Turns out the MBB was dead...might just have been a bad BIOS chip, maybe not. I might try fixing it later. Either way, I decided this was a good time for an upgrade.
So, the previous components are up for sale (or already sold) in the trading post, and I went and visited Micro Center today.
Asus Crossfire IV Formula (for ~50% off! ), Phenom II x6 1090T, 2x4GB DDR3-2000 Corsair XMS3, Koolance CPU-360 (for $40 off! )...funny story...the CPU-360 was incorrectly SKU'd as $59.99 HDD..no clue why, and I didn't even notice it until the cashier pointed it out, but they honored it. I love Micro Center.
Fired it up tonight to make sure everything works, and it's good so far. I haven't dropped my 260's in yet because of a problem I ran into with the CPU-360.
In general, I am very impressed with the CPU-360. The heat dissipation fin design makes the pins in my old DD waterblock look massive in comparison, the backplate is a sheet of 1/8" nickel-plated steel, with a thick layer of silicon between it and the MBB, and the top plate is 1/4" nickel-plated steel. The whole thing is amazingly solid. ..just one problem...the retention screws.. For some reason, Koolance thought it would be a good idea to use these things:
Basically, the tiny screw portion at the end screws into the backplate, then the rest rises up through the silicon buffer, the MBB, the top plate, and the thumbscrews. Problem is, because the lower threads are so short, a) I can't imagine they provide a very strong interface, and b) they aren't as cleanly cut as the threads on the upper part. As a result of this, it is incredibly difficult to get them to thread into the tapped holes in the backplate...so hard that I ended up getting one stuck, and then snapping it in half trying to get it back out. So, I got the broken-off portion out of the hole, re-tapped the holes (I think they plated it after tapping the holes, so it felt just a tad off from 6-32), and I'm gonna be picking up some new screws the proper length tomorrow.
..and now it's 4am...damn...soo..
The doorbell works, so now I am going to bed.