I bought h97m pro4 yesterday. While installing leadtek gtx970 hurricane to this board, i have to take off one gpu backplate screw as the ram latch blocking.. There is no gap between the ram slot and gpu backplate..

i did that.. quite shock when i found out it was really close.. somehow lucky enough able to fit the gc inside..

but i have to remove one of the gpu back plate screw.. if u noticed, there is a hole below blue ram slot.. that is the screw should be..

before this im using h97m-itx/ac, no problem regarding this..

So the problem is not because of motherboard layout, but the gpu backplate too thick right..

Regarding my problem with asrock h97m pro4 motherboard and leadtek gtx 970 hurricane, I just found out, because of the ram slot touching the gpu backplate, i can see the gpu pcb is BENDING. I had to remove the gpu backplate completely to avoid this.. Take notes to potential buyer for this two item which is not compatiable..
Removing GPU backplate wil give about 2cm clearance between gpu pcb and ram slot.

what board u use?

atx motherboard hardly have this problem as u can see there is enough gap from the first pcie slot and ram slot.... im talkig about m-atx board..