X5690 4.2GHz + GTX 980 Ti 1454MHz repaste — Beats GTX 1070 at 1440p in 2026. Big Iron retires undefeated before z97 update.
After 4 years, finally retiring my Asus Sabertooth X58 "Big Iron" build. Wanted to post the final sendoff numbers before it goes on eBay.
**The Build:**
- Xeon X5690 @ 4.20GHz, 1.368V, LLC High — G17 cooler, Corsair TM30 paste
- Asus Sabertooth X58 TUF — 200x21, Uncore 3400MHz, DDR3-1600 9-9-9-24
- MSI GTX 980 Ti Gaming 6G — Repasted TM30 + new thermal pads, 1454MHz Core / 1952MHz Mem, 110% PL
- Corsair RM750e, 32GB DDR3
**Temps after repaste + OC,**
- CPU: 77°C in Heaven 1440p, 81°C peak gaming — G17 holding it down
- GPU: 72.5°C, Hot Spot 85.5°C @ 268W — 13°C delta, perfect mount
- X58 VRM: ~80°C max per HWiNFO — Sabertooth's CeraM!X heatsink doing work
- System Memory Used: 6.2GB during Heaven 1440p, plenty of headroom
**Heaven 4.0 Benchmark, Ultra, Extreme Tessellation, 8xAA:**
- 1080p: 2350 score, 93.3 FPS avg, 21.3 min, 190.8 max
- 1440p: 1489 score, 59.1 FPS avg, 21.3 min, 118.9 max
**For reference:**
GTX 1070 stock does ~2200 @ 1080p, ~1350-1420 @ 1440p.
This 2015 980 Ti OC is beating it by 7% and 5-10%.
**CPU-Z Validation:** 349.9 Single / 3050 Multi. 216% the ST performance of stock X58.
**Notes:**
Sabertooth X58 was rock solid at 200 BCLK. 1.368V VCore, 1.35V QPI, LLC High. No WHEA errors, no throttling. TUF thermal armor actually helped — VRMs never broke 82°C. G17 cooler kept it under 82°C at 1.368V which is insane for X58. 32GB let me run browsers/Discord while benching with zero pagefile hits.
Total cost to get here: $50 for a GTX 960 to test with + paste/pads. Everything else I already owned.
Upgrading to Z97/4790K for 349.9 → 1000 ST gain, but X58 didn't go down without a fight. 1440p 60 FPS Ultra in 2026 on a 2010 platform with a 2015 GPU.
Yes I was lazy and had meta write this. It’s crazy to see what 16 year old tech can still do.