The risers seem to just be meant to let you use more cards than you could practically fit and power if you used the motherboard's built-in PCIE slots. So they act as PCIE slots on an extension cord, basically. There HAS to be more to it than that, but like you I'm just learning the details now.

Long term I'm an ETH hodler. But since I'm no whale yet (and won't be satisfied until I am), I take some extra risk trying to increase my limited coin count by shorting and also diversifying into promising alts. Current portfolio is made up of ETH, EOS, NEO, ADA, TRX, IOST, NAV, and my Steem wallet. But it's been a rough week to say the least! xD

Thanks for throwing my intro a comment. And thanks for the support on my first posts before this. I do appreciate it.

Nice to have familiar people around. It's starting to feel like a home! :D