Pros: Looks cool and supposedly reduces temps by 3 degrees

Cons: $20 for something that should honestly be there with a $350 card. Seems like $15 of bogus profit for evga

Other Thoughts: Like an idiot bought the wrong model. I guess the 970 has two backplates available for varying models of the card. I assumed all 970's were the same size. My backplate is about a half inch short of reaching the appropriate screws.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,

I would like to thank you for your feedback about your EVGA Backplate for your GTX 970 graphics card. I can assure you that we are here to assist and support you as best we can. Should you have any questions or concerns with your EVGA product, then I would encourage you to contact our 24 hour Technical Support team by phone 1.888.881.3842 and pressing option 1 or by email: Newegg@EVGA.com, so that we can further assist you.

Sincerely,
EVGA Customer Support

Pros: It actually dropped temps by 6 degrees; not 3. Good job

Cons: Didn't fit my card (970 SSC ACX 2.0) 100%. 1 or 2 screw holes didn't line up. weird.

Pros: easy install, vast improvement to PCB

Cons: Should have been included on a high end card like the 970 to begin with, step up

Other Thoughts: The E is a solid silver, hard to see in picture

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Quinn P,

I would like to thank you for your feedback about your EVGA GTX 970 Backplate. Should you or any potential EVGA customer ever have any questions or concerns with any EVGA product, then I would encourage you to contact our 24 hour Presales Support team by phone 1.888.881.3842 and pressing option 3 or by email:Newegg@EVGA.com so that we can further assist you.

Sincerely,
EVGA Customer Support

Pros: - Looks
- Reinforced structure
- cooling (maybe)

Cons: - unnecessary
- you need a smaller screwdriver to assemble it
- a little expensive for just a small piece of metal plating

Other Thoughts: Seems a bit excessive, I wouldn't bother unless you want a more aesthetically appealing graphics card, or you need to reinforce the structure (who knows why). Otherwise, it works exactly as intended.

Pros: I pretty much just bought this for cosmetics, as the card looks much better through my case window with the backplate on vs the naked pcb without it. It's also nice to have some passive cooling for the four VRAM chips on top also, as there is no cooling on them in the vanilla card.

Cons: This really should have come preinstalled on the card, considering the GTX 970 is not a cheap card. I also found it challenging installing the tiny nut needed for one of the screws. There is so little space to fit that nut in and it took me a while to get maybe a turn of it around the screw using tweezers, and then it was easy to just finish off the screw while holding the nut in place with the tweezers.

Pros: Came with my 970. Works as intended! Yep yep!

Cons: none

Other Thoughts: none

Pros: Looks good. Reduced GPU temperature a little bit. Got it free with the card.

Cons: Tricky to install without small tools. There is one screw in particular that you have to have tiny pliers to grip the nut behind it while tightening it and it is very awkward. This plate should have been included with the card by default like pretty much every other card on the market from other manufacturers. Especially since it was given for free with the card anyway so it's not like it's even about the money. Not a very smart decision on EVGA's part to make a delicate piece of electronic equipment "some assembly required". Had to deduct an egg for this since it is so dumb.

Other Thoughts: I have no idea why this wasn't already on the card when I bought it. Selling it separately makes no sense at all since it increases the risk of the customer damaging the card if they don't know what they are doing or don't have the correct tools.

Pros: Looks good.

Cons: Installing one of the screws almost requires 3 hands. Make sure you have a good set of needle nose pliers handy.

Other Thoughts: Does it work? No idea. I got the plate when I ordered a card and installed it before I ever put the card in the machine.

Pros: Cost/Temps/Looks

Cons: None

Pros: Bought an EVGA 970 FTW couple months ago and just didn't like the way it looked without one.

Noticed about a degree cooler on idle and 2-3 degrees cooler on heavily load in Witcher 3.

Cons: Should have been included with card with purchase.