[-Rellik-]

Hello everyone I really need some help. I have a M5A97 MOBO and since my R9 280x card is so large it puts sound card a quarter of an inch in front of one of the fans on the graphics card if I use the pcie x 1 slot. Since I don't want to restrict airflow to my graphics card I was wondering if I could use the other x16 slot and will this degrade quality in any way?
 
Thank you very much

 

[PurpleAngel]

A PCI-E 1X card like the SB-Z, can be installed in a 1X, 4X, 8X, or 16X PCI-E slot
So no problem installing your SB-Z.
 
I guess i should add, that on some motherboards when you use both 16X PCI-E slots, both slots will work at 8X.
From my best understanding, working a graphics card  at 8X speed still works fine.