To The Core

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for To The Core with the AMD Ryzen 5 7600 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 shows a clear and predictable scaling pattern as resolution increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo reaches 239.3 FPS. Moving to 1440p reduces this to 160.3 FPS, a drop of 33% from the 1080p figure. At 4K, the same Low settings produce 95.1 FPS, which is 60% below the 1080p result. This steep decline is typical of a system where the GPU becomes the dominant bottleneck at higher pixel counts.

The pattern holds across all settings presets. At High settings, the frame rate falls from 175.4 FPS at 1080p to 120.2 FPS at 1440p (a 31% reduction), and then to 66.6 FPS at 4K (a 62% reduction from 1080p). Ultra settings follow the same trajectory: 142.9 FPS at 1080p, 95 FPS at 1440p, and 52.5 FPS at 4K. The consistent proportional drops across all presets indicate that resolution scaling is uniform and not dependent on the quality level.

What this scaling reveals about the limiting component is instructive. The RTX 2060 has a 192-bit memory bus and 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth, with 6 GB of GDDR6 memory. The CPU, by contrast, is a 6-core, 12-thread Zen 4 part with a boost clock of 5.10 GHz and 32 MB of shared L3 cache. In an idle game like To The Core, the workload is likely light on CPU resources, so the GPU's rendering pipeline becomes the constraint. The fact that 1080p Low produces 239.3 FPS while 4K Ultra produces 52.5 FPS — a 78% reduction — underscores that the GPU is the primary limiter at higher resolutions.

The data also shows that the gap between settings narrows as resolution increases. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 96.4 FPS (239.3 vs 142.9). At 4K, that gap shrinks to 42.6 FPS (95.1 vs 52.5). This convergence indicates that at 4K, the GPU is so heavily loaded that the settings preset matters less; the pixel throughput dominates the performance ceiling. At 1080p, the GPU has more headroom, so the settings have a larger relative impact.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 1440p with Medium settings?

A: The measured average FPS at 2560x1440 with Medium settings is 135.5 FPS. This sits between the Low result of 160.3 FPS and the High result of 120.2 FPS, showing a linear progression across presets.

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

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 7600 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 combination ranks 1449 out of 1756 tested combos in To The Core. This places it in the lower half of the field, with about 82% of tested combos performing better.

Q: What is the best 4K result for this combo?

A: The highest 4K average is 95.1 FPS at Low settings. The Ultra preset at 4K produces only 52.5 FPS, which is still playable but indicates that 4K Ultra is a demanding target for this GPU.

Q: Does the CPU hold back the GPU at any resolution?

A: The data suggests the CPU is not a limiting factor. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 239.3 FPS, which is close to the 240 FPS ceiling for many displays. The Ryzen 5 7600's single-thread score of 999 in 3DMark and its 83rd percentile ranking among all CPUs indicate ample headroom for this idle game.

Q: How does the GPU's performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RTX 2060 has an average benchmark score of 16074, which is 0.5% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 7600S (15996) and 1.8% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 (15786). It trails the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M and Radeon Pro 5700, both at 16351, by 1.7%.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, Low settings produce 239.3 FPS while Ultra produces 142.9 FPS. The difference is 96.4 FPS, or about 40% lower performance at Ultra compared to Low.

How This Combo Ranks

The comboRankInGame field places this configuration at rank 1449 out of 1756 tested combos. This is a percentile position of approximately 17.5% from the top, meaning that 307 combos perform worse and 1448 perform better. For an idle game, this rank is surprisingly low, given that idle titles typically have modest hardware requirements.

The rank reflects the combination of a mid-range CPU and an older GPU. The Ryzen 5 7600 itself sits at the 83rd percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 26617. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D (26574, 0.2% lower), the Intel Core i9-12900HK (26672, 0.2% higher), and the Intel Core i9-11900K (26546, 0.3% lower). The CPU is competitive with these parts, none of which differ by more than 0.3% in average score.

The GPU, however, is the weaker link. The RTX 2060 sits at the 58th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 16074. Its nearest rivals are all AMD parts: the RX 7600S (15996, 0.5% lower), the Radeon Pro 5600M (16351, 1.7% higher), and the Radeon Pro 5700 (16351, 1.7% higher). The GPU's performance class is the primary reason the combo ranks in the lower half.

In practical terms, this rank means that most other tested configurations deliver higher frame rates in To The Core. However, the absolute FPS numbers are still high — even at 4K Ultra, the combo manages 52.5 FPS, which is above the 30 FPS playability threshold but below the 60 FPS smoothness target. At 1440p and 1080p, the frame rates are comfortably above 60 FPS for all settings, which suggests the low rank is more about relative comparison than absolute inadequacy.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data covers three resolutions and four settings presets, providing a complete picture of performance. At 1920x1080, the combo delivers 239.3 FPS at Low, 203 FPS at Medium, 175.4 FPS at High, and 142.9 FPS at Ultra. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 40% performance drop, which is substantial but not unexpected for a GPU of this class.

At 2560x1440, the results are 160.3 FPS at Low, 135.5 FPS at Medium, 120.2 FPS at High, and 95 FPS at Ultra. The drop from Low to Ultra is 40.7%, nearly identical to the 1080p scaling. This consistency suggests the GPU's rendering pipeline scales linearly with settings, regardless of resolution.

At 3840x2160, the results are 95.1 FPS at Low, 79.2 FPS at Medium, 66.6 FPS at High, and 52.5 FPS at Ultra. The drop from Low to Ultra is 44.8%, slightly steeper than at lower resolutions. This indicates that at 4K, the GPU's memory bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s and its 6 GB VRAM capacity become more significant constraints, amplifying the effect of higher settings.

The data shows that 1080p is the sweet spot for this combo, with all settings exceeding 140 FPS. At 1440p, all settings exceed 90 FPS, which is still smooth for most displays. At 4K, only Low and Medium settings exceed 60 FPS, while High and Ultra fall below. This breakdown suggests that users targeting 4K should stick to Medium or Low settings, while 1440p and 1080p users can freely use Ultra.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 plays a central role in determining the performance envelope of this combo. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1365 MHz and a boost clock of 1680 MHz, with 1920 shading units, 120 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. Its memory configuration of 6 GB GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus provides 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is adequate for 1080p and 1440p gaming but becomes a limiting factor at 4K.

The GPU's architecture is Turing, built on a 12 nm process at TSMC, with 10,800 million transistors on a 445 mm² die. It includes 30 RT cores and 240 tensor cores, though these are unlikely to be heavily utilized in an idle game like To The Core. The FP32 performance is 6.451 TFLOPS, and the pixel rate is 80.64 GPixel/s, which directly influences how quickly the GPU can fill the screen at higher resolutions.

The GPU's VRAM capacity of 6 GB is a notable consideration. While To The Core is an idle game and likely does not require large texture pools, the fact that 4K Ultra produces 52.5 FPS while 4K Low produces 95.1 FPS suggests that memory bandwidth and capacity are both factors. The 192-bit bus is narrower than higher-end GPUs, which limits the data throughput at 4K.

The GPU's benchmark scores reinforce its mid-range status. Its PassMark G3D score is 14111, and its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 1242. The Geekbench OpenCL score is 71278, and the Vulkan score is 67425. These scores place the GPU at the 58th percentile, indicating that it outperforms 58% of all GPUs but is outclassed by the top 42%.

In the context of this combo, the GPU is the clear bottleneck at higher resolutions. The CPU's 83rd percentile ranking and its 3DMark single-thread score of 999 suggest it has substantial headroom for this workload. The GPU's 58th percentile ranking, combined with its 6 GB VRAM and 336.0 GB/s bandwidth, explains why the combo ranks 1449 out of 1756 in To The Core. The GPU is not weak in absolute terms, but it is not designed for 4K Ultra gaming, and the measured FPS data confirms this limitation.