To The Core

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for To The Core with the Intel Core i3-12100F and AMD Radeon RX 570 reveals a clear pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo produces 129.5 FPS, which drops to 86.9 FPS at 2560x1440 and further to 52 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 33% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and a 60% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Low settings. The scaling pattern is consistent across all settings presets, though the absolute deltas vary.

At High settings, the frame rate falls from 92.9 FPS at 1080p to 65 FPS at 1440p, then to 39 FPS at 4K. The Medium preset shows a similar trajectory: 109.8 FPS at 1080p, 72.1 FPS at 1440p, and 42.5 FPS at 4K. Ultra settings produce the lowest overall numbers, with 77.1 FPS at 1080p, 49.1 FPS at 1440p, and 26.7 FPS at 4K. The consistency of these drops across all four settings presets indicates that resolution scaling is primarily driven by the GPU's rendering workload rather than any CPU bottleneck emerging at lower resolutions.

The steepest relative decline occurs between 1440p and 4K for the Ultra preset, where FPS falls from 49.1 to 26.7, a 46% reduction. This suggests that the RX 570's 4 GB GDDR5 memory and 224.0 GB/s bandwidth are increasingly strained as pixel count grows. The gap between Low and Ultra settings widens with resolution: at 1080p the difference is 52.4 FPS (129.5 vs 77.1), at 1440p it is 37.8 FPS (86.9 vs 49.1), and at 4K it narrows to 25.3 FPS (52 vs 26.7). The narrowing delta at higher resolutions points to the GPU becoming the dominant limiting factor, as even reducing settings cannot fully compensate for the pixel throughput demands of 4K.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 570 operates with a base clock of 1168 MHz and a boost clock of 1244 MHz, built on the Polaris 20 chip using GCN 4.0 architecture. Its 2048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs deliver a pixel rate of 39.81 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 159.2 GTexel/s. The GPU's FP32 performance is rated at 5.095 TFLOPS. The memory subsystem consists of 4 GB GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, providing 224.0 GB/s bandwidth at 1750 MHz (7 Gbps effective). These specifications place the RX 570 in the 74th percentile among all GPUs in the benchmark database.

The GPU's benchmark scores reinforce its mid-range positioning. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, it scores 880, while Geekbench results show 44915 in Metal, 32084 in OpenCL, and 42752 in Vulkan. The average benchmark score of 30158 places it within 0.2% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 (deltaPct 0.2) and 0.2% of the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT (deltaPct 0.2). The RX 570 also sits 0.6% ahead of the NVIDIA Tesla M60 and 0.8% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile. These close margins indicate that despite its 2017 release and end-of-life production status, the RX 570 remains competitive with much newer hardware in synthetic benchmarks.

In To The Core specifically, the GPU's role is most evident at 4K resolution. The Ultra preset at 3840x2160 yields only 26.7 FPS, which is below the 30 FPS threshold commonly considered playable. The 4 GB VRAM capacity likely contributes to this limitation, as higher resolution textures and effects in the Ultra preset can exceed the available memory. The GPU's 150 W TDP and dual-slot design suggest it operates within standard power constraints for its class, but the data shows it cannot maintain high frame rates at 4K even with reduced settings, as the Low preset at 4K still only achieves 52 FPS.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in To The Core?

A: At 1920x1080, all settings presets produce playable frame rates, with Low at 129.5 FPS, Medium at 109.8 FPS, High at 92.9 FPS, and Ultra at 77.1 FPS. The 2560x1440 resolution remains viable for most presets, but 3840x2160 drops below 30 FPS at Ultra settings (26.7 FPS).

Q: How does the RX 570 compare to its nearest GPU rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RX 570's average benchmark score of 30158 is within 0.2% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 (30109) and the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT (30097). It is 0.6% ahead of the NVIDIA Tesla M60 (29969) and 0.8% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile (29928).

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1080p?

A: The data shows a 52.4 FPS difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p (129.5 vs 77.1), which indicates the GPU is the primary constraint. If the CPU were limiting, the settings would have less impact on frame rates.

Q: What settings should be used for 4K gaming with this hardware?

A: At 3840x2160, the Low preset yields 52 FPS, Medium produces 42.5 FPS, High delivers 39 FPS, and Ultra falls to 26.7 FPS. For a smoother experience, Low or Medium settings are recommended at 4K, as Ultra cannot maintain 30 FPS.

Q: How does the Core i3-12100F rank among all CPUs?

A: The i3-12100F sits in the 72nd percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 13516. Its nearest rival is the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX at 13534 (0.1% higher), followed by the Intel Core i7-1250U at 13462 (0.4% lower).

Q: Does the combo's rank in To The Core reflect its overall hardware positioning?

A: The combo ranks 1643 out of 1756 tested combinations, which is in the bottom 6.4% of all combos. This is lower than the individual percentile rankings of both the CPU (72nd) and GPU (74th), suggesting To The Core is particularly demanding on this hardware configuration.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i3-12100F and AMD Radeon RX 570 combination ranks 1643 out of 1756 tested combos in To The Core, placing it in the bottom tier of the database. This rank is notably worse than what the individual component percentiles would suggest. The CPU's 72nd percentile ranking and the GPU's 74th percentile ranking both indicate mid-range performance, yet the combo's position at 1643 of 1756 reflects a significant underperformance in this specific title.

The discrepancy between component percentiles and the in-game rank suggests that To The Core presents unique demands that this hardware cannot meet. The game's idle genre typically involves simple graphics, but the measured FPS data indicates otherwise, with even 1080p Ultra only reaching 77.1 FPS. The combo's rank among the bottom 6.4% of tested configurations means that most other hardware pairings in the database outperform it in this game.

Examining the nearest rivals for each component provides context for the combo's standing. The i3-12100F's average benchmark score of 13516 is nearly identical to the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX (13534, deltaPct -0.1), yet the Threadripper is a high-end workstation processor. This highlights how the i3-12100F's strong single-thread performance (Geekbench single-core 2224, Cinebench R23 single-core 1681) does not translate to To The Core's requirements. Similarly, the RX 570's synthetic benchmark scores are competitive with newer GPUs like the RTX 5060 and RX 7700 XT, but the in-game results at 4K Ultra (26.7 FPS) reveal real-world limitations that synthetic tests do not capture.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i3-12100F features 4 cores and 8 threads based on Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz. Its cache hierarchy includes 80 KB L1 per core, 1.25 MB L2 per core, and 12 MB shared L3 cache. The CPU supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory in dual-channel configuration and connects via PCIe Gen 5 with 16 lanes. The 58 W TDP and 10 nm process node from Intel contribute to its efficiency profile.

The CPU's benchmark results show a clear strength in single-threaded workloads: 3DMark single-thread score of 893, Cinebench R15 single-core 169, R20 single-core 706, R23 single-core 1681, and Geekbench single-core 2224. Multi-threaded performance is comparatively weaker, with Cinebench R23 multi-core at 11912 and Geekbench multi-core at 7413. The 3DMark results show 4051 for 16 threads, 4026 for 8 threads, and 4023 for max threads, indicating that the 4-core/8-thread configuration reaches its limit quickly without significant scaling beyond 8 threads.

In To The Core, the CPU's role appears secondary to the GPU based on the resolution scaling data. The frame rate drops consistently as resolution increases, which is characteristic of GPU-bound scenarios. However, the 1080p Low setting achieving 129.5 FPS suggests the CPU can feed the GPU sufficiently at lower resolutions. The passmark single-thread score of 3444 and data compression score of 160452 indicate solid general-purpose performance, but the game's requirements seem to favor the GPU's capabilities more heavily. The i3-12100F's 12 MB L3 cache and dual-channel memory support provide adequate bandwidth for the RX 570, though the 4-core configuration may limit performance in any CPU-intensive scenes within the game.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest results. Low settings produce 129.5 FPS, Medium reaches 109.8 FPS, High achieves 92.9 FPS, and Ultra drops to 77.1 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 40.4% reduction in frame rate, demonstrating the significant impact of graphics settings at this resolution. All four presets remain above 60 FPS, making 1080p the most comfortable resolution for this hardware.

Moving to 2560x1440, performance declines noticeably. Low settings yield 86.9 FPS, Medium produces 72.1 FPS, High reaches 65 FPS, and Ultra falls to 49.1 FPS. The High setting remains playable above 60 FPS, while Ultra drops below that threshold. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 37.8 FPS, a 43.5% reduction that mirrors the 1080p scaling pattern.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's limitations become pronounced. Low settings manage 52 FPS, Medium achieves 42.5 FPS, High produces 39 FPS, and Ultra falls to 26.7 FPS. Only the Low preset remains above 50 FPS, while Ultra dips below the 30 FPS playability threshold. The gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 25.3 FPS at 4K, indicating that even maximum settings reductions cannot overcome the resolution's pixel throughput demands.

The complete dataset shows a consistent ordering across all resolutions: Low > Medium > High > Ultra. The relative performance gaps between presets remain fairly stable, though the absolute differences shrink at higher resolutions. The 4K Ultra result of 26.7 FPS represents the weakest measured performance, while 1080p Low at 129.5 FPS is the strongest. This spread of 102.8 FPS across the full range of tested configurations illustrates the hardware's sensitivity to both resolution and settings.