Priced at $733 for 1,000 units, the FX-53 has the same price tag as its predecessor. It is also likely that the Athlon64 FX-55 will be sold for the same price when it sees launch towards the end of the year.

It will thus be difficult to entice customers to pay for an Athlon64 FX-51, when the FX-53 can be had for the same price, which offers not only higher clock speeds but better overclocking capabilities as well.

Of course, relatively small unit numbers are at issue. That is evident from the small number of manufacturers that build motherboards for AMD's top model: Apart from Asus, Gigabyte, Leadtek and MSI, no one else has dared to venture into this extremely risky market.

This is likely to benefit those who give the customer the option of overclocking the FX. Only Gigabyte so far allows free selection of a multiplier, but the other manufacturers are already looking to follow suit.