I've got an Epox 9nda3 with an EVGA 6800 Ultra, and am successfully using the ports hidden by the heat sink. You can mod the SATA cable ends to make them very low profile. You need to strip the hard black rubber cover off the cable end, using an xacto or other sharp blade. Be careful not to cut into the wire itself. The assembly inside the cover is made of a cable receiver and an end plug. You can bend the end plug up to 90 degrees with respect to the receiver, they're connected by seven wires.
Make sure you do the work over a table. There's a little wire retaining plastic piece that's part of the end plug. It tends to pop out when you bend the wires. It's not hard to put back in, but don't lose it!
I've installed two modded cables and haven't had any problems at all running them.
I found a single "low profile" SATA cable at Frye's yesterday. I haven't taken the time to pull the 6800 Ultra and test it, but I don't think it's quite low enough. The internet cable providers don't seem to list low profile cables, they only have the right angle cables, which are not a solution here.
The right angle cables only bend one way, and will direct your cables to the back of the case, instead of towards the drives where you need them. I found a single 18" right angle cable will reach, but you have to give it a tight bend under the graphics card, then feed it back towards the drives. You can only fit one cable because the ports are so close that the cables run into each other. Also, SATA ports are only allow the heads to be fitted in one orientation.