Troubleshooting: High CPU Usage on New Ryzen 7 7800X3D

Hey everyone,

I recently upgraded my rig with a Ryzen 7 7800X3D and a new B650 motherboard. Everything seems to be running smoothly in terms of boot times and general usage, but I've noticed an unusual trend: my CPU usage is consistently hitting 80-90% even during idle or light tasks like web browsing. This is significantly higher than my previous CPU, and I'm worried it might be a configuration issue or something more serious.

I've checked Task Manager and while I can see processes contributing to the high usage, they don't seem to be anything out of the ordinary (e.g., background services, browser tabs). I've also updated my chipset drivers and BIOS to the latest versions.

Has anyone else experienced similar issues with the 7800X3D? Any suggestions on what I should check next?

Thanks in advance!

Hey TechGuru88,

That's definitely odd. I have the same CPU and I don't experience that. My idle usage is typically around 5-10%.

Have you tried running a clean boot to rule out any third-party software conflicts? Sometimes background applications can cause unexpected high CPU load.

Also, what are your power plan settings in Windows? Ensure it's set to "Balanced" or "Performance", but check if any specific settings are causing the CPU to stay at high clocks even when idle.

Could it be related to any monitoring software you're running? Some programs that constantly poll CPU data can cause a slight increase in usage, but 80-90% seems extreme.

Also, double-check your AMD Chipset drivers. Sometimes a clean install is better than an update. You can use Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) to remove old drivers completely before installing the new ones. Though, usually this is more for GPU, it might help with chipset drivers too if you're having issues.

One last thing to consider is thermal throttling. What are your CPU temperatures looking like under load and at idle?

I had a similar issue after a Windows update a few months back. It turned out to be a background indexing service that got stuck. A restart usually fixed it, but eventually, I had to disable and re-enable the service.

You can try looking for services like "Windows Search" or any other indexing services and see if they are consuming a lot of CPU. You might need to go into "Services.msc" for more details.