Adding more storage to your PC can prove to be a difficult task if your GPU is covering the M.2 slots. And if they're already filled, adding an expansion card to an empty PCIe slot can be a bit tricky because your GPU could block that, too. JEYI, a popular accessories manufacturer from China, has a solution to this problem: a flat PCIe-to-M.2 adapter that sits completely flush with the motherboard.
Most AIC (add-in cards) take up perpendicular space inside the chassis because they stick out vertically from the motherboard. Modern graphics cards are often so large that they block even neighboring PCIe slots, making it impossible to add the adapter even if there's space otherwise. JEYI's flat adapter solves this by putting the M.2 slot parallel to the board, similar to an actual, native M.2 slot, so it doesn't protrude at all.
The adapter is called "ArcherX" and comes in two flavors: PCIe 4.0 x1 and PCIe 4.0 x4. Both are also backward compatible with PCIe 3.0, and the vendor teased a PCIe 5.0 adapter in the works as well. The card is made by soldering two PCBs together — on one side, you have the PCIe connector itself and, on the other, you have the M.2 slot. It has a long, thin bar sticking out with a screw mount at the end for full-size (2280) SSDs. Contrary to how it may look, the company says it's very rigid.
JEYI chose to keep the adapter as small as possible to ensure no surrounding componentry comes in the way. There's no price or availability yet, but considering PCIe to M.2 adapters are cheap, and JEYI produces budget-oriented accessories, we should see this drop around the $20-30 mark. If you want to see another useful PCIe adapter like this one, check out this platypus adapter that adds two M.2 slots.
