The problem is one of polling, more often than not. It may also be the Steam client doing something in the background. It's not normal per se, but it can happen.
I was able to keep the same CB20 MT scores from stock while saving 15w with a little hit in ST scores. If you mostly care about multithreaded performance, you can limit it's clocks to something between 3.9Ghz and 4.0Ghz and then downvolt it, which is extremely effective in this range. My CB20 MT scores went from around 3600pts to 3500pts, with the same ST scores, but with lower power consumption in MT. If you mostly care about single threaded performance, you can reduce its PPT from 128w to 80w in Ryzen Master. There are some strategies to tame it somehow. The 3600x has a lower quality die than it's larger siblings and uses a lot of power to clock above 4.0Ghz. I "fixed it" by using a flat fan profile: around 30% RPM all the way up to 70C and then shoot it up to 100% at 75C.Īlso notice that Task Manager reports higher clocks than Ryzen Master and HWiNFO (which is quite detailed in this regard). Using a larger heatsink helps but doesn't solve the ramping. Since it's a transient workload (like DrMrLordX perfectly described above) the temps go back down in a few seconds, reaching 40C just in time for another burst. Temps go from 40C to 55C in a split second, so the fans ramp up immediately. I'm facing the same situation, 3600x on a MSI x470 Gaming Plus.
IDLE MASTER STEAM NOT RUNNING SOFTWARE
If everything seems normal you might want to start using Process Explorer, Autoruns and maybe even Process Monitor to look for software that runs on system start and uses the CPU or the disk repeatedly when system should be idle. I would start with using the stock Task Manager and check for abnormal usage behavior (including System Interrupts), then run LatencyMon a couple of times and see if it reports bad latency measurements (it also points towards a culprit). LatencyMon to track pesky software using resources while system should be idle.
IDLE MASTER STEAM NOT RUNNING WINDOWS
Autoruns to check which software runs automatically when Windows starts (better details than Task Manager / Startup tab).Process Explorer as a more accurate resource usage monitoring software.The tools you could use to investigate this if nothing immediately pops out include: Last time somebody reported similar behavior the culprit seems to have been Xbox Live app. It may be related to the fresh Win 10 install, or maybe some particular driver/software. To develop on this further, use task manager to check whether any process is using the CPU in short bursts.