To The Core

To The Core is an idle game that rarely stresses modern hardware, but the measured results for this AMD Ryzen 9 5900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 combination reveal a system that is firmly overqualified for the title. The data shows a setup that delivers exceptionally high frame rates across the board, with the limiting factor shifting between the CPU and GPU depending on the resolution and preset. This analysis breaks down the measured performance, offering practical settings advice based on the specific benchmark rows.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows indicate that this combo does not require any compromise on visual quality to achieve a smooth experience. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset averages 187.7 FPS, which is well beyond the refresh rate of most high-end monitors. Moving to High at the same resolution yields 231.4 FPS, while Medium reaches 265.5 FPS. The Low preset at 1080p produces 312.8 FPS, but the substantial gains from lowering settings are unnecessary given the already high baseline.

At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset still averages 124.6 FPS, which remains comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold and suitable for 120 Hz displays. The High preset at this resolution delivers 152.2 FPS, while Medium hits 176 FPS. Low jumps to 211.1 FPS. Since the jump from Ultra to High at 1440p only yields a 22% improvement in frame rate (from 124.6 to 152.2), the visual fidelity of Ultra is likely worth the minor performance cost.

The 4K results are where the settings choice becomes more meaningful. At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset drops to 69.7 FPS, which is still playable on a 60 Hz panel but not ideal for high-refresh 4K monitors. High at 4K averages 89.7 FPS, providing a significant 29% uplift over Ultra. Medium reaches 101 FPS, and Low tops out at 118 FPS. For 4K gaming, the High preset appears to be the sweet spot, balancing the visual quality of the game with a frame rate that clears 80 FPS consistently. The data suggests that High settings at 4K offer the best overall experience, while Ultra is reserved for those who prioritize visuals over headroom.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is the primary driver of the performance scaling across settings. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 272.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient for the demands of this idle title. The GPU's boost clock of 2460 MHz and base clock of 1830 MHz allow it to maintain high utilization in the lower-resolution benchmarks. The RTX 4060 sits in the 66th percentile of all GPUs based on its average benchmark score of 23181, placing it near the AMD Radeon RX 6600M, which scores 23321 and is only 0.6% faster.

The GPU's role becomes more pronounced as resolution increases. At 1080p, the frame rates are so high that the CPU likely becomes the bottleneck. However, as the resolution climbs to 4K, the GPU's workload increases, and the measured FPS drops accordingly. The data shows a clear correlation: at 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 69.7, whereas at 1080p Ultra, it is 187.7. This 63% reduction in performance from 1080p to 4K indicates that the RTX 4060 is being pushed harder at higher resolutions, though it still maintains playable frame rates. The GPU's FP32 performance of 15.11 TFLOPS and its 3072 shading units are more than adequate for this game, which does not appear to be graphically intensive based on the high scores across all presets.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 ranks 1013 out of 1756 tested combos for this game. This places it in the lower-middle portion of the field, which is surprising given the high absolute frame rates measured. The ranking suggests that many other CPU and GPU combinations achieve similar or better performance in this specific title, likely because To The Core is an idle game that does not scale well with excessive hardware resources. The rank of 1013 out of 1756 indicates that 743 other combos outperformed this setup, which may be due to other processors with higher single-thread performance or GPUs with faster memory subsystems.

The CPU's percentile of 90 among all CPUs shows that the Ryzen 9 5900X is a top-tier processor, but the GPU's 66th percentile indicates that the RTX 4060 is more mid-range. This mismatch may explain the combo's ranking. The CPU is capable of feeding the GPU at lower resolutions, but at 4K, the GPU's limitations become the bottleneck. The data suggests that a stronger GPU would have pushed this combo higher in the rankings, but the current combination still delivers excellent playable performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the results are as follows: Low averages 312.8 FPS, Medium averages 265.5 FPS, High averages 231.4 FPS, and Ultra averages 187.7 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra shows a 40% reduction in frame rate, indicating that the Ultra preset is significantly more demanding on the GPU.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but begin to show the GPU's workload. Low averages 211.1 FPS, Medium averages 176 FPS, High averages 152.2 FPS, and Ultra averages 124.6 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra at this resolution is 41%, which is consistent with the 1080p scaling. The 1440p results are all well above 120 FPS, making this resolution ideal for high-refresh-rate monitors.

At 3840x2160, the performance decreases more sharply. Low averages 118 FPS, Medium averages 101 FPS, High averages 89.7 FPS, and Ultra averages 69.7 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K is the only configuration that dips below 70 FPS, but it remains playable. The data shows that the step from Medium to High at 4K costs only 11% of the frame rate (from 101 to 89.7), while the step from High to Ultra costs 22% (from 89.7 to 69.7). This suggests that the Ultra preset at 4K may not be worth the performance hit for most users.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 4K reveals the scaling behavior of this combo. At the Low preset, the average FPS drops from 312.8 at 1080p to 211.1 at 1440p and then to 118 at 4K. This represents a 62% reduction from 1080p to 4K. At the Ultra preset, the drop is from 187.7 at 1080p to 124.6 at 1440p and then to 69.7 at 4K, a 63% reduction.

The consistency of this 62-63% reduction across all presets indicates that the scaling is primarily resolution-driven rather than settings-driven. This points to the GPU being the limiting component at higher resolutions, as the workload increases with pixel count. The CPU's performance, which is strong based on its 90th percentile ranking, is sufficient to keep up even at 1080p, but the GPU's 128-bit memory bus and 272.0 GB/s bandwidth become a constraint at 4K. The data suggests that for this game, the RTX 4060 is best utilized at 1440p, where the frame rates are high enough to take advantage of fast displays without the significant performance penalty seen at 4K.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 5900X is a 12-core, 24-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture, codenamed Vermeer. It has a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.80 GHz, with 64 MB of L3 cache. This processor is in the 90th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 39453. Its closest rival is the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8845HS, which scores 39747 and is 0.7% faster, while the Intel Core i7-13700 scores 39857 and is 1% faster.

In this game, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with enough data to maintain high frame rates. At 1080p, the measured FPS values are extremely high, reaching up to 312.8 FPS at Low settings. This suggests that the CPU is not a bottleneck at this resolution, as the GPU is able to render frames quickly enough to approach the CPU's limits. The single-thread performance of the Ryzen 9 5900X, which scores 4680 in Cinebench R23 single-core, is strong enough to handle the game's logic and physics, which are likely the primary CPU tasks in an idle game.

At 4K, the CPU becomes less relevant as the GPU's workload increases. The frame rates at 4K are lower across all settings, indicating that the GPU is the limiting factor. The CPU's multi-threaded performance, which scores 33150 in Cinebench R23 multi-core, is far more than this game requires, as idle games typically do not utilize many cores. The data shows that the Ryzen 9 5900X provides ample headroom for this title, and the performance is ultimately constrained by the RTX 4060's capabilities at higher resolutions.