AMD A8-7600 CPU Usage spikes and high while idle

[caniwi]

Hello community,

I've just bought a new rig with the AMD A8-7600 processor, and I notice the CPU usage in the task manager is constantly fluctuating (even while idle) and regularly spikes up to 50% usage (watching youtube) and 80% usage (playing Dota 2). Note this in relative isolation, I'm running no other programs. While playing Dota 2 the core temps also get up to around 50 degrees celsius according to AMD Overdrive (and yes I'm aware how the thermal margin works). Lastly AMD Overdrive shows the core frequencies constantly fluctuating. The stock cores are set at 3.1Ghz, however they constantly shift from 1.5Ghz up to 3.7Ghz.

Here are my specs:

Windows 7 64-bit
16 GB 1600Mhz DDR3 RAM
AMD A8 7600 quad core 3.1Ghz
AMD FM2+ motherboard
GTX 1050 2GB video card

Can someone please help me understand if this is normal? By comparison, my old Intel i7 920 (quad core 2.67Ghz) usage is way lower and it's from 2009... it also doesn't constantly fluctuate like this.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Lutfij]

It's normal. The flux is due to AMD's cool n' quiet technology where if the power is not needed it'll clock down to half or less(in some cases). You're dealing with an APU which has an iGPU and a processor onboard which is the major heat contributor in the chip.

 

[caniwi]

Thanks for the quick response!

Before I rest easy, a few more things to clarify:

I've got nothing actively working at the moment (no video or music streaming, dota searching in the background but not in a game) and the CPU usage is still at 25%+, and in AMD Overdrive all 4 cores are regularly spiking up to 3.8Ghz. Why would they be maxing out like that with almost no stress from active programs? Is that not cause for concern?

I've always thought that generally high CPU usage meant the system was being taxed and would wear out/overheat quicker. Is that not true for APU's, or is this just a feature of the way APU behaviour is reflected in the task manager?