Quote Originally Posted by chew* View Post
Loose nuts behind the wheel IMO.

There are alot of factors......how familiar someone is with the architecture and how well they know the board they are working with, how cool they can keep the chip ( etc are they using a stock cooler ) and how much voltage they are willing to push......or in certain cases are they pushing to much voltage.......not all chips like voltage....not all chips are equal...are they trying to crank the bejeebus out of the memory.....an unhappy IMC makes for an unhappy cpu, unhappy cpu's dont clock to well........
Oh I totally agree, and I have no doubt that you having the experience you have can get superb numbers, but for blokes like me, I'm no expert OC'er and I have never been able to get above the average, so I try to use that as barometer. Just me setting realistic expectations. It's a bit too easy to come here and see what some of the experts can get and get ones hopes up only to get disappointed later.

(Note I also prefer to run with a closed case).