If your CPU always runs at its steady-state temperature that means it sucks and it leaving performance on the table. A CPU that can run at a steady 3 GHz (or whatever) should be capable of 5+ GHz momentarily given the right initial conditions.
You're choosing the argument first and then trying to justify it post hoc. That's the downside of having these conversations in thread format; it's easy to disagree, and tough to acknowledge that the other guy can be right about some things and wrong about others.
Sure, the critical path setup and hold time limit clock speeds, but that's not the reason for throttling a chip that can turbo at a higher clock. Even if it were, certain operations with a shorter critical path could run at faster clock even when hot.
If thermals weren't the dominant factor, you wouldn't need better cooling to overclock.
My perspective (correct me if wrong):
Hot semiconductors can damage themselves, and this becomes more important as the lithography shrinks. Binning is designed to identify which silicon can be pushed harder and which is not quite up to the task.
I agree with the other guy that if your CPU always runs at its steady-state temperature that means it is leaving performance on the table.
