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I set the minimum processor state to 100%, It was shipped at 10%.

Why would you want your CPU to run full bore 100% of the time? Thats just wasting power. Modern CPUs can essentially instantly ramp to meet your computing demands. Now, you won't harm your CPU running it at 100%, theres just no reason to actually do that.

If it's a laptop I'd leave it alone. If it's a desktop I use this rule of thumb. Did you notice the increased latency when you switched from CRT to LCD? If you did you may notice the sluggishness that comes from using speedstep and the like, as they often don't ramp up to full speed for your average tasks. Personally I'd leave it at max. For my sandybridge it's only a 15 watt difference anyways. Small price for the snappiness if you're the sort that would notice it.

Reasons I can think of for wanting to do that are:

1) You've got some piece of software that doesn't play nice with the CPU power management. For example, I have a system where Hulu videos stutter quite badly if CPU power management is enabled.

2) You're running a low-priority CPU-intensive background task like Folding@home, and want the CPU to run full-bore even though the background task isn't of high enough priority to kick the CPU out of power saving mode.

Reasons I can think of for *not* wanting to do that are:

1) It wastes power.

2) If your CPU cooling is marginal to begin with, it may shorten the life of the CPU.

Life is full of tradeoffs. If you're not doing either of the two things listed at the top of this post, then the reasons for *not* doing it probably take precedence.