To The Core

To The Core is an idle game that, on the surface, would seem trivial for a high-end desktop configuration. However, benchmark data for the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 reveals a surprisingly demanding title at higher presets, particularly at 4K. The combination ranks in the 3245th position out of 3725 tested combos, placing it in the lower half of the database for this specific title, which indicates that the game’s engine presents a unique challenge not fully mitigated by raw component strength. The measured frames per second (FPS) data shows a clear hierarchy where settings and resolution dramatically alter performance, offering a nuanced look at where this pairing excels and where it struggles.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achievable with this CPU and GPU combination in To The Core?

A: The highest measured average frame rate is 156 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low settings preset. This is the only configuration in the measured data that exceeds the 150 FPS mark.

Q: How does the RTX 4080's performance in To The Core compare to its closest rival, the RTX 4080 SUPER?

A: The RTX 4080 has an average benchmark score of 54247, which is nearly identical to the RTX 4080 SUPER's score of 54209. The delta percentage is a mere 0.1%, indicating that the two GPUs perform essentially on par in general compute benchmarks, though in-game results can vary.

Q: Is the 4K Ultra preset playable on this system?

A: The data shows an average of 50 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings. While this is technically above the threshold for playability on many displays, it is the lowest average FPS recorded and may feel less smooth than the higher refresh rate options available at lower settings.

Q: What is the performance difference between the Low and Ultra presets at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset delivers an average of 137 FPS, while the Ultra preset delivers an average of 85 FPS. This represents a significant 52 FPS drop, or roughly a 38% reduction in average frame rate when moving from the lowest to the highest quality settings.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU in this game?

A: The data suggests a potential CPU limitation at lower resolutions. At 1080p, the difference between Low (156 FPS) and High (126 FPS) is 30 FPS, but the scaling from High to Ultra is only 12 FPS (126 to 114). The relatively smaller gains from lowering settings at 1080p, compared to the larger jumps seen at higher resolutions, hint that the Ryzen 7 3700X may be reaching its limit in feeding frames to the RTX 4080.

Q: What is the average FPS at the Medium preset across all tested resolutions?

A: The Medium preset yields an average of 134 FPS at 1920x1080, 118 FPS at 2560x1440, and 79 FPS at 3840x2160. This preset offers the only configuration with reported minimum and maximum FPS values, showing a range from 67 to 90 FPS at 4K, 100 to 136 FPS at 1440p, and 114 to 154 FPS at 1080p.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark data indicates that the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience across all resolutions. While High settings provide a marginal visual uplift, the performance cost is substantial. For instance, at 4K, dropping from High (66 FPS) to Medium (79 FPS) yields a 13 FPS improvement, which is a significant 19.7% performance gain. At 1440p, the jump from High (111 FPS) to Medium (118 FPS) is less impactful but still provides a smoother experience. For users prioritizing frame rate, the Low preset is the only option that consistently pushes past the 115 FPS mark, even at 4K.

The Ultra preset appears to be the most demanding, and its performance metrics are the least favorable. At 4K, it averages just 50 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target that many consider the baseline for a fluid experience. At 1440p, it achieves 85 FPS, which is playable but represents a 27 FPS drop from the High preset. Given that the game is an idle title, the visual fidelity gains from Ultra may not justify the significant performance hit, making Medium the recommended starting point. For those with high refresh rate monitors at 1080p, the High preset at 126 FPS is a strong choice, as it provides a substantial improvement over the Low preset's 156 FPS without the steep cost of Ultra.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data reveals a clear and expected trend of performance degradation as resolution increases, but the magnitude of the drop varies significantly by settings preset. At the Low preset, the scaling from 1080p (156 FPS) to 1440p (137 FPS) is a modest 12.2% decrease, and further to 4K (115 FPS) is another 16.1% decrease. This indicates that at Low settings, the workload is less demanding on the GPU, and the performance is likely more influenced by other factors, such as CPU or memory bandwidth.

Conversely, the scaling at the High and Ultra presets is much steeper. At High settings, the 1080p to 1440p drop is 11.9% (126 to 111 FPS), but the jump from 1440p to 4K is a substantial 40.5% (111 to 66 FPS). This suggests that at 4K with higher quality settings, the GPU becomes the primary limiting factor, as the increased pixel count and shader complexity strain the RTX 4080's capabilities. The Ultra preset shows a similar pattern, with a 25.4% drop from 1080p (114 FPS) to 1440p (85 FPS) and a 41.2% drop from 1440p to 4K (50 FPS). The data strongly suggests that the RTX 4080 is the bottleneck at 4K, while the Ryzen 7 3700X may be more of a limiting factor at 1080p, where the GPU has more headroom.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the RTX 4080 and Ryzen 7 3700X deliver high frame rates across all presets. The Low preset achieves an average of 156 FPS, while Medium drops to 134 FPS with a minimum of 114 and maximum of 154. High settings average 126 FPS, and Ultra is the lowest at 114 FPS. The performance gap between Low and Ultra is 42 FPS, which is significant, but all presets remain above the 100 FPS threshold, suggesting a highly playable experience at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance scales downward as expected. Low settings yield an average of 137 FPS, which is still very high. Medium provides 118 FPS (min 100, max 136), and High drops to 111 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 85 FPS, which is the first preset to fall below the 100 FPS mark. The transition from 1080p to 1440p costs roughly 19 FPS at Low settings and 29 FPS at Ultra, showing that the higher resolution has a more pronounced effect on the more demanding presets.

At 3840x2160, the performance takes a significant hit. The Low preset manages an average of 115 FPS, which is still playable. Medium averages 79 FPS (min 67, max 90), providing a playable but less fluid experience. High drops to 66 FPS, and Ultra falls to 50 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is a substantial 65 FPS, highlighting the immense GPU workload at this resolution. The data shows that for a consistent 60+ FPS experience at 4K, users should stick to the Medium preset or lower.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is a high-end graphics card based on the Ada Lovelace architecture, built on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It features 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s. The card's boost clock is rated at 2505 MHz, with a base clock of 2205 MHz. These specifications position it as a top-tier performer, evidenced by its 86th percentile ranking among all GPUs and an average benchmark score of 54247.

In To The Core, the GPU's role becomes increasingly critical as resolution and settings increase. The steep FPS drops at 4K, particularly from Medium (79 FPS) to High (66 FPS) and Ultra (50 FPS), indicate that the card's raw compute power (48.74 TFLOPS FP32) is being heavily taxed. The 16 GB of VRAM is more than sufficient for this title, as even at 4K Ultra, the game does not appear to be memory-limited based on the observed performance scaling. The RTX 4080's performance is nearly identical to its direct successor, the RTX 4080 SUPER, with a delta of just 0.1%, and it outperforms the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB by 2.6% in average benchmark score. This suggests that for most users, the RTX 4080 provides ample graphical horsepower for To The Core, but the 4K Ultra preset is a bridge too far, likely due to the game's engine or specific rendering techniques.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 3700X is an 8-core, 16-thread processor based on the Zen 2 architecture, codenamed Matisse. It operates at a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The processor has a 32 MB L3 cache and supports DDR4 memory with a dual-channel bus, offering a memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s. Its average benchmark score is 34260, placing it in the 84th percentile of all CPUs, which is a strong showing for a processor released in 2019.

The CPU's impact on To The Core is most evident at lower resolutions where the GPU is less burdened. At 1080p, the difference in FPS between Low (156) and High (126) is 30 FPS, but the difference between High (126) and Ultra (114) is only 12 FPS. This diminishing return suggests that at lower resolutions and settings, the Ryzen 7 3700X may be nearing its limit in processing game logic and draw calls, preventing the RTX 4080 from reaching even higher frame rates. The processor's single-thread performance, as indicated by a Geekbench single-core score of 1593 and a Passmark single-thread score of 2656, is adequate but not exceptional by modern standards. Its multi-thread capabilities (Cinebench R15 multi-core score of 2092) are more than sufficient for an idle game. The data implies that upgrading the CPU would yield some benefit at 1080p, but at 1440p and 4K, the GPU becomes the dominant bottleneck, making the 3700X a capable partner for the RTX 4080 in this specific title.