Over quite a long period of time now I've been heavily modifying an Alienware X51 chassis to use with more modern hardware. It's turned out very well! For the sake of clarity I will go over how it works, so feel free to skip ahead if this is of no interest to you:
Dremel'd out rear I/O to be able to fit new ITX motherboard,
Using stock CPU exhaust duct with a cut-down Wraith Stealth fan attached for compatibility with other low-profile coolers as stock Dell cooler has different mounting hardware,
Installed HDplex 400w HiFi DC-ATX 2.0 PSU between motherboard and stock daughter board (daughter board is still required for front I/O),
Stock PCIe riser and GPU cradle still used but SSD/HDD mount removed for better GPU clearance.
The actual question:
I've experimented with a few different GPUs in this configuration. I was using a Zotac RTX 4070 blower model which just about fit and temps/power were great but I decided to try out an AMD card for better compatibility with Linux - fancied trying that out too. I'm currently using an RX 9060 XT. There are no blower cooler versions of this model which is a shame but the temps have been surprisingly manageable. At stock it would tend to run at about 110-140W in games and about 80 degrees, which I'm okay with, but with an undervolt and custom fan curve it's rarely above 110W now and usually 65-70 degrees, without much difference in fan noise. I expected it to be much harder to cool it in a case as restricted as this one but it has been surprisingly manageable.
In the process of removing and replacing cards so many times to try various configurations, the issue of power cable clearance has become a bit of an issue. I've kind of modified the GPU end of the power connector to allow the wires to sit at a tighter angle but even then the clearance is so tight that the wires are pretty firmly squashed between the connector and the metal frame of the case which makes me a bit nervous. It's not much of a problem yet but I will probably keep tinkering and know that at some point I will likely damage the cable.
The stock Alienware config uses a very slim right-angle PCIe power connector which would have been ideal to keep using but the motherboard end is a 6-pin whereas the HDplex PSU is an 8-pin.
My confusion now is over what kind of cable to use. There are different configurations of the PCIe connector on different versions of the HDplex - my one is the one above, which should be compatible with Silverstone cables but I can't find one of those as a right-angle. Is there a particular cable I can use that would be compatible with the HDplex pinout while also being a right-angle connector on the GPU end?
Otherwise, I know there are a few extensions I could try, which are just a right-angle connector into a M2F connector for the existing PCIe cable - am I right in saying that should just work given that the GPU end of the connector is always going to be consistent?