[mbell]

> Mystery might be also in the nuance of turbo vs base frequency draw. So even if you design for TDP as the "max thermal dissipation" you might get only base frequency performance.

That is really what is happening. If you have '4 core 3Ghz Base 4.5Ghz turbo 95W TDP' what that means is that the CPU will pull, by spec, a maximum of 95W with all cores running at the base frequency under full load. Turbo can exceed this power spec and maximum power draw under turbo is ill-defined.

> On a side note people often confuse TDP with the max power draw of the processor.

It's the same thing, any 'power' a CPU 'draws' is converted to heat, by definition.