Thunderbolt Display, GA-Z97X-UD7TH, and a NVIDIA graphics card

[mywhitenoise]

I apologize for the noob question (been a Mac user all my life). If I have a GTX 970 installed, and turn off internal graphics...I'm assuming I can only use the ports off of my GTX, and not make use of the motherboards Thunderbolt connectivity with a Thunderbolt Display?

 

[cdrhoek]

The only way a Thunderbolt Display will work with a discrete graphics card is if you have a motherboard that supports a display port input to a thunderbolt output. Motherboards that support a Thunderbolt add in card would also work as the card has a displayport input.