Question 1

Hello! I have a question about compatibility.

My motherboard is a ASUS M5A97LE R2.0 which (at least I think) only has PCI-E 2.0 would this video card work? I know it says it is PCI-E 3.0, but I don't know if is backwards compatible.

I hope my question made sense. Thanks!

Accepted Answer

Yes, the card should work without issues.  My mobo only has one PCI 3.0 16x, and the rest are 2.0 running in 8x/8x, and I am running 2 cards in SLI.  PCI-E 3.0 cards are in most cases backwards compatible with PCI-E 2.0 slots.

Question 2

i am wanting to make sure this will work in my set up it will be replacing a nvidia gtx 750ti. my pc is a hp pavilion 500-223w, i allready bought a evga 500 watt power supply, swapped out the i3 for an i7 my mane concern is the motherboard and the bios excepting it?

Accepted Answer

Future proof and buy a 600w+ PSU. EVGA actually recommends a 550w+ PSU for the 970. If you only have 500w overclocking options are limited to nonexistent which is a real shame. Even the reference 970 can hit 1400mhz clock with relative ease.

Its stable in my PC with a 500w psu but just barely. Increasing either the CPU multiplier or ocing the GTX more results in a lock up due to insufficient power.
i5 4690k @ 4.1ghz
GTX 970 @ 1300 mhz clock, +500 mem
2x 1TB WD 7200 HDD
1x 480gb SSD
4 Case Fans
Fan Controller
Sabertooth 97 mobo
2x 4gb DDR3

Question 3

What size of power supply is needed?

Accepted Answer

The card itself requires 145W.  If you look at Nvidia's specification page for the 970, they state minimum 550w psu.  Really though, how big of a power supply depends on the rest of your system.  I had purchased this for my Alienware x51 and it runs fine with the 330W psu as it falls in the power budget of the entire unit (consumes same amount of power as the card it replaced).  Hope this helps.

Question 4

Is this SLI ready?

Accepted Answer

It is if you're prepared for a stutter-fest. Do yourself a favor and just get a single GTX 980, it performs better than 970's in SLI. I know because that's what I wound up doing after the unsatisfactory performance I was seeing with my dual 970's.

Question 5

Does the card include adaptors for the power connectors? My power supply has one six-pin and one eight-pin connector.

Accepted Answer

Yes, the card comes with two 4-Pin Molex Male to 6-Pin PCI-E Female adapters.  Also the 8 pin adapter on your power supply *should* have a break away(retention clip holding the 2 additional wires in place) clip that you can simply convert the 8 pin to a 6 pin connector vice/verse.

Question 6

What cable does this video card use for power?

Accepted Answer

Two 6 pin PCIe. You can see them in the photos, on the top near the back.

Question 7

To enable/make use of G-Sync don't you need to use Display Port connections only?  If so, how do you do that considering this card only has 1x Display Port?

Accepted Answer

Correct - G-SYNC only functions over Display Port. As a result you can serve a single G-SYNC enabled monitor via display port. That includes 1440p monitors up to 144 Hz (as produced by Acer and Asus) or 4k G-SYNC up to 60 Hz (as produced by Acer).

Other monitors plugged in at the same time via HDMI or DVI will not benefit from G-SYNC, even if they are G-SYNC monitors, so it would make the most sense to use normal monitors in this case.

Question 8

Is there an odd configuration needed for 4 monitors, or is it as simple as using all 4 outputs?

Accepted Answer

It's as simple as using all 4 outputs. I'm doing this right now and it works great.  I'm running windows 8.1.  Two of my monitors are DVI and two of them are HDMI televisions.  I use simple cheap adapters to convert the display port to DVI and one of the DVI ports to HDMI.  Works without issue.

Question 9

Does this one not come with the ACX fan?

Accepted Answer

Correct.  This comes with a blower style fan.

ACX fan cools better, but throws the air into your case so you must have good case airflow.

Blower fan expels the air out the back of the case instead of into the case.

Question 10

How does the VGA EVGA|04G-P4-1970-KR GTX970 4G R perform in terms of graphics quality?

Accepted Answer

The EVGA GeForce GTX 970 is highly praised for its great performance at a reasonable price. It runs cool and quiet, making it ideal for both gaming and graphic design.

Questions & Answers