on stock kooling? with good ventalation and a cool room MAYBE 2.7-3.0.... the $50 for a nice fan is really worth it, i put mine to 3.6 on a zalman 9700 and it idled decent but load temps were about 71C which is too high for me. but i need to replace 3 fans in my case and i have the hottest room in the house. and it sits under my desk, bad choice thetll be fixed soon. does he have B3 or G0 stepping? with B3 id b suprised if he got past 2.8...