Yes, the M.2 CPU should remain steady and perform consistently.
Yes, the M.2 CPU should remain steady and perform consistently.
By the look of those spikes I'm assuming you're on Ryzen, so check temperatures using Ryzen Master or HWiNFO64. Regardless though, variation in temperature even at idle is normal. Even if it's not you opening a new tab in Chrome or whatever, there are always processes open and working in the background. So basically, you've nothing to worry about.
These spikes are typical for Ryzen processors, but I don’t know why they occur. Regarding using MSI Afterburner to track CPU temperatures, I think it works well—since Ryzen models often show similar spikes, the CPU temperature readings seem reasonable.