I can understand the confusion
On the contrary to what logic suggests, those tasks because they are low in intensity allow the CPU to clock (burst) higher with high voltage.
The boost algorithm has a “simple” task. Maintain high clock and voltage on small loads, and drop both progressively when load gets higher to preserve silicon health and integrity.
That’s why on all core load tasks the CPU drops frequency and voltage.
My 5900X when typically is fully loaded (100%) clock and voltage are respectively at 4.6GHz and 1.3V. But when I’m doing simple stuff like browsing clocks are hitting 4.975GHz and voltage 1.48v.
The current (Ampere) through the CPU on simple tasks is small (see CPU EDC value), so high clock and voltage do not harm silicon.
As load keeps growing CPU EDC rises rapidly so the CPU drops frequency and voltage.
Inside the CPU through the entire silicon there are dozens of temp sensors.
The Tctl/Tdie value is specifically designed to report the highest reading temp among all sensors on entire CPU package. So this reading is switching almost instantly from sensor to sensor to report the highest one. It’s the equivalent to GPU hotspot temperature.
Let’s get to the point…
When CPU frequency and voltage get (bursts) to max values (on low/medium loads) there are very small areas inside the CPU that get really hot rapidly. On very high loads up to 100% the heat inside the CPU is distributed way more evenly so almost all sensors are reporting around the same temperature. But if could measure the produced heat per a specified amount of surface (we can’t) we would see that on high load that heat value would be smaller compared to those small areas on low/medium loads, because the CPU at high load runs at lower speed and voltage.
For example my 5900X while running Cinebench multcore the heat that produces is around 145W. Frequency and voltage as I said hover around 4.5~4.6GHz and 1.3V (HWiNFO max/avg). Temperatures (Tctl/Tdie, Tdie avg, CCD1 Tdie) all are reporting around 65C (HWiNFO max/avg).
When I play games what I see is very different. The CPU load is typically max at 50-60%, but avg at 25-35%. Heat is max at 145W, but avg ~100W. Frequency and voltage max values are 4.975GHz and 1.45-1.48V but avg are 4.6GHz and 1.4V. Temperature is the interesting part.
Max value of Tctl/Tdie can hit 80C but avg is around 60C.
Same principle for the simplest tasks like browsing and such.
I hope this makes sense to you. Behavior of modern and advanced chips as latest (Zen2 and onward) Ryzens are, may require a certain amount of thought process and digestion of information to fully understand them. I’ve study them with the valuable help of HWiNFO for almost 5years now since I’ve build this system in 2019 with an R5 3600.
