To The Core

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 delivers exceptional performance in To The Core, placing 11th out of 1756 tested combos. The data shows this system is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions, but at 1080p the CPU becomes the limiting factor, demonstrating a well-balanced but resolution-dependent pairing.

Settings Recommendations

For the best balance of visual fidelity and frame rate, the High preset is the optimal choice across all resolutions. At 4K, High delivers 179.9 FPS, which is 35.2 FPS above Medium and 35.2 FPS below Low, but the visual uplift justifies the modest performance cost. The Ultra preset at 4K drops to 144.7 FPS, which remains highly playable but represents a 35.2 FPS reduction from High for diminishing returns. At 1440p, High produces 312.7 FPS, while Ultra still delivers 251.5 FPS, both far beyond any display's refresh rate capability. The Low preset at 1440p reaches 427.6 FPS, but this exceeds the practical limits of any monitor and sacrifices visual quality unnecessarily.

At 1080p, the High preset's 466.3 FPS is the sensible ceiling, as the CPU begins to bottleneck the GPU. The Medium preset at 535.7 FPS and Low at 619.9 FPS show the CPU's limits, with diminishing gains that suggest the GPU is waiting on the processor. For players with high-refresh 1080p displays, High provides the best visual-to-performance ratio. The Ultra preset at 374.9 FPS is also viable but offers no competitive advantage. The measured data suggests that High is the sweet spot, as it maintains the GPU's advantage without pushing the CPU into a state where frame pacing becomes unpredictable. For maximum visual fidelity at any resolution, Ultra is the choice, but the data indicates High offers the best experience per the measured rows.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is the dominant component in this pairing, with its 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth providing ample headroom for To The Core's demands. The GPU's boost clock of 2407 MHz and 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 compute are the primary drivers of the high frame rates measured. The 21760 shading units and 176 ROPs ensure that even at 4K Ultra, the GPU maintains 144.7 FPS, demonstrating its raw throughput. The memory configuration is particularly relevant at 4K, where the 512-bit bus width and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth prevent any memory bottleneck, allowing the GPU to sustain high utilization.

The GPU's percentile of 94 among all GPUs and its average benchmark score of 84306 indicate its position at the top tier. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D, scores 84241 with a delta of 0.1 percent, while the RTX 5050 Mobile is 0.2 percent behind at 84171. The AMD Radeon PRO W6600 trails by 1.3 percent at 83209. The performance gap between the RTX 5090 and these rivals is minimal, but in To The Core, the GPU's capabilities are fully utilized only at 4K. At 1080p, the GPU is often idle, with frame rates limited by the CPU's ability to feed it. The GPU's 5 nm process node and 92,200 million transistors contribute to its efficiency, but the data shows that its immense compute power is best leveraged at higher resolutions where pixel throughput becomes the limiting factor.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700's 8 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and boost clock of 5.30 GHz, provide sufficient processing power for To The Core. The CPU's 32 MB of shared L3 cache and 83.2 GB/s memory bandwidth support the game's data streaming. However, the benchmark results reveal that the CPU becomes the bottleneck at 1080p. At 4K Low, the system achieves 244 FPS, but at 1080p Low, it reaches 619.9 FPS — a 2.5x increase. This scaling pattern indicates that the CPU can only feed the GPU up to a certain point. The CPU's Cinebench R23 multicore score of 29302 and single-core score of 4136 demonstrate strong single-threaded performance, which is critical for games like To The Core that may not scale perfectly across all 16 threads.

The CPU's percentile of 91 among all CPUs places it above its nearest rivals. The AMD Ryzen 9 7940H scores 40431 with a delta of 0.1 percent, while the Intel Core i9-13905H is 0.6 percent ahead at 40712. The Ryzen AI 9 365 trails by 0.5 percent at 40262. The 7700's performance is competitive, but the data shows that at 1080p, even this capable CPU cannot fully utilize the RTX 5090. The 619.9 FPS result at 1080p Low is likely near the CPU's maximum frame generation capability. The CPU's 65 W TDP and unlocked multiplier suggest headroom for overclocking, but the measured data indicates that the stock configuration is already delivering near its practical limit for this game. The CPU's 5 nm process node and 6,570 million transistors on a 71 mm² die enable high clocks, but the game's engine appears to be the limiting factor at lower resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

This combination of AMD Ryzen 7 7700 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 ranks 11th out of 1756 tested combos in To The Core. This top 0.6 percent placement is noteworthy given the game's relatively simple idle genre, which may not fully stress high-end hardware. The ranking suggests that the system's consistent high frame rates across all settings and resolutions contribute to its position. The combo outperforms the vast majority of systems, with only 10 configurations achieving higher scores. The data indicates that the RTX 5090's immense GPU power, combined with the 7700's solid CPU performance, creates a system that excels at every resolution tested.

The rank of 11 out of 1756 places this combo in the top fraction of a percent, but the gap to the top 10 is not captured in the data. The ranking reflects the system's ability to maintain high frame rates even at 4K Ultra, where it achieves 144.7 FPS. This is a significant achievement for an idle game, which typically does not demand such high-end hardware. The combo's performance is likely limited more by the game's engine than by the hardware itself, as evidenced by the CPU bottleneck at 1080p. The ranking also suggests that the RTX 5090's 32 GB of VRAM and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth provide future-proofing, even if To The Core does not currently utilize all of it. The combination's rank demonstrates that this pairing is among the best available for this game, with only a handful of more powerful configurations exceeding its performance.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals the system's bottleneck characteristics. At High settings, the FPS drops from 466.3 at 1080p to 312.7 at 1440p (a 33 percent reduction) and then to 179.9 at 4K (a 42.5 percent reduction from 1440p). This scaling pattern indicates that the GPU becomes increasingly dominant at higher resolutions. At 1080p High, the 466.3 FPS is likely CPU-limited, as the 7700 cannot generate frames faster than this. At 1440p, the 312.7 FPS shows the GPU beginning to take over, while at 4K, the 179.9 FPS is entirely GPU-bound. The scaling from 1440p to 4K (a 2.25x pixel increase) results in a 1.74x FPS drop, which is close to the theoretical pixel scaling, confirming GPU limitation.

At Low settings, the scaling is similar but more pronounced. The 1080p result of 619.9 FPS is clearly CPU-limited, as the GPU could theoretically render far more. The 1440p result of 427.6 FPS represents a 31 percent drop, while the 4K result of 244 FPS is a 42.9 percent drop from 1440p. The Ultra settings show the most GPU-bound behavior, with 374.9 FPS at 1080p, 251.5 FPS at 1440p, and 144.7 FPS at 4K. The 1080p Ultra result of 374.9 FPS is likely still CPU-limited, as the CPU's frame generation ceiling appears to be around 600 FPS, and Ultra settings add GPU work that brings the frame rate down. The data suggests that for 1080p gaming, the CPU is the limiting component across all settings, while at 4K, the GPU is the clear bottleneck.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1080p:

• Low: 619.9 FPS average
• Medium: 535.7 FPS average
• High: 466.3 FPS average
• Ultra: 374.9 FPS average

1440p:

• Low: 427.6 FPS average
• Medium: 360.1 FPS average
• High: 312.7 FPS average
• Ultra: 251.5 FPS average

4K (3840x2160):

• Low: 244 FPS average
• Medium: 203.7 FPS average
• High: 179.9 FPS average
• Ultra: 144.7 FPS average

The 1080p results show that the CPU is the limiting factor, with even Low settings producing 619.9 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 245 FPS, indicating that GPU workload increases with settings but the CPU remains the bottleneck. At 1440p, the spread between Low and Ultra is 176.1 FPS, showing a more balanced distribution. At 4K, the spread narrows to 99.3 FPS, with the GPU becoming the primary constraint. The 4K Ultra result of 144.7 FPS is the lowest measured, but still well above standard display refresh rates. The data shows consistent scaling across all settings, with no anomalies or unexpected drops. The High preset at each resolution provides a balanced middle ground, with 4K High at 179.9 FPS being particularly impressive for a high-fidelity setting.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for 4K gaming?

A: The High preset at 4K delivers 179.9 FPS, which is 35.2 FPS higher than Medium at 203.7 FPS and 35.2 FPS lower than Low at 244 FPS. High provides the best visual quality while maintaining a high frame rate, as Ultra drops to 144.7 FPS.

Q: Why does 1080p performance not scale with GPU power?

A: At 1080p, the AMD Ryzen 7 7700 becomes the limiting factor. The 619.9 FPS result at Low settings is near the CPU's maximum frame generation capability, as the GPU could render significantly more frames if the CPU could feed it faster.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems?

A: This combination ranks 11th out of 1756 tested combos in To The Core, placing it in the top 0.6 percent of all systems tested. Only 10 configurations achieved higher scores.

Q: Is the RTX 5090's 32 GB of VRAM necessary for this game?

A: The data does not indicate VRAM usage, but the 32 GB of GDDR7 memory with 1.79 TB/s bandwidth ensures no memory bottleneck at any resolution or settings preset, allowing the GPU to maintain its full compute performance.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between 1440p and 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the frame rate drops from 312.7 FPS at 1440p to 179.9 FPS at 4K, a reduction of 132.8 FPS or approximately 42.5 percent. This aligns with the 2.25x pixel increase, confirming GPU-bound behavior.

Q: Can this system maintain 144 FPS at 4K Ultra?

A: Yes, the 4K Ultra preset achieves 144.7 FPS, which is just above the 144 FPS threshold. This is the lowest measured result, but it still provides a smooth experience on high-refresh displays.