Creating a new post, so my old one doesn’t get jumbled with edits.
I was impatient and wanted to try the ME FW update now, so I went ahead with it knowing if I messed anything up I’d be able to just flash my backup I made.
So I found out that you have to use the FW Update tool wit the ME temp disabled setting to false, which makes sense - it needs to be present in order to be updated.
I ran the update and it was successfully. I then rebooted as instructed and went into the BIOS to check the version. I now see 8.1.70.1590. Success! Rebooting one more time and I’ll run another benchmark. Fingers crossed.
EDIT: Still poor results. 
Benchmark attached.
