To The Core

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 combination delivers a remarkably consistent experience in To The Core, an Idle game that scales cleanly across resolutions and presets. The measured data reveals a system that is primarily GPU-bound at higher resolutions, but which transitions to a CPU-limited state at 1080p, making the balance between the 6-core processor and the 8 GB graphics card the central story of this benchmark.

Resolution Scaling

The most striking observation in the data is how frame rates scale from 1080p to 4K. At Ultra settings, the average frame rate drops from 195 FPS at 1920x1080 to 130 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of approximately 33%. Moving further to 3840x2160, the average falls to 73.3 FPS, representing another 44% drop from the 1440p figure. This steep decline at 4K suggests the RTX 5060's 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory bus become the limiting factors, as the GPU must handle a significantly larger pixel count.

The scaling pattern shifts dramatically when examining lower presets. At Low settings, the 1080p average of 331.9 FPS drops to 221.6 FPS at 1440p (a 33% reduction), but then to 125 FPS at 4K (a 44% reduction from 1440p). This consistent scaling ratio across presets indicates that the game's rendering workload scales predictably with resolution, but the absolute frame rates at 4K remain above 120 FPS even on Low settings, suggesting the GPU is never fully overwhelmed.

What is more revealing is the comparison between Low and Ultra at each resolution. At 1080p, the gap between Low (331.9 FPS) and Ultra (195 FPS) is 136.9 FPS, a 70% difference. This gap narrows to 91.6 FPS at 1440p and to 51.7 FPS at 4K. The shrinking delta as resolution increases indicates that the CPU's role diminishes at higher pixel counts, where the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck. At 4K, the difference between Low and Ultra is only 51.7 FPS, suggesting the GPU is stretched thin even at lower settings.

FAQ

Q: Does the RTX 5060 maintain playable frame rates at 4K Ultra settings?

A: Yes, the data shows an average of 73.3 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, which remains above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay in this Idle genre title.

Q: How much performance is gained by dropping from Ultra to Low at 1080p?

A: The average frame rate increases from 195 FPS at Ultra to 331.9 FPS at Low, a gain of 136.9 FPS, representing a 70% improvement in raw throughput.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more likely to bottleneck at 1440p High settings?

A: With an average of 160.5 FPS at 2560x1440 High, the system remains well-balanced; the Ryzen 5 8400F's 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient to feed the GPU at this resolution and settings combination.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Medium and High at 4K?

A: The data shows 109.8 FPS at Medium versus 93.7 FPS at High, a difference of 16.1 FPS, indicating that the Medium preset provides a meaningful performance boost with presumably minor visual trade-offs.

Q: How does the combo rank in this game compared to other tested combinations?

A: The configuration ranks 897 out of 1756 tested combos, placing it in the 51st percentile, which is slightly below the median of all tested systems.

Q: Does the 8 GB VRAM capacity constrain performance at any resolution?

A: The steep scaling from 1440p to 4K at all settings suggests VRAM or memory bandwidth limitations, as the frame rate drops by roughly 40% at each resolution step regardless of preset.

GPU Role

The RTX 5060's specifications provide context for its measured performance. With 8 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 128-bit bus delivering 448.0 GB/s bandwidth, the card has a modest memory subsystem for a 50-series part. The base clock of 2280 MHz and boost clock of 2497 MHz drive 3840 shading units, and the 19.18 TFLOPS FP32 throughput represents the card's raw compute capability.

In To The Core, the GPU's role becomes increasingly dominant as resolution rises. At 1080p Low, the 331.9 FPS average indicates the GPU is far from saturated, likely leaving headroom for the CPU to become the limiting factor. However, at 4K Ultra, the 73.3 FPS average suggests the GPU is working near its limits, with the memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s potentially constraining texture and geometry throughput.

The benchmark results for the GPU show a PassMark G3D score of 20891, placing it in the 73rd percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT, scores 30097 in average benchmark score, representing a 0% deltaPct, meaning they are effectively tied in synthetic tests. This parity in synthetic benchmarks does not necessarily translate to identical gaming performance, but it suggests the RTX 5060 is a competitive mid-range part.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the RTX 5060 delivers exceptional performance across all presets. Low settings produce 331.9 FPS, Medium yields 280.2 FPS, High achieves 241.4 FPS, and Ultra settles at 195 FPS. These figures indicate that even the most demanding preset remains well above the refresh rates of most high-end monitors, making 1080p a resolution where the GPU is rarely the bottleneck.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain very high. Low settings average 221.6 FPS, Medium reaches 187.4 FPS, High produces 160.5 FPS, and Ultra drops to 130 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p shows a consistent reduction of roughly 33% across all presets, indicating that the GPU is scaling predictably with pixel count.

At 3840x2160, the performance becomes more demanding. Low settings average 125 FPS, Medium achieves 109.8 FPS, High produces 93.7 FPS, and Ultra falls to 73.3 FPS. The 4K results show the largest absolute drop from 1440p, with the Ultra preset losing 56.7 FPS. This suggests that 4K Ultra approaches the practical limits of the RTX 5060, though all presets remain above 60 FPS.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture, built on a 4 nm process at TSMC. It features a base clock of 4.20 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz, with 16 MB of shared L3 cache. The processor supports DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration, providing 83.2 GB/s of memory bandwidth.

In To The Core, the CPU's role is most apparent at 1080p, where frame rates exceed 300 FPS on Low settings. At these high frame rates, the CPU must process game logic and draw calls quickly enough to keep the GPU fed. The 3DMark single-thread score of 951 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2943 suggest the 8400F has strong single-thread performance, which is critical for this type of workload.

The CPU's benchmark data shows an average score of 25064, placing it in the 82nd percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 2700X, scores 25057 with a 0% deltaPct, indicating these processors perform nearly identically in synthetic tests. This is notable because the 2700X is an older, higher-core-count part, suggesting the 8400F's Zen 4 architecture provides excellent per-core efficiency.

Settings Recommendations

For players prioritizing maximum frame rates, the Low preset at 1080p delivers 331.9 FPS, which is far beyond what any display can currently show. However, the jump from Low to Medium at 1080p costs 51.7 FPS (from 331.9 to 280.2), which is a modest reduction for presumably significant visual improvements. At 1440p, the Medium preset's 187.4 FPS remains highly playable, and the High preset's 160.5 FPS offers a good balance of quality and performance.

The data suggests that Ultra settings are the most demanding, costing 71.2 FPS compared to Low at 1080p (from 331.9 to 195 FPS). At 4K, the Ultra preset's 73.3 FPS is still above 60 FPS, making it viable for players with 60 Hz displays. For those with high-refresh-rate 1440p monitors, the High preset at 160.5 FPS is the recommended choice, as it provides a substantial visual upgrade over Medium while maintaining frame rates well above typical refresh rates.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 8400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 ranks 897 out of 1756 tested combos in To The Core, placing it in the 51st percentile. This middle-of-the-pack ranking is somewhat surprising given the high frame rates measured, but it reflects the fact that many tested combinations may include higher-end GPUs or CPUs that push even higher frame rates in this relatively lightweight Idle game.

The ranking suggests that while this combo is perfectly capable of delivering smooth gameplay at all tested resolutions and settings, it is not among the top-performing configurations in the database. The GPU's 73rd percentile ranking and CPU's 82nd percentile ranking indicate that both components are above average individually, but their combination does not produce a synergistic boost that would boost the overall ranking. The data implies that To The Core is more sensitive to raw GPU throughput than to CPU performance, given the consistent 40% frame rate drops at each resolution step.