[BBEG]

Although my budget prebuilt computer has had some hefty upgrades, it still uses the original Gigabyte M68MT-S2P motherboard. It's a good, reliable board, but is very limiting for ATX: one PCI-E x16, one PCI-E x1, and one PCI slot each. My GPU uses MSI's TFII cooling solution, which means two intake fans. A sound card plugged into my PCI-E x1 slot would block at least one of the two fans.
 
I know several companies make riser cables that allow more flexibility in positioning. Would such a cable impact a sound card in any negative way?

 

[obobskivich]

Assuming the riser works (I've seen many of those devices flat-out not work over the years), it would be "transparent" from the perspective of the computer. So no, it wouldn't impact the sound card; it'll either die or live forever (so to speak). Given the low price, I'd say try it. 
 
 
 
 

 

[Willakan]

Cables don't affect sound quality unless they are inappropriate for the application (read:broken). As the application here doesn't even involve analog or even time-critical signals passing through these cables, they will have absolutely no effect whatsoever on sound quality.

 

[BBEG]

Excellent, thank you both.