And everyday I read of issues getting new 1060/70/80 cards to boot on older mbs.. bios on the cards changed from the older cards.

EDIT: After swapping the 970 with the 1080 back and forth, I got it to boot without CSM :D .
It seems that the Motherboard bios did not correctly identify the card as UEFI compatible, even after reseating it in the mobo. 
However, after the system identified the 970, swapping the 1080 back did the trick.
 
Thanks a lot for your time, AHowes.
 
Now I have to diagnose the DVI cracking sound I am having.

Nice..

In your BIOS do you have Graphics configuration primary display set to PCIE.
Make sure your PCIE configuration says Gen3x16 or set it to gen3 if you have to.
Have you tried installing the card in the PCiex16-2 that would be the 5 slot down. If the card is installed in the #2 slot this may be why your SSD won't boot.
Also in device manager make sure you disable the onboard graphics driver.
 
Too late just saw you got it running.

Edit: Changed the SATA settings in the UEFI BIOS, and now the PC beeps when booting, no display until Windows starts up, and VGA_LED stays lit all the time.
 
No idea whats going on....  :S

But it's loading into Windows fine correct??

AHowes
But it's loading into Windows fine correct??

Yes, now it does POST, does not display anything at all until the Windows driver is loaded. I cannot get into the UEFI BIOS settings as there is no display, I can't even see the Windows booting/loading screen. First thing that appears is the Windows login screen
The UEFI GOP is not loaded during boot, that's why I cannot see anything before Windows starts up.
VGA_LED stays lit all the time. PC beeps during boot.
 
The 970SC does not have this weird behavior, something is wrong here...

You could use the built in Graphics in the cpu to get to the bios when needed thoigh correct?

AHowes
You could use the built in Graphics in the cpu to get to the bios when needed thoigh correct?

No, it detects that a GPU is installed, turns on the VGA_LED, and disables the iGPU (screen stays black all the time).
 
Even trying to enter safe mode via advanced startup options does not work, because Windows relies on the UEFI GOP driver.
 
I will try swapping the 1080 with the 970 later when I'm free.
 
 
 
UPDATE:
After going to the safe mode blindly, and restarting the system the UEFI BIOS DID load the GOP driver during boot, and did display the whole boot sequence on screen, no VGA_LED lit, no beeps. I was able to access the UEFI BIOS settings, no idea what wizardry is happening here..
 
UPDATE2:
After restarting my system for a windows update, the issue is back.. black screen before Windows loads, VGA_LED stays lit, pc beeps, unable to access UEFI BIOS...

UPDATE2:
After restarting my system for a windows update, the issue is back.. black screen before Windows loads, VGA_LED stays lit, pc beeps, unable to access UEFI BIOS Settings...