New $2000 build with terrible results

[wrxutec]

Good evening,
I just built a brand new rig and I’ve ran into a few snags. The specs are as follows:

ASUS Maximus Hero X
Intel I7 8700 K coffee lake
GTX GeForce 770 (older card)
Corsair H115i pro
TridentZ DDR4 3200 16gb
970 EVO SSD 500gb
EVGA 850watt power supply
Fractal R6 Case

I have numerous other drives but I’ve unhooked them to try and figure out the issue. When I tried to install Windows 10 via flash drive, everything went smoothly up until the end of the install. My screens went black but appeared to stay on. I left them there for a while (hours) but nothing changed. I continued to try and install Windows and it seemed to loop the install. The computer also would lock up and would run very slow! I used the BIOS to delete the SSD and tried again. This time with a win 7 disc. As soon as the install screen came up my keyboard and mouse went out. I tried both 2.0 and 3.0 slots but no joy. I decided to hook up my older 2.5” SSD and tried to put win 10 OS on that. Success!! Well... kind of. The computer is still running extremely sluggish and still hangs/freezes. It has even restarted on its own. I’ve unhooked both RAM individually but no luck. I even took out the 970 EVO out of the M.2 slot. No luck. It still runs like a computer from 1986. The CPU seems to be cool at 32 degrees C. I’m stumped...

 

[bmockeg]

Well, windows 7 doesn't have USB support with current chipsets so thats your reason for that. When you try to install windows 10 on the m.2, no other drives need to be hooked up. I would attempt the windows 10 install on the m.2 again. Ensure your bios settings are correct first, probably should ensure you have the latest bios as well.

 

[wrxutec]

Well I thought I had it fixed. Through all the lag and the skipping cursor across the screen I was able to download a driver for the video card. The weird part was that it said it couldn’t install the driver and deactivated it. It also placed a hazard symbol next to it. Then the computer was lighting fast. No skipping cursor or lock ups. It seemed like it corrected itself. I turned the computer off put my other SSD back in the M.2 and hooked up my other two HDD. Fired it back up and boooooooom. Lock up again. This time I can’t even get into device manager before it freezes. Lord help me before I toss this thing out my second story window.

 

[1LiquidPC]

Latest UEFI installed? This occurs with both SSDs? Tried installing without the 770 GPU? What are all the listed temps and voltages in the UEFI itself? It is sluggish there as well? IF it's just the 970 EVO, could be a bad SSD itself. I've seen very odd sluggish behavior before on an laptop with SSD, fresh OS install too. It turned out the SSD itself was bad, which happened to also be a Samsung. I have the same motherboard, CPU, and likely same model# RAM as well.

 

[wrxutec]

I forgot to mention that I was using the fractal vertical card holder. I believe this was the problem. I removed it and placed the video card in the PCI slot and everything seems to be fine. All of the driver flags went away.

 

[1LiquidPC]

This issue is resolved then? Bad connection for PCI-E adapter?

 

[wrxutec]

The issue was resolved. I’d like to thank everyone for taking the time to read and chime in on my issue.