FX51 any good?

[*FLASH*]

I've just been offered a FX51 for £80 are they any good and for that price is it a bargain. He claims its multiplier unlocked are these that way standard?

I tried to google but kept getting fx57 and 53s this is a socket 940.

Is it worth my trouble?

 

[Gaverick]

For that price it's gotta be worth a go, even if you just use it for experimenting.

 

[Mul]

FX51 is Socket 940. It's 2.2Ghz and 1mb L2 Cache. You'll need ECC Registered RAM which is quite expensive, and a 940 motherboard. In all honesty I reckon it'll perform a tad slower than an equivalent system with an A64 3700+ Socket 939.

The A64 3700 is £110 and is on a better socket. You can use any ram and above all the 3700+ overclocks far better. It also runs cooler thanks to a lower Core voltage.

Mul

 

[Biggles 266]

The FX51 was great fun about two years ago. Lots of records were set with them and that's what the serious overclockers played with.

But times have moved on and the fact it's on a socket that doesn't make it easy to overclock, and that it's a 130 nm process (it's a Sledgehammer core) mean that it's not actually going to go all that far. You might manage something like 2.8 GHz out of it, but since a whole bunch of 3700s already do that, there's nothing to be gained other than the unlocked multiplier... which in itself isn't all that big a deal.

It might be worth it so you can say you have an FX, you might enjoy playing with it etc. But as the basis of a main rig, it's not the best choice anymore.

 

[ajgoodfellow]

As above really

They were AMDs top of the range CPU a few years ago, at the time of the early Socket 754 Athlon 64 CPUs

They run at 2.2GHz stock with 1MB of L2 cache. They do have an unlocked multiplier, as do all FX CPUs

It'll use the Sledgehammer core too - it's basically a rebadged Opteron 148

It's a fast CPU and it'll perform like an A64 3700+. The 3700+ might be slightly faster due to the newer core and SSE3 but there won't be much in it

It won't clock like the 3700+ though, due to the older fabricating process. It requires ECC Registered memory too, as mentioned, and this is very expensive.

There is only one Single Socket 940 (against Dual CPU boards) with PCI-E and it's a Foxconn board costing about £200 that's virtually impossible to get hold of - this is my problem being on Socket 940 at the moment!

I'd personally go 939 or AM2 at this time as Socket 940 has had it's day

 

[Jokester]

For that price I wouldn't bother, also they were only good for 2.4Ghz or so on air.

Jokester

 

[Noxis]

I had a FX51 when they were released - excellent chips and the longest I ever kept a CPU ever They perform just fine by todays standards and you can get 1Gb sticks of Corsair PC3200 ECC Reg'd ram for about the same price as regular ram (cant say from where tho).

Does it come with a mobo? Otherwise you are going to have to track down either a SK8N or SK8V.

As for overclocking the limit I hit was 2.5ghz.

 

[Bennah]

Loved mine to bits. Picture Here. Had it on a SK8V and SK8N. Using 2x256MB Corsair ECC Reg 3200 / 2x256MB Corsair ECC Reg 3500.

24xxMHz I had from it on both boards. Super PI stable. Sandra stable I had 25xxMhz from it on both boards too. Tbh, the boards didnt seem to change in overclocking ability.

If you can source a cheap SK8N or SK8V then I would give it a shot. ECC Reg ram isnt that expensive as people make it out as. I would try and get the cpu for cheaper though. £80 is a little higher than you would want tbh.

Oh btw, ask for a pic or stepping. Longshot but it could be mine in still doing the rounds