Were you able to pull the GTX970 video card and use onboard Intel graphics with HA enabled as
@NoloC suggested back on Wed. 10/17 ? If there is no onboard Intel video or CPU does not support Quicksync, see if the NVidia control panel will let you adjust/disable/enable one of its features, specifically 'Adaptive VSync'.
From the NVidia site about your card's
'Adaptive VSync':
"Adaptive VSync
Nothing is more distracting than frame rate stuttering and screen tearing. The first tends to occur when frame rates are low, the second when frame rates are high. Adaptive VSync is a smarter way to render frames using NVIDIA Control Panel software. At high framerates, VSync is enabled to eliminate tearing. At low frame rates, it's disabled to minimize stuttering. For a superior solution, which eliminates stuttering, tearing and the addition of VSync-related input lag, see our G-SYNC technology page."