To The Core

The data for To The Core with the AMD Ryzen 5 8400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 reveals a pairing that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at lower resolutions, yet still delivers exceptional frame rates that push far beyond typical display refresh rates. The benchmark results show a system capable of extreme performance, but the scaling pattern raises questions about where the true bottleneck lies and what the practical limits of this combination are for an idle game.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a dramatic and consistent drop as resolution increases, which is a classic indicator of GPU-bound performance. At 1080p with Low settings, the system produces 567.2 FPS, but this falls to 392.4 FPS at 1440p and then to 225.1 FPS at 4K. This represents a 30.8% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 42.6% drop from 1440p to 4K, showing the RTX 5080's rendering load scaling almost linearly with pixel count.

The pattern holds across all settings presets. At Ultra settings, the frame rate goes from 347.5 FPS at 1080p, down to 232.9 FPS at 1440p, and finally to 132.6 FPS at 4K. The fact that even at 4K Ultra the system maintains over 130 FPS suggests the GPU is never fully saturated by this idle game's demands, and the scaling is purely a function of the increased pixel throughput required at higher resolutions.

Interestingly, the gap between Low and Ultra settings narrows as resolution increases. At 1080p, the difference between Low (567.2 FPS) and Ultra (347.5 FPS) is 219.7 FPS, but at 4K this gap shrinks to 92.5 FPS (225.1 vs 132.6). This compression indicates that at higher resolutions, the GPU's compute resources are increasingly consumed by pixel shading rather than by the effects that differentiate the settings presets. The data implies that for this particular game and hardware combo, resolution is the dominant performance variable, while settings quality has a secondary but still significant impact.

FAQ

*Q: What is the maximum average FPS this combo achieves in To The Core?*

A: The highest recorded average FPS is 567.2, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: How does performance scale from 1440p to 4K at High settings?

A: At 2560x1440 High, the system produces 287.3 FPS, which drops to 166.4 FPS at 3840x2160 High, representing a 42.1% reduction in frame rate.

Q: Is there a settings preset that offers better performance than Low at 4K?

A: No, the data shows Low settings at 4K yields 225.1 FPS, which is higher than Medium (190.8 FPS), High (166.4 FPS), and Ultra (132.6 FPS) at the same resolution.

Q: What is the smallest performance gap between settings at any resolution?

A: At 4K, the gap between High (166.4 FPS) and Ultra (132.6 FPS) is 33.8 FPS, which is the smallest absolute difference between any two adjacent settings presets across all resolutions.

Q: Does the system exceed 300 FPS at any resolution with Ultra settings?

A: No, the highest Ultra setting result is 347.5 FPS at 1080p, but at 1440p Ultra it drops to 232.9 FPS, and at 4K Ultra it falls to 132.6 FPS.

Q: How much faster is 1080p compared to 4K at Medium settings?

A: At Medium settings, 1080p produces 494.3 FPS while 4K produces 190.8 FPS, making the 1080p result 2.6 times faster.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 8400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 holds a combo rank of 87 out of 1756 tested combinations in To The Core. This places the pairing in the top 5% of all tested systems, which is notable given the game's idle genre that typically does not demand extreme hardware. The rank reflects the RTX 5080's position in the 89th percentile of all GPUs, while the CPU sits in the 82nd percentile of all CPUs.

The ranking suggests that while this is a high-performing system, it is not the absolute top tier for this game. The 87th position out of 1756 indicates there are 86 combinations that outperform it, likely featuring higher-end CPUs or more optimized pairings. The data implies that the RTX 5080's massive compute capabilities are somewhat underutilized in an idle game, and the CPU's 6-core/12-thread configuration may be the limiting factor preventing even higher rankings.

The deltaPct values from the nearest rivals show interesting dynamics. The GPU's nearest rival, the Intel Arc A570M, is 1.6% behind in average benchmark score, while the CPU's nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 2700X, is essentially tied at a 0% delta. This suggests that the CPU's performance is well-matched to its peers, but the GPU has a slight edge over its immediate competition, which may contribute to the favorable combo ranking.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS dataset provides a comprehensive view of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the system delivers 567.2 FPS on Low, 494.3 FPS on Medium, 427.1 FPS on High, and 347.5 FPS on Ultra. These numbers show a clear progression where each higher settings tier costs roughly 60-80 FPS, with the largest single drop occurring between Medium and High (67.2 FPS).

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain exceptionally high: 392.4 FPS on Low, 330.8 FPS on Medium, 287.3 FPS on High, and 232.9 FPS on Ultra. The performance gaps between settings at this resolution are more compressed than at 1080p, with the difference between Low and Ultra totaling 159.5 FPS compared to 219.7 FPS at 1080p. This compression continues at 3840x2160, where the range from Low (225.1 FPS) to Ultra (132.6 FPS) spans only 92.5 FPS.

The data reveals that even the most demanding configuration tested—4K Ultra at 132.6 FPS—remains comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. At 1080p, every settings preset exceeds 340 FPS, meaning the system is almost certainly CPU-limited at this resolution, as the GPU has spare capacity that cannot be utilized due to the game's relatively simple rendering demands.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 is a powerhouse component in this pairing, featuring 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's 10752 shading units, 336 TMUs, and 112 ROPs provide substantial raw compute power, with a boost clock of 2617 MHz and a base clock of 2295 MHz. The card's FP32 performance of 56.28 TFLOPS is more than sufficient for an idle game like To The Core, which likely does not stress the GPU's compute units heavily.

The benchmark data shows that the RTX 5080 achieves a PassMark G3D score of 36565 and an average benchmark score of 59188, placing it in the 89th percentile of all GPUs. The GPU's nearest rival, the Intel Arc A570M, scores 58239, a 1.6% deficit, while the Intel Arc Pro A60 is 1.9% ahead at 60326. This tight grouping suggests the RTX 5080 is well-positioned among its peers, though not unequivocally dominant.

In the context of To The Core, the GPU's role is primarily to render the game's visuals at high frame rates, which it does exceptionally well even at 4K. The 16 GB VRAM capacity is far beyond what this game likely requires, and the 960.0 GB/s bandwidth ensures texture streaming is never a bottleneck. The data implies that the GPU is the primary performance driver at resolutions above 1080p, where pixel throughput becomes the limiting factor.

Settings Recommendations

For players seeking the best experience based on the measured data, the Medium settings preset at 1440p appears to offer the optimal balance. At 2560x1440 Medium, the system produces 330.8 FPS, which is sufficiently high for any display refresh rate while providing improved visual quality over Low settings. The jump from Medium to High at this resolution costs 43.5 FPS (330.8 to 287.3), which is a meaningful reduction for relatively modest visual gains in an idle game.

At 4K, the Medium preset at 190.8 FPS is also a strong choice, as it remains above 144 FPS while offering better quality than Low (225.1 FPS). The High preset at 4K drops to 166.4 FPS, which is still excellent, but the 24.4 FPS cost from Medium may not be justified unless the visual differences are significant. For users with high-refresh-rate 4K displays, Medium or High settings would be the sweet spot, as Ultra at 132.6 FPS might dip below the 144 Hz threshold on some monitors.

At 1080p, the choice is less critical since even Ultra delivers 347.5 FPS. However, the data suggests that High settings at 427.1 FPS provide a better balance of quality and performance than Ultra, which sacrifices 79.6 FPS for the highest preset. The recommendation is to prioritize Medium or High settings at any resolution, as the performance headroom at Low settings is unnecessary for smooth gameplay.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture with a Phoenix codename, built on TSMC's 4 nm process. It operates at a base clock of 4.20 GHz and boosts to 4.70 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU features 64 KB of L1 cache per core, 1 MB of L2 cache per core, and 16 MB of shared L3 cache, along with dual-channel DDR5 memory support providing 83.2 GB/s of bandwidth.

The CPU's benchmark results show a single-thread score of 951 in 3DMark and 2943 in Cinebench R23, with multi-thread scores of 6165 in 3DMark max threads and 20851 in Cinebench R23 multicore. These figures place the 8400F in the 82nd percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 25064. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 2700X, scores 25057, a negligible 0% delta, while the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F is 0.3% ahead at 24993.

In To The Core, the CPU's role is likely minimal given the game's idle genre, which typically has low computational demands. The 6-core/12-thread configuration is more than adequate for the game's logic and AI, and the high single-thread performance ensures smooth frame pacing. The data suggests that the CPU is not a bottleneck at 4K, where the GPU is clearly the limiting factor, but at 1080p, the CPU may be constraining maximum frame rates, as evidenced by the 567.2 FPS ceiling on Low settings.