While C2 or the QX oc's far better air/water (there's no doubt about it since long) with retail <E8400/Q9550, I doubt it. Not what I'm seeing at all, stuck sub 3.7-4GHz <1.5V. I'll pick up a retail E8400 very soon if not this weekend anyway. Intel started the games again with this commanding position of offering crap locked multis even though the chips are capable of more with a higher multi. But E8500 here is no where found, none of them are yet and the E8500 is 200USD more than the 9500 here. <E8400 will be same price as 9500 here.
Have you never tried max HT of the chip yet?
272MHz is very high. My chip did 270ish max and it ran 265HT perfectly at 10x, so try for more. Maybe you need better cooling.