To The Core

The Intel Core i5-10400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 produces an unusual benchmark profile in To The Core, an Idle genre title. The data shows a combination where the GPU’s immense raw power is frequently held back by the 10th-gen CPU’s architecture, yet the sheer headroom of the RTX 4090 still delivers playable to exceptional frame rates across all tested settings. This analysis interprets the measured FPS rows to explain where the bottleneck lies, how this combo ranks among 1,756 tested configurations, and what settings offer the most balanced experience.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of diminishing returns as resolution drops, which is the opposite of what is typically seen in GPU-bound titles. At 4K (3840x2160), the combo averages between 138.5 FPS on Ultra and 236.8 FPS on Low. Dropping to 1440p (2560x1440) increases these figures substantially, with the Low preset jumping to 341.3 FPS and Ultra reaching 245.9 FPS. The most telling shift occurs at 1080p (1920x1080), where the Low preset hits 389.2 FPS, but the gains over 1440p are relatively modest—only about 48 FPS for Low, 41.7 FPS for Medium, and 48.5 FPS for High. This compression at lower resolutions indicates that the Intel Core i5-10400F, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, becomes the limiting factor once the GPU’s rasterization load decreases.

Specifically, the scaling from 4K to 1440p shows an average FPS increase of roughly 70-105 FPS depending on the preset, which demonstrates the RTX 4090 flexing its muscle when pixel count drops. However, the scaling from 1440p to 1080p is far less impressive, with gains of only 14-48 FPS across presets. For Ultra settings, the jump from 1440p (245.9 FPS) to 1080p (321.2 FPS) is a 75.3 FPS improvement, which is significant but still smaller than the 107.4 FPS gain seen when moving from 4K Ultra (138.5 FPS) to 1440p Ultra. This pattern strongly suggests that at 1080p, the CPU’s single-thread performance—evidenced by its 3DMark single-thread score of 688 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1453—prevents the GPU from reaching its full potential. The RTX 4090’s 82.58 TFLOPS FP32 performance is effectively wasted at 1080p, as the CPU cannot feed it enough draw calls.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the database of 1,756 tested combos for To The Core, this specific pairing of the i5-10400F and RTX 4090 holds the 175th position. This ranking places it in the top 10% of all configurations, which is impressive given the CPU’s age and market segment. The CPU itself sits at the 73rd percentile against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 14,168. Its nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 7552 (0.4% faster), AMD Ryzen 3 7320C (0.8% slower), and Intel Core i5-8500 (1.1% slower). The GPU, meanwhile, ranks at the 91st percentile against all GPUs, with an average score of 66,473, and its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Tesla T4 (0.4% faster) and AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 (0.9% slower).

The disparity between the CPU’s 73rd percentile and GPU’s 91st percentile is the key story here. The combo rank of 175 suggests that the RTX 4090 is carrying the load, but the i5-10400F is not completely holding it back. In a game like To The Core, which is an Idle genre title likely with modest threading requirements, the 6-core/12-thread configuration proves sufficient to avoid catastrophic bottlenecks. The data shows the combo outperforming many configurations with newer CPUs, but it also indicates that a more modern processor would likely push this combo much higher, possibly into the top 50. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 4,748 and max-thread score of 4,735 confirm that the CPU’s multithreaded capability is respectable, but not exceptional by 2024 standards.

FAQ

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-10400F a bottleneck for the RTX 4090 in this game?

A: The data suggests partial bottlenecking at lower resolutions. At 1080p, the FPS gains over 1440p are limited (e.g., 348.9 to 389.2 FPS on High), indicating CPU limitations. At 4K, the GPU is the primary driver, as evidenced by the larger FPS drops when increasing settings.

Q: What is the best resolution to use with this combo?

A: Based on the measured rows, 1440p offers the best balance. The High preset delivers 300.4 FPS, which is 127.6 FPS higher than 4K High (172.8 FPS), while 1080p only adds 48.5 FPS over 1440p for the same preset. This suggests 1440p leverages the GPU more effectively without the CPU bottleneck seen at 1080p.

*Q: How does the RTX 4090’s VRAM affect performance in To The Core?*

A: The GPU features 24 GB of GDDR6X memory with a 384-bit bus and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth. This massive allocation likely prevents any texture or geometry-related stuttering, as the game’s asset demands are far below this capacity. The data shows no min FPS values recorded, which could indicate consistent frame delivery without VRAM pressure.

Q: Is this combo overkill for a game released in 2024?

A: Given the genre is Idle, the RTX 4090’s 82.58 TFLOPS is far beyond typical requirements. The 4K Ultra average of 138.5 FPS is still excellent, but the GPU is clearly underutilized at lower settings. The combo ranks 175th out of 1,756, meaning many cheaper GPUs likely achieve similar results.

Q: What does the 73rd percentile CPU ranking mean for gaming longevity?

A: The i5-10400F scores 10,297 in Cinebench R23 multi-core, which is below modern mid-range CPUs. In To The Core, this translates to playable but not optimal performance. The combo’s 175th rank suggests future titles with heavier CPU demands will see this processor become a more significant bottleneck.

Q: How does the combo’s performance scale with settings at 4K?

A: The measured data shows a clear step-down: Low (236.8 FPS) to Medium (202.1 FPS) is a 34.7 FPS drop, Medium to High (172.8 FPS) is a 29.3 FPS drop, and High to Ultra (138.5 FPS) is a 34.3 FPS drop. This linear degradation indicates the GPU has enough headroom to handle all presets, but Ultra carries a significant performance cost.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of this combo’s performance across three resolutions and four settings. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves 389.2 FPS, which is the highest average recorded for this pairing. The Medium preset scores 365.3 FPS, High scores 348.9 FPS, and Ultra scores 321.2 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 68 FPS, representing a 17.5% reduction in frame rate for the highest visual quality.

Moving to 2560x1440, the numbers remain highly playable but show a more pronounced impact from settings. Low averages 341.3 FPS, Medium drops to 323.6 FPS, High reaches 300.4 FPS, and Ultra falls to 245.9 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 95.4 FPS, which is a 28% drop. This wider spread indicates that the GPU is working harder at this resolution, but the CPU still provides enough throughput to maintain high refresh rates.

At 3840x2160, the data reveals the most significant setting sensitivity. Low averages 236.8 FPS, Medium drops to 202.1 FPS, High comes in at 172.8 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 138.5 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 98.3 FPS, a 41.5% reduction. This is the largest relative drop across all resolutions, confirming that 4K Ultra is the most demanding configuration tested. Notably, the 4K Low result of 236.8 FPS is still higher than the 1440p Ultra result of 245.9 FPS only by a small margin, showing that resolution scaling has a bigger impact than settings at this tier.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications explain the high frame rates observed. The GPU is built on the 5 nm process with 76,300 million transistors on a 609 mm² die. It operates at a base clock of 2235 MHz and boosts to 2520 MHz, with memory running at 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective). The 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus provides 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth, which is crucial for feeding the 16384 shading units across high-resolution textures.

The benchmark results for the GPU show a PassMark G3D score of 38,194 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 9,223. These scores place the GPU at the 91st percentile, with its nearest rival being the NVIDIA Tesla T4 (0.4% faster) and AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 (0.9% slower). In To The Core, the GPU’s role is to maintain high frame rates even at 4K Ultra, where the 138.5 FPS average indicates the Ada Lovelace architecture is handling the load efficiently. However, the CPU’s limitations become apparent when examining the 1080p results—the GPU’s 443.5 GPixel/s pixel rate and 1,290.2 GTexel/s texture rate are not fully utilized, as the i5-10400F cannot issue commands fast enough to exceed ~389 FPS.

The RTX 4090’s 450 W TDP and suggested 850 W PSU are notable, but the data does not show any thermal throttling artifacts. The GPU’s 128 RT cores and 512 tensor cores are irrelevant for this Idle game, as there is no ray tracing workload indicated in the measured rows. The VRAM capacity of 24 GB is far beyond what To The Core likely requires, ensuring zero loading stutter from texture swapping.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal settings depend on the target refresh rate. For 4K displays, the High preset at 172.8 FPS offers a strong balance—it is 34.3 FPS faster than Ultra (138.5 FPS) while still looking substantially better than Medium (202.1 FPS). The 34.3 FPS difference between High and Ultra is not worth the visual upgrade for most users, especially when High already exceeds the 144 Hz refresh rate common on 4K monitors. If the display is 120 Hz, Ultra at 138.5 FPS is viable, but High provides more headroom for dips.

For 1440p, the High preset at 300.4 FPS is the standout choice. It delivers over double the refresh rate of most 1440p monitors (144 Hz or 165 Hz) and is only 23.2 FPS slower than Medium (323.6 FPS). Ultra at 245.9 FPS is also playable, but the 54.5 FPS drop from High to Ultra suggests diminishing returns. At 1080p, all presets exceed 320 FPS, so the recommendation is to use Ultra (321.2 FPS) if the monitor supports it, as the frame rate remains above 300 FPS even at maximum settings.

The data indicates that the Medium preset is rarely the best choice. At 4K, it offers 202.1 FPS, which is 29.3 FPS more than High, but the visual quality difference between Medium and High is typically more noticeable than between High and Ultra. For a game in the Idle genre, where visual detail may not be critical, the Low preset at 4K (236.8 FPS) or 1440p (341.3 FPS) provides the highest frame rates for competitive play, but High is the best overall compromise between image quality and performance. The measured rows show that High consistently sits in the middle of the pack, making it the default recommendation for this combo.