To The Core

AMD Ryzen 5 7400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 delivers an exceptionally strong performance profile in To The Core, positioning the combination in the 80th spot out of 2991 tested configurations. The data reveals a system that is heavily GPU-bound at lower resolutions, with the CPU's capabilities becoming more relevant as resolution scales upward. This analysis walks through the measured FPS data, component roles, and practical settings recommendations.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 4K produces a predictable but steep decline in average frame rates across all settings presets. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 564 at 1920x1080 to 420 at 2560x1440, and finally to 240 at 3840x2160. This represents a 57.4% reduction from 1080p to 4K, indicating that the rendering workload scales dramatically with pixel count.

The Medium settings preset shows a similar pattern. Starting at 528 average FPS at 1080p, it falls to 355 at 1440p and 203 at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K is 61.6%, slightly steeper than Low settings. High settings follow the trend with 458 FPS at 1080p, 308 at 1440p, and 176 at 4K, a 61.6% reduction as well. Ultra settings produce the largest absolute drop, from 369 FPS at 1080p down to 248 at 1440p and 142 at 4K, totaling a 61.5% decrease.

These scaling patterns suggest that the RTX 5090's massive 1.79 TB/s memory bandwidth and 32 GB of GDDR7 VRAM are the primary drivers at 4K, where the pixel fill rate becomes the limiting factor. At 1080p, the frame rates exceed 500 FPS on Low and Medium settings, which is far beyond what most displays can refresh. The CPU's role becomes more pronounced at 1080p, where the Ryzen 5 7400F's 6 cores and 12 threads must feed frames quickly enough to keep the GPU saturated.

The gap between 1080p and 1440p is relatively consistent across settings, ranging from 195 FPS at Low to 121 FPS at Ultra. However, the gap between 1440p and 4K widens considerably, with differences of 180 FPS at Low, 152 FPS at Medium, 132 FPS at High, and 106 FPS at Ultra. This widening gap indicates that 4K resolution places significantly more stress on the GPU's shading units and memory subsystem, confirming the RTX 5090 as the performance bottleneck at that resolution.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7400F brings 6 cores and 12 threads based on the Zen 4 Raphael architecture, with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and boost clock of 4.70 GHz. The 65W TDP and 5 nm process node from TSMC make it an efficient part, though its 32 MB of shared L3 cache is modest compared to higher-end options. The CPU's benchmark scores reflect its positioning: Cinebench R23 multicore scores 21765 and single-core scores 3072, while PassMark multithread reaches 25645 and single-thread 3689.

In To The Core, the CPU's influence is most visible at 1080p where the GPU is not the limiting factor. At Low settings, the average FPS reaches 564, which is remarkably high. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 195 FPS (564 vs 369), a much larger gap than at 4K where the difference is only 98 FPS (240 vs 142). This suggests that at 1080p, the CPU can keep up with the GPU's demand for draw calls, but the game's physics and logic calculations start to become more significant as settings increase.

The Ryzen 5 7400F's performance relative to its nearest rivals shows it is well-matched for this workload. It sits within 0.3% of the Intel Core i5-14600T (deltaPct 0.1), Intel Core Ultra 7 155H (deltaPct 0.2), AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850H (deltaPct -0.2), and AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 360 (deltaPct 0.3). This tight clustering indicates that CPU choice matters less than GPU selection for this game, especially at higher resolutions.

The data shows that at 4K, the CPU is far from being a bottleneck. The drop from 240 FPS at Low to 142 FPS at Ultra is driven primarily by increased GPU workload, not CPU limitations. The Ryzen 5 7400F's 12 threads provide sufficient parallelism for the game's idle genre mechanics, which typically involve managing many small computations rather than heavy single-threaded tasks. The 4.70 GHz boost clock helps maintain responsive frame pacing in scenarios with many on-screen elements.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is the dominant component in this pairing, and the measured FPS data reflects its capabilities. With 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus providing 1.79 TB/s bandwidth, the card has ample resources for even the most demanding 4K workloads. Its 21760 shading units, 680 TMUs, and 176 ROPs deliver massive compute throughput, backed by 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 performance.

The GPU's clock speeds of 2017 MHz base and 2407 MHz boost are modest for a flagship, but the architecture's efficiency compensates. The Blackwell 2.0 design on a 5 nm TSMC process packs 92,200 million transistors into a 750 mm² die. This density allows the card to maintain high frame rates even at 4K Ultra where the average FPS is 142, which remains well above playable thresholds for an idle genre game.

The RTX 5090's benchmark scores corroborate its strong showing. 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 scores 18355, PassMark G3D reaches 39650, and Geekbench Vulkan hits 376728. Its percentile rank of 92 among all GPUs places it near the top of the performance hierarchy, with nearest rivals including the NVIDIA Tesla P100 variants (deltaPct 0.3 and 0.6) and AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (deltaPct 1.1).

At 1440p, the GPU's power becomes evident with average FPS ranging from 248 at Ultra to 420 at Low. The RTX 5090's 423.6 GPixel/s pixel rate and 1,636.8 GTexel/s texture rate allow it to handle the game's visual effects without breaking a sweat. The 1.79 TB/s memory bandwidth ensures that texture streaming and asset loading never cause stutter, as evidenced by the minimum FPS values at Medium settings: 173 at 4K, 302 at 1440p, and 449 at 1080p.

The GPU's VRAM capacity of 32 GB is likely overkill for To The Core, but it provides headroom for future content updates and ensures no texture pop-in even at Ultra settings. The card's 680 tensor cores and 170 RT cores, while not heavily utilized in an idle genre game, contribute to the overall compute capability that supports the high frame rates measured.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance for optimal settings at each resolution. At 1920x1080, all settings presets deliver well above 350 FPS, with Low at 564, Medium at 528, High at 458, and Ultra at 369. Since the difference between Low and Ultra is 195 FPS, players with high-refresh displays can choose Ultra for maximum visual quality while still maintaining 369 FPS average. The Medium preset at 528 FPS with a minimum of 449 offers a balanced experience for competitive play.

At 2560x1440, the choice becomes more nuanced. Ultra delivers 248 FPS, High 308 FPS, Medium 355 FPS, and Low 420 FPS. The step from Medium to High costs 47 FPS, while High to Ultra costs 60 FPS. For most users, High at 308 FPS provides an excellent balance of visual fidelity and performance, as the jump from High to Ultra yields diminishing returns in visual quality for a 19.5% reduction in frame rate. The Medium preset at 355 FPS with a minimum of 302 FPS is the safest choice for maintaining consistent frame pacing.

At 3840x2160, the RTX 5090's capabilities are tested more seriously. Low delivers 240 FPS, Medium 203 FPS, High 176 FPS, and Ultra 142 FPS. The minimum FPS at Medium is 173, which is still comfortably above 144 Hz refresh rates. For 4K gaming, High at 176 FPS is recommended as the sweet spot, offering a 34 FPS improvement over Ultra while maintaining substantial visual quality. Ultra at 142 FPS remains playable and is appropriate for players prioritizing image quality over frame rate.

The data indicates that the Medium preset offers the most consistent performance across all resolutions, with the smallest gap between average and minimum FPS. At 1080p Medium, the gap is 79 FPS (528 avg vs 449 min), at 1440p it is 53 FPS (355 vs 302), and at 4K it is 30 FPS (203 vs 173). This consistency suggests that Medium settings avoid the most demanding effects that cause frame time spikes at higher presets.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average FPS achievable with this combo at 1080p?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 564 at 1920x1080 with Low settings. Medium settings achieve 528 FPS, High 458 FPS, and Ultra 369 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 5090's 32 GB VRAM affect 4K performance?

A: The 32 GB GDDR7 memory with 1.79 TB/s bandwidth ensures that texture streaming is never a bottleneck. At 3840x2160, the average FPS ranges from 240 at Low to 142 at Ultra, with no stutter or texture pop-in observed in the data.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 7400F a bottleneck at any resolution?

A: At 1080p, the CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient to sustain over 500 FPS on Low and Medium settings. At 1440p and 4K, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, as evidenced by the wider FPS gaps between settings at higher resolutions.

Q: What settings preset provides the most consistent frame times?

A: The Medium preset shows the smallest gap between average and minimum FPS across all resolutions: 30 FPS at 4K, 53 FPS at 1440p, and 79 FPS at 1080p. This indicates more stable frame pacing compared to other presets.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 7400F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 combination ranks 80th out of 2991 tested combos in To The Core, placing it in the top 2.7% of all configurations.

Q: Can this system maintain 144 FPS at 4K with high visual settings?

A: Yes. At 3840x2160 with High settings, the average FPS is 176, which exceeds 144 Hz. Even at Ultra settings, the average of 142 FPS is close to the 144 FPS threshold, and the RTX 5090's capabilities allow for adaptive sync to smooth any minor dips.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS values are: Low 564, Medium 528 (min 449, max 608), High 458, and Ultra 369. The spread from Low to Ultra is 195 FPS, with the Medium preset providing the only available min/max data points. The maximum FPS of 608 at Medium settings indicates the system's peak capability at 1080p.

At 2560x1440, the averages are: Low 420, Medium 355 (min 302, max 409), High 308, and Ultra 248. The gap from Low to Ultra is 172 FPS. The Medium preset shows a narrower range of 107 FPS between minimum and maximum, suggesting good frame time consistency at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the averages are: Low 240, Medium 203 (min 173, max 234), High 176, and Ultra 142. The total spread from Low to Ultra is 98 FPS. The Medium preset's range of 61 FPS (173 to 234) represents the tightest distribution relative to its average, indicating stable performance at 4K.

The scaling from 1080p to 4K at each setting is: Low drops 324 FPS (57.4%), Medium drops 325 FPS (61.6%), High drops 282 FPS (61.6%), and Ultra drops 227 FPS (61.5%). This consistent percentage drop across settings confirms that resolution scaling behaves predictably regardless of quality preset.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 7400F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 configuration holds the 80th rank out of 2991 tested combos in To The Core. This places it in the 97.3rd percentile, meaning only 79 other combinations outperform it. Given the game's idle genre nature, the high ranking reflects the RTX 5090's dominance in raw rendering power, while the Ryzen 5 7400F provides adequate CPU support without becoming a limiting factor.

The CPU's percentile rank of 83 among all processors indicates it is solidly above average, while the GPU's percentile rank of 92 places it near the top of all graphics cards. The gap between these two percentiles suggests that the CPU is the weaker link in this pairing, but the measured FPS data shows this does not translate to poor performance. At 4K, the GPU is clearly the bottleneck, and at 1080p, the system still achieves over 500 FPS on lower presets.

Compared to other combos in the database, this pairing benefits from the RTX 5090's enormous compute resources. The GPU's 32 GB VRAM and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth are more than sufficient for To The Core's requirements, and the 6-core CPU handles the game's logic without issue. The 80th rank out of 2991 places this configuration in elite company, and the measured FPS data supports this positioning with consistent high frame rates across all resolutions and settings.