yes, its normal. i booted it up to update chipset, bios and test the gpu via Deepcool AK620 dual tower with dual fan on open test bench. Ran MH Wild Demo and it hit 96C easily constant.
coming from 5900X, its not surprising to me as its behave the same on air cooler before i move it to WC.

i'm using mx-4 via flat method over the cpu & yes, its a hot chip that require AIO at the bare minimum.

Sure, could be the CPU itself that's the problem, but I don't think it's fair to say it's not likely an issue with the mobo and/or BIOS based on current data, seeing as several people with "failed" 9800X3Ds fixed their issue with BIOS rollbacks/updates.

This is whats stated in X8 product sheet; "making it suitable for gaming PCs with processors that have a thermal dissipation power (TDP) of up to 70 watts." 
Time to move up once your new CPU arrives. Good budget option TF 7/8/9, if you can splurge go for TG Duranaut(?). Not sure if can get Kingpin KPX here.
9800X3d still have self burning issue which Bios cannot fix... or at least AMD claimed its fixed but who knows.