To The Core

The Intel Core i3-12100F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER delivers a robust experience in To The Core, with frame rates that comfortably exceed standard display refresh rates across most settings. At 1080p, the Ultra preset produces an average of 170.7 FPS, while High and Medium reach 212.9 FPS and 248.1 FPS respectively. The data indicates that the Ultra preset offers the most balanced experience, as it remains well above the 144 FPS threshold often targeted for high-refresh monitors, while the difference between High and Medium is a modest 35 FPS. For users prioritizing maximum fluidity, the Low preset at 1080p achieves 290.5 FPS, but the visual compromise is substantial relative to the relatively minor performance gain over High. At 1440p, the Ultra preset still maintains a strong 118 FPS, which is suitable for most displays, while High hits 144.6 FPS. The 4K Ultra result of 65.5 FPS is the only configuration that dips below the 60 FPS mark, making it the boundary of playability for this combination. Consequently, the recommended preset is Ultra for 1080p and 1440p gaming, as it provides the highest visual fidelity without sacrificing the smoothness required for this idle genre. The data shows that the scaling from Medium to Ultra at 1440p costs 44.6 FPS, which is a reasonable trade for the increased detail.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER serves as the primary performance driver in this configuration, given the nature of To The Core as an idle game that places limited stress on the central processor. The GPU’s 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides a 448.0 GB/s bandwidth, which is more than sufficient for the texture and asset loads typical of this genre. The card’s base clock of 1605 MHz and boost clock of 1770 MHz, coupled with 2560 shading units, deliver the raw throughput needed to sustain the high frame rates observed in the benchmark data. The GPU’s benchmark percentile of 65 against all GPUs, with an average score of 22206, places it slightly ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 5700 by 2.5% and marginally behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile by 2.3%, according to the nearestRivals data. This positioning indicates that the RTX 2070 SUPER is a mid-to-upper tier component that still holds its own in modern titles. The 12 nm Turing architecture, with 40 RT cores and 320 tensor cores, provides hardware support for ray tracing and DLSS, although these features are not explicitly measured in the provided FPS data for this game. The GPU’s end-of-life production status and launch MSRP of 499 USD reflect its age, but the measured performance in To The Core shows no signs of obsolescence, as even the most demanding 4K Ultra preset achieves 65.5 FPS. The power delivery, with a 215 W TDP and a suggested 550 W PSU, is a standard requirement for this performance class.

FAQ

Q: What is the best performance setting at 1440p for this CPU and GPU combination?

A: The Ultra preset at 2560x1440 yields an average of 118 FPS, while High produces 144.6 FPS. Since both exceed the 60 FPS minimum, Ultra is preferable for visual quality, though High offers a 22.6% higher frame rate for competitive play.

Q: How does this combo's frame rate at 4K Ultra compare to its 1080p Ultra result?

A: At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 65.5, which is 105.2 FPS lower than the 1080p Ultra result of 170.7 FPS. This represents a 61.6% reduction in performance, indicating the GPU becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

Q: Is the CPU a bottleneck in this game at any settings?

A: The Intel Core i3-12100F has a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 11912 and a single-core score of 1681, ranking at the 72nd percentile among all CPUs. The data shows that FPS scales consistently with GPU workload across resolutions, suggesting the CPU is not the primary constraint in To The Core.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Medium settings at 1080p?

A: The Low preset achieves 290.5 FPS, while Medium reaches 248.1 FPS, a difference of 42.4 FPS. This gap narrows at higher resolutions, where the GPU workload increases, diminishing the impact of these settings.

Q: How does the RTX 2070 SUPER compare to its nearest rival, the RTX 4060 Mobile?

A: The RTX 2070 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 22206, which is 2.3% lower than the RTX 4060 Mobile's score of 22729. In practical terms, the desktop card is slightly less performant in synthetic tests, but the measured FPS in To The Core remains high.

Q: Does the 4K Low preset provide a smoother experience than 1440p Ultra?

A: The 4K Low preset averages 112.6 FPS, which is lower than the 1440p Ultra's 118 FPS. This indicates that resolution scaling has a more significant impact on performance than quality settings, making 1440p Ultra the better choice for both resolution and frame rate.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i3-12100F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER ranks 1086 out of 1756 tested combos in To The Core, placing it in the upper third of all configurations. This rank is influenced by the CPU’s position at the 72nd percentile among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 13516, and the GPU’s 65th percentile ranking with an average score of 22206. The CPU’s nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX, scores 13534, a mere 0.1% difference, indicating that the i3-12100F offers performance parity with a much more expensive workstation chip in this context. The GPU’s closest competitor, the NVIDIA RTX A400, is only 0.5% ahead, while the AMD Radeon RX 5700 trails by 2.5%. These margins suggest that the combo’s overall rank is constrained by the GPU, which is the weaker link relative to its peers. The data shows that despite the CPU’s relatively low core count of 4 and 8 threads, its single-thread performance, evidenced by a Geekbench single-core score of 2224, is sufficient to feed the GPU in this idle game. The rank of 1086 out of 1756 implies that while this setup is not a top-tier performer, it outperforms a significant majority of tested systems, making it a reliable mid-range option for this title.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At the Ultra preset, the average frame rate drops from 170.7 FPS at 1080p to 118 FPS at 1440p, a reduction of 52.7 FPS, and further down to 65.5 FPS at 4K, a cumulative loss of 105.2 FPS. This represents a 61.6% decrease in performance from 1080p to 4K, which is a substantial penalty that highlights the GPU’s role as the limiting component. The Low preset shows a similar trend, with 290.5 FPS at 1080p falling to 193.5 FPS at 1440p and 112.6 FPS at 4K, a 61.2% drop. The consistency of this percentage across different quality settings indicates that the scaling is primarily resolution-driven rather than setting-driven. The gap between 1080p and 1440p is 52.7 FPS at Ultra, while the gap between 1440p and 4K is 52.5 FPS, showing a nearly linear relationship with pixel count. This linearity suggests that the RTX 2070 SUPER’s 448.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 9.062 TFLOPS of FP32 performance are being fully utilized at each step. The CPU’s influence is minimal, as its 3.30 GHz base and 4.30 GHz boost clocks provide consistent instruction throughput regardless of resolution. The data confirms that for this combo, 1080p and 1440p are the sweet spots, while 4K requires significant settings reductions to maintain playable frame rates, with the Low preset at 4K still delivering 112.6 FPS, which is acceptable for a less demanding visual experience.