All the assorted processors have minimum base clocks (the R7-1700 has a base clock of 3 GHz, and a turbo of 3.7 GHz) they will run at, and, in Balanced Power Plan, many will often idle at between 800-1000 MHz when under no load, ratchet up to max turbo in a instant when opening an application, and back down just as fast....
NO one is obligated to overclock a CPU, so, not sure I understand the exact nature of the question...