Maximus VIII Hero ME Firmware flashback

[Allmachtige]

I have the strangest stuttering issue during gaming that appears to have stemmed from a BIOS upgrade. I tried 3201, then went back to 2202, 1302, 08xx, blah blah blah...I've tried each and every BIOS known to man; no improvement.

I started to think my old GTX 770's are just tired, and yes I plan on a 1080TI once they are in stock again (if ever), but why did I just start noticing all this jitter?

I even went to the local parts store and tried an MSI Z170 Titanium board, but the issue persisted after a fresh Windows 10 x64 install. I returned the board and picked up a 7700k, and again the issue was still there so I returned that.

My original OC was at adaptive 1.37v but I have since backed it down to 1.31v and even run stock everything, yet nothing improves.

I also have new ram and tried another SSD a friend loaned to me.

I have literally done everything except swap video cards and the PSU. PSU (HX1000i) checks out fine in Corsair link and with a manual hand tester. Drivers are up to date.

So I got to noticing one thing I cannot control, the ME FW version within the UEFI BIOS information page. If I backflash to say 1302 the ME version remains 11.6.0.1196. If I upgrade to 2202 its still the same ME firmware version.

Could this be my issue? Can I somehow downgrade my ME firmware to what would have come with the 1302 BIOS?

[mr_allroy]

I see from your specs, you're running two 770's in SLI? Try taking one card out of your system and see if that persists. If it still stutters, swap out the other card. If it fixes your stuttering, I'd suspect you may have a bad SLI Bridge.

[Allmachtige]

mr_allroy wrote:
I see from your specs, you're running two 770's in SLI? Try taking one card out of your system and see if that persists. If it still stutters, swap out the other card. If it fixes your stuttering, I'd suspect you may have a bad SLI Bridge.

Well this is the weirdest thing that I may have overlooked.

Card A is top card, Card B is bottom card. I swap the cards, boot up, see nothing...but I hear Windows boot up. I keep pulling and replugging Card B (now top) over and over...same thing.

I pull Card A from bottom so that I'm only running Card B and same jazz.

Swap Card A to top and leave out Card B; works.

Swap in for Card B, blackness.

Go back to just Card A and all is well.

I swear I used to run Card A on the bottom for years on the old system. Did Father Time just say its time to go?

Also, why was I able to run SLI with both cards all this time without it screaming at me "Hey card B is dead."?

Sorry for that winded explanation.

As for framerate is seems to still have a slight stutter but the consistency of fps is more "stable". I see a sideways motion stutter, but that could be the single card working its butt off to render. It still feels as though something is loading in the background from time to time.

[mr_allroy]

Do you have another system you can try card B in? Maybe a friend or family members system? I'd try that before you decide if it's fried first.

[Allmachtige]

mr_allroy wrote:
Do you have another system you can try card B in? Maybe a friend or family members system? I'd try that before you decide if it's fried first.

I'll dig through old parts to see if I can get a system up and running, but why would only one of the cards display anything?

Maybe a bad cap?

[Allmachtige]

No video on the suspected bad card in an older system it used to run on.