM and various other system points go down anywhere from 2-5 celcius after switching back to vertical. This is because the horizontal mount blocked the intake from the fans at the bottom of my case, and placed the GPU much much closer to the other components on the mobo. Meanwhile the GPU itself under full load basically hit the same max temp regardless of mounting orientation.UPDATED NOTES: I am seeing the same questions asked constantly and relentlessly, which cable should I buy, what length, etc etc etc. The answers are almost always the same, so read on if you want to know which one you should buy or if you even should buy one.1: Right angle or Straight?Answer - Is your case an ITX case? If not, the answer is Right Angle, the end. Doesn't matter if it is full tower, mid tower, or what vertical mounting adapter you are using. Unless your case is an ITX case you want the Right Angle version. If you ARE using an ITX or Mini ITX case you want the Straight angle.2: Will it work with my motherboard XYZ into infinity? Answer - Is the primary PCI Express slot of your motherboard PCI-E 3.0 or higher compliant? If the answer is yes, then yes, this cable will work with your motherboard.3: Which length should I buy?Answer 1 - If your case is a ATX Mid Tower or Full Tower case you are almost guaranteed to be fine with the 20cm length. If anything it will probably be slightly long. You may even be okay with the 15 cm length, for example with the Phanteks P500A case (which I have used in computer builds) the 15cm version will be long enough though it will be a little snug. Any less than 15 I probably wouldn't risk it unless you are vertically mounting the GPU in the highest possible position. For reference both of the riser cables included with the old Phanteks vertical mount kit and the new EKWB kits are around 18cm.Answer 2 - But what if I have an ITX case? Then you probably already had a riser cable included with the case. You need to remove that riser cable, measure it, and order accordingly. I am sorry but doing anything else is just rolling the dice unless you have specific manufacturer documentation stating the required length.4: The question you should ask but probably don't... Do I even need this cable?Answer - That depends. Do you need to replace your existing riser cable for some reason? Maybe it went bad or there was a recall on it? If so than this cable is a good choice. Alternatively, are you in my situation where you upgraded to a newer card like a RXT 3080 or Ryzen 6800XT and your new GPU wouldn't work with your old riser cable? Then yes, this cable is a great buy.However if you are buying this cable for no reason other than "PCI-E 4.0!!!!!!" You absolutely do not need, and should not buy this cable. You are extremely unlikely to get true PCI-E 4.0 speed over a riser cable, even this one. Also extensive tests have been done by many trusted tech groups and reviewers that have proven forced PCI-E 4.0 has extremely minimal performance gain over 3.0. Most often less than 5% gain, sometimes as little as 1%. A theoretical maybe gain of a couple percent (which translates generally to only 1-3 frames) is not worth 70 dollars.The thing that makes this cable good is that it has been factory tested with all modern graphics cards and is guaranteed to work with them. No other riser cable on the market that I know of, and certainly no included riser cable that comes with a kit, can claim the same. The PCI-E 4.0 compatibility is a cool marketing spiel, but it is not a reason to buy this riser cable. 4.0 compliance does not mean 4.0 speeds.

Update May 2025:After posting my initial review, the company reached out to help resolve my frustrations. As such, I am updating my review and rating. However, I am not removing my original review as the product was still unable to meet my needs as intended. To be clear, the company resolved my concerns without ANY request to revise my rating, which is a good thing. Also, customer service showed that they are willing to stand behind their products. This alone would make me purchase from the company again, knowing that if I am unsatisfied I can at least have contact with someone willing to make things right. I may not have gotten the result out of the product that I initially hoped for but, I do not feel cheated. 4 stars for customer service, which unfortunately is rare in today's market.Lastly: Be aware that my cable was 40cm, which is considerably longer than most people need. It seems that you will get better results with shorter cables according to reviews. IF I needed a shorter cable, I wouldn't hesitate to buy it from this company. As with most cables however, signal integrity gets compromised when using longer cables.Original Review:Pros: The cable isn't a dudCons: This cable DOES NOT transfer at gen 5 speeds!!! I wouldn't care if it were the same price as a Gen 4 cable but, for a $100 premium, it should work as advertised.For context, I purchased a 40cm v2 right angle cable. Motherboard bios is set to Gen 5, on an x870 motherboard and a 5080 gpu that is also gen 5. As shown in the pictures, this card only negotiates at gen 4 x16. It's too late to return the cable to amazon for me and, going through warranty/RMA service isn't worth the amount of time my system would be inoperable.Do yourself a favor, wait until there are more reliable gen 5 cables on the market.