To The Core

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 combination delivers a remarkably fluid experience in To The Core, consistently pushing frame rates far beyond standard display refresh rates. The data shows that this pairing is heavily GPU-limited at every measured setting, with the CPU providing ample headroom. The optimal experience is found at 1440p with High settings, striking the best balance between visual fidelity and the massive performance surplus this combo offers.

Settings Recommendations

Benchmark results indicate that the Ultra preset, while visually demanding, is the only setting tier that brings frame rates below the 100 FPS threshold at 4K. At this resolution, Ultra yields an average of 70.3 FPS, which is playable but represents a significant performance cost. The High preset at 4K provides a much healthier 88.9 FPS, suggesting that the step down from Ultra to High is the most sensible trade-off for 4K displays.

At 1440p, the High preset is the clear recommendation. It produces an average of 154.5 FPS, which is more than sufficient for high-refresh-rate monitors. The jump to Ultra at this resolution drops performance to 122.1 FPS, still excellent, but the visual gain over High is typically marginal in an idle game. For competitive or fast-paced scenarios, the Low preset at 1440p reaches 207.4 FPS, but the visual compromise is rarely necessary given the strength of the High preset.

At 1080p, the data shows a surplus of performance that makes settings almost irrelevant. The High preset delivers 229.2 FPS, while Low reaches 310.5 FPS. Even Ultra at 1080p maintains a robust 185.1 FPS. Given that the GPU is clearly the limiting factor at this resolution, players can safely select High or Ultra without worrying about dropping below the refresh rate of most monitors. The Medium preset at 1080p, at 267.6 FPS, offers a middle ground but is overshadowed by the High preset’s superior visuals at only a 38 FPS deficit.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is the primary driver of performance in To The Core. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 272.0 GB/s, which proves adequate for this title’s demands. The GPU’s boost clock of 2460 MHz is the key factor in pushing the high frame rates observed. The architecture, built on Ada Lovelace with 3072 shading units, demonstrates strong raw throughput, evidenced by a Passmark G3D score of 19545.

The GPU’s role becomes more pronounced as resolution increases. At 1080p, the frame rates are so high that the CPU’s limitations begin to surface, but the GPU still dominates the workload. Moving to 4K, the performance drop is steep, confirming that the RTX 4060’s compute and memory resources are being fully utilized. The GPU’s 15.11 TFLOPS FP32 performance is the ceiling here, and the measured FPS scales inversely with the pixel count, which is a classic sign of a GPU-bound scenario.

Comparatively, the RTX 4060 sits within a narrow band of its nearest rivals. It is 0.6% behind the AMD Radeon RX 6600M and 0.7% behind the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti in average benchmark score, while leading the Intel Arc B580 by 0.7% and the AMD Radeon 760M by 0.8%. This indicates that in To The Core, the RTX 4060’s performance is highly competitive, but the measured FPS are more a function of the game’s light engine load than the GPU’s position in the broader market.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific pairing of the Ryzen 5 5500 and RTX 4060 achieves a combo rank of 1014 out of 1756 tested combinations in To The Core. This places it in the upper-middle tier of all systems, which is a strong result given the hardware’s mid-range positioning. The rank reflects the GPU’s ability to maintain high frame rates, but it is not near the top of the list, indicating that more powerful GPUs would yield even higher scores.

The combination’s ranking is influenced by the CPU’s role as a supporting actor. The Ryzen 5 5500, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, is sufficient to feed the GPU, but it does not push the combo into the top percentile. The data suggests that the GPU is the bottleneck in most scenarios, so the combo’s rank is primarily determined by the RTX 4060’s capabilities. The 1014th rank out of 1756 combos means there are many systems with faster GPUs that achieve higher frame rates, particularly at 4K where the RTX 4060’s memory bandwidth becomes a constraint.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture across three resolutions and four settings tiers. At 1080p, the performance is exceptional across the board. The Low preset leads with 310.5 FPS, followed by Medium at 267.6 FPS. High delivers 229.2 FPS, and Ultra drops to 185.1 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 125.4 FPS, showing that the settings have a substantial impact, but even the lowest number is far above playable thresholds.

At 1440p, the frame rates remain remarkably high. Low produces 207.4 FPS, while Medium achieves 180.6 FPS. High is close behind at 154.5 FPS, and Ultra settles at 122.1 FPS. The performance drop from 1080p to 1440p is consistent, with each setting tier losing roughly 30-40% of its frame rate, which is expected as pixel count increases by 78%.

At 4K, the data reveals a more pronounced scaling challenge. Low yields 120.9 FPS, which is still excellent. Medium drops to 101.2 FPS, and High falls to 88.9 FPS. Ultra is the only preset that dips below 100 FPS, hitting 70.3 FPS. This resolution is where the RTX 4060’s 8 GB memory and 272.0 GB/s bandwidth start to show their limits, as the frame rate drops are steeper than the pixel count increase alone would suggest.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 4K highlights a clear GPU bottleneck. At 1080p High, the combo produces 229.2 FPS. Moving to 1440p High, that number drops by 74.7 FPS to 154.5 FPS. At 4K High, it falls another 65.6 FPS to 88.9 FPS. This linear degradation confirms that the rendering load is overwhelming the GPU’s capabilities as resolution scales.

For Low settings, the pattern is similar but with higher absolute numbers: 310.5 FPS at 1080p, 207.4 FPS at 1440p, and 120.9 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are relatively consistent, indicating that the GPU’s compute units are the limiting factor rather than memory capacity. The data suggests that the CPU is not a constraint at any resolution; if it were, the frame rates would plateau or drop more dramatically at lower resolutions where the GPU has less work to do.

The scaling behavior points to the RTX 4060 as the definitive bottleneck. The Ryzen 5 5500, with a boost clock of 4.20 GHz, is capable of sustaining the frame rates observed at 1080p, but the GPU simply cannot render frames faster. This is ideal for users who prioritize high refresh rates at 1080p or 1440p, as the combo delivers exceptional performance without CPU-induced stutters.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 plays a supporting role in To The Core, and the data shows it is more than adequate for this title. With 6 cores and 12 threads based on the Zen 3 architecture, it provides a solid foundation. Its boost clock of 4.20 GHz is the primary driver for single-threaded performance, which is critical for game logic. The CPU’s 16 MB of L3 cache helps maintain low latency access to frequently used data.

Benchmark results for the CPU show a balanced profile. In Cinebench R23, it scores 16429 in multicore and 2319 in single-core, indicating strong multi-threaded capability for background tasks. Its Passmark single-thread score of 3058 is respectable, but the key evidence is that the CPU never becomes the bottleneck in the measured FPS. At 1080p Low, where the GPU load is lightest, the CPU still allows 310.5 FPS, demonstrating that it can keep up with the GPU’s output.

The CPU’s position relative to its rivals is neutral. It is 0.1% behind the Intel Core i5-12500 and AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 4655GE, and 0.1% ahead of the AMD EPYC 7J13. The Intel Core i5-12600T leads it by 0.2%. This tight grouping means that in To The Core, the choice of CPU among these models would have a negligible impact on the final frame rates, reinforcing that the RTX 4060 is the component to upgrade for higher performance.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution to play To The Core with this combo?*

A: The data shows that 1440p High provides the best balance, delivering 154.5 FPS. This is well above the refresh rate of most monitors while offering a significant visual upgrade over 1080p.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU in this game?

A: No. The measured FPS scale consistently with resolution, indicating a GPU bottleneck. The Ryzen 5 5500 supports frame rates up to 310.5 FPS at 1080p Low without limiting performance.

Q: How much performance is lost when switching from High to Ultra settings?

A: At 4K, the drop is 18.6 FPS (from 88.9 to 70.3). At 1440p, the drop is 32.4 FPS (from 154.5 to 122.1). At 1080p, the drop is 44.1 FPS (from 229.2 to 185.1).

Q: Is this combo capable of 4K gaming?

A: Yes, but with caveats. The Low preset at 4K achieves 120.9 FPS, and High reaches 88.9 FPS. Only the Ultra preset falls below 100 FPS at 70.3 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 4060 compare to its closest rival, the Intel Arc B580?

A: The RTX 4060 has a 0.7% higher average benchmark score than the Intel Arc B580, indicating a slight performance advantage that is reflected in the high frame rates measured in this game.

Q: What is the frame rate at 1080p Medium settings?

A: The combo achieves an average of 267.6 FPS at 1080p Medium, which is a strong result and leaves ample headroom for high refresh rate displays.