D1craig
My gpu is - EVGA GeForce GTX 970 SC ACX 2.0 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (04G-P4-2974-KR)
I have been trying to find out if I can use this hybrid cooler on it. I asked a question in another forum and the EVGA rep said something along the lines of "if the card has a baseplate you can use the cooler on it but may suffer with the lack of a fan". So I am wandering, can I use the cooler? I have tried a Google and can't find the info about a baseplate. I could surely find a fan somewhere so that's not the issue.

Thanx in advance.

I think what they are saying is that the Hybrid cooler only provides heat dissipation from the GPU itself.  They utilize the the existing fan and included base plate on the reference designs to cool the other components (like VRAM).  That would mean, in theory, that the AIO can be utilized on any GPU, but you need a cooling solution for the other components.  The base plate gives a larger surface area for heat transfer and dissipation.  It is just that flat metal piece you see under/around the fan that is mounted.  If you just add a fan, it can only cool the smaller surface areas of the components.
 
After all that, the simple answer is yes.  You can use the AIO.  However, you should not if you don't have a base plate and fan.  Once you remove the ACX cooler, the base plate comes off with the fin assembly.  If you were going to purchase a base plate, fan, and AIO, you might as well purchase a reference card that already has all of that.

do you think the gtx 970 with reference blower style cooler from OCUK would have this baseplate and be compatible with this hybrid?