Are big CPU temperature fluctuations during general usage something to worry about?
StackMasher Feb 8, 2019
I have my Ryzen 2200G overclocked to 3.95GHz @ 1.35V with the stock cooler (I think I might be pushing it a bit but I have a dGPU and I don't think the temps are that bad). The temperature under 100% load over stock is a clean 15c higher (60c to 75c) but when I leave my PC to idle and then do something CPU intensive like open chrome the temperature jumps from 37.5~c to 50c sometimes even 60c, and then slowly settles back down to about 40c before doing it again. I tried setting the CPU fan to max speed at all times and it didn't fix this. I've heard that thermal expansion can be bad to the silicon but how severe are we talking?

Browsing Chrome:
Xpander Feb 8, 2019
thats pretty normal with Ryzen, 10°C temp jumps. i have 1700X and have pretty much same thing and few of my friends who use that report the same. If it sits idle the cpu isnt used at all so temps go down fast. if you do something that pulls the cpu core for few seconds it will heat up pretty much instantly, thatswhy you get those.
Now depending what cooler and fan profile you have, it can be annoying when it randomly starts to pull the fans because of instant temp rise. I have my fan profile configured so that it doesnt even change the fan speed until its 55°C and next step 65°C and then 70°C. So it wont spin-up and down the fans constantly when doing some simple tasks.

so back to the point if the fan noise doesn't bother you then those numbers seem perfectly fine and nothing to worry about.
Samsai Feb 8, 2019
The thermal expansion happening in that 10-20C temperature change is probably not significant enough to affect the life expectancy of your CPU. If it worries you though, you can probably try and set up a fan curve that brings the ambient idle temperature closer to the maximum temperature, but it would likely be too much trouble for essentially no benefit.
Grimfist Feb 12, 2019
As I recently changed my CPU (Xeon E3 1231 -> i7 4790k) I also monitored temperature for a few days. I was also surprised by the same results you are seeing, but after a little duckduckgo investigation I was asured that this is pretty standard with modern CPUs because the clock down if idle (my i7 goes down to 1200MHz in idle) and can instantly clock up as needed and then heat up instantly by about 20°C. As Xpander pointed out, adjusting your fan profile helps in keeping the noise down, and the temperature jumps are pretty normal.
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