To The Core

To The Core is an idle game that, in this pairing, shows surprisingly demanding scaling at higher resolutions. The AMD Ryzen 7 5700X with the Intel Arc B570 delivers a playable experience across the board, but the data reveals that the graphics card becomes the primary constraint as resolution climbs. This analysis breaks down the measured performance, settings behavior, and the specific roles of the CPU and GPU in shaping those results.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows for this combo provide clear guidance on which preset to select based on your target resolution. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset delivers an average of 133 FPS, which is perfectly sufficient for smooth gameplay in this idle title. The High preset at 1080p produces 165 FPS, while Medium sits at 191 FPS and Low reaches 225 FPS. Since the game is an idle genre, the difference between 133 and 225 FPS is unlikely to be perceptible in terms of gameplay feel, making Ultra the recommended choice for 1080p users who want the best visual quality without sacrificing smoothness.

At 2560x1440, the situation shifts slightly. The Ultra preset drops to an average of 89 FPS, which remains comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold. The High preset at 1440p yields 111 FPS, Medium produces 128 FPS, and Low reaches 152 FPS. The data suggests that High is the sweet spot for 1440p, as it balances the visual fidelity gains from the higher settings with a significant FPS cushion over the 89 FPS seen at Ultra. The 22 FPS difference between High and Ultra at this resolution is substantial enough to justify the drop in settings for users who prioritize frame rate consistency.

For 3840x2160, the recommendations become more critical. The Ultra preset averages just 51 FPS, which is below the ideal 60 FPS threshold for many users. The High preset at 4K produces 64 FPS, which is playable but not overwhelmingly smooth. Medium at 4K delivers 73 FPS with minimums of 62 FPS and maximums of 84 FPS, making it the most balanced option for 4K. Low at 4K reaches 87 FPS, but the visual quality trade-off in an idle game may not be worth the extra frames. The Medium preset is the recommended choice for 4K, as it provides the best combination of visual quality and frame rate stability, with the measured minimum of 62 FPS indicating that even demanding scenes stay above the 60 FPS line.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 225 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low settings preset. The next highest is 191 FPS at 1080p with Medium settings.

Q: Does this combo maintain 60 FPS at 4K resolution?

A: Yes, all four tested settings presets at 3840x2160 exceed 60 FPS on average. The lowest average is 51 FPS at Ultra, but High, Medium, and Low presets all average above 64 FPS.

Q: How much of a performance drop occurs between 1080p and 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the average FPS drops from 165 at 1920x1080 to 111 at 2560x1440, and then to 64 at 3840x2160. This represents a 101 FPS difference between 1080p and 4K at the High preset.

Q: Are there any recorded minimum FPS values for the Low or Ultra presets?

A: No, the data only includes minimum and maximum FPS values for the Medium preset at each resolution. For example, at 1920x1080 Medium, the minimum is 162 FPS and the maximum is 219 FPS.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 2992 out of 3725 tested combinations in To The Core. This places it in the lower portion of the ranking, indicating that while performance is playable, many other combos achieve higher frame rates.

Q: How does the CPU's single-thread benchmark score compare to its multi-thread score?

A: The CPU's 3dmark single-thread score is 921, while its 2-thread score is 1821, 4-thread is 3512, 8-thread is 5768, and max-thread score is 6850. This scaling shows the CPU benefits significantly from additional threads.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At the High settings preset, the average FPS drops from 165 at 1080p to 111 at 1440p, a 54 FPS reduction. Moving from 1440p to 4K, the FPS drops further to 64, another 47 FPS reduction. This translates to a 61% performance loss from 1080p to 4K at High settings.

The scaling pattern reveals that the GPU is the primary limiting component in this configuration. The Low settings preset shows a similar trajectory: 225 FPS at 1080p, 152 FPS at 1440p, and 87 FPS at 4K. The consistent proportional drop across settings suggests that the Intel Arc B570's rendering throughput is the bottleneck, rather than the CPU. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect to see a plateau at lower resolutions where the GPU has less work to do, but the FPS continues to climb all the way to 225 at 1080p Low, indicating the GPU is still not fully saturated even at that low load.

The Ultra preset shows the steepest relative drop, going from 133 FPS at 1080p to 89 FPS at 1440p and then 51 FPS at 4K. This 82 FPS total drop from 1080p to 4K at Ultra settings is the largest absolute reduction among all presets. The 4K Ultra result of 51 FPS is the only measurement in the entire dataset that falls below 60 FPS, confirming that this combination is not well-suited for maximum settings at 4K resolution.

The resolution scaling data indicates that the Arc B570's 10 GB of VRAM and 160-bit memory bus are adequate for this game's demands at 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K results suggest the GPU's raw compute power (11.52 TFLOPS FP32) becomes the limiting factor. The CPU, with its 8 cores and 16 threads, has ample headroom to feed the GPU at all resolutions, as evidenced by the fact that FPS scales consistently with resolution rather than plateauing due to CPU limitations.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest performance. The Low preset averages 225 FPS, which is the highest measurement in the entire dataset. Medium produces 191 FPS average, with a minimum of 162 FPS and a maximum of 219 FPS, showing a tightly grouped frame distribution. High averages 165 FPS, while Ultra drops to 133 FPS. The 92 FPS spread between Low and Ultra at 1080p indicates that the settings presets have a substantial impact on performance at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 152 FPS, still a very high frame rate. Medium averages 128 FPS, with minimums of 109 FPS and maximums of 147 FPS. High produces 111 FPS, and Ultra averages 89 FPS. The 63 FPS spread between Low and Ultra at 1440p is narrower than at 1080p, suggesting that the GPU is starting to become more of a factor. The Medium preset's minimum of 109 FPS ensures no noticeable dips in gameplay.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops are most pronounced. Low averages 87 FPS, which is still playable. Medium averages 73 FPS, with a minimum of 62 FPS and maximum of 84 FPS. High drops to 64 FPS, and Ultra falls to 51 FPS. The 36 FPS spread between Low and Ultra at 4K is the smallest relative spread, confirming that the GPU's limits are being reached at this resolution regardless of settings. The Medium preset's minimum of 62 FPS is notable, as it shows that even in demanding moments, the frame rate stays above the 60 FPS threshold.

The data shows a consistent pattern where the Medium preset provides the most stable frame delivery, as it is the only preset with recorded minimum and maximum values. In all three resolutions, the Medium preset's minimum FPS is within 15% of its average FPS, indicating good frame pacing. The Low and Ultra presets lack minimum and maximum data, but their averages suggest they perform as expected relative to the other presets.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 2992 out of 3725 tested combinations in To The Core, placing it in the 80th percentile of the ranking table. This means that roughly 80% of tested combos achieve higher average FPS than this pairing. Given that the game is an idle genre, this rank is not necessarily a poor result, as the absolute FPS numbers are still high enough for smooth gameplay at most settings and resolutions.

The rank of 2992 out of 3725 indicates that this combo is in the lower quartile of performance. However, the measured FPS data shows that the combo still delivers 64 FPS at 4K High and 133 FPS at 1080p Ultra, which are respectable numbers. The low rank is likely due to the fact that many other combos in the database include higher-end GPUs that can push significantly higher frame rates, especially at lower resolutions where the CPU is less of a factor.

The CPU's percentile ranking of 79 (percentileVsAllCpus) suggests it is a mid-to-high tier processor, while the GPU's percentile ranking of 65 (percentileVsAllGpus) indicates it is a mid-tier graphics card. The combo's in-game rank of 2992 out of 3725 is lower than what these individual percentiles might suggest, implying that To The Core is more GPU-bound than CPU-bound. The GPU's relatively lower percentile compared to the CPU contributes to the combo's modest overall rank.

In terms of nearest rivals, the CPU's avgBenchmarkScore of 27578 puts it in a dead heat with the Intel Core i5-12600K (0% delta), and within 0.3% of the AMD Ryzen 7 5800 and 0.2% of the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X. The GPU's avgBenchmarkScore of 20556 places it within 0.1% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile and 0.5% of the AMD Radeon R9 M390X. These close benchmark scores suggest that the combo's in-game rank is more influenced by the game's specific rendering demands than by the raw synthetic benchmark performance of its components.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700X provides 8 cores and 16 threads based on the Zen 3 architecture, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz. Its 32 MB of shared L3 cache and 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth are sufficient for feeding the GPU in this idle game. The CPU's benchmark scores show strong scaling from single-thread to multi-thread workloads: the 3dmark single-thread score is 921, while the max-thread score reaches 6850, nearly 7.4 times higher.

In To The Core, the CPU's role appears to be secondary, as the resolution scaling data shows consistent FPS drops that align with GPU load rather than CPU limitations. The 3dmark 2-thread score of 1821 and 4-thread score of 3512 indicate that the CPU has solid performance even with fewer threads active, which is relevant for an idle game that may not fully utilize all 16 threads.

The CPU's Cinebench R23 results of 13184 multicore and 1499 singlecore, along with Geekbench scores of 10779 multicore and 2016 singlecore, position it as a capable mid-range processor. Its Passmark multithread score of 26612 and single-thread score of 3385 show balanced performance across different workload types. The CPU's 65W TDP and 7 nm process node (TSMC) contribute to its efficiency, though these factors do not directly impact the measured FPS.

The CPU's 79th percentile ranking among all CPUs, combined with its close benchmark scores to rivals like the Intel Core i5-12600K (0% delta) and AMD Ryzen 5 7600X (-0.2% delta), indicates that it provides adequate processing power for this game. The fact that FPS scales predictably with resolution, rather than plateauing due to CPU bottlenecks, confirms that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this combo.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B570 is based on the Xe2-HPG architecture (Battlemage generation) and features 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus, providing 380.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its base and boost clocks are both 2500 MHz, with memory running at 2375 MHz (19 Gbps effective). The GPU has 2304 shading units, 144 TMUs, and 80 ROPs, along with 18 RT cores. Its FP32 performance is rated at 11.52 TFLOPS, and it supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, Vulkan 1.4, and OpenGL 4.6.

The GPU's role in To The Core is clearly the dominant factor in determining frame rates, as evidenced by the significant FPS drops when moving from 1080p to 4K. The 10 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for this game, as the 4K results do not show any signs of memory-related stuttering, with the Medium preset maintaining a minimum of 62 FPS. The 380.0 GB/s bandwidth is adequate for the game's demands, though the 160-bit bus width may constrain performance at higher resolutions.

The GPU's benchmark scores show a strong DirectX 11 result (Passmark score of 118) but weaker DirectX 12 (72) and DirectX 10 (65) results. The Geekbench Vulkan score of 96844 and OpenCL score of 83514 suggest good compute performance. The Passmark G3D score of 14195 and GPU compute score of 7281 place it in the mid-range tier, consistent with its 65th percentile ranking among all GPUs.

The GPU's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (0.1% delta), Intel Arc A750 (-0.1% delta), and AMD Radeon R9 M390X (-0.5% delta). The close scores to these rivals indicate that the Arc B570's performance in To The Core is representative of its synthetic benchmark standing. The GPU's 150W TDP and suggested 450W PSU are relevant for system building, but they do not directly influence the measured FPS. The 5 nm process node (TSMC) and 19,600 million transistors contribute to the GPU's compute capabilities, with a die size of 272 mm².