fx8320 on m5a97 r2.0 POSTs..... sometimes... but usually not.

so i built this computer with the 8 core amd fx8320, asus m5a97 r2.0, 1 8GB stick of ddr3 1866 crucial ballistix elite, Asus Radeon HD 6450, loaded Win8 and ran smooth for a week or two. Then it started freezing all the time, during routine stuff. It almost seemed like when it was idle it would freeze more often than when it was under load. I really thought it was a driver issue. One day after it had froze, I entered the bios and was merely checking settings and CPU temp (which was normal for this cpu with the stock cooler). i noticed the ram had been set to run at 1333. I clicked on the setting and changed the field to 1866, switched fields (did not save and exit, simply pressed the down arrow) and the system powered off. When this happened the power button was non-responsive. I flipped the switch on the power supply and waited for the green power led on the board to go out. when it did i powered it back on, it did not post and the red dram light came on. I pressed the memok button, the light blinked for maybe 10 seconds then screen came up and said the memory was ok and press f1 to enter setup and save settings. I did. it rebooted and started to load the OS. Then froze. So I reset it. The red dram light was lit again. i pressed the button it would eventually get me back into the bios but now just about every time i get into the bios I save settings and reset and when it reboots i have the same problem of the red light being on and not POSTing. As it relates to this problem i have purchased another one of these mother boards, and a cheaper 2GB stick of ddr3 1333. swapping these parts has not changed the situation 1 bit. I don't have another am3 CPU to try on this board, and i don't have another 24 pin PSU. I have now pulled everything back out of the case and have had it all out on the mat and connected it all out of the case and it is still behaving the same. At this point I just want direction. am I missing an easy answer? I'd like to avoid buying a new CPU just because there is a chance that it may fix it (especially since i did that with the mobo). I've read so many threads of people with similar issues but nothing quite like this one i figured i should stop looking through answers to other peoples problems and hopefully start getting answers to mine.