To The Core

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D paired with the Intel Arc B570 delivers a highly capable idle-game experience in To The Core, with measured frame rates that remain fluid even at 4K Ultra. This combination ranks in the 79.6th percentile of all tested CPU and GPU pairings for this title, sitting at rank 2380 out of 2991 combinations. The data shows a system that is clearly GPU-bound at higher resolutions, while the CPU’s substantial multi-threaded headroom ensures that even the most demanding settings never expose a processing bottleneck.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with Ultra settings?

A: At 1920x1080 with Ultra settings, the system delivers an average of 133 FPS. This is a solid result for a title like To The Core, which does not require extreme frame rates for an enjoyable experience, but it shows headroom for high-refresh-rate displays at this resolution.

Q: How does the Ryzen 9 9900X3D compare to its nearest rival in overall CPU benchmarks?

A: The Ryzen 9 9900X3D has an average benchmark score of 54762, placing it in the 91st percentile of all CPUs. Its closest competitor, the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF, scores 55093, which is a negligible 0.6% difference. The data indicates these two processors are effectively tied in synthetic performance, with the Ryzen trailing by a tiny margin.

Q: What is the maximum FPS recorded for this system in the measured data?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 225, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. For Medium settings at the same resolution, the maximum FPS observed was 219, with an average of 191 FPS. These numbers show the system can push well beyond 200 FPS when graphical demands are minimized.

Q: Is the Intel Arc B570 a better performer than the Intel Arc A750?

A: The benchmark data shows the Arc B570 has an average GPU score of 20556, while the Arc A750 scores 20582. This represents a delta of only -0.1%, meaning the B570 is essentially matched with its predecessor, with a negligible performance deficit. Both cards sit in the 65th percentile of all GPUs.

Q: What is the lowest average FPS recorded across all tested configurations?

A: The lowest average FPS is 51, which occurs at 3840x2160 (4K) with Ultra settings. This is the only tested configuration that dips below the 60 FPS threshold, indicating that 4K Ultra is the most demanding scenario for this hardware combination.

Q: How much faster is the 1080p Low setting compared to the 4K Ultra setting?

A: The average FPS at 1080p Low is 225, while at 4K Ultra it drops to 51. This represents a 4.4x difference in frame rate between the least and most demanding tested configurations, highlighting the significant impact of resolution and settings on this pairing.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B570 is the primary determinant of frame rates in To The Core across most tested settings. This GPU, built on the Xe2-HPG architecture and codenamed Battlemage, features 2304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 80 raster output pipelines. It operates at a consistent clock speed of 2500 MHz for both base and boost, which simplifies performance predictions. The card is equipped with 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 380.0 GB/s. This memory configuration is sufficient for the demands of To The Core at all tested resolutions, as the game’s idle genre does not typically require massive texture loads.

The GPU’s compute capabilities are reflected in its benchmark scores: it achieves 11.52 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and a texture rate of 360.0 GTexel/s. In synthetic tests, the Arc B570 scores 2649 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, 83514 in Geekbench OpenCL, and 96844 in Geekbench Vulkan. Its PassMark G3D score of 14195 places it in the 65th percentile of all GPUs. When compared to its nearest rivals, the Arc B570 is effectively tied with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile, which scores 20534 (a 0.1% difference), and the Intel Arc A750, which scores 20582 (a -0.1% difference). This suggests that the B570 delivers performance parity with these established cards, making it a predictable and capable choice for this title.

In To The Core, the GPU’s role becomes increasingly critical as resolution increases. At 1080p, even with Ultra settings, the system achieves 133 FPS, indicating that the GPU has ample headroom. However, at 4K, the GPU’s limitations become apparent: average FPS drops to 64 on High, 73 on Medium, and 51 on Ultra. This scaling pattern is typical for a GPU in the 65th percentile, as 4K resolution places a significant burden on the rasterization and pixel throughput capabilities of the card. The 200.0 GPixel/s pixel rate and 80 ROPs are the limiting factors at this resolution, as the card must process four times the pixels of 1080p.

Resolution Scaling

The measured data reveals a clear and consistent pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases from 1080p to 4K. At 1920x1080, the system delivers an average of 165 FPS on High settings, 191 FPS on Medium, and 225 FPS on Low. Moving to 2560x1440, these figures drop to 111 FPS on High, 128 FPS on Medium, and 152 FPS on Low. At 3840x2160, the averages fall further to 64 FPS on High, 73 FPS on Medium, and 87 FPS on Low. This scaling indicates that the GPU is the limiting component at all resolutions, as the CPU’s performance headroom is not being fully utilized.

The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial across all settings. For High settings, the average FPS falls from 165 to 64, a reduction of 61%. For Medium settings, the drop is from 191 to 73, a 62% reduction. Low settings see a similar decline, from 225 to 87, which is a 61% reduction. These consistent percentages across settings strongly suggest that the bottleneck is purely resolution-driven, rather than settings-driven. In other words, the GPU’s fill rate and memory bandwidth are being saturated at 4K, regardless of the visual complexity.

The data also shows that the transition from 1080p to 1440p is less punishing than from 1440p to 4K. For High settings, 1080p to 1440p results in a 33% FPS drop (165 to 111), while 1440p to 4K results in a 42% drop (111 to 64). This non-linear scaling is characteristic of GPUs where the memory bandwidth becomes a limiting factor at higher resolutions. The Arc B570’s 380.0 GB/s bandwidth is adequate for 1440p but becomes stretched at 4K, particularly with higher preset levels. The Medium settings at 4K show a minimum FPS of 62, which is close to the average of 73, indicating that frame pacing remains stable even when the GPU is under heavy load.

This resolution scaling analysis suggests that for a smooth 60+ FPS experience, users should target 1440p or lower with this hardware combination. At 4K, only Low settings consistently exceed 60 FPS, with an average of 87 FPS. High and Medium settings at 4K hover near the 60-73 FPS range, which may be acceptable for an idle game but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes or background processes.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the system excels in all configurations. Low settings produce an average of 225 FPS, which is the highest recorded average in the entire dataset. Medium settings follow with 191 FPS average, and a minimum of 162 FPS with a maximum of 219 FPS. High settings deliver 165 FPS average, while Ultra settings still manage a robust 133 FPS. These numbers indicate that at 1080p, the system is never constrained, and even the most demanding preset leaves significant performance on the table.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance remains strong but shows the expected decline. Low settings average 152 FPS, Medium settings average 128 FPS with a minimum of 109 FPS and maximum of 147 FPS, High settings average 111 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 89 FPS. The Medium settings at 1440p provide the most complete dataset, with a 38 FPS spread between minimum and maximum, suggesting some scene-to-scene variability but no severe stuttering. All 1440p configurations remain above the 60 FPS threshold, making this resolution the sweet spot for this hardware combination.

At 3840x2160, the GPU begins to show its limitations. Low settings still deliver a respectable 87 FPS average, but Medium settings drop to 73 FPS with a minimum of 62 FPS and maximum of 84 FPS. High settings average 64 FPS, which is just above the 60 FPS baseline. Ultra settings are the only configuration that falls below this threshold, with an average of 51 FPS. The Medium settings at 4K provide the most detailed data point, with a 22 FPS spread between minimum and maximum, indicating that while the GPU is heavily loaded, it maintains consistent frame delivery without major dips. For users with 4K displays, the choice is between Low settings for a comfortable margin above 60 FPS or Medium settings for better visual quality at the cost of being closer to the edge.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D plays a supporting role in To The Core, as the game’s idle genre does not heavily stress multi-threaded CPU performance. This processor features 12 cores and 24 threads based on the Zen 5 architecture, with a base clock of 4.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz. It is built on TSMC’s 4 nm process node and features a substantial 128 MB of L3 cache, which is beneficial for workloads that benefit from large cache pools. The CPU’s memory support includes DDR5 with dual-channel configuration and a bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s, which pairs well with the GPU’s memory subsystem.

In synthetic benchmarks, the Ryzen 9 9900X3D demonstrates exceptional performance. Its Cinebench R23 multicore score is 47737, while the single-core score is 6739. Geekbench results show 22884 for multicore and 3041 for single-core. PassMark tests reveal a multithread score of 56154 and a single-thread score of 4646. The processor also excels in 3DMark tests, with a max threads score of 13795 and a single-thread score of 1269. These results place the CPU in the 91st percentile of all processors, with an average benchmark score of 54762. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF, scores 55093, a difference of only -0.6%, meaning the two are virtually indistinguishable in raw performance.

In To The Core, the CPU’s role is primarily to feed the GPU with enough data to maintain high frame rates. The measured FPS data shows that at 1080p, where the GPU is less burdened, the system achieves up to 225 FPS on Low settings. This indicates that the CPU is capable of handling the game’s logic and draw calls at very high frame rates without becoming a bottleneck. The 12 cores and 24 threads provide ample parallel processing power, and the 128 MB L3 cache reduces memory latency, which can be beneficial for games that involve complex state tracking, as is common in idle games with many concurrent systems.

The CPU’s performance headroom is further evidenced by the fact that frame rates scale consistently with GPU load. At 4K Ultra, where the GPU is the clear bottleneck, the CPU still has resources to spare. This is reflected in the lack of any significant FPS drops below the average, as seen in the Medium settings at 4K where the minimum FPS is 62 against an average of 73. This stability suggests that the CPU is not introducing frame pacing issues, even when the GPU is working at its limit. For users who plan to run background applications or stream while playing, the 24 threads provide substantial multitasking capability without impacting game performance.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance for optimizing the experience in To The Core with this hardware combination. For users with 1080p displays, all settings presets provide an excellent experience. Ultra settings at 133 FPS average offer the best visual quality without sacrificing smoothness, as even the minimum FPS is likely well above 60. For those with high-refresh-rate monitors (144Hz or higher), Medium settings at 191 FPS or Low settings at 225 FPS will take full advantage of the display’s capabilities. The data suggests that at 1080p, there is no reason to compromise on settings, as even Ultra delivers frame rates that are more than sufficient for an idle game.

At 1440p, the recommended approach is to use High settings, which delivers 111 FPS average. This provides a balance between visual quality and performance, with a comfortable margin above 60 FPS. Ultra settings at 89 FPS are also viable for users who prioritize image quality, as the average remains well above the playable threshold. Medium settings at 128 FPS offer the best frame rate while maintaining reasonable visual fidelity, making this the best choice for those who want to maximize smoothness. Low settings at 152 FPS provide the highest performance but may look overly simplistic for a game like To The Core where visual feedback is part of the idle experience.

For 4K users, the choice is more nuanced. Low settings at 87 FPS provide the most comfortable experience, with a significant margin above 60 FPS. Medium settings at 73 FPS are the recommended choice for the best balance, as the minimum FPS of 62 ensures that the game remains playable even during demanding scenes. High settings at 64 FPS are borderline, with the average just above 60 but with potential for dips below that threshold. Ultra settings at 51 FPS are not recommended for a smooth experience, as the average falls below the standard 60 FPS target. For 4K displays, Medium settings provide the best mix of visual quality and performance, while Low settings are the safe choice for those who prioritize frame rate stability above all else.

The overall recommendation is to match the settings preset to the display’s native resolution, with the understanding that this hardware combination is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming. At 4K, users must accept either reduced visual quality (Low or Medium) or frame rates below 60 FPS (Ultra). The data shows that this pairing is capable of delivering a fluid experience in To The Core at all tested resolutions except 4K Ultra, making it a versatile option for a wide range of display configurations.