ati4870 CF Asus p5e3 x38 WIFI deluxe mobo

i just received my computer, 2 ati 4870 cf, asus p5e3 x38 chipset wifi mobo. I hooked everything up and my display wont show on one of my 4870s at all, and the 2nd vid card, i get display on my monitor but its all fuzzy with lines going through my whole monitor,blurry, and its in like 4bit color. I tried using a single GPU and it didnt work, ive tried every possiblity rearranging the video cards into different pci-e slots..etc. the one vid card that did kind of work did not work on the other pci-e slot, and the other vid card didnt work at all. If you guys can suggest any other options I can try out that might make it work I'm all ears. I can just believe that both my 4870s and my new mobo are all broken. I am getting a replacement for both the GPUs and mobo and will have to take my rig apart and rebuild it myself. I own a asetek LCLC water cooling system for my cpu is there any precaution i need to know about before i take it off? to rebuild the rig ? i.e. leakage? this will be my first time building a computer since the company that built it for me messed up royally and i am not sending it all the way back to california. ( i live in nyc). Anay suggestions/advice on all of my problems will be greatly apprecited.