Anand Reviews Still Legit?

[arcticool]

*************EDIT: THIS POST HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH *MY PARTICULAR PARTS* AND EVERYTHING TO DO WITH WHETHER OR NOT ANANDTECH TESTED PARTS MATCH THOSE GENERALLY IN PRODUCTION OR WHETHER THEIR PARTS ARE BINNED BY MANUFACTURERS, AND IN THE CASE OF THE DS3 BOARD FLAT OUT CUSTOM MADE.***************


Wow, how's that for a first post?
You know over the years I've seen it several times: good review site becomes a market maker, people buy based upon their reviews, then suddenly the manufacturers realize this, the reviews becomes skewed and the site can no longer be trusted. Happened with cnet several years ago, happened with Toms (used to be the authority B4 sponsorship) and now Anand? Please tell me no!

I bought 3 parts recently based upon Anand reviews and not one of them came *even close* to the anand 'advertised' performance. P965-DS3 motherboard used with the E4300 review. 3.4 ghz on stock cooling 'advertised' at anand. Unfortunately out of about 50 actual user reviews I've read on the lets call 'extremely overclocked forum' only 3-4 have actually matched these results. About 30% never get 3.0 ghz. About 68% get between 3.0 and 3.2, and maybe 2% get above 3.2 ghz.

Anandtech's recent mid-range buyer's review states that you 'should expect' 3.6ghz out of this chip with a Thermalright 120 extreme. Wow, now I'm sorry but that is just plain BS! Less than 1% of people get above 3.3 with this chip, and 3.6 is just absurd. To EXPECT this performance is asinine.

So lets dig a little further, how about the Gigabyte P965-DS3 board so touted on Anand as a fantastic overclocker? MOST and yes I mean 90% most of all reviews have complained bout the hole this board has between 9x333 mhz and 9x400. Anand getting 378 on the E4300 with stock cooling is once again either an act of a higher godly power or simply absurd. Nobody and I mean nobody gets this performance on production parts!

OK so lets move on to the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme. Again, what a farse! Anand 'advertises' this part getting 47 C on a 6800 chip overclocked 1 ghz. And then 'verifies' these results with a 'production' part in a recent article. From what I've read of actual user reviews, this part has MAJOR production quality issues. With heat-pipes improperly soldered, and bases not even flat or improperly machined this part often under performs the stock C2D HSF! But hey, I'm sure the manufacturer is jumping with joy because after the Anand review it will sell no matter what. So they can cut corners on production quality and still make a killing on sales.

I just happen to be the unlucky schmuck who bought entirely based upon the latest Anand reviews. I got a DS3 board (rev 3.3 with F10 Bios) and an E4300 and a Ultra 120 extreme. My board has the 333-400 FSB issue that 90% of them have so my overclock is limited to 2.9 ghz regardless of cooling. My overclock is actually slightly better with stock cooling as I happen to be one of about 30% of buyers to get piece of s**t Ultra 120s with uneven bases. Yes it idles at 36% with arctic silver 5, re-mounted 3x, and under load hits65+ degrees! Woot thanks Anand! 3 parts and not one of them adds up even remotely close to your review!

Do I blame Anand? Actually no. What? Yes that's right actually I don't. The simple fact is that Anand has become a 'market maker' and manufacturers will go out of their way in crazy ways to make sure Anand gets the very very best binned parts as a good review is key to their sales. But since they are a known market maker it is now the manufacturers we can not trust to provide Anand with accurate production samples.

Normally I would say hey its just bad luck that I got a lame board and a lame cpu and a lame HS, but seeing that MOST people are not getting even close to the anand review performance unfortunately I feel this site is going the way of Tom's hardware. Sponsored and not quite so very reputable anymore.

Shame it is...
I wonder who the next CNET > Toms > Anand will be?

Edit: with my Ultra 120 extreme I am getting 65+ C under load.
Also funny Anand never ran into the cold-boot problem on the DS3 considering at least 60% of users hit this issue.

 

[soydios]

my troll sensor is off the charts right now

On a completely unrelated note, AnandTech/DailyTech is where I get my tech news for a reason: I trust them to be fair and accurate.

 

[arcticool]

Please take your troll sensor off and read it for the facts.
Then please search DS3 cold boot issue.
Then please research what actual users are getting with the E4300 and how many are getting above 3.2 ghz and how legitimate it is of anand to say to EXPECT 3.6 ghz from this chip.
Then please research the Ultra 120 extreme in PRODUCTION from actual users and see how many are having serious quality issues.
I BEG OF YOU TO PLEASE CHECK THE FACTS BEFORE CALLING TROLL.

Edit: I can see how a guy with one post might be quickly dismissed by the 'seniors' around here as so many trolls exist on online sites. Please don't group me in before you have actually looked into the facts I am stating. I have done an enormous amount of research and spend a ton of time before making this post so please at least give me the benefit of the doubt until you have actually looked into these *3* misleading reviews for yourself.
Thank you,

Jeff

 

[manimal]

Re the Thermalright:


AT prolly got a hand picked reference sample or a one of the first ones off the line when things were going peachy. You probably got one that barely passed QC. Based upon your review dont think you should go ahead and maybe, you know RMA it and try to get a better one? If that was indeed your say 5th RMAd HSF and MAYBE your second or third motherbard from RMA then MAYBE i would lend some credence to your post. Otherwise your just talking to yourself.

PS overclocking results are like box of chocolates, you never know what your gonna get inside, or how many 3d-epeenmarks your gonna get.

PSS Current crop of e4300s-and the rest of the conroes do not OC like the first bunch of batches, the good 6600s are made into Q6600s-supposedly-the good 4300s end up as 4400s and the good Ultra-120s ended up in the new transformers movie!

 

[arcticool]

Manimal,
Thank you for the reply and the suggestion. I should have also mentioned that when I tried to RMA the Thermalright through NewEgg, NewEgg already removed support!
This is the first time I have seen them not support a product they sold so very quickly. Apparently they are absolutely flooded with RMAs for this part. Here is what they said:

Unfortunately, our records indicate that the manufacturer's labor warranty for this product has expired. Please contact the product manufacturer for additional service options.

So I bought the Ultra 120 Extreme from NewEgg exactly 5 days ago. I received it 2 days ago and already NewEgg will not accept an RMA and refers me to the manufacturer. I have done business with NewEgg for 3 years now and have never even seen such a quick pull-out of product support. But since Anand is such a strong 'market maker' now, and now that they have done a follow up article of the Ultra 120 'production part' no amount of actual bad user experiences will stop the massive sales and demand for this heat sink. And you can be sure the manufacturer not only knows this fact but is actually counting on it.

BTW, do you really think that I should have to RMA 5 parts before this would have credence. As I stated about 30% of user reviews have the exact same problem with the part. Please research this yourself before making a judgment that this fact does not hold water. Same goes for the DS3 motherboard. On that one the vast majority of purchasers are having the issue with the 333-410 FSB issue that amazingly anand had no issue whatsoever with. BTW with the motherboard I actually did RMA my revision 1.3 for a 3.3, and same issues exist. Since 99% of users report this issue, I feel that another 4 RMAs would be futile. Do you disagree? Again, please research the 'FSB Wall' and 'cold boot' issues first before responding, but please respond!

And yes, I understand that overclocking is pure luck. All the more irresponsible for anand to say and I quote you should 'EXPECT' 3.6ghz from this chip. Now if even 5% of users reached this goal I would not find this statement so absurd. Again, please please research these particular facts then please post again.
Thank you,

Jeff

 

[manimal]

I would call new egg and take a stance of not getting off the phone till they give you a rma number. If you create enough of a stink they should give you a rma. I would talk to a supervisor and give then every chance of taking back that part. If they dont start a forum post about how awful new egg and how terrible their costomer service is

I just purchased a 4300 for a HTPC build and almost got a Ds3 since I can get a silverstone HTPC case that uses full size atx and after reading alot about the boards I took pause. I agree that there have been alot of problems with them but a majority of people with problems go online for help causing a inordinate amount of bias toward problematic operation. Take the 680i chipset, it had lots of problems early in cycle and the stigma still exists that they a PITA board. I have build 2-one for me, one for a friend- and have been able to OC 6600s to 3.5 on air on both. Anecdotal evidence abounds in the online world, just look at some the crazy things that happen on these boards. Rarely do you see someone that has everything working right out of the box and get a 40percent oc come online and say hey everythings cool look at me im OMGWTFBBQLEETBIFRONS-actually it happens alot lol but they are ignored.

Last thing I will say is yes, I agree that 3.6 on a sub 2 chip is rare and it is somewhat irresponsible for anyone to guarantee any OC over 2.4 on these things since alot can happen. Once you get your new HSF and get things stable, start over after the anger has faded and see what you get when your temps are good.

 

[Puffnstuff]

My BS flag is up at the top of the pole. I've shopped at newegg for years and have spent literally thousands of dollars and for good reason. As for not being able to return your supposedly defective hsf, again I call bs. It falls under neweggs standard 30 day return policy http://www.newegg.com/Info/ReturnPolicy.aspx#4 and you can generate an rma online in less than 3 minutes if you wanted to. I just used their rma service the other day for a newly purchased item that was defective out of the box through no fault of the egg. Newegg has without a doubt the best customer service of any etailer so with that said I have to concur with the previous poster that the OP is a troll.

 

[Fallengod]

I always love when people make a new account to spread fudd lmao. Most likely he was banned once and decided to make a new account to vent. How bout we just ban him again?


Anyways, to address the entire reason for his lame post. One of the reasons I could easily see as to why anandtech got those high oc results is because they prolly got sent a "cherry" board for reviewing. I think this happens often. Obviously the company wants the best possible results. This is only speculation of course.

(This directly relates to your post) Also, they most likely were went one of those early revisions(ie. 1.0-1.2). The early revisions of the DS3, were said to overclock far better than the later 3.3's. If you do some research you will find many who can confirm this. You cant blame that on anandtech. Blame it on gigabyte. 3.3's seem to be fairly poor overclockers if you were not aware of that fact.

Yes, I personally would never buy the GA DS3, nor would I recommend it. There are quite a few people who feel the same way. I think GA started off with a good board, then sorta went in the opposite direction. For the record though, I think most P965 boards have some type of issue to work out.

 

[MotF Bane]

I have a DS3, and love it. My only gripe is that it's sickly blue. It's a Rev 3.3 and almost made 400x8 E6400 on stock volts.

 

[Duwelon]

Articool,

Were you sure to use your whole tube of thermal paste? A little thermal paste isn't enough you know, thats why they put so much into a tube. Don't skimp or it breaks down and comoflagorates into thermal trapping silicon.

Also to reduce that 65C some more, try bending some of those pins on the motherboard. There's over 700 so you can easily cut off or bend over about 20 of them on your motheboard, no problem.

If that's still not enough you may think about investing in some more serious cooling. You could dunk your components into mineral oil, but boy with oil prices these days, i'd just go with Mineral Water, it's much cheaper.

Let us know how things go after you try these things.

 

[arcticool]

First thanks for all the replies. I'll try to address your responses one by one:

manimal,
Thanks for the feedback. I'm glad that you took the time to check Anandtech's recent mid range buyer's guide and confirm what I said before responding.
And I'm glad you agree that 3.6 is a ridiculous goal to 'Expect' from an E4300. I also agree that you sure get a mix of posts online and have to throw out the outliers that just don't sound right. I am a QA engineer by profession, and very detail oriented and I always check my facts pretty thoroughly before making a post online. And I believe strongly that the overwhelming majority of information supports my statement that the E4300 can be 'expected' on average to get 3.0-3.2 ghz. I have seen so many threads with folks only getting 2.7-2.9 and about as many of people getting 3.1-3.2. But absolutely nobody getting above 3.4, air or water. In short I don't think anand is just lying to us. I have trusted their reviews for years and don't think it is an ethics issue. But with the last 3 parts that I have bought I see a pattern that has happened to other formerly awesome review sites (anyone remember Tom's hardware in the pre-sponsorship days? There were *the* authority, no longer...). I believe the manufacturers know them as well as we do and they know that a good review at anand is word double or triple or maybe 10x sales figures. This isn't chump change we're talking about here. And they (the manufacturers) I believe are cheating. Anand is getting the 1 percentile best binned parts that simply are never seen in production.

Puffnstuff,
I can see where you are coming from but I assure you I have never posted on these forums before. I have been at extreme over clocking for years and I do not change my username. It is the same on all sites I go to. I definitely spend more time reading forums than I do posting as the info is usually already out there an thoroughly discussed if you just *search* OK, off my soapbox. Anyway, I am very detail oriented and try very hard to make sure of my accuracy before I post anywhere. I never flame anybody and always try to stay as polite as possible. All that I ask is you look at the facts of my content before judging. BTW, I have also been an extremely satisfied customer of NewEgg for years and have bought from them since they were EggHead and have always been satisfied. And I am equally if not more shocked to see no RMA allowed on this product. Per manimal's suggestion I will place a phone call as I am not at all pleased with this. But my point in posting here is how surprisingly common build quality issues are with the Ultra 120 Extreme. Maybe Anand got a randomly good part as many have, and maybe they got 'binned' (yes I know that's cpu terminology but the analogy still applies).

Fallengod,
Well I guess I've already said it but no I've never posted on this site. I always went to other 'specialty' sights and never felt the need to post here until this latest dilemma. Out of the 3 parts that I bought based on recent Anand reviews it is the DS3 which makes me suspect the Anand review the most. Please read the E4300 review to verify my accuracy, then go to extreme overclocking, again to do the same before assuming I am a troll. Nothing personal as I can see how you might get that knee jerk reaction on first read of this thread Back to the point, this motherboard simply does not function for anybody and I do mean anybody in the 9x378 range. It simply will not do it. To get this performance you must go to 8x400+ as there is a FSB 'hole' which BTW is not in fact fixed with the F10 or F11 bios. It is a major hardware flaw. And yet this 9x378 is what Anand based their review of the E4300 upon. HOW DID THEY DO IT??? This is not a rare board they received, it is flat out custom built! Wow big words I know. Amazingly dubious statement I know. But in fact, factually true. Simply nobody has gotten this working on a production board. Again, back to my point. Anand is a market maker now. A good review from them is worth millions or tens of millions of dollars of sales and the parts they are getting and testing lately are simply not matching production hardware. I don't doubt the ethics of the reviewers here, I give them the benefit of the doubt. But I SERIOUSLY suspect foul play on the part of the manufacturers. I would think it a bit paranoid and 'conspiracy theory' if I had not seen this exact dilemma fall upon such good review sites in the past.

So what if I am right (and unfortunately I am not easily convinced, but I am convinced I am right on this one) and Anand is getting obviously custom made or 'binned' parts that vastly exceed production part performance? Honestly, I don't know. I shudder to think of this site going the way of Tom's, CNET, and others. This is clearly the best hardware review site ever. The reviews are even more detailed and scientific than even Tom's back in the day. Anand is the absolute hardware authority. But unfortunately, the manufacturers also know this, and this little fact may be ruining it all...

Edit:
MotF Bane,
Sorry I missed your post. You are running 8x to get to 3.2. Exactly my point. Try 9x as Anand did in their review. I'll give you my car if it works.

 

[MotF Bane]

Ehm. Articool, I only own an E6400, so 8x is my maximum. I'll try using my friend's WC and E6700 sometime and see what happens. Got a nice car?

You're right though, obviously manufacturers are gonna send the nicest stuff they can find with as many tweaks as they can hide into the board to the reviewers. That's why some of the best reviews are those that people do for fun. Still, I like the Anandtech reviews, it's where I go first.

 

[arcticool]

Duwelon,
Haha I read the first line and actually started responding, that I use AS-5, and a very very thin coat very even so no bubbles, etc...
OK, fair enough, joke's on me

 

[arcticool]

Originally posted by: MotF Bane
Ehm. Articool, I only own an E6400, so 8x is my maximum. I'll try using my friend's WC and E6700 sometime and see what happens. Got a nice car?

You're right though, obviously manufacturers are gonna send the nicest stuff they can find with as many tweaks as they can hide into the board to the reviewers. That's why some of the best reviews are those that people do for fun. Still, I like the Anandtech reviews, it's where I go first.

Yep, you will have to use 8x. And your test is valid. You don't have to have an E4300. The point is that Anand got a board that did 9x378 and in production 9x350-410 is totally dead. They didn't get an exception and 'binned' part, theirs was flat out custom made.

I understand that manufacturers will alway pick a better 'binned' part to send to reviewers, but making one-off custom stuff, just to send to Anand is IMO crossing the line. How can we even trust their reviews now that this is happening? I almost feel sick just asking that question as I have loved this site for so long...

Edit: yes I have a new BMW for you if you can get a DS3 board to run anywhere close to the 9x378 range that Anand got in their review.

 

[Kromis]

Originally posted by: arcticool

Originally posted by: MotF Bane
Ehm. Articool, I only own an E6400, so 8x is my maximum. I'll try using my friend's WC and E6700 sometime and see what happens. Got a nice car?

You're right though, obviously manufacturers are gonna send the nicest stuff they can find with as many tweaks as they can hide into the board to the reviewers. That's why some of the best reviews are those that people do for fun. Still, I like the Anandtech reviews, it's where I go first.

Yep, you will have to use 8x. And your test is valid. You don't have to have an E4300. The point is that Anand got a board that did 9x378 and in production 9x350-410 is totally dead. They didn't get an exception and 'binned' part, theirs was flat out custom made.

I understand that manufacturers will alway pick a better 'binned' part to send to reviewers, but making one-off custom stuff, just to send to Anand is IMO crossing the line. How can we even trust their reviews now that this is happening? I almost feel sick just asking that question as I have loved this site for so long...

Edit: yes I have a new BMW for you if you can get a DS3 board to run anywhere close to the 9x378 range that Anand got in their review.

What model BMW?

 

[nealh]

Newegg's CS is awesome...There is no way they refused to help you on the Thermalright HSF....

I had a ICFX3200 Rmaed for a new one..the new one was crap as well..and they allowed me to get a refund(first one was under 30 day refund warranty and 1 yr replacement..they even crosshipped the first RMA....second one should not have been a refund according to their policy but they did and GAVE me a return shiiping label for free)

Sorry you are full of crap with respect to Newegg..do not trash their reputation

 

[thecoolnessrune]

I have to admit I have never heard of anything more ridiculous that someone creating an account simply to rant about a site because their chips dont OC to what others do...

 

[aurareturn]

Anandtech's heatsink reviews are bullshit. You will never get close to those temperatures unless you live in the northpole.

 

[arcticool]

Originally posted by: nealh
Newegg's CS is awesome...There is no way they refused to help you on the Thermalright HSF....

I had a ICFX3200 Rmaed for a new one..the new one was crap as well..and they allowed me to get a refund(first one was under 30 day refund warranty and 1 yr replacement..they even crosshipped the first RMA....second one should not have been a refund according to their policy but they did and GAVE me a return shiiping label for free)

Sorry you are full of crap with respect to Newegg..do not trash their reputation

The quote above is copy/pasted from NewEgg and I assure you it's legit!
As I stated before I have also had excellent service with NewEgg and have used them almost exclusively for my online purchases since before they were NewEgg. But try to RMA this product by logging in, clicking on MyOrders, selecting the most recent order, then where the parts for that order are listed it says in Red Type under the product description:

Unfortunately, our records indicate that the manufacturer's labor warranty for this product has expired. Please contact the product manufacturer for additional service options.

And the RMA option is not selectable.
I followed through today based upon manimal's suggestion to phone them directly and ask for a supervisor, but nobody is at this number: Toll Free: (800) 390-1119 today. I will follow through on Monday, but so far my RMA has not been allowed. I will post here once I've spoken with customer service (and I will let customer service know that I am posting here!)

 

[arcticool]

Originally posted by: thecoolnessrune
I have to admit I have never heard of anything more ridiculous that someone creating an account simply to rant about a site because their chips dont OC to what others do...

I have to admit I have never heard of anything more ridiculous than someone with 3000 posts who doesn't read a thread before responding...

 

[TheMold]

Wow, you did a lot of research for this post. Too bad you didn't apply that much effort before you made the purchases that you did.

 

[aigomorla]

first off, ANANDTECH, has a fairly good review policy.

There methods are a bit old fashion, but there not bad. The reason for the old fashion style of reviews is to have an accurate comparison to the previous reviews.

Also, they take the Tjunction point, while your looking at coretemp. Your also right when you say TJunction is almost impossible to find, but if you compare the different blocks on the same platform with same methods, YOU will see which one pulls ahead.


Also, Overclocking is never plug and play. However with that many bad chips that cant do 3.0ghz YOUR doing somethign wrong. Have you ever thought of the idea on PSU, and Overheating NB? Results on different platforms will never be identical. But what the results do tell you is that TR ultra 120 will perform the best. This is true, then tuniq tower will come next, which is ALSO true.

If your an experienced overclocker, please list your stepping/code so we can see if your chip is really messed up.

otherwise im guessing the overclocking ERROR is /w YOU.

Stepping/batch codes look like this:
L631B120 <--- my E6600
L640F038 <--- my QUAD.



ALSO 400 FSB IS NOT SIMPLE. YOUR NB NEEDS TO BE COOLED ACTIVELY.



Lastly, your correct about BS chips. First off, because of our wonderful editor, his cherry picked X6800 can do insane benches on AIR. EVeryone will know when you push a C2D chip @ 1.4V+, the temps get OUT OF CONTROL. The author is also pushing his chips @ 1.6V on AIR.

all i have to say is BWAHAHAHAHHHAHHAHAHA... the author will fry his chip if left longer then the small benching at that spec. DONT FOLLOW IT.

There is also a reason why theres a forum. You should of read the forums and also read any topics relavent to you. There has been TONS of post regarding anadtech's methodology. Until a new person takes over writting reviews, Give up on acruacy, and just go by ballpark. TR 120 ultra is one of the best. Thats what the reports shows, thats the only way you should take them.

 

[nealh]

this thread is an example of why forums can be bad..someone reading this would misinterpret too many things
1. Newegg CS is awesome..yes I went to the site...I bought 2 Thermalright Ultra120 extreme...
yes it says something about the maunfacturer labor warranty has expired...I still have the option for 30 day return or replacement

Newegg has always treated me well....maybe the OP was not nice on the phone

2. OCing is huge YMMV..I know..I have received a chip from a well known and respected ATer and I could not in my setup get the same results

OCing has too many variables

3. Temps can never be comapred on 2 systems...you need ambients which have a huge affect, same parts do not report the same, in case, out of case etc....I have a Badax2 rev. 505..that reports voltages off..as measured by 2 separate DMMs
temps sensors are notoriously inaccurate

4.blaming a reviewer for your poor results is stupid..big sites now get cherry picked parts(that have too..got make sure the review is postivie)...so you have to look at the general conclusion not the exact specifics

I hate these kinda of ranting threads, with venomous blame

 

[arcticool]

OK, before this spins out of control people talking about *my* overclock, lets be clear, THIS THREAD HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH MY OC!
Done shouting now. But if you respond that this thread is because I didn't get the OC Anand got then you didn't read the thread.

The point is Anand is getting custom parts, not just binned cherry picked parts.
The DS3 board does not function in they range they used in the review.
The E4300 does not go to 3.6 ghz as stated to be 'expected' in their recent mid-range review. 2.9-3.2 is a good OC for this chip and anything over 3.2 on air or water is extremely rare. I'll let the Thermalright issue go for now since I never actually spoke to a NewEgg rep as I've already said, the 800 number is not open on Saturday. All I can say is my auto-RMA was denied by the site and in RED were words stating manufacturer had removed support. I've never seen this before on NewEgg either, so don't go responding that I'm bashing NewEgg customer service.

This is not about my particular hardware or my OC. Anand is giving reviews based on parts that simply don't match production supply.

PLEASE READ THEN POST.
Thank you.

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: arcticool
OK, before this spins out of control people talking about *my* overclock, lets be clear, THIS THREAD HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH MY OC!
Done shouting now. But if you respond that this thread is because I didn't get the OC Anand got then you didn't read the thread.

The point is Anand is getting custom parts, not just binned cherry picked parts.
The DS3 board does not function in they range they used in the review.
The E4300 does not go to 3.6 ghz as stated to be 'expected' in their recent mid-range review. 2.9-3.2 is a good OC for this chip and anything over 3.2 on air or water is extremely rare. I'll let the Thermalright issue go for now since I never actually spoke to a NewEgg rep as I've already said, the 800 number is not open on Saturday. All I can say is my auto-RMA was denied by the site and in RED were words stating manufacturer had removed support. I've never seen this before on NewEgg either, so don't go responding that I'm bashing NewEgg customer service.

This is not about my particular hardware or my OC. Anand is giving reviews based on parts that simply don't match production supply.

PLEASE READ THEN POST.
Thank you.

sorry to say this, but... this is where u noobed.

OLD bin'd chips do 3.6ghz perfectly fine. The new ones have problems. MY Chip does 3.6ghz, but ITS ON WATER.

Infact i cant think of many that run there chips 24/7 on AIR @ 3.6ghz. It takes about 1.4-1.5V to pull this off, and at that voltage the chip puts out 121W+ TDP compared to the 65W TDP at stock. IF YOU DONT KNOW THIS OR THIS IS NEW INFO, you noobed your research in overclocking.

Thats all i need to say..

Good luck cooling that with air.