mrb's blog

Tip to Use a Dremel to Cut Open a PCIe x1 Slot

By Marc Bevand

24 Apr 2011

Keywords: hack hardware

Take a look at this picture of a PCI-Express x1 slot (at the end of a flexible extender) that was cut out to allow down-plugging a PCIe x16 card into it.

I noticed that when people use a Dremel to cut the plastic, they tend to intuitively place the cutting disk along the longitudital axis, often damaging the pins in the slot because of the thickness of the cutting disk.

Instead it is easier to place the cutting disk along the lateral axis. This removes more plastic material, but does not necessitate a really precise cut with a thin disk and steady hand :-)

Comments

Allan MacKinnon wrote: Great tip. I've been eyeing two PCIe x1 slots on my motherboard for surgery.

In the past I used the longitudinal method on some Dell SC420s and I agree with you that it's much riskier. 18 May 2011 17:20 UTC

usedcomputers wrote: Indeed a very good read! Very informative post with pretty good insight on all aspects of the topic! Will keep visiting in future too! 20 Jun 2011 07:40 UTC

noob wrote: can i use this in 69xx cards? 27 Jun 2011 10:42 UTC

mrb wrote: Yes. Any PCIe card. 27 Jun 2011 17:41 UTC

quotes wrote: Great man really appreciate it 10 Nov 2011 18:09 UTC

Steve wrote: I though that it's way more difficult than this but will try on my own before judge
Thanks! 12 Mar 2012 20:29 UTC

Anon wrote: The manufacture should make these wear extenders with open ended slots and direct power feed via a molex plug to psu.

Ideally i'd like to see a x8-x16 extender with direct PSU power feed and support bracket that will allow me to plug this into my server and be able to insert and fully support a low profile graphics card of my choice.

It's a better approach than modifying the server slot or graphics card itself and having to contend with the PCIe slot power limit of 25W. 15 Mar 2012 06:10 UTC