[SOLVED] Frequent rise and fall of CPU temperature on ideal usage. (Ryzen 5 3600)

[Mohammad Khalid Hasan]

CPU: Ryzen 5 3600(with stock cooler)
Mobo: Gigabyte B450M
After the fresh installation of new windows I noticed that my CPU temp is going up and down from 45 degree to 55 degree Celsius (not stable). My power plan mode is set to Balanced mode. All the drivers are updated. Why my CPU is behaving like this? Is it harmful for my CPU? Please help me.
Screenshot of CPU status

 

[mdd1963]

temps will indeed fluctuate several times per second instantly in lock step with clock speeds and core voltages applied.

During any minute or two of operation within Windows, numerous background tasks could be occurring, from Windows updates, to cloud sync functions, etc., with clock speeds jumping from 800 MHz on all cores to two or three cores jumping to 2 GHz but for a second, then returning to low speeds. Temps would jump around as you are viewing them.

Your best bet is to look at temps with Ryzen Master under some sort of medium-heavy load, such as generated with CPU-Z/bench/stress CPU....; once that stress load is 'stopped' you will see the temps instantly plummet to near idle, assuming no other tasks such as goofy RGB/fan LED control apps are keeping the CPU busy.

 

[Mohammad Khalid Hasan]

Yes the core clock speed is jumping for from 500MHz to 1800MHz but my task manager isn't showing any kind of abnormal usage! How do I find the malware or apps doing this?

 

[drea.drechsler]

Yes the core clock speed is jumping for from 500MHz to 1800MHz but my task manager isn't showing any kind of abnormal usage! How do I find the malware or apps doing this?

No malware...just Windows. It's got over 80 open apps and services even when 'idle', with maybe 1000 or more total execution threads, and one or two of them are constantly having a go at the CPU. Each time it does you see a spike in activity with a spike in temperature.

Open Task Manager (right click on the toolbar at bottom), on Performance tab look at CPU. You'll see the open processes, threads and handles. Windows is a busy little buffer and that makes multicore processors so much more helpful in this day.

 

[iamFreddyp]

Hello. So I'm experiencing this nearly exact issue... has anyone been able to resolve this?

I just upgraded from a Ryzen 5 3600 to a Ryzen 7 5800X... the 5 was great and was stable with temps reading 32-38 at idle.. now the 7 sticks around a high of 48-50 C at idle and jumps to as high as 68-72 when opening up simple tasks or programs.. I don't' get it. Nothing else in my set up changed.

 

[drea.drechsler]

Hello. So I'm experiencing this nearly exact issue... has anyone been able to resolve this?

I just upgraded from a Ryzen 5 3600 to a Ryzen 7 5800X... the 5 was great and was stable with temps reading 32-38 at idle.. now the 7 sticks around a high of 48-50 C at idle and jumps to as high as 68-72 when opening up simple tasks or programs.. I don't' get it. Nothing else in my set up changed.

Going from 3600 to 5800x is itself a huge change. If you're still using the same cooler as your 3600 it's only to be expected temps will be higher.

72C is really unremarkable as temp spikes during activity. The important thing is how it behaves in a heavy workload: what's it like in something like Cinebench23, running an all-core rendering benchmark?

And lastly: just what cooler ARE you using? I hope not the same stock cooler you got with the 3600.

 

[iamFreddyp]

Going from 3600 to 5800x is itself a huge change. If you're still using the same cooler as your 3600 it's only to be expected temps will be higher.

72C is really unremarkable as temp spikes during activity. The important thing is how it behaves in a heavy workload: what's it like in something like Cinebench23, running an all-core rendering benchmark?

And lastly: just what cooler ARE you using? I hope not the same stock cooler you got with the 3600.

No, I'm using a Kraken X53 (the only cooler i've ever used with both CPUs).. so i know its not a cooler issue. Haven't used cinebench yet, but about to now.. it's just a bit annoying to hear and see everything ramp up just to open chrome or steam when using a more superior CPU.

 

[drea.drechsler]

No, I'm using a Kraken X53 (the only cooler i've ever used with both CPUs).. so i know its not a cooler issue. Haven't used cinebench yet, but about to now.. it's just a bit annoying to hear and see everything ramp up just to open chrome or steam when using a more superior CPU.

The first thing to know is you don't have to follow temperature closely with fans with a liquid cooler, that's their major advantage since the liquid has immense capacity to absorb heat unlike the metal of an air cooler. I set a level, quiet, fan speed that doesn't even start to raise fan until temp gets around 80C for my 3700X and CM LM-240.

The reason it spikes temp for just opening an app gets down to really two things. First is the 7nm geometry in 2nd and 3rd gen CPU's: there's just not much surface area to transfer heat out of the tiny circuit elements. The second thing going on is there are dozens of temp sensors scattered across the die so the temp you see is really the hottest one at the moment. The next moment it will be another sensor as the CPU and OS moves the processing to another thread or core and boosts it's clock speed.

So, those spikes as it's opening an app are in one tiny spot and not very significant thermally and even the best cooler won't cool them off. It's like trying to cool down a candle with an air conditioner, but the super hot temp of the candle flame doesn't matter much as far as the heat in the room either. That's does make it important to know what temp is like when running a truely heavy load like CB23 since when you light up a couple hundred candles in the room and keep them lit constantly it probably will start to warm up.

Lastly, you might check if your BIOS is up-to-date. At least for my motherboard (TUF B550m -plus) the latest BIOS' have really reduced the temp spikes significantly. I don't think it's actually changed the way the CPU works, it just does some sort of averaging so it's not appearing to spike.

 

[iamFreddyp]

The first thing to know is you don't have to follow temperature closely with fans with a liquid cooler, that's their major advantage since the liquid has immense capacity to absorb heat unlike the metal of an air cooler. I set a level, quiet, fan speed that doesn't even start to raise fan until temp gets around 80C for my 3700X and CM LM-240.

The reason it spikes temp for just opening an app gets down to really two things. First is the 7nm geometry in 2nd and 3rd gen CPU's: there's just not much surface area to transfer heat out of the tiny circuit elements. The second thing going on is there are dozens of temp sensors scattered across the die so the temp you see is really the hottest one at the moment. The next moment it will be another sensor as the CPU and OS moves the processing to another thread or core and boosts it's clock speed.

So, those spikes as it's opening an app are in one tiny spot and not very significant thermally and even the best cooler won't cool them off. It's like trying to cool down a candle with an air conditioner, but the super hot temp of the candle flame doesn't matter much as far as the heat in the room either. That's does make it important to know what temp is like when running a truely heavy load like CB23 since when you light up a couple hundred candles in the room and keep them lit constantly it probably will start to warm up.

Lastly, you might check if your BIOS is up-to-date. At least for my motherboard (TUF B550m -plus) the latest BIOS' have really reduced the temp spikes significantly. I don't think it's actually changed the way the CPU works, it just does some sort of averaging so it's not appearing to spike.

I see. Now that you mentioned the BIOS... i updated it recently. Could a new version be causing this issue? Should I revert to an older update? I'm not too familiar with all the BIOS settings.. I did a bit of homework regarding the voltage settings and it appears that may be my best bet to get the temps back under 30 C..

I tried the Maximum processer state, moved it to 99% and made one hell of a difference... but obviously lost CPU freq.

 

[drea.drechsler]

I see. Now that you mentioned the BIOS... i updated it recently. Could a new version be causing this issue? Should I revert to an older update? I'm not too familiar with all the BIOS settings.. I did a bit of homework regarding the voltage settings and it appears that may be my best bet to get the temps back under 30 C..

I tried the Maximum processer state, moved it to 99% and made one hell of a difference... but obviously lost CPU freq.

A new/different BIOS wouldn't cause it, just make it apparent. This really should be a different thread as OP's got a 3600, but in your case reverting BIOS is not a good idea for Ryzen 5000. You want the latest as it resolves other issues, mainly like USB ports dropping out.

Messing with voltage settings will only hurt performance, or risk damaging your CPU, if not done properly. Best thing is to leave them in stock if you're not sure of what you're doing. The boost algorithm is well enough optimized that even hard-core overclockers only manage minor performance improvements, usually at the expense of lightly threaded performance.

But lastly: this isn't really a problem if your CPU temperature under load is under 90C. Preferably in the 70's but it depends on the exact processing load; something like CB23 may get in the 80's or even touch 90 as it has a lot of AVX instructions. The CPU is designed for it, though, don't worry it. Just make sure your water block is properly mounted.

If maintaining an exceptionally low temperature at idle outweighs over all system performance in importance there are better ways than lowering voltage. Enable Ryzen's Eco-Mode, for instance, that effectively lowers the TDP of the processor. It was implemented to help the processor run cooler when installed with m-ITX motherboards in tiny cases that simply can't provide adequate cooling. It still allows the CPU to perform well in light workloads, somewhat like a laptop.