After nearly six months I have finally reached resolution; the processor was at fault.

I'd sent my PC over to one of my colleagues at work and he spent a couple weeks trying to get things working again. I desperately needed a second opinion to validate that what I was experiencing wasn't just the result of my incompetence. After he was unsuccessful we both concluded that there must still be some hardware issue. So I replaced the 4770k with a new 4790k and I was finally met with success. I'll be sending the 4770k back to Intel for replacement.

At this point I nearly have enough parts to build a second system or I'll just sell the other gear off to try and cover a portion of my expenses. I am simultaneously relieved and irritated. Relieved to have a working PC, irritated that I could have had this resolved ages ago.