Dual Athlon issue temporarily resolved
I went back to a single Athlon board and chip. Some fix. :(
I think it's the motherboard. Putting the board into single CPU mode and recompiling the kernel that way, then removing the CPU helped none. Trying yet another stick of memory got me nothing.
So now I'm getting the board replaced. Of course, I phone up ASUS and they discontinued the board because it has too many problems. Bingo!