My desk is about 6 or 7 feet away from my capture device. I use a 6 foot USB mini cable and 10 foot HDMI cables and it works perfectly. As for the length of the USB cable, it doesn't really matter in terms of the data transfer rate, it will always be the same. However, be aware that the Elgato Game Capture is powered by the USB port on your computer (unless you have a Y cable) and therefore having a longer USB means that the device may not be supplied with enough power. I'd recommend getting longer HDMI cables personally.