New PC build, terrible benchmark scores

So, I picked up this PC from Starbucks just three weeks ago. What am I supposed to do? This is incredibly frustrating!

https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/11929209

It says: Very high background CPU (41%). High background CPU reduces benchmark accuracy. Find active processes with Windows Task Manager (CTRL+SHIFT+ESC). However, there is absolutely nothing eating up my CPU in the background... Consequently, both the CPU, GPU, and RAM are performing way below expectations—with the processor being FAR below what it should be. HELP!

It’s telling you your background CPU usage is sitting at 41%.

It looks like your RAM is stuck running at 2133MHz... maybe try heading into the BIOS and selecting the XMP profile for 3000MHz.

First thing I’d do is double-check if you're actually running the latest BIOS update.
If you aren't, I’d just grab the SDI tool from https://sdi-tool.org/ and let it run through all those driver installs it recommends for you.

It’s also entirely possible some background software is just choking your system performance—maybe try swapping out your antivirus and see if that clears the bottleneck.

If you're working with a brand-new PC, it might actually be best to just perform a clean install of the OS.

It is quite standard behavior for Windows 10, particularly with some of the more recent builds they have released. My personal suggestion would be that you attempt to disable, permanently delete, or simply de-activate as many processes, services, and automations as you possibly can. It is certainly a rather tedious undertaking that requires a fair amount of effort, but there is an abundance of documentation available online explaining each of those individual components—what they actually are and what their specific purpose serves. Even if you manage to strip away just a third of that clutter, I believe you will find the performance improvements to be quite worthwhile.

Those updates should clear up those glitches.

Something’s eating your CPU—it can't be sitting at 41% if nothing's actually running.

I don't know... look, I’ve got this R5 setup running on a B350 board with Windows 10, so I figured I'd pull some numbers for you to compare against.

My CPU usage sits at about 7% in Task Manager, but then it jumps straight up to 89.4% during the benchmark, and memory hits 88.2% (using some cheap Kingston sticks I picked up)

https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/11939979

It looks like it’s actually showing the real memory clock—which is basically half of that number we usually quote—so by that logic, yours might actually be sitting at 4266 MHz.

Maybe if you try underclocking it back down to its rated speed, like 3000, things would actually behave a bit better?
Also, take a peek inside the case and make sure the RAM sticks are in matching colored slots; sometimes those big-box retailers get sloppy when they're rushing through orders.

Stupid question, but do you have an antivirus running, or did you accidentally pick up some crypto-miner?

On my end, I see the Ryzen 5 1600 sitting at a perfectly steady 0% usage while idling, though UserBenchmark seems to suggest a negligible 0-1% fluctuation. I have managed to insulate myself from most systemic instabilities by being quite meticulous; I make it a point to regularly update my system backups and create fresh restore points, so if anything should ever go awry, I can rest easy knowing I am prepared.