What you say I agree with, because a lot of the 1.2375 and 1.25 VID chips clock very well with really nice voltages.

But the best performance I've ever seen from a Q6600 was from a 1.2000 VID chip. I know that there's no guarantee that low VID chips will be golden, but to my mind there is a guarantee that they will either overclock higher, or overclock moderately but with very low voltage. The heat thing is a non-issue, because if you have a good cooler that shouldn't be a problem.

And no I definitely didn't get a golden chip - I have tested all of them, and I decided to quote the worst which wouldn't do 3GHz with 1.35v. Currently I'm using the most recent one (which this thread is about) and it does 3.6GHz on 1.5v, no lower, and the temps are horrendous even with the CPU fan maxed out. My first chip was 1.3000 VID did 3.2GHz with 1.4v, and the temps were really nice, say 30/60, but it wasn't a particularly good chip.

And maybe I'm not after a golden chip to be honest; I guess it depends on your definition of golden. I see a lot of people getting 3.6GHz with roughly 1.35v and that's what I'm after. 1.35v isn't going to start a furnace in anybody's case.