IT LIVES. a couple of weird things still going on, but I think it's mostly on the software end at this point.
I'm still trying to get the damn thing to boot off of the new M.2, which was the original problem I was trying to solve back in January before shit hit the fan. One of the other SSDs isn't being detected, but I haven't double checked the connection on it yet. Possible I forgot to connect a SATA cable.
It's also taking a weirdly long time (~10s) to get to the boot sequence after it turns on, and I'm not really sure what that could be. It used to go from off to desktop in ~12s, so that would be a significant slowdown, and everything I've replaced (namely the M.2 upgrade) should make things faster, not slower.
I have an internal USB header hub coming in today, because I was down a USB 2.0 slot with the Kraken x62's HUE+ controller. I guess that could be causing an initiation delay, with one of the USB 2.0's connectors just dangling unconnected, but I doubt it. I'll have to test some things tonight.