Question Would my gtx 970 work in a optiplex 7040 sff

Eximo

Titan
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Compatible yes, but as John says, it won't physically fit. You also likely don't have an adequate power supply to run the card.

Dell tends towards proprietary power supplies, so they aren't easy to upgrade.

I've done it. New case, new power supply, home made PSU adapter, and went ahead and swapped in a aftermarket CPU cooler (a trip to hardware store)

My recommendation would be to buy a 100 or 200 series board (Z170/Z270,H170,H110,B150) So that you can avoid all the Dell foolishness, get yourself a nice Micro ATX or ATX case and a new power supply.
 
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