Is it acceptable to block one of my GTX 970's fans?

[harrythecat01]

I have a Gigabyte motherboard on which I have recently mounted a Sound Blaster Z sound card and a GTX 970. However due to the configuration of the motherboard, one of the fans on the GTX 970 is less than half an inch away from the sound card. Though the other fan is not in the way of anything, will having one fan blocked harm its or any other components' lifespans? What can I do other than getting an new motherboard?

 

[n0ns3ns3]

I have a Gigabyte motherboard on which I have recently mounted a Sound Blaster Z sound card and a GTX 970. However due to the configuration of the motherboard, one of the fans on the GTX 970 is less than half an inch away from the sound card. Though the other fan is not in the way of anything, will having one fan blocked harm its or any other components' lifespans? What can I do other than getting an new motherboard?

You can start with checking the temperature of the GPU under load (while gaming).
Software like HWMonitor, GPU-Z, MSI Afterburner and many others, will help you to log the temperature.
Play some game for 30 minutes and check the temperature. If it was below 80, everything is fine.