Question CPU Frequency fluctuating between 800 and 3800 MHz when the computer is idle. With power settings on balance and OC settings at auto is this normal?

[philipmasters17]

Important Specs:
Motherboard: MPG Z390 Gaming Pro Carbon
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-8400 CPU @ 2.80 GHz (6 CPUS)
Cooler: Kraken X63 280mm AIO CPU Water Cooler

Potentially less important specs:
Memory: 2 x 8GB Corsair CMK8GX4M1A2400C16 Vengeance DDR4
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti

Now, because of my cooler my temperatures are always fine so I'm not too concerned but is CPU frequency fluctuations on idle a concern?
All Overclocking settings in my BIOS are on auto
Windows Power Management is set to Balanced
Power Management for NVIDIA is set to Optimal
And yet I get this:

https://imgur.com/1gV9xuu

View: https://imgur.com/1gV9xuu


As you can see my, temperatures and usage stay low but my frequency fluctuates all over place for small CPU usage.

 

[Bob.B]

Important Specs:
Motherboard: MPG Z390 Gaming Pro Carbon
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-8400 CPU @ 2.80 GHz (6 CPUS)
Cooler: Kraken X63 280mm AIO CPU Water Cooler

Potentially less important specs:
Memory: 2 x 8GB Corsair CMK8GX4M1A2400C16 Vengeance DDR4
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti

Now, because of my cooler my temperatures are always fine so I'm not too concerned but is CPU frequency fluctuations on idle a concern?
All Overclocking settings in my BIOS are on auto
Windows Power Management is set to Balanced
Power Management for NVIDIA is set to Optimal
And yet I get this:

https://imgur.com/1gV9xuu

View: https://imgur.com/1gV9xuu


As you can see my, temperatures and usage stay low but my frequency fluctuates all over place for small CPU usage.

Task manager/perf/cpu.

I think you will see the 'speed' bouncing all over the place.
That's windows always doing something.

 

[CountMike]

Important Specs:
Motherboard: MPG Z390 Gaming Pro Carbon
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-8400 CPU @ 2.80 GHz (6 CPUS)
Cooler: Kraken X63 280mm AIO CPU Water Cooler

Potentially less important specs:
Memory: 2 x 8GB Corsair CMK8GX4M1A2400C16 Vengeance DDR4
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti

Now, because of my cooler my temperatures are always fine so I'm not too concerned but is CPU frequency fluctuations on idle a concern?
All Overclocking settings in my BIOS are on auto
Windows Power Management is set to Balanced
Power Management for NVIDIA is set to Optimal
And yet I get this:

https://imgur.com/1gV9xuu

View: https://imgur.com/1gV9xuu


As you can see my, temperatures and usage stay low but my frequency fluctuates all over place for small CPU usage.

Important Specs:
Motherboard: MPG Z390 Gaming Pro Carbon
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-8400 CPU @ 2.80 GHz (6 CPUS)
Cooler: Kraken X63 280mm AIO CPU Water Cooler

Potentially less important specs:
Memory: 2 x 8GB Corsair CMK8GX4M1A2400C16 Vengeance DDR4
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti

Now, because of my cooler my temperatures are always fine so I'm not too concerned but is CPU frequency fluctuations on idle a concern?
All Overclocking settings in my BIOS are on auto
Windows Power Management is set to Balanced
Power Management for NVIDIA is set to Optimal
And yet I get this:

https://imgur.com/1gV9xuu

View: https://imgur.com/1gV9xuu


As you can see my, temperatures and usage stay low but my frequency fluctuates all over place for small CPU usage.

Look at that Task manger, something is running in the background and CPU is responding to load, Start turning off Startup programs one by one.

 

[adjunxlynx]

Important Specs:
Motherboard: MPG Z390 Gaming Pro Carbon
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-8400 CPU @ 2.80 GHz (6 CPUS)
Cooler: Kraken X63 280mm AIO CPU Water Cooler

Potentially less important specs:
Memory: 2 x 8GB Corsair CMK8GX4M1A2400C16 Vengeance DDR4
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti

Now, because of my cooler my temperatures are always fine so I'm not too concerned but is CPU frequency fluctuations on idle a concern?
All Overclocking settings in my BIOS are on auto
Windows Power Management is set to Balanced
Power Management for NVIDIA is set to Optimal
And yet I get this:

https://imgur.com/1gV9xuu

View: https://imgur.com/1gV9xuu


As you can see my, temperatures and usage stay low but my frequency fluctuates all over place for small CPU usage.

idle doesn't mean doing nothing, just means its not under significant load. its most likely just a background process such as antimalware doing a quick check up in the background which obviously needs a bit of cpu juice to complete. this seems genuinely fine, especially since ur settings in bios are all on auto. ur pc knows what its doing so dw

 

[Nighthawk117]

Important Specs:
Motherboard: MPG Z390 Gaming Pro Carbon
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-8400 CPU @ 2.80 GHz (6 CPUS)
Cooler: Kraken X63 280mm AIO CPU Water Cooler

Potentially less important specs:
Memory: 2 x 8GB Corsair CMK8GX4M1A2400C16 Vengeance DDR4
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti

Now, because of my cooler my temperatures are always fine so I'm not too concerned but is CPU frequency fluctuations on idle a concern?
All Overclocking settings in my BIOS are on auto
Windows Power Management is set to Balanced
Power Management for NVIDIA is set to Optimal
And yet I get this:

https://imgur.com/1gV9xuu

View: https://imgur.com/1gV9xuu


As you can see my, temperatures and usage stay low but my frequency fluctuates all over place for small CPU usage.

Yes this is normal, it's done for power saving reasons.

 

[Nighthawk117]

if it's hitting 3.8Ghz though which is the 8400's all core turbo. It does suggest something is using the CPU.