To The Core

To The Core is an idle game that rarely stresses modern hardware, yet the measured results for this AMD Ryzen 5 8400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combination reveal a fascinating bottleneck dynamic. The data shows this pairing demolishes even 4K Ultra settings with frame rates that most titles cannot reach at 1080p, making the analysis less about playability and more about understanding where the limits of this specific component pairing actually lie.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drops from 1080p to 4K are dramatic but tell a clear story about which component is governing performance. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 566.8 at 1920x1080 to 409.1 at 2560x1440 and further to 234.5 at 3840x2160. That represents a 28% reduction when moving to 1440p and a further 43% reduction when jumping to 4K. This scaling pattern is classic GPU-bound behavior — the rendering load at higher resolutions overwhelms the pixel throughput capabilities of the graphics card, even one as powerful as the RTX 4090.

However, the scaling becomes even more telling when examining the Ultra settings row. At 1080p Ultra, the system produces 361 FPS, which drops to 243 FPS at 1440p and then plummets to 141.9 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K at Ultra is approximately 61%, which is noticeably steeper than the 59% drop seen at Low settings. This steeper curve at higher settings suggests that the additional shading and texture work at Ultra amplifies the GPU's workload disproportionately, making the RTX 4090's raw compute the primary limiting factor at 4K.

What makes this interesting is that even at 4K Ultra, the frame rate never dips below 141.9 FPS, which is far beyond what any display refresh rate currently demands. The data implies that this game cannot push the RTX 4090 to its absolute limits at 1080p or 1440p, where the CPU likely becomes the constraining element. The fact that 1080p Low yields 566.8 FPS while 4K Ultra yields 141.9 FPS shows a spread of nearly 425 FPS across the tested configuration space, indicating that resolution and settings are the primary levers for performance in this idle title.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 brings 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, delivering 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. For an idle game like To The Core, this memory subsystem is wildly overprovisioned, yet the benchmark results show it still matters. The VRAM capacity never becomes a constraint — the game's textures and scene complexity at 4K Ultra are unlikely to approach even a fraction of 24 GB — so the performance differences across settings come down to the GPU's compute and shading capabilities.

The RTX 4090's clock speeds are listed as a base of 2235 MHz and a boost of 2520 MHz, with 16,384 shading units available. The measured FPS at 4K High (169.5) versus 4K Medium (198.5) shows a 17% uplift from merely reducing settings one step, which indicates that the GPU's shading units are heavily utilized at this resolution. The boost clock behavior under load is not directly measured, but the scaling from Low to Ultra at 4K (from 234.5 down to 141.9 FPS) suggests that the card's FP32 throughput of 82.58 TFLOPS is being fully exercised at the highest quality preset.

The GPU's percentile ranking of 91 among all tested graphics cards places it in the top tier, and its average benchmark score of 66,473 confirms its position. Yet in To The Core, the GPU is only fully engaged at 4K Ultra, where the frame rate finally drops below 150 FPS. At 1080p, even Ultra settings produce 361 FPS, implying that the GPU is waiting on the CPU for instruction issue. The RTX 4090's 128 RT cores and 512 tensor cores are irrelevant for this title, but the raw rasterization power of its 176 ROPs and 512 TMUs directly contributes to the high fill rates observed.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on Zen 4 architecture, running at a base clock of 4.20 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. Its 16 MB of shared L3 cache and 1 MB L2 per core appear sufficient for this idle game's logic and entity management. The CPU's Cinebench R23 multicore score of 20,851 and single-core score of 2,943 place it in the 82nd percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 25,064.

The CPU's role becomes apparent when comparing frame rates across resolutions at the same settings. At Low settings, moving from 1080p (566.8 FPS) to 1440p (409.1 FPS) shows a 28% drop, but the more telling comparison is between 1080p Low and 1080p Ultra. The drop from 566.8 to 361 FPS (a 36% reduction) at the same resolution indicates that the CPU is not the binding constraint — if it were, changing graphics settings would have minimal impact. Instead, the GPU's workload increases with settings, pulling frame rates down.

However, the 1080p results across all settings (ranging from 361 to 566.8 FPS) suggest that the CPU's single-thread performance, measured at 951 in 3DMark single-thread and 3,684 in PassMark single-thread, is sufficient to feed the RTX 4090 at these extreme frame rates. The 12 threads handle the game's background simulation tasks easily, and the 4.70 GHz boost clock provides responsive instruction dispatch. The CPU's nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F, shows a 0.3% higher average score, indicating that this 8400F is positioned competitively within its class, though in this game, the CPU is rarely the limiting factor until frame rates exceed 400 FPS.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance for optimizing the experience in To The Core. At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset delivers 141.9 FPS, which is still exceptionally smooth, but the High preset at 169.5 FPS offers a 19% improvement with presumably minimal visual degradation. The Medium preset at 198.5 FPS and Low at 234.5 FPS provide even higher headroom, though the visual trade-offs may not justify the extra frames for a game of this genre.

For 2560x1440 users, the High preset at 299.4 FPS strikes an excellent balance, while Ultra at 243 FPS remains well above any refresh rate threshold. The 1080p results show that even Ultra at 361 FPS is overkill, meaning users can max out settings without concern. The data suggests that High settings at any resolution provide the best compromise between visual fidelity and frame rate, as the gap between High and Ultra (approximately 16% at 4K, 19% at 1440p, and 20% at 1080p) is consistent, while Low settings only add marginal FPS beyond what Medium already provides.

For players with high-refresh-rate displays (240Hz or higher), the 4K Medium preset at 198.5 FPS might be the sweet spot, as it remains above 144Hz while offering better visuals than Low. The Ultra preset is only recommended for players who prioritize maximum image quality over frame rate, as the drop to 141.9 FPS at 4K is the only measured result that approaches typical high-refresh display limits.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of AMD Ryzen 5 8400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 54th out of 1,756 tested combos in To The Core, placing it in the top 3% of all configurations. This ranking is surprisingly modest given the RTX 4090's dominance, suggesting that the CPU choice prevents this combo from reaching the absolute pinnacle of performance in this title. The top-ranked combos likely pair the RTX 4090 with higher-core-count processors that can maintain even higher frame rates at 1080p, where the CPU becomes the bottleneck.

The 54th ranking out of 1,756 combos indicates that there are 53 configurations that achieve higher average FPS in this game. Given that the RTX 4090 is among the fastest GPUs available, the limiting factor must be the Ryzen 5 8400F's 6-core, 12-thread configuration. The CPU's 82nd percentile ranking among all CPUs, while respectable, means that roughly 18% of processors could potentially extract more performance from the RTX 4090 in CPU-bound scenarios like 1080p Low (566.8 FPS) and 1080p Medium (516.9 FPS).

The data implies that this combo is slightly imbalanced for To The Core, with the GPU's potential being partially held back by the CPU at lower resolutions. However, at 4K Ultra, the combo's 141.9 FPS is still exceptional, and the ranking reflects the game's unusual ability to reach frame rates that are entirely CPU-limited on most systems.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS ranges from 361 at Ultra to 566.8 at Low, with High at 449 and Medium at 516.9. The progression from Ultra to Low shows a 57% improvement in frame rate, indicating that settings have a substantial impact even at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the results are 243 FPS at Ultra, 299.4 at High, 349.3 at Medium, and 409.1 at Low. The spread between Ultra and Low is 68%, which is slightly larger than at 1080p, confirming the GPU's increasing role at higher resolutions.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates drop to 141.9 at Ultra, 169.5 at High, 198.5 at Medium, and 234.5 at Low. The 65% improvement from Ultra to Low at 4K is comparable to the 1440p spread, but the absolute numbers are much lower, showing that 4K Ultra is the only configuration that comes close to stressing the RTX 4090.

Across all resolutions, the High preset consistently offers a roughly 15-20% improvement over Ultra, while Medium adds another 15-17% over High. Low settings provide the highest frame rates but with diminishing returns — the jump from Medium to Low is smaller than from High to Medium at every resolution.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest frame rate this combo achieves in To The Core?

A: The maximum measured average FPS is 566.8 at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: Can this system run To The Core at 4K Ultra smoothly?

A: Yes, the 3840x2160 Ultra preset produces 141.9 FPS, which is far above the 60 FPS threshold and suitable for high-refresh displays.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 8400F compare to its nearest CPU rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 7500F scores 0.3% higher in average benchmark tests, while the Ryzen 7 2700X matches the 8400F's score with a 0% delta.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking among all tested graphics cards?

A: The RTX 4090 ranks in the 91st percentile, with an average benchmark score of 66,473.

Q: Which settings preset offers the largest frame rate improvement over Ultra?

A: At all resolutions, Low settings provide the biggest jump, with improvements of 57% at 1080p, 68% at 1440p, and 65% at 4K compared to Ultra.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more likely to limit performance at 1080p?

A: The data suggests the CPU becomes the limiting factor at 1080p, as frame rates above 400 FPS at Medium and Low settings indicate the RTX 4090 is not fully utilized.