Hello i just purchased a 970 a few days ago and i was playing dragon age for a few hours and the game crashed with no video signal and i got a long beep followed by 2 short beeps . after resetting my computer. I am not very knowledgeable so i don't know how to post the crash log or find it even but i have a hunch that the card got too hot. Is that possible? i was able to reboot the PC with no problem but i am worried that something needs to be fixed asap. i benchmark my gpu and watched the vitals and at 85% load the core temp stays around 75 and the fan speed about 33 %. does that sound about right? is the problem elsewhere ? 

Depends on the airflow in your case and some other variables.  One thing I can recommend it that you download EVGA Precision and set up a fan profile where the fans run earlier than they do.  Fans supposedly don't run until the card hits 50C or so.  I like it cooler than that.  I have the 980 and have it set to run 40% at 40C, 50% at 50C, 60% at 60C, 75% if it should hit 70C.  I have yet to go over 60C at any given time.  Also...make sure to uninstall and reinstall your drivers.  If you are familiar with the likes of driver sweeper...do it.  Clean the system really well and see if all this helps
 
 
Try this:
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=379506
 

Anytime, let us know how it goes...

Well it would help if you have full systems specs, such as power supply, gpu, ect. The default fan profile for these cards tends to have them sit around 75*c under load, anything under 85*C for these cards is perfectly safe and should not be causing any problems. Entire system restarts like that can be a power supply problem or an unstable overclock on another part of the pc. 
 

MACMAN86
Same happened to my GTX970 twice. Read here: -
They should have sold these with backplates to not need extra software. Ask them to give you one.

 
Not following you here, black plates are purely cosmetics. You would only need software like precision or afterburner if you want to monitor or changes setting like clock speeds or fan speed.