How to detect thermal throttling

Since none of the answers take on what speed step does exactly and how to disable/enable it here is what I found:

Let's look at how it works. SpeedStep has two key components:

C1E (Enhanced Halt State): C1E is the simpler of the two components. It can be enabled or disabled in the BIOS, and performs independently of the operating system. C1E has two configurations - idle, and load. When CPU usage is relatively low, this feature lowers your processor's multiplier to its lowest setting (usually 6x) and slightly lowers its vCore. During a CPU-intensive application, it will raise the multipler to its maximum value, and will provide a small boost in vCore to compensate. In our example, C1E will make your processor run at either 6x or 9x the FSB.

EIST (Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology): This is a very robust feature and has a wide variety of power-saving capabilities. Like its simpler cousin, EIST can affect both your CPU's voltage and it's multiplier - however, it has many more levels of configuration. Instead of a simple "slow or fast" setting, SpeedStep can utilize all of the available multipliers. In our example case, EIST will allow your processor to run with a multiplier of 6, 7, 8, or 9, and chooses which one to use based on how much demand your CPU is under. EIST is controlled by Windows, and utilizes the different "power schemes" you may have seen in your control panel.

It sounds like SpeedStep can be found in either the BIOS or the OS and maybe even both. My guess is that DELL maybe lying to you about the performance, I say try disabling it and see what happens.

To disable it under windows, select the Power Options and select High Performance. Make sure that the minimum and maximum processor states are 100% and the System Cooling Policy to be Active.

Here are two supporting forums and a site that may help you out:

SpeedStep Guide

Let's Talk about C1E

Bay Wolf's Speedstep FAQ

The official one by Intel shows weather it is turbo-boosting or not (http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/intel_turbo_boost_technology_monitor.html)

I have noticed that just the difference of turbo boosting causes a huge difference in heat output. A trick I discovered to keep it from turbo boosting and heating up so much is to create a power plan in windows and set the maximum CPU level to 99%. This will allow it to function at it's base rating (2.3 ghz for me) and below, but not turbo boost, and therefore keep the cpu cool and keep it from throttling.