Well personally, since I've been using VB for a while now, I can't help but compare. I don't want a flame marathon here but they might have it the way that could solve the issue (IMHO) Probably not the best way but its a solution. What you can do is actually put those drop downs on the topic title category bar, on the right hand side. Prime real estate in my opinion. But not of course how the drop downs looks like right just stuck up there. Plus you actually add the search as a drop down too, and move the forum jump down, probably below the active users to remove one more bar. Not only will this distribute the clutter evenly, the second part of my suggestion, will reduce clutter for the members also. I was wondering why was the forum jump was moved in the first place from 2.3.6? It was fine the way it was IMHO.
Edit: Something like this