What is CPU Throttling?

CPU Throttling is designed to limit the processor's ability to attain
100% usage in order to keep the heat generation to a minimum. The feature
limits the processor in the incremental steps shown in the program's
interface.

Throttling generally is controlled by temperature.
If the CPU gets too hot, it will throttle back.. or in effect let up on
the gas, slow down in an attempt to bring it's temperature back down into
an acceptable range. The higher the temps go out of spec, the more
throttling it does.

Once upon a time, Intel chips would throttle back but AMD chips would
not. If your CPU fan went out the AMD chip would get very hot but the
Intel chip would throttle back to keep cool, continue working at a
reduced speed, and prevent permanent damage to the CPU.

If your heatsink came off, the Intel chip would work Very slowly and stay
cool. For the AMD processor it was terminal. It would fry, smoke, melt,
i.e., it was the last thing it would ever do. If you didn't notice the
smoke soon enough, the dying CPU would take the motherboard with it when
it went.

One application that the CPU Throttling seems to be perfectly tailored
for is battery conservation in laptops. By throttling back the processor
to use only as much power as is needed for the particular task at hand,
you can increase the life expectancy of your battery's charge.