ok, i updated the original post to now include a guide to put these cards to work. while i was writing the guide, the computer crashed, and i had to rewrite the whole thing . my OC'ed CPU was on the edge of stability, just barely enough to be stable with the old video card. with the new 480 plugged in, it somehow became unstable, and i have no idea why since it's just switching video cards. i decreased the cpu by 150mhz (temporarily), and the system seems stable.