To The Core

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700 is an 8-core, 16-thread processor built on the Zen 3 architecture, using the Cezanne die at TSMC's 7 nm process. Its base clock of 3.70 GHz and boost clock of 4.60 GHz place it as a solid mid-range desktop part, with a 65 W TDP suggesting efficiency is a design priority. The processor carries 16 MB of L3 cache, along with 64 KB L1 and 512 KB L2 per core, which is a standard configuration for this generation. Memory support is DDR4 over a dual-channel bus, delivering 51.2 GB/s of bandwidth, and it supports ECC memory — a feature more common in workstation parts than gaming-focused CPUs.

In To The Core, an idle genre title, the CPU's role is interesting because the game's demands are not typically the heavy multi-threaded workloads that stress modern processors. The benchmark data shows the Ryzen 7 5700 scores 6,628 in 3DMark's 16-thread test and 6,617 in the max-threads test, indicating nearly linear scaling from 8 to 16 threads. However, the single-thread score of 901 and 2-thread score of 1,762 in the same suite suggest that the game likely relies more on a few strong cores than on all 16 threads simultaneously. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 20,655 versus single-core of 2,916 reinforces this: the CPU is capable, but the per-core performance is what matters most for an idle game's simulation loop.

The data implies that the Ryzen 7 5700 is far from a bottleneck in this title. The processor's 78th percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 25,517, places it comfortably ahead of most hardware in general use. Its nearest rivals — the Intel Xeon D-2752TER (25,530, -0.1% delta), AMD Ryzen 5 7640U (25,485, +0.1%), AMD Ryzen 5 6600H (25,550, -0.1%), and AMD Ryzen 7 5825U (25,446, +0.3%) — all sit within a fraction of a percent of the same performance envelope. This means the Ryzen 7 5700 is in a tightly contested cluster where no single CPU dominates, but all are well above average.

For an idle game, the CPU's 8 cores and 16 threads provide headroom for background processes, but the measured FPS suggests the GPU is the more likely limiter at higher settings. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 132 FPS, which is high enough that CPU overhead could theoretically matter, but the scaling from Low to Ultra at the same resolution (132 down to 78 FPS) points to graphics settings having a much larger impact than any CPU limitation. The processor's 3DMark 8-thread score of 5,585 versus 16-thread of 6,617 shows that adding threads beyond 8 yields only about an 18% improvement, so even if the game used all cores efficiently, the gains would be modest.

FAQ — 4-6 Q&A pairs answerable from FACT PACK data

Q: How does the Ryzen 7 5700 compare to its closest competitor in raw compute?

A: The Ryzen 7 5700's average benchmark score of 25,517 is nearly identical to the Intel Xeon D-2752TER's 25,530, a delta of -0.1%. It also edges out the AMD Ryzen 7 5825U by 0.3% (25,517 vs 25,446), but trails the AMD Ryzen 5 6600H by 0.1% (25,517 vs 25,550). The differences are negligible in practice.

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

A: The highest measured average FPS is 132, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The lowest measured average is 30 FPS, at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings.

Q: Does increasing resolution from 1080p to 4K have a bigger impact than changing settings at a fixed resolution?

A: At High settings, moving from 1080p (97 FPS) to 1440p (65 FPS) drops performance by 33%, and to 4K (37 FPS) by 62% from the 1080p baseline. In contrast, at 1080p, switching from Low (132 FPS) to Ultra (78 FPS) reduces FPS by 41%. The resolution jump costs more performance than the settings change.

Q: How many combos does this CPU-GPU pairing beat in the benchmark database?

A: The combo ranks 2,750 out of 2,991 tested combinations, meaning it outperforms 241 other combos (approximately 8% of the field). It sits in the bottom 8% of all tested pairings.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking, and how does that affect game performance?

A: The Intel Arc B370 is at the 5th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 1,184. Its nearest rival, the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570, scores 1,186 (-0.2% delta), indicating the Arc B370 is a very low-end part that likely limits FPS in most scenarios.

Q: Are there any settings where the game becomes unplayable at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160 Ultra, the average FPS is 30, which is borderline for playability. Dropping to High at the same resolution raises it to 37 FPS, and Low achieves 51 FPS. Medium at 4K yields 43 FPS with a minimum of 37 FPS.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of resolution scaling that points to the GPU as the dominant constraint. Starting at 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces 132 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops that to 89 FPS — a 33% reduction. At 4K Low, the average falls to 51 FPS, which is a 61% drop from the 1080p figure. This steep decline with resolution is classic GPU-bound behavior; a CPU-limited scenario would show much flatter FPS across resolutions.

At High settings, the scaling is even more pronounced. The 1080p High average of 97 FPS drops to 65 FPS at 1440p (a 33% decrease) and then to 37 FPS at 4K (a 62% decrease from 1080p). The consistency of these percentage drops across settings — roughly one-third lost going to 1440p and two-thirds lost going to 4K — strongly suggests the rendering pipeline is saturated by the Arc B370's limited throughput. The GPU's pixel rate of 48.00 GPixel/s and texture rate of 96.00 GTexel/s are modest figures, and at higher resolutions the pixel workload scales directly with the number of pixels.

The Ryzen 7 5700, with its 8 cores and 16 threads, shows no signs of struggling in this title. The CPU's 3DMark single-thread score of 901 and Cinebench R23 single-core of 2,916 are respectable for a desktop part, and the game's idle genre likely does not demand heavy per-frame CPU work. The fact that FPS scales almost linearly with pixel count — 1080p has about 2.07 million pixels, 1440p has 3.69 million (1.78x more), and 4K has 8.29 million (4x more than 1080p) — indicates that the GPU's fill rate is the bottleneck. The data shows a 4K Low average of 51 FPS versus 1080p Low of 132 FPS, a 2.59x reduction for a 4x pixel increase, meaning some of the load is mitigated by other factors but the trend is unmistakable.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 5700 and Intel Arc B370 ranks 2,750 out of 2,991 tested combos in To The Core. This places it in the bottom 8% of all pairings, which is striking given that the CPU itself sits at the 78th percentile. The disconnect between the CPU's strong relative standing and the combo's poor overall rank highlights the GPU's role as the limiting factor.

The Arc B370's 5th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 1,184, is the primary reason for the low combo rank. The GPU's nearest rivals — ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (1,186, -0.2%), ATI Radeon HD 5770 (1,190, -0.5%), AMD Radeon HD 7650M (1,192, -0.7%), and AMD FirePro M2000 (1,168, +1.4%) — are all legacy or low-end parts from a decade ago. This contextualizes the Arc B370 as a very weak performer in the current landscape.

When interpreting the combo rank, it's important to note that the data measures the actual pairing, not each component in isolation. A better GPU would likely raise the rank dramatically, as the CPU has proven headroom — its 3DMark max-threads score of 6,617 and PassMark multithread score of 24,303 are far above what an idle game would need. The 2,750th rank out of 2,991 combos means only 241 other pairings are worse, which is a sobering statistic for this hardware combination. The data suggests that in To The Core, the GPU is holding back an otherwise capable processor, and the measured FPS numbers reflect that imbalance.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and the user's preference for smoothness versus visual fidelity. At 1080p, all presets are playable: Low averages 132 FPS, Medium 112 FPS (with a minimum of 95 FPS), High 97 FPS, and Ultra 78 FPS. The jump from High to Ultra costs 19 FPS (a 20% drop) for what is likely a marginal visual improvement in an idle game, so High offers the best balance of smoothness and quality at 1080p.

At 1440p, the choices tighten. Low averages 89 FPS, Medium 75 FPS (minimum 64 FPS), High 65 FPS, and Ultra 53 FPS. Medium is the sweet spot here, as it stays above 60 FPS average with a minimum of 64 FPS, providing a consistent experience. High dips to 65 FPS average, which is still playable but leaves less headroom, and Ultra at 53 FPS might feel sluggish for some users.

At 4K, the situation is more constrained. Low averages 51 FPS, Medium 43 FPS (minimum 37 FPS), High 37 FPS, and Ultra 30 FPS. For a playable experience, Low is the only preset that exceeds 50 FPS, and even then, the margin is thin. Medium is a compromise at 43 FPS, but the minimum of 37 FPS could cause noticeable stutter in demanding scenes. High and Ultra are borderline unplayable for most users, with averages below 40 FPS.

The data suggests that for the best overall experience, 1080p High or 1440p Medium provides the most favorable combination of FPS and visual quality. At 4K, users must accept Low settings to maintain playability, which somewhat defeats the purpose of rendering at that resolution. The measured rows show that the Arc B370 simply does not have the throughput to handle 4K with higher presets, and users should adjust expectations accordingly.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest results. Low settings produce an average of 132 FPS. Medium averages 112 FPS, with a minimum of 95 FPS and a maximum of 129 FPS. High averages 97 FPS. Ultra averages 78 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 54 FPS, demonstrating the significant impact of settings at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, performance drops noticeably. Low averages 89 FPS. Medium averages 75 FPS, with a minimum of 64 FPS and a maximum of 87 FPS. High averages 65 FPS. Ultra averages 53 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 36 FPS, which is smaller than at 1080p, indicating that the GPU is becoming more of a constraint as resolution increases.

At 3840x2160, the numbers become marginal. Low averages 51 FPS. Medium averages 43 FPS, with a minimum of 37 FPS and a maximum of 50 FPS. High averages 37 FPS. Ultra averages 30 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 21 FPS, the smallest of any resolution, confirming that the GPU is saturated at 4K and settings changes have a reduced relative impact.

The Medium preset is the only one with min/max data recorded across all resolutions, providing a clearer picture of frame pacing. At 1080p, the 95-129 FPS range shows moderate variance; at 1440p, the 64-87 FPS range is tighter; and at 4K, the 37-50 FPS range indicates the GPU is struggling to maintain consistent output. The minimum FPS values are particularly telling — at 4K Medium, the 37 FPS minimum is only 14% below the average, suggesting the GPU is consistently near its limit rather than experiencing occasional spikes.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Arc B370 is a low-power integrated graphics solution based on the Xe3-LPG architecture, using Intel's 3 nm process. Its base clock is 300 MHz with a boost clock of 2,400 MHz, and it draws just 25 W of power. The memory configuration is "System Shared," meaning the GPU uses the system's DDR4 RAM rather than dedicated VRAM, with bandwidth listed as "System Dependent." This is a critical limitation for gaming, as shared memory bandwidth is typically far lower than what a discrete GPU would offer.

The GPU's compute resources are modest: 1,280 shading units, 40 texture mapping units, and 20 raster output pipelines. It has 10 ray tracing cores, and its FP32 performance is 6.144 TFLOPS, with FP16 at 12.29 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio). The pixel rate is 48.00 GPixel/s and texture rate is 96.00 GTexel/s. These figures place the Arc B370 in the entry-level category, which is confirmed by its 5th percentile ranking and average benchmark score of 1,184 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12.

The relationship between the GPU's specifications and the measured FPS in To The Core is direct. At 1080p Low, the 132 FPS average is achievable because the low settings reduce the pixel and texture workload. But as resolution increases, the GPU's limited pixel rate of 48.00 GPixel/s becomes a bottleneck. At 4K, there are roughly 8.29 million pixels per frame, and at 51 FPS average (Low), the GPU is processing about 423 million pixels per second — approaching its theoretical pixel rate limit. This explains the steep FPS drops at higher resolutions.

The lack of dedicated VRAM is another factor. With System Shared memory, the GPU competes with the CPU for bandwidth on the same dual-channel DDR4 bus, which provides 51.2 GB/s. The AMD Ryzen 7 5700's memory bandwidth is shared between the CPU and GPU, and in an idle game with many on-screen elements, this could cause contention, though the benchmark data does not isolate this effect. The GPU's nearest rivals — all older ATI/AMD parts with similar scores — suggest that the Arc B370 is not a gaming-focused part, and its performance in To The Core reflects that positioning. The data shows a clear ceiling: the GPU cannot maintain playable FPS at 4K with higher presets, and even at 1440p, Ultra settings drop below 60 FPS.