[SOLVED] Is there any way to have my CPU throttle down at idle to reduce temps and noise?

[Rillism]

Hello, I just recently built my first PC and am a bit inexperienced in regards to controlling the system.

I am running a Ryzen 7 3800x which has a base clock of 3.9 GHz. My issue is that the CPU is constantly running at this clock speed.

Now I understand (based on recent searches) that this isn't really an issue, they are designed to run at base clock speed.
However, I am wondering if there are any ways to have the clock speed reduce to maybe 50% at idle to reduce noise from my fans but still allow it to ramp up when needed.

I have my power plan set to balanced with a minimum CPU state set to the default 5% and the max at 100%.
I have also set the power mode to "better performance" but this setting seems to not change anything.

I know that my temps and fan noise comes down with clock speed because I currently set the max CPU state to 50% and am having no problems with thermals or noise even with light activity.
The difference in base clock and 50% clock temps are about 20 degrees.

TLDR: Is there any way to have my clock speeds drop to around 50% at idle and ramp up to 100% when loaded to reduce temps and noise under light usage?

Apologies for the wordy post, I have been searching the internet all day and cannot find an easy way to search this specific question through google.
If you need anymore information, I have downloaded all the system monitoring programs that people commonly reference (HWinfo, Core Temp, Ryzen Master, CPU-Z, etc)

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[drea.drechsler]

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TLDR: Is there any way to have my clock speeds drop to around 50% at idle and ramp up to 100% when loaded to reduce temps and noise under light usage?

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Ryzen boosts to max clocks from idle on one core at a time, that's the way it's designed to work. AMD called it a 'rush to idle' when it was released. When it does it is also normal to see an instantaneous temp spike that also drops away pretty quickly. It's very brief and doesn't add much heat to the processor...kind of like reading the temp of a match in a room but you're still comfortable and cool. It works very much differently from the way Intel processors work so don't try to make it work that way as it will only frustrate you.

To see the true thermal state of the processor you need to look at an averaging readout. Ryzenmaster does that and HWInfo has one too. But that spikey instantaneous reading is important because that's what fans react to...so you have to set up a custom profile to keep fans steady until about 70C or wherever the spikes are peaking at for you so you can keep them quiet.

If you installed the AMD chipset drivers it would install a Ryzen Balanced power plan. Run that one but leave the min power state at 99% as it was installed. That lets the processor manage power instead of Windows... the processor's much faster and more effective as it makes power changes up to 100 times a second.

In BIOS there is a Platform Thermal Limit setting that you can set for what you want. Otherwise, the processor uses it's design limit, Tjmax, or 95C. With decent cooling you should be able to keep the processor from ever exceeding 80-85C, even in an extreme processing load, so setting it there isn't a bad idea.

 

[Rillism]

If you installed the AMD chipset drivers it would install a Ryzen Balanced power plan. Run that one but leave the min power state at 99% as it was installed.

I actually didn't see that power plan so that might be a solution. I was pretty sure I had installed the drivers but I actually hadn't. Now I feel like an idiot haha. Hopefully this can help with my issue.

Either way, thank you for explaining why this is happening and that it isn't technically something to worry about.

EDIT:
This definitely did the trick. I can already see temps, clock speed, and voltage coming down at idle. Now I just wish I didn't waste so much time on an issue that was easily resolved with drivers.