To The Core

To The Core is an idle game, and the benchmark data for the Intel Core i5-10400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 shows a configuration that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher resolutions but transitions to a more balanced profile at 1080p. The measured FPS across all settings and resolutions are exceptionally high, indicating that this pairing is far beyond the requirements for smooth gameplay in this title. The data suggests that the RTX 4080 is the primary driver of performance, with the i5-10400F providing sufficient support to avoid becoming a bottleneck until the lowest resolution and quality settings are reached.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial, but the absolute numbers remain so high that the scaling characteristics reveal more about the engine's limits than any practical performance concern. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 349 FPS at 1920x1080 to 272 FPS at 2560x1440, a decrease of 77 FPS, and then further to 156 FPS at 3840x2160, another decrease of 116 FPS. This represents a total drop of 193 FPS, or roughly 55% fewer frames when moving from 1080p to 4K. The progression is not linear; the step from 1440p to 4K is a more significant absolute loss than the step from 1080p to 1440p.

Looking at the Low preset, the trend is similar but with a shallower decline in percentage terms. The average FPS at 1080p Low is 389, dropping to 341 at 1440p, and then to 212 at 4K. This is a 45% reduction from 1080p to 4K. The fact that the Low preset shows a smaller relative drop than the High preset indicates that the workload is becoming more GPU-intensive at higher settings, which is typical. The scaling pattern points towards the GPU being the limiting component; as resolution increases, the pixel fill rate demand grows, and the RTX 4080's performance scales accordingly, albeit with diminishing returns at the extreme high end.

The Ultra preset shows the most pronounced scaling, with 323 FPS at 1080p, 219 FPS at 1440p, and 125 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1440p to 4K is 94 FPS, which is a 43% reduction, highlighting the intense load that 4K Ultra places on the GPU. The data indicates that at 1080p, the CPU has a more significant role, as the FPS differences between presets are smaller than at higher resolutions. For instance, at 1080p, the gap between Low and Ultra is 66 FPS, while at 4K, the gap between Low and Ultra is 87 FPS. This widening gap at higher resolutions reinforces the conclusion that the RTX 4080 is the dominant factor, with its capabilities being stretched as resolution increases.

Settings Recommendations

Given the measured FPS, the choice of settings for the best experience is less about achieving playable frame rates and more about maximizing visual fidelity while maintaining a high refresh rate. At 4K, the Ultra preset delivers an average of 125 FPS, which is above the standard 60 FPS threshold and suitable for high-refresh-rate displays. The High preset at 4K yields 156 FPS, offering a 31 FPS improvement over Ultra, which could be beneficial for gamers with 144Hz or higher monitors. The Medium preset at 4K provides 180 FPS, but the minimum FPS of 153 is still excellent.

At 1440p, the Ultra preset averages 219 FPS, which is ideal for 240Hz displays. The High preset at 272 FPS is even better for those seeking maximum smoothness, and the Low preset at 341 FPS is essentially uncapped. The recommendation based on the data is to prioritize the High preset at 1440p or 4K, as it offers a substantial FPS increase over Ultra with a likely minimal visual difference in an idle game. The Medium preset at 4K, with a minimum FPS of 153, is the safest choice for maintaining a perfectly stable frame time, but the High preset's higher average suggests it is the best balance.

At 1080p, all presets exceed 300 FPS, with Low at 389 FPS, Medium at 367 FPS, High at 349 FPS, and Ultra at 323 FPS. The differences are minor, and the Ultra preset is viable for any display. However, the data suggests that the High preset is the sweet spot, as it provides a noticeable FPS boost over Ultra (26 FPS) while likely being visually similar. For a game like To The Core, where the genre is idle, the visual fidelity is less critical than smoothness, so the High preset at any resolution is the recommended starting point, with the option to drop to Medium at 4K for a more stable minimum frame rate.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is a high-end graphics card with 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s. The GPU has a base clock of 2205 MHz and a boost clock of 2505 MHz, with a memory clock of 1400 MHz, which translates to 22.4 Gbps effective. The card is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process and a transistor count of 45,900 million. The benchmark results for the GPU show a Passmark G3D score of 34457 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6567, placing it in the 86th percentile of all GPUs.

The VRAM capacity of 16 GB is not a limiting factor in this game, as the resolution scaling from 1080p to 4K shows a predictable drop in FPS that is consistent with GPU compute and memory bandwidth limitations, not capacity. The RTX 4080's high bandwidth and clock speeds are the primary drivers of the high FPS numbers. The card's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER (0.1% faster), the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X (1.1% slower), and the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB (2.6% slower). These deltas are small, indicating that the RTX 4080 is performing at a level very close to its direct successor, which is expected given the architecture.

The GPU's role in To The Core is clear: it is the performance ceiling. At 4K Ultra, the card delivers 125 FPS, which is a demanding workload, but the card handles it without issue. The fact that the FPS scales down as resolution increases, but stays high, indicates that the GPU is being fully utilized. The lack of min FPS data for most settings, except Medium, suggests that the frame times are consistent, which is a sign of stable performance. The Medium preset at 4K has a min FPS of 153, which is higher than the average FPS of the Ultra preset, further confirming that the GPU is the limiting factor at higher settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-10400F and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is ranked 586th out of 3725 tested combos in To The Core. This places it in the top 15.7% of all configurations tested, which is a strong showing. The rank reflects the overall performance of the pairing, and given the high FPS numbers, it is clear that this combo is more than capable of running the game at maximum settings. The rank is influenced by the CPU's performance, which is in the 68th percentile of all CPUs, and the GPU's performance, which is in the 86th percentile of all GPUs.

The combo rank suggests that while the GPU is top-tier, the CPU is a mid-range part, and this imbalance prevents the combo from ranking higher. The data shows that in many other tested combos, a more powerful CPU might allow the RTX 4080 to achieve even higher FPS at 1080p, where the CPU is more likely to be a bottleneck. However, the rank of 586 out of 3725 is still excellent, and it indicates that this pairing is well-suited for To The Core, especially at higher resolutions where the GPU is the dominant factor. The combo's performance is consistent with the GPU's capabilities, and the CPU is not holding back the GPU significantly, except perhaps at 1080p Low where the FPS of 389 is likely CPU-limited.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Comet Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz. It has a 12 MB shared L3 cache and supports DDR4 memory with a dual-channel bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s. The CPU's benchmark scores include a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 10283 and a single-core score of 1451, with a Geekbench multicore score of 6257 and a single-core score of 1420. The Passmark multithread score is 12115, and the single-thread score is 2541, placing it in the 68th percentile of all CPUs.

In To The Core, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic. The data indicates that at higher resolutions, the CPU is not a bottleneck, as the FPS scales with resolution as expected. However, at 1080p Low, the average FPS of 389 is close to the CPU's limit, as the GPU is capable of much higher frame rates in lighter scenes. The difference between 1080p Low (389 FPS) and 1080p Ultra (323 FPS) is 66 FPS, which is smaller than the difference at 4K (87 FPS between Low and Ultra), suggesting that the CPU is starting to limit performance at lower graphics settings.

The CPU's nearest rivals include the Intel Xeon 6756E (0.2% faster), the Intel Core 7 160UL (0.3% slower), the AMD EPYC 7552 (0.5% faster), and the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C (0.6% slower). These rivals have similar average benchmark scores, indicating that the i5-10400F is competitive with these parts, but its 6-core/12-thread configuration is not as strong as higher-end CPUs with more cores. For an idle game like To The Core, the CPU's single-thread performance is more critical, and the single-core scores of 688 (3DMark) and 1451 (Cinebench R23) are adequate. The data suggests that the CPU is not the limiting factor at 1440p and 4K, but at 1080p, it is the component that caps the maximum FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of performance across all settings and resolutions. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 389 FPS, which is the highest recorded. The Medium preset follows with 367 FPS, with a minimum of 312 and a maximum of 422. The High preset averages 349 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 323 FPS. The differences are modest, with a 66 FPS gap between Low and Ultra, indicating that the CPU is a limiting factor at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 341 FPS, the Medium preset averages 314 FPS (min 267, max 361), the High preset averages 272 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 219 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra widens to 122 FPS, showing that the GPU is taking on more load. At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 212 FPS, the Medium preset averages 180 FPS (min 153, max 207), the High preset averages 156 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 125 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 87 FPS, which is smaller than at 1440p, but the absolute FPS is still high.

The only settings with min and max FPS data are the Medium presets, which show a consistent pattern. At 1080p Medium, the FPS ranges from 312 to 422, a spread of 110 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the range is 267 to 361, a spread of 94 FPS. At 4K Medium, the range is 153 to 207, a spread of 54 FPS. This narrowing spread at higher resolutions indicates that the workload is more consistent, and the GPU is the primary driver of performance. The High and Ultra presets lack min/max data, but the averages suggest they are stable.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combo in To The Core?

A: The highest average FPS is 389, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low preset.

Q: How does the combo rank compared to other tested configurations?

A: The combo is ranked 586th out of 3725 tested combos, placing it in the top 15.7% of all configurations.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 4K Ultra settings?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the limiting factor at 4K Ultra, as the average FPS of 125 is significantly lower than at lower resolutions, while the CPU's performance is consistent.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for the Medium preset at 1440p?

A: The minimum FPS for the Medium preset at 2560x1440 is 267, with an average of 314 and a maximum of 361.

Q: How does the RTX 4080 compare to its nearest rival in terms of average benchmark score?

A: The RTX 4080 has an average benchmark score of 54247, which is 0.1% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER's score of 54209.

Q: What is the CPU's percentile ranking among all tested CPUs?

A: The Intel Core i5-10400F is in the 68th percentile of all CPUs, based on its average benchmark score of 14185.