The boot parameter idle=poll
basically disables the idle system, rendering idle as no-op spin cycles. So, yes you would expect a lot more waste heat becuase the CPUs never go to sleep.
Here is an example from my test server, using turbostat:
doug@s19:~$ sudo turbostat --Summary --quiet --show Busy%,Bzy_MHz,IRQ,PkgWatt,PkgTmp,RAMWatt,GFXWatt,CorWatt --interval 15
Busy% Bzy_MHz IRQ PkgTmp PkgWatt CorWatt GFXWatt RAMWatt
0.01 938 558 36 1.34 0.68 0.00 0.89
0.02 800 455 36 1.33 0.67 0.00 0.89 <<< All idle states enabled
60.14 4799 109298 47 29.48 28.82 0.00 0.89 <<< transition sample
99.76 4800 180297 47 47.24 46.59 0.00 0.89 <<< All idle states disabled, except poll.
99.76 4800 180311 49 47.65 46.99 0.00 0.89
99.76 4800 180305 49 47.82 47.17 0.00 0.89
Note: the intel_pstate CPU frequency scaling driver "sees" the CPUs as busy, but top does not:
top - 19:23:43 up 7:14, 3 users, load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00
Tasks: 214 total, 1 running, 213 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie
%Cpu0 : 0.0 us, 0.0 sy, 0.0 ni,100.0 id, 0.0 wa, 0.0 hi, 0.0 si, 0.0 st
%Cpu1 : 0.0 us, 0.0 sy, 0.0 ni,100.0 id, 0.0 wa, 0.0 hi, 0.0 si, 0.0 st
%Cpu2 : 0.0 us, 0.0 sy, 0.0 ni,100.0 id, 0.0 wa, 0.0 hi, 0.0 si, 0.0 st
%Cpu3 : 0.0 us, 0.0 sy, 0.0 ni,100.0 id, 0.0 wa, 0.0 hi, 0.0 si, 0.0 st
%Cpu4 : 0.0 us, 0.0 sy, 0.0 ni,100.0 id, 0.0 wa, 0.0 hi, 0.0 si, 0.0 st
%Cpu5 : 0.0 us, 0.0 sy, 0.0 ni,100.0 id, 0.0 wa, 0.0 hi, 0.0 si, 0.0 st
%Cpu6 : 0.0 us, 0.0 sy, 0.0 ni,100.0 id, 0.0 wa, 0.0 hi, 0.0 si, 0.0 st
%Cpu7 : 0.0 us, 0.0 sy, 0.0 ni,100.0 id, 0.0 wa, 0.0 hi, 0.0 si, 0.0 st
%Cpu8 : 0.0 us, 0.0 sy, 0.0 ni,100.0 id, 0.0 wa, 0.0 hi, 0.0 si, 0.0 st
%Cpu9 : 0.0 us, 0.0 sy, 0.0 ni,100.0 id, 0.0 wa, 0.0 hi, 0.0 si, 0.0 st
%Cpu10 : 0.0 us, 0.0 sy, 0.0 ni,100.0 id, 0.0 wa, 0.0 hi, 0.0 si, 0.0 st
%Cpu11 : 0.0 us, 0.0 sy, 0.0 ni,100.0 id, 0.0 wa, 0.0 hi, 0.0 si, 0.0 st
MiB Mem : 31936.7 total, 31137.0 free, 312.3 used, 487.5 buff/cache
MiB Swap: 2048.0 total, 2048.0 free, 0.0 used. 31227.9 avail Mem