X58 Sabertooth(i7-950) - Keep or Upgrade

J

jwright33

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Aug 22, 2011
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I had been planning on a minor upgrade to my x58 sabertooth system, going from a 4ghz I7-950 to a x5650 and some case and water cooling updates. My budget for a new system was only about 300, but recently it has come to my attention how much x58 sabertooths are selling for. Mostly I just game on my pc and tinker with overclocking and cooling. So, my question is, is it time to bid my old system goodbye while its selling so well, and move to something more modern?
 
I would say if you can get the $250 they are selling for on ebay or close you could move to the 4790k and mobo for fairly low upgrade cost if you have a microcenter around, but if those 2 extra cores will do you well, then I would just stick with the platform and oc to 4GHZ range, as you will get close to if not better than the upgrade will net you in terms of performance.
 
If you're using a video cards that's from the same era, take your $300 and get yourself a new video card!
 
Well, I'd get the X5650 which can be found for as little as 62 bucks then use the rest to see if you can talk somebody out of one of the voluminous amounts of 780's that are about to hit the market. If not, get a 290.

I'd be willing to bet that if you benchmarked a 4790 with a 780 vs a X5650 with a 780, both CPU overclocked, you would not find a game where you have a considerable difference in quality settings if at all.
 
wrangler said:
Well, I'd get the X5650 which can be found for as little as 62 bucks then use the rest to see if you can talk somebody out of one of the voluminous amounts of 780's that are about to hit the market. If not, get a 290.

I'd be willing to bet that if you benchmarked a 4790 with a 780 vs a X5650 with a 780, both CPU overclocked, you would not find a game where you have a considerable difference in quality settings if at all.
Click to expand...

Why would you recommend an R9 290 when a GTX 970 can be had (when they come back in stock) for 60-100 dollars less and they perform better? GTX 970 is the best bang for your buck hands down right now.
 
Because you can't buy one with what you have left?
His budget is 300.
300-60= 240


???
Can you buy a used 970 off of the forum for $240? Really?
I see 290's for that. Heck, you might even start to see 290X for under $300.
The real stretch is getting someone to sell him a used 780 for $240 since I still see the delusional asking $300 for plain vanilla 780.

Here is a 290 for $225...
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1835599

I'm saying he can get a hexcore 5650 AND a new video card for his 300.
He can't even buy one 970 unless he wants to go to $350.
 
Last edited:
wrangler said:
Because you can't buy one with what you have left?
His budget is 300.
300-60= 240


???
Can you buy a used 970 off of the forum for $240? Really?
I see 290's for that. Heck, you might even start to see 290X for under $300.
The real stretch is getting someone to sell him a used 780 for $240 since I still see the delusional asking $300 for plain vanilla 780.

Here is a 290 for $225...
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1835599

I'm saying he can get a hexcore 5650 AND a new video card for his 300.
He can't even buy one 970 unless he wants to go to $350.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link there, think I will be trying for it, keeping the x58 and get a x5650
 
My mistake wrangler, I didn't see in his original post that he was including the cost of the CPU with his upgrade. I read it as he had $300 left over.

Thought if you're primarily gaming (you didn't mention which games), I don't see a super important reason to upgrade your CPU. You would get so much more for your dollar by just getting a GPU, IMO.
 
Not a bad thought except the only thing you can buy for $300 right now is used 290x or used plain vanilla 780 and a 290 is close enough that it doesn't matter.
These xeon hex cores are getting to 4.2 with HT turned on and are rivaling ivy bridge in benchmarks.
If nothing else, they extend the platforms usefulness well into the DDR-4 era with the only exception being that a lot of the boards are Sata II only. However, I have a 4770K system setup right next to my old X58 system, both with Samsung 840 class SSD's, and I can't tell a dimes worth of difference between them for gaming. At least at 1200P. I actually can't tell a dimes worth of difference between them for non-gaming but I don't do real intensive stuff, just normal daily driving around the web, music, videos etc.
I wish I hadn't bought the 4770K stuff to be honest. For what I do, it was a waste. I just had the bug real bad and I was salivating over all those Sata III benches people were showing off. Heh.

Anyhoo... It's a good debate and a sign of the times with no comp from AMD.
Long live X58.
 
Definitely agree. I would say if the OP can extend his budget another $50 to spring for a GTX970 if his gaming resolution and games he plays can justify it. Otherwise, a CPU and a 290/290x (WAIT FOR AMD PRICE CUT) would still be a sound update!
 
I'm going to be devil's advocate for fun. I am just now finishing an X58 system with used parts (I got a 980x for free and decided to try it).

Here, in California, where it is hot, the X58 setup heats up my tiny room to the point of being uncomfortable when overclocked (without air conditioning). The newer stuff does not do that. If that is of no concern to you, then stick with what you have.

You can probably almost get an i5-4460 haswell chip and cheap motherboard for what you can sell the 950/X58 sabertooth for.
 
I grabbed the 290 from above and will be ordering a x5650 soon. Once all old stuff is sold off, my total cost for new case, video card, cpu, a few fans, new water cooling tubing and few other odds and ends will be right about $300. Again, I would like to thank you all for the input and ideas. I think I will be very happy with the direction I have gone, and honestly making an older system compete with newer hardware is more fun to me. I do love an underdog.
 
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