Sajin
You may be encountering a software conflict. I would recommend performing a of windows to see if it helps with the situation. If the problem persists after clean boot try downclocking the card -105 from default clocks on both the core & memory then retest in skyrim. You should also try running or as FurMark is flagged inside the NVIDIA driver and will not run the cards up to their full potential.

This system basically is a clean boot - I built the system, all new parts, last Friday. Windows 8.1 was clean installed after building. Skyrim was one of the first games I played over the weekend after clean install, and these problems happened. I don't think it's a software conflict - seems most likely either an nvidia driver issue (I have a thread going over on nvidia forums too, and others have this issue, albiet is some others games, but same exact display crash with manual reboot required) - or an actual hardware issue - which hopefully malboja's new card from RMA will give some insights into.
 
This Unigine engine tests seems very promising compared to other benchmarking/testing tools. Thanks, I will try them out - and start with the Valley test as that seems most similar to a where I mostly get the crashes in Skyrim play. I will report back whether any crashes occur during the Valley engine test similar to in Skyrim.
 
Malboja, that is interesting that your original 970 that you RMA'd was crashing during the benchmark tests. (Which tests was it crashing it?) My 970 is running these basic benchmark tests fine (EVGA OC Scanner/Furmark) - crash is only happening ingame (Skyrim). I definitely agree with your RMA if your card was crashing during benchmark tests, yeah. Keep me informed please on how your new card functions in the games that you used to have display crashes. I'm very interested to know whether this is a driver issue or a hardware issue (BTW, all the reports from people having these similar black screen display crash problems are from EVGA 970's, no reports from other manufacturer's 970s so far, so IDK if that is coincidence or pointing to EVGA issue here...)

Morphe42
Malboja, that is interesting that your original 970 that you RMA'd was crashing during the benchmark tests. (Which tests was it crashing it?) My 970 is running these basic benchmark tests fine (EVGA OC Scanner/Furmark) - crash is only happening ingame (Skyrim). I definitely agree with your RMA if your card was crashing during benchmark tests, yeah. Keep me informed please on how your new card functions in the games that you used to have display crashes. I'm very interested to know whether this is a driver issue or a hardware issue (BTW, all the reports from people having these similar black screen display crash problems are from EVGA 970's, no reports from other manufacturer's 970s so far, so IDK if that is coincidence or pointing to EVGA issue here...)

Indeed it is interesting Morphe42. I've been able to play Batman Arkham Origin for an hour strait without issue. The games built-in benchmark tool passes with flying colours on this new card compared to the old. I'm currently in Star Trek online for the better part of 3 hours without a stutter. Uniengine Valley works flawlessly now.
 
When I had the old 970 I'd get a TDR's in Uniengine valley. With Heaven's bechmark a BSoD and on examining the Windows minidumps it was always pointing back to the Nvidia driver no matter the version installed.
 
For reference:

• dxgkrnl.sys    dxgkrnl.sys+5d140    fffff880`03cf5000    fffff880`03de9000    0x000f4000    0x51fa153d    8/1/2013 2:58:53 AM    Microsoft® Windows® Operating System    DirectX Graphics Kernel    6.1.7601.18228 (win7sp1_gdr.130731-2222)    Microsoft Corporation    C:\Windows\system32\drivers\dxgkrnl.sys    
• dxgmms1.sys    dxgmms1.sys+37f3c    fffff880`03c00000    fffff880`03c46000    0x00046000    0x5164dc13    4/9/2013 10:27:15 PM    Microsoft® Windows® Operating System    DirectX Graphics MMS    6.1.7601.18126 (win7sp1_gdr.130409-1534)    Microsoft Corporation    C:\Windows\system32\drivers\dxgmms1.sys    
• nvlddmkm.sys    nvlddmkm.sys+91dc84    fffff880`04247000    fffff880`04f23000    0x00cdc000    0x54518dd1    10/29/2014 8:01:05 PM    NVIDIA Windows Kernel Mode Driver, Version 344.48    NVIDIA Windows Kernel Mode Driver, Version 344.48    9.18.13.4448    NVIDIA Corporation    C:\Windows\system32\drivers\nvlddmkm.sys    

 
So far knock on woods for the first 10 hours of this new cards life it's been stable.
 
Something to try for me. On the next black screen of death. Instead of doing the power button cold shutdown method. Hit the restart button on the chasis and see if the system posts.
 
Cheers.

Ok. I have some very interesting results from the Unigine tests.
 
The Valley test runs completely fine at Ultra with 8xAA. I let the cinematic run for like 10 minutes, did the benchmark, and also ran around in walk and free fly mode for a while. All beautiful with no issues, no crashes.
 
The Heaven test crashes (same crash as in Skyrim, black display crash) at around the 4 or 5th scene (scenes of the hover boat ship). BUT this only occurs when I have tessellation set to EXTREME. I tried it out with tessellation OFF, ran through all scenes just fine, and did the free move for a while no problems. Tried it with tessellation set to Normal, and that also went through the scenes no problem.
 
Weird thing is, after doing some searching it doesn't seem like Skyrim implements tessellation. Skyrim is a DirectX 9 game, and doesn't have tessellation. So I don't really know if these 2 things are linked or not.
 
If anyone else with a EVGA GTX 970 reads this thread - could you try running the Unigine Heaven test with settings to Ultra, Tessellation set to Extreme, (I'm running at 1920x1080 resolution), and let me know if your card handles it? I'm really interested to know if this is a specific hardware issue with just my card - or an issue with nvidia drivers.
 
What do you guys think? Is crashing in the Unigine Heaven pretty bad (even though tessellation is set to Extreme) - does it seem like driver issue or hardware issue? I just built this PC and this is the first time I've really doled out this much money for a higher-end graphics card, and I'm kind of disappointed about this crashing. I can RMA if need be.

malboja
 
Something to try for me. On the next black screen of death. Instead of doing the power button cold shutdown method. Hit the restart button on the chasis and see if the system posts.

OK. I made it crash with the Unigine Heaven test with tessellation set to Extreme. When the displays crashed (took several more scenes this time) - I used the reset button on the PC instead of cold powering OFF and back on. The displays did NOT come back on at all - I didn't see the post screen, didn't see windows booting up - but I heard windows boot back up and make some noises (it was noise like hardware disconnect noise it makes sometimes after the display crash). So then I cold powered OFF the PC, and turned it back on and everything booted back up fine.
 
Soooo, I'm thinking this is a hardware issue then. Nice call on the using reset button instead of cold power OFF/ON malboja. I'm thinking I am going to RMA this card. There is also occasionally (pretty rare) so like flashes of artifacts on the screen just when on browser/desktop. I'm thinking there is some slight hardware issue with this card - and I don't want to see it get worse over time. Yeah, most likely going to be doing an RMA. 

Yep, sounds like the card has a problem. Downclocking the card will most likely help the card pass heaven with tessellation set to extreme. 

Well Morphe42 where getting some results. Glad to see you where able to duplicate one of my Black Screen of Deaths like on my old card.
 
I'd get the card RMA'd. Not been able to run the video card as advertised with the configured default clock speeds is a faulty product out of the gate.
 
Last thing I want you to look over is when you take the card out of the system on the backing pcb. Make sure you're grounded first with anti static wrist strap or simply touching metal.
Feel around the backing pcb and tell if some areas have a sticky sensation. Almost feels like melted soldered flux.
 
Cheers

I had the same issue. I did everything. Re-install of Windows and games. I updated all drivers and Bios. No heat issues and have a 750 watt power supply, so shouldn't have any power issues. I actually bought 2 ASUS cards first and returned both for the same issue. Now I bought an EVGA GTX 970 and the same issue. I can't play any game with better graphics than LoL for more than 2 min's without crashing. Even in LoL when I turned off VSync and it crashed. Then I couldn't log in without crashing. I had to re-install. I mostly play Everquest Landmark, and the crashes are real. It has to be a driver issue. I hope they find it soon. Owning a card I can't use isn't the best.
 
System: Windows 7 64bit
             i7 3770
             Gigabyte Z77X-UD3H
             16 Gb Corsair DDR4 1600
             750 watt Corsair power supply
             

Seeing as my card's problem seems like a hardware issue (similar to malboja's), I have instigated an RMA with EVGA. The replacement card should be here next week sometime. I will update with results of how replacement card runs. I hope I receive a stable card like malboja :)
 
VanillaGorilla, your card issues sound really bad - and that's weird the problems existed with both the ASUS cards and yoru EVGA card. I hope you get the issues figured out. It sounds like maybe a conflict with some other hardware in your setup, or driver issues like you said (but many people are playing intense graphics games with GTX 970, so the driver issue would be unique to your system). In my case, I do not believe this is a driver issue - and here's why - when my displays crash to black screen (and windows is still running, the displays are just black), and I use the soft reset button on my computer - the displays stay completely black, during the mobo POST screen, and then I hear windows boot up and the displays are still black. (A hard reset - powering PC OFF and back on is only way to fix). A driver issue would not prevent the mobo POST screen showing up, and if it was a driver crash the displays would be back on when windows boots back up. Since my displays are dead even during mobo POST screen - I assume this is a hardware issue in my case. I'd recommend trying this out - when you get a crash in game (does it restart windows right away? or does windows stay running and your displays just go black?), use the PC soft reset button on your case and see if your displays come back and you can see the POST screen and windows booting back up. If yes, you can see POST and then windows after soft reset - then it might be driver problem (or a different hardware problem) - if you can't see POST screen and windows booting back up - then it is probably this same hardware issue that malboja and I had.

Morphe42
Seeing as my card's problem seems like a hardware issue (similar to malboja's), I have instigated an RMA with EVGA. The replacement card should be here next week sometime. I will update with results of how replacement card runs. I hope I receive a stable card like malboja :)
 
VanillaGorilla, your card issues sound really bad - and that's weird the problems existed with both the ASUS cards and yoru EVGA card. I hope you get the issues figured out. It sounds like maybe a conflict with some other hardware in your setup, or driver issues like you said (but many people are playing intense graphics games with GTX 970, so the driver issue would be unique to your system). In my case, I do not believe this is a driver issue - and here's why - when my displays crash to black screen (and windows is still running, the displays are just black), and I use the soft reset button on my computer - the displays stay completely black, during the mobo POST screen, and then I hear windows boot up and the displays are still black. (A hard reset - powering PC OFF and back on is only way to fix). A driver issue would not prevent the mobo POST screen showing up, and if it was a driver crash the displays would be back on when windows boots back up. Since my displays are dead even during mobo POST screen - I assume this is a hardware issue in my case. I'd recommend trying this out - when you get a crash in game (does it restart windows right away? or does windows stay running and your displays just go black?), use the PC soft reset button on your case and see if your displays come back and you can see the POST screen and windows booting back up. If yes, you can see POST and then windows after soft reset - then it might be driver problem (or a different hardware problem) - if you can't see POST screen and windows booting back up - then it is probably this same hardware issue that malboja and I had.

Hello;
 
Ive got the exact same issue and exact same card. Will go through all your steps and report in this thread.
 
Do you know of any possibility to grab a 970FTW by paying the difference from EVGA? I've got a bad feeling about these 970 SC ACX 2.0's.
 
Hope you also keep us updated about your replacement card.
 
Regards,

I have the same problem with my 980 SC, got 2 blackscreen errors in AC Unity in the last days which forced me to manually restart the computer.
 
Windows event log shows that "nvlddmkm stopped responding" afterwards.
 
 
I assume my card is not working stable with the factory overclock, I will start RMA tomorrow too.