@Dietmar
Yes!
I managed to get ASL 5.0 to work!
I merged my XP friendly CPUSSDT into my DSDT, compiled it, and loaded with ASL 5.0 !
So, for whatever reason, ASL is fine with loading DSDT+CPUSSDT merged together, but it fails with an A5 BSOD if you try to load them separately.
Changes persist on reboot.
I have absolutely no idea why this makes a difference, but there you go.