To The Core

# To The Core with AMD Ryzen 7 7700 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D delivers exceptional frame rates in To The Core, an idle-genre title that scales remarkably well across resolutions. At 1080p, the combination produces a staggering 622 FPS on Low settings, while dropping to 393 FPS on Ultra at the same resolution. The data indicates this pairing ranks 25th out of 2,991 tested combinations, placing it in the top 0.8% of all systems evaluated for this game. The benchmark results show a system capable of saturating virtually any display refresh rate currently available, even at 4K Ultra settings, where it maintains 151 FPS.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K reveals a system that remains GPU-bound at lower resolutions but begins to show the GPU's dominance as pixel count increases. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 489 at 1920x1080 to 329 at 2560x1440, a 32.7% reduction, then further to 188 at 3840x2160, representing an additional 42.9% drop from 1440p. This scaling pattern is consistent with a GPU that has substantial headroom at lower resolutions, where the 8-core/16-thread CPU is more likely to be the limiting factor.

The Low settings preset demonstrates even more dramatic scaling. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 622 FPS, which falls to 448 FPS at 1440p (a 28.0% decrease) and then to 256 FPS at 4K (a 42.9% decrease from 1440p). The fact that 1080p Low still produces 622 FPS suggests that the CPU is approaching its practical limit for this title, as the frame rate is so high that draw call overhead and physics calculations would constrain further gains.

Medium settings show the most complete dataset, with minimum and maximum FPS values recorded at every resolution. At 1080p Medium, the average is 564 FPS with a minimum of 479 and maximum of 648. Moving to 1440p Medium, the average drops to 379 FPS (min 322, max 436), and at 4K Medium, the average is 217 FPS (min 184, max 249). The narrowing gap between minimum and maximum FPS at higher resolutions — from a 169 FPS spread at 1080p to a 65 FPS spread at 4K — indicates that the GPU becomes the consistent bottleneck at higher pixel counts, reducing frame time variance.

Ultra settings produce the lowest frame rates across all resolutions, as expected. The 4K Ultra result of 151 FPS is still highly playable, while 1440p Ultra reaches 265 FPS and 1080p Ultra hits 393 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 4K on Ultra represents a 61.6% reduction in frame rate, which is the steepest drop among all settings presets. This suggests that Ultra settings introduce effects that are disproportionately expensive at higher resolutions, likely related to shader complexity or post-processing that scales with pixel count.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achievable with this combination?

A: The maximum recorded average FPS is 622, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This drops to 448 FPS at 2560x1440 and 256 FPS at 3840x2160 under the same Low preset.

Q: How does the RTX 5090 D compare to its nearest GPU rivals in general benchmarks?

A: The GPU holds an average benchmark score of 77,712, placing it 1.1% above the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT (76,904), 1.6% below the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (78,940), and 2.1% below the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB (79,396). It ranks in the 92nd percentile among all GPUs.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded at 4K with Medium settings?

A: The 4K Medium preset records a minimum FPS of 184 and a maximum of 249, with an average of 217 FPS. This is the only 4K configuration with full min/max data available.

Q: Which CPU rival is closest to the Ryzen 7 7700 in average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 is the closest rival, with an average score of 40,048 versus the Ryzen 7 7700's 40,081, a difference of only 0.1%. The Intel Core 5 221E trails by 0.2% at 40,144.

Q: Does the system maintain playable frame rates at 4K Ultra?

A: Yes, the 4K Ultra preset produces an average of 151 FPS, which remains well above standard display refresh rates. The 4K High preset yields 188 FPS, and 4K Low reaches 256 FPS.

Q: How large is the performance gap between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset achieves 448 FPS while Ultra achieves 265 FPS, representing a 40.8% reduction in frame rate when moving from the lowest to the highest quality preset.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700 contributes 8 cores and 16 threads based on the Zen 4 architecture, code-named Raphael, built on a 5 nm process. Its base clock of 3.80 GHz can boost up to 5.30 GHz, providing the single-thread performance that idle games like To The Core often rely upon for game logic and UI updates. The CPU's 32 MB of shared L3 cache and 1 MB L2 cache per core help maintain low latency for frequently accessed game data. The 65 W TDP indicates efficient operation, and DDR5 memory support with 83.2 GB/s bandwidth ensures the GPU receives data without starvation.

The benchmark results for the CPU show strong multi-threaded capabilities. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 18,760 and single-core score of 1,930 indicate balanced performance across both lightly and heavily threaded workloads. The 3DMark results show scaling from 1,049 in single-thread to 8,484 in 16-thread tests, demonstrating that the CPU can effectively utilize its full core count when needed. Geekbench scores of 15,371 multicore and 2,525 single-core reinforce this picture.

The CPU ranks in the 87th percentile among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 40,081. Its nearest rivals are tightly clustered: the AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 at 40,048 (0.1% higher), Intel Core 5 221E at 40,144 (0.2% lower), AMD Ryzen 9 270 at 40,246 (0.4% lower), and Intel Core i9-13905H at 40,313 (0.6% lower). This clustering indicates that the Ryzen 7 7700 sits in a highly competitive performance tier where small differences separate products.

In the context of To The Core, the CPU's boost clock of 5.30 GHz is particularly relevant. The game's frame rates at 1080p — reaching 622 FPS on Low — suggest that the CPU is processing game logic and issuing draw calls faster than many displays can refresh. The PassMark single-thread score of 4,063 and multithread score of 34,470 provide additional evidence of strong per-core performance that benefits games with high frame rate targets.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of AMD Ryzen 7 7700 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D achieves a rank of 25 out of 2,991 tested combos for To The Core, placing it in the top 0.8% of all systems. This ranking is notable because the GPU percentile (92nd among all GPUs) and CPU percentile (87th among all CPUs) are both high, and their combination produces a result that outperforms what either component's individual percentile might suggest.

The ranking reflects the synergy between the 8-core CPU and the high-end GPU. Many combinations with higher-ranked individual components may not achieve the same result in this specific title, as To The Core appears to benefit from both strong single-thread performance (for game logic) and high GPU memory bandwidth (for texture streaming and rendering). The RTX 5090 D's 32 GB of GDDR7 memory with 1.79 TB/s bandwidth likely contributes to the system's ability to maintain high frame rates even at 4K resolutions.

The rank of 25th suggests that only 24 other combinations deliver higher average FPS in this game. Given that the measured data shows 4K Ultra at 151 FPS, the systems ranking above this combo likely achieve even higher frame rates at maximum settings. The competitive positioning of the CPU (within 0.6% of its nearest rivals) means that the GPU selection has a more significant impact on the final ranking. Systems with similar CPUs but different GPUs could potentially rank higher or lower depending on the graphics card's performance in this title.

For context on the GPU's competitive position, the nearest rivals are mobile and datacenter parts rather than desktop gaming GPUs. The AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT is 1.1% above, while the RX 6850M XT is 1.6% below in average benchmark score. This unusual clustering suggests that the RTX 5090 D's benchmark profile is unique, and its actual gaming performance in To The Core may differ from these general-purpose benchmark scores.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data supports a clear recommendation: Ultra settings at any resolution provide an excellent experience, but players with high-refresh-rate displays should consider Medium as the optimal balance. At 1080p, Medium settings deliver 564 FPS average with a minimum of 479 FPS, which exceeds the refresh rate of virtually all gaming monitors. Ultra at 1080p drops to 393 FPS, still far above display capabilities, so the visual quality gain from Ultra may be worthwhile despite the 30.3% frame rate reduction.

For 1440p displays, Medium settings produce 379 FPS average (min 322, max 436), which comfortably drives 240 Hz or even 360 Hz panels. Ultra at 1440p delivers 265 FPS, which still exceeds most high-refresh displays. The choice between Medium and Ultra at 1440p depends on whether the player prefers maximum visual fidelity or additional headroom for frame time consistency. The 4K Medium preset at 217 FPS (min 184, max 249) is the only 4K configuration with recorded minimum FPS data, and it shows that even at 4K, the system maintains frame rates above 144 Hz.

The Low preset offers the highest frame rates at every resolution but sacrifices visual quality. At 1080p Low, the 622 FPS result is primarily useful for competitive play or for players with 500 Hz+ displays. The scaling from Low to Medium represents a 9.3% frame rate reduction at 1080p, while the Medium to High step costs 13.3%, and High to Ultra costs 19.7%. These diminishing returns suggest that Medium or High offers the best experience per frame rate cost.

For the majority of users, the recommendation is Medium settings at their native resolution. This preset provides the best combination of visual quality and frame rate headroom, as indicated by the full min/max data being recorded only for Medium settings across all resolutions. The fact that only Medium has min/max FPS recorded suggests it is the reference preset for stability testing.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the frame rates are exceptionally high across all presets. Low settings produce 622 FPS average, Medium produces 564 FPS (min 479, max 648), High produces 489 FPS, and Ultra produces 393 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra represents a 36.8% reduction in average frame rate. The spread between minimum and maximum at Medium (169 FPS) indicates some frame time variance, but the minimum of 479 FPS remains far above any practical display requirement.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain extremely high. Low achieves 448 FPS, Medium achieves 379 FPS (min 322, max 436), High achieves 329 FPS, and Ultra achieves 265 FPS. The reduction from 1080p to 1440p is consistent across presets: 28.0% for Low, 32.8% for Medium, 32.7% for High, and 32.6% for Ultra. This consistency suggests that the GPU's rendering workload scales uniformly with pixel count across all quality levels.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates remain impressive but show the expected impact of 4K rendering. Low produces 256 FPS, Medium produces 217 FPS (min 184, max 249), High produces 188 FPS, and Ultra produces 151 FPS. The reduction from 1440p to 4K is steeper: 42.9% for Low, 42.7% for Medium, 42.9% for High, and 43.0% for Ultra. This uniform scaling indicates that the RTX 5090 D is not hitting any memory bandwidth or compute bottleneck at 4K, as the frame rate drops are directly proportional to the pixel count increase (2.25x pixels from 1440p to 4K would suggest a 55.6% reduction if perfectly scaling; the observed ~43% reduction indicates some headroom remains).

The Medium preset at 4K shows the most complete data with min and max values. The 65 FPS spread between minimum (184) and maximum (249) is the tightest of any resolution at Medium settings, indicating more consistent frame pacing at higher resolutions. This is likely because the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck, smoothing out CPU-related frame time spikes.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is the dominant component in this pairing, featuring the GB202 chip on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture, built on a 5 nm process with 92,200 million transistors. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2017 MHz with a boost clock of 2407 MHz, and its memory runs at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). The 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus provides 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth, which is critical for maintaining high frame rates at 4K resolutions where the 32 GB capacity prevents any texture streaming bottlenecks.

The GPU's compute capabilities are substantial: 21,760 shading units, 680 TMUs, and 176 ROPs. The 170 RT cores and 680 tensor cores provide hardware acceleration for ray tracing and AI-enhanced features, though these are less relevant for an idle genre game like To The Core. The FP32 throughput of 104.8 TFLOPS (and matching FP16 at 1:1 ratio) indicates the GPU can handle complex shader workloads without becoming a limiting factor.

The pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s explain why the GPU maintains high frame rates even at 4K Ultra. The 4K Ultra result of 151 FPS requires processing 3840x2160 pixels at that rate, which the GPU accomplishes while maintaining the visual quality associated with Ultra settings. The 176 ROPs are sufficient for the pixel fill requirements at 4K, and the 680 TMUs ensure texture sampling never becomes a bottleneck.

In general benchmarks, the GPU scores 44,065 in Passmark G3D and 28,396 in GPU compute. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 14,326 indicates strong DirectX 12 performance. Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan scores of 310,674 and 376,915 respectively show excellent compute and graphics API performance. The GPU ranks in the 92nd percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 77,712.

The nearest GPU rivals based on average benchmark score are notably different product categories. The AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT is 1.1% above at 76,904, while the RX 6850M XT is 1.6% below at 78,940. The NVIDIA Tesla P100 variants are 2.1% and 2.4% below at 79,396 and 79,605 respectively. This clustering with mobile and datacenter parts suggests that the RTX 5090 D's benchmark profile is unique among desktop gaming GPUs, and its performance in To The Core likely exceeds what these general benchmark scores predict, given the game's scaling behavior observed in the measured FPS data.