On modern Intel processors, TDP isn't the maximum thermal output power of the processor. It's the thermal output power when it's throttling back its speed by a

On modern Intel processors, TDP isn't the maximum thermal output power of the processor. It's the thermal output power when it's throttling back its speed by a particular, arbitrarily-defined amount for thermal reasons. It's basically a marketing number. The electrical input power on the other hand is pretty close to the actual thermal output power and is roughly the number you should actually use when speccing out a cooling system for an Intel processor.