Okay, where to start.

System:
ASUS Sabertooth Z77
Intel 3570k i5 
Gigabyte GHZ edit 7970 X2

Firstly was running a single card on 12.11 drivers, worked flawlessly.

Purchased the second card as I've got a 1440p monitor on the way. Card is installed in the correct slot for motherboard.

First I had a LOT of issues which I wont go into detail here but have a look here if you want a long read (http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=2032390) I gave up on those.

Fresh windows install - Check (no ATI software on PC)

Download fresh 12.10 Net4 CCC Package

Install's flawlessly, no errors - Restart

CCC wont start with error: 

"Catalyst Control Center cannot be started.

There are currently no settings that can be configured using Catalyst Control Center."

Device manager detects cards, but they show up on device manager as Driver version 9.2.0.0? 

But in GPU-Z they are 9.2.0.0 (Catalyst 12.10) ?

Why isn't CCC working for me

Will update when I find more problems (which I will because so far, this has been nothing but problems) should've gone SLI GTX680's hahaha

Try this first (4.5)> http://forums.amd.com/game/messageview.cfm?catid=444&threadid=162109&enterthread=y then use this guide >

http://forums.amd.com/game/messageview.cfm?catid=444&threadid=162444&enterthread=y

Intel I7 960 @ 3.87ghz *Intel DX58SO *HIS HD6970 2gb *Corsair TX650M *2x4gb Corsair XMS3 *WD Black 1TB *Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit *Gateway HD2401 24" 2ms 1920x1200  ***Asus N71Jq laptop *Intel I7 720QM Processor *Mobility Radeon HD5730 1gb *8gb Ram *Windows 7 64bit  ***Acer 5750 laptop

* A clear conscience is usually a sign of bad memory *

Okay, restarted PC and that seemed to fix the CCC issue haha, 

All seemed to go well, after quite a few boot cycles, CCC hasnt failed, even managed to play 45 minutes of BF3 without a crash! wow. and GPU-z Hadnt failed yet.

after BF3 I did a furmark benchmark to test temps etc with a mild overclock, all went well, got a bit hot upto about 90c so I stopped the test! then idled for a bit and just did general PC tasks haha, then tried launching GPU-Z and it froze up the computer, requiring me to restart. 

And now I'm watching youtube video's for about the last hour, and now windows explorer crashes every couple of minutes whilst watching video's

Error: 

Problem signature:

  Problem Event Name: APPCRASH

  Application Name: explorer.exe

  Application Version: 6.1.7601.17514

  Application Timestamp: 4ce7a144

  Fault Module Name: atiumd64.dll (hahaha good quality ATI drivers)

  Fault Module Version: 9.14.10.926

  Fault Module Timestamp: 5064fc85

  Exception Code: c0000005

  Exception Offset: 000000000019088b

  OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.768.3

  Locale ID: 3081

  Additional Information 1: ef3b

  Additional Information 2: ef3b56dc8a3b9becb7bfbe92ac0c0072

  Additional Information 3: a37b

  Additional Information 4: a37b67f4e910ba23e2bc678bd8e513cb

Seems like everything was working good till you started your overclocking

Intel I7 960 @ 3.87ghz *Intel DX58SO *HIS HD6970 2gb *Corsair TX650M *2x4gb Corsair XMS3 *WD Black 1TB *Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit *Gateway HD2401 24" 2ms 1920x1200  ***Asus N71Jq laptop *Intel I7 720QM Processor *Mobility Radeon HD5730 1gb *8gb Ram *Windows 7 64bit  ***Acer 5750 laptop

* A clear conscience is usually a sign of bad memory *

Well, it was doing this before I reformatted windows with no overclocking, wasn't even real overclocking just setting up fan profiles moreso, dont see how it could mess up the drivers yet again though :/

GPU-Z has a nasty tendency to cause freezes like that, very inconsistently. 

I've never had MSI Afterburner cause such a problem.