The base clock speeds for the 45w TDP H-Series have hovered between 2.0GHz and 3.1GHz for the past ten years. It wasn't until the 7th and really, 8th Gen and now 9th Gen that Intel had the chutzpah to publish these ludicrous Turbo Boost speeds of 4.8 and 5.0GHz. It might be little more believable if we had desktop CPU that had Turbo Boost frequencies that hovered in the 6-7GHz range, but that has been proven to be nigh impossible without liquid nitrogen cooling.
As Intel has upped the core count, the base clock speed goes down as a function of the amount of heat generated in order to keep the CPU within the bounds of its TDP. Intel has no business advertising a 5.0GHz Turbo Boost, especially in its mobile CPU lineups. By its very design, a 15w, 28w or 45w TDP CPU is designed to go in a portable device, which have faced design constraints and engineering tradeoffs ever since the PowerBook 100 was released. The Core i9-8950HK is the perfect example of this...there are laptops easily twice as thick as any MacBook Pro ever produced that have trouble handling this CPU in its unlocked form. Frankly, an unlocked mobile CPU has to be the most idiotic thing Intel has ever released. And on top of that, Intel is quoting Turbo Boost speeds that many of its CPUs with over twice the TDP cannot sustain on a 24x7 basis in desktop form without some sort of liquid cooling.
In a perfect environment, I wouldn't be using a 45w TDP CPU with the inherent thermal restrictions that a smaller form factor entails, I would be using a 95w TDP CPU or higher in a larger tower case that would most likely have some sort of liquid cooling to run at it's optimal clock speed unrestricted.
Bottom line, there is no perfect environment for a 45w TDP CPU as they are designed for mobile devices, which are inherently a compromised design with regards to performance versus form factor. Cores plus TDP restrict clock speed.
My benchmark is that Apple (actually, any PC OEM) needs to be able to maintain Intel's base clock speed on the fastest/hottest CPU 24x7 in the chassis it is designed to go into for sale. Apple seems to be doing that just fine with the 8-core MacBook Pros. Again, the Turbo Boost speeds are icing on the cake, they are not realistic speeds to expect any PC OEM to maintain 24x7, even in single core. Anyone buying a MacBook Pro for ultimate performance is missing the point or the fact that all mobile design entail compromise. Weight, size, thickness, battery life, materials, heat generation, durability are all factors that have to be weighed and balanced.
