so i figured out the problem and it was because I noticed my new cpu score was almost exactly 25% lower which made me suspect my processor was actually running at 266 x 9 = 2.4 ghz instead of the OCed 3.0 ghz it once was. I went to the BIOS and confirmed this, somehow over the course of the year the clock settings of 333 x 9 = 3.0 ghz were not being used because the "CPU Host Clock Control" was reset to disabled. I have a p35-ds3r motherboard with the latest firmware. I guess maybe a black out or a computer crash can reset these settings? Anyways my new score in 3dmark06 is 14643 ( cpu score 4627, sm 2.0 score 6149, sm 3.0 score 6142 ) once I reset it and this is my highest score ever! Anyone know why the OC can reset like this?