Download CPU-Z (>C<PU-Z).
Look at Mainboard tab to find out what your mainboard really is.
If it doesn't know, then look carefully on the board for the manufacturers part number and google it.
Visit that vendors product page and download the newest drivers. I have a suspicion that your problems all started when you removed some chipset drivers or something equally as important. Keep in mind that a mainboards chipset is what controls the operation of the PCI-e slots.
Do a fresh windows install and then install the mainboard drivers. Then install the AMD graphics drivers. I would suggest maybe not using the beta as it just another place something can go wrong. 12.8 seems to be a pretty well regarded version.
Going to actually do just that with a fresh install and check out the CPU-z to see what it actually is when I get more free time. Thank you for the advice!
NForce chipset boards are well before the time of the 7970. Your board might not be compatible.
hmmm..I guess if the fresh install of everything doesnt work then that could be the main issue at hand. At the moment I installed it on the older motherboard withought NForce where I installed catalyst 12.8 and 2.7sdk and have it working at 550 kh/s at the moment. Nowhere near 700plus where I would like it but until I can do some more testing its better to have at 550 then zero
In the end I would like to put it back on the Nvidia board if possible as it has two pci 16x slots and was hoping to have two 7970's but only time will tell. Thanks for the help!