Dear Alan81:
This is not what he is saying. Each AMD CPU REV E and later has a part of the CPUID holding the Max Tcase you will see during that CPU's life given the profile's thermal resistance and ambient temperatures. In essence AMD now gives you the maximum TDP for that particular CPU (probably written during or immediately after the testing process). This rating is thus variable to any given CPU within the processor model and/or family. Thus MB/system/HSF designers must use the Maximum Tcase (Tcontrol) and TDP for their designs as they could get a CPU that requires the maximum values. But most CPUs are below that.
Essentially, once you boot the CPU up on a system, it can tell you its Max Tcase under the given thermal profile (from the OPN and CPU model/family) and using the table given, converts that Max Tcase into the TDPmax for that CPU. That does not mean it can't run when at the Tcontrol temperature, it just means that given the HSF and ambient conditions in the thermal profile used, it will not get hotter than the Max Tcase value stored.
Thus if you just so happen to get very lucky and get a CPU with a Max Tcase of 49C, your CPU will use the least power for that model. If you were very unlucky, your CPU (67C Max Tcase) will use the most power with that model. The typical values (from reports) are from 55C to 61C. A 49C Opteron 170 uses less than 28W TDPmax. You could put that into a laptop and have good battery life.
Pete
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