Hi everyone, I just created my account on here!

I must say that I am not familiar with the Intel ME and just started to look for more information about and how it works. And that's the primary reason of why I made this account, as I see the forum is rich in information about this stuff.

I have a gaming laptop from MSI and recently I checked the page where the drivers and updates are and saw this FW update for the IM (Intel SA-00086). So I downloaded and ran the tool, with apparently worked and upgraded the ME FW to 11.8.50.3425. Later, after doing some research, it made me to ask if it was a good idea doing the FW upgrade just because of a security flaw that probably, I would never have to worry about, and still at the cost of some performance.
So, the main question is if there is any connection with the intel ME with performance or not. If it is, should I downgrade/upgrade to a different firmware? Or simply is there anything related to this scenario that I must know that can benefit my system, like new ME drivers etc? In the update that msi provided, includes the Intel ME components installer. And I just installed that one, after exporting a list of all my drivers, it mentions a few intel drivers and one of them is the "Intel Management Engine driver" the version is 1.0.0.0.
Thanks in advance!
My system is:
MSI gt72vr 6RE, 6700hq, gtx 1070 1tb nvme and 16gb RAM.

Also, can someone explain to me why the latest MEI drivers from the intel search results is "Version: 1909.12.0.1236 (Latest) Date: 3/26/2019" and here on the other hand is the v2041.15.0.1893 DCH, posted by @plutomaniac ? I say latest because they mention is the latest and also mentions my motherboard HM170. Even if you go there and search for MEI drivers, without filtering the motherboard it will still show that one as the third result. The first too results shows an MEI driver but says "INTEL NUC" and the version is 12.0.70.1648.
~
To abbreviate, I have the previous question about CPU and overall system performance possibly associated with the ME firmware etc. I need to know that first so I can take the step ahead and upgrade/downgrade what is necessary. If I am already running the best firmware for my system, then I just need to know what drivers should I get as I explained above.
Thanks!

Thanks for the explanation! So I'm just gonna keep the 11.8.50.3425 ME firmware and just install the latest CSME drivers from the thread. My question now is that I have the last Windows 10 20H2, and on the thread it says "Intel MEI Drivers & Software v2041.15.0.1893 DCH (Windows 10 >= 1709) and Intel MEI Drivers & Software v2044.15.0.1951 MSI (Windows 7, 8, 10 <= 1703) This can be misinterpreted, so I assume the v2041.15.0.1893 DCH is the right one, meaning ">1709" is from that Windows version and up?

Thanks man, you helped me with what I needed!