The triple alpha rate is obtained from the three-body bound and continuum states computed in a large box. The results from this genuine full three-body calculation are compared with standard reference rates obtained by two sequential two-body processes. The fairly good agreement relies on two different assumptions about the lowest resonance energy. With the same energy the rates from the full three-body calculation are smaller than those of the standard reference. We discuss the rate dependence on the experimentally unknown energy. Substantial deviations from previous results appear for temperatures above 3 GK.