FM1 is easy to max out with the 'K' chips. You will not have to deal with Llano quirks... like USB/Motherboard components dropping out, trying to make sure PCI-E bus is locked at 100MHz, having to run SATA devices in IDE mode instead of AHCI... etc. You will run into all of these issues with an Athlon II x4 FM1 if it is a locked chip once you start bumping up the BCLK. There is so little info out there on the x4 651 I dont know if its locked or unlocked. Running SATA in IDE mode means having no TRIM capability on SSDs, and slower disk performance overall (you lose NCQ, etc). Losing all of that stuff, just to get Phenom II x4 level performance at BEST... is not worth it just so you can run discrete card with a cheap FM1 quad.

idk, I still cant see how FM1 is that much cheaper than a 970 board + Phenom II. The latter is a much better choice, OC-wise, and future wise. At least you have a shot of upgrading to Vishera if it turns out better than Phenom II. If you dont have issues with used components and are really strapped for cash like you sound like, try Ebay or the XS FS/FT forums, may catch a good used AM3+ deal. Lots of people dumping their AMD rigs for Intel these days...