QuantumCD :
Darn it! I accidently marked your information as the best solution. That's incorrect. :/
My rig is posting (I get the success "beep"), just stuck at the boot screen. Interesting. I tried using "Legacy" mode already, and it didn't do anything. I think it's something to do with my motherboard. I know that other people are seeming to have problems with the 7xx series cards and old-er motherboards. I'll let you know if I come up with something. Since a lot of people are having this problem, I don't think either of us should jump the conclusion that the cards are DOA... yet.
Since I don't have a newer motherboard/PC to test out my card in, might you have one? If you could try that out, we could maybe pinpoint it to be a problem with older motherboards. It's definitely not my PSU, as I am getting great results from it. I'm thinking about calling my friend up and seeing if he can test out the card in his brand new motherboard (he's using a 780ti).
Anyway, I'll keep the thread posted with information. Again, I did NOT mean to mark your additional information as the solution. Whoops!
Hi Quantum,
So after I posted last night I finally gave in and flashed my BIOS. I am not a big fan of doing so as I have heard it can make things worse, if not completely toast your MoBo, but I was confident in the interface my M5A99FX offers, and out of options. I double read the the manual and also researched online and gave it a go. The EZ flash interface in my BIOS is pretty straight forward, and I had exhausted all other avenues aside from an RMA. But like you said I also felt it wasn't the card.
The long and short if it is, it worked.
After flashing the BIOS (with my old card installed), I simply rebooted, double checked my BIOS had actually changed, and then shut down. Popped out my 470 Fermi and plugged in the 770. I booted up and went straight to windows...no grief. I loaded drivers and voila! I am now enjoying Assassin's Creed IV. Or trying to...I don't play PC games with a console controller....trying to figure out how to play it with MKB...
So, while I can't speak for you and your BIOS, I had success with mine. I have to say I am really happy with my MoBo, primarily due to the ease of the interface. There is also an option to update the BIOS in the windows environment, but I chose to use the EZ flash, as it seemed the most straightforward.
I STILL can't believe how difficult this process has been. I've been through 4 or 5 GFX cards in my life and this was the most difficult. CERTAINLY not plug and play. I say stick with it as it will be worth it!!!
Sincerely,
Elf
Asus M5A99FX Pro R2.0 AM3+ (now w/ Bios 2201)
AMD FX-8350 Vishera 8-core Black Edition
Coolermaster Hyper 212 EVO CPU cooler
Gigabyte NVIDIA Geforce GTX 770 4GB GDDR5
SAMSUNG SSD 840
16 GB GSKILL Ripjaws Z Series SDRAM DDR3 1866
Asus 27" HD Monitor