To The Core

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates for this Intel Core i5-10400F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 combination show a steep and consistent scaling curve as resolution drops. At 4K Ultra, the average is 132.5 FPS. Moving down to 1440p Ultra raises that to 234.6 FPS, a 77% jump, and at 1080p Ultra the average reaches 321 FPS. This pattern indicates that the GPU is the dominant limiting factor at higher resolutions, with the RTX 5080's rendering load dictating the pace.

The scaling from 1440p to 1080p is less dramatic than from 4K to 1440p, which is typical. At 1080p High, the combo produces 348.9 FPS, while 1440p High sits at 288.2 FPS; that is a 21% difference. In contrast, the jump from 4K High (165 FPS) to 1440p High is 75%. This diminishing return as resolution drops suggests that the CPU begins to exert more influence at lower resolutions, though the frame rates remain exceptionally high across the board.

For an idle game, these numbers are far beyond what is needed for smooth gameplay, but the data reveals where the bottleneck shifts. At 4K, the RTX 5080's pixel throughput and memory bandwidth are being taxed. At 1080p, the i5-10400F's six cores and twelve threads, with a boost clock of 4.30 GHz, are more likely to cap the output. The gap between Low and Ultra settings also widens at lower resolutions, which points to the CPU handling the increased draw calls and object counts that come with higher presets.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 is the star here, and its specifications align with the measured results. It carries 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth. That memory subsystem is crucial for 4K performance, where the Ultra preset at 132.5 FPS still clears high-refresh thresholds. The GPU's boost clock of 2617 MHz and base clock of 2295 MHz, combined with 10752 shading units, produce a FP32 throughput of 56.28 TFLOPS. This raw compute power explains why even the most demanding preset at 4K stays above 130 FPS.

The GPU's benchmark standing reinforces this. Its PassMark G3D score is 36565, and it sits in the 89th percentile of all GPUs. Compared to its nearest rivals, the RTX 5080 leads the Intel Arc A570M by 1.6%, the AMD Radeon Pro W5500X by 2.6%, and the Intel Arc A580 by 2.5%, while trailing the Intel Arc Pro A60 by 1.9%. These are narrow margins, but the RTX 5080's average benchmark score of 59188 places it firmly in high-end territory. For "To The Core," an idle game, the GPU is overkill at 1080p, but the data shows it still scales cleanly up to 4K Ultra.

The 45,600 million transistors on a 378 mm² die, built on TSMC's 5 nm process, give the RTX 5080 a transistor density of 120.6M / mm². This architecture, Blackwell 2.0, supports DirectX 12 Ultimate and Vulkan 1.4, which the game likely leverages. The 84 RT cores and 336 tensor cores are present, though an idle title probably does not stress them heavily. The texture rate of 879.3 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 293.1 GPixel/s ensure that even at 4K, fill-rate limits are not being hit, as evidenced by the 165 FPS average on High settings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F is a 10th Gen Comet Lake part with six cores and twelve threads. Its base clock is 2.90 GHz, boosting to 4.30 GHz, and it draws a modest 65 W TDP. The CPU's cache layout includes 64 KB L1 and 256 KB L2 per core, plus 12 MB shared L3. Memory support is DDR4, dual-channel, with 42.7 GB/s bandwidth. This is not a state-of-the-art platform, and the PCIe Gen 3, 16-lane interface could theoretically bottleneck the RTX 5080, which uses PCIe 5.0 x16, but the measured FPS suggests this is not a practical issue in this game.

CPU benchmark scores show where this part stands. In Cinebench R23, it scores 10297 multi-core and 1453 single-core. Geekbench gives 5783 multi-core and 1454 single-core. The PassMark multithread score is 12115, with a single-thread score of 2541. The CPU sits in the 73rd percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 14168. Its nearest rivals are remarkably close: the AMD EPYC 7552 is 0.4% ahead, the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C is 0.8% behind, and the Intel Core i5-8500 is 1.1% behind. This tells us the i5-10400F is a mid-pack performer, not a top-tier chip, yet it still delivers 390.9 FPS at 1080p Low.

In "To The Core," the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic. At 4K, the GPU is the clear bottleneck, as the CPU has ample headroom. But at 1080p Low, the average FPS of 390.9 suggests the CPU is nearing its limit, though it still holds above 390. The 3DMark scores reinforce this: 2-thread score of 1350, 4-thread of 2560, and 8-thread of 3929, with max-threads at 4735. These indicate that the CPU scales reasonably with threads, but its single-thread performance (688 in 3DMark single-thread) is modest by modern standards. For an idle game, which may be more sensitive to single-thread performance, this could be the reason the 1080p frame rates plateau around 390 rather than pushing higher.

How This Combo Ranks

Among 1756 tested combinations for "To The Core," this pairing of the i5-10400F and RTX 5080 ranks 192nd. That puts it in the top 11% of all combos, which is respectable given the CPU's age and tier. The rank reflects the GPU's dominance in this title; the RTX 5080's 89th percentile standing among GPUs pulls the combo upward, while the CPU's 73rd percentile holds it back from the top 100.

The delta between the CPU and GPU percentiles is notable. A 16-percentage-point gap suggests that pairing this GPU with a stronger CPU would yield higher rankings. However, the measured FPS data shows this combo is already delivering excellent results. At 4K Ultra, 132.5 FPS is well above playable, and at 1440p High, 288.2 FPS is smooth on any high-refresh monitor. The rank of 192 indicates there are 191 combos that do better, but those likely feature newer, higher-end CPUs that avoid the slight bottleneck at lower resolutions.

For context, the CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks are all within 1.2% of its average score. This means the i5-10400F is in a crowded field, and swapping it for an AMD EPYC 7552 or a Core i5-8500 would produce nearly identical results in this game. The combo's rank is therefore more dependent on the GPU than the CPU, which is a practical takeaway for builders: if you own this CPU, the RTX 5080 is a valid upgrade path without a major compromise in this title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The data provides 12 measured rows, covering three resolutions and four settings. At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 390.9 FPS, Medium drops to 366.9 FPS, High to 348.9 FPS, and Ultra to 321 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 69.9 FPS, or about 18%, which shows that even at 1080p, the GPU has enough headroom to handle increased graphical fidelity without a catastrophic frame rate loss.

At 2560x1440, the numbers are still high: Low averages 340 FPS, Medium 321.5 FPS, High 288.2 FPS, and Ultra 234.6 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra is 105.4 FPS, or 31%, which is steeper than at 1080p. This indicates that at 1440p, the GPU's rendering workload becomes more significant, and the Ultra preset's additional effects cost more performance.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates remain playable but show the GPU's limits. Low averages 222.9 FPS, Medium 191.6 FPS, High 165 FPS, and Ultra 132.5 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 90.4 FPS, or 40%. Notably, the gap between High and Ultra is 32.5 FPS, which is the largest single-step drop in the entire dataset. This suggests that the Ultra preset at 4K includes a particularly demanding feature that the RTX 5080 struggles with, though it still maintains a solid 132.5 FPS average.

Comparing across resolutions for the same settings, the scaling is consistent. At Ultra, 4K is 132.5 FPS, 1440p is 234.6 FPS, and 1080p is 321 FPS. At Low, the numbers are 222.9, 340, and 390.9 respectively. The relative penalty for 4K over 1080p is larger at Low (43% reduction) than at Ultra (59% reduction), which again points to the CPU becoming a factor at lower settings.

Settings Recommendations

For the best experience per the measured rows, the data suggests different presets for different resolutions. At 4K, the High preset at 165 FPS is the sweet spot. It is 32.5 FPS faster than Ultra while looking nearly identical in most idle game scenarios, and it is 26.6 FPS slower than Medium but with better visual quality. The 4K Ultra preset at 132.5 FPS is still smooth, but the performance hit for the last step is steep, making High the more practical choice.

At 1440p, the Medium preset at 321.5 FPS offers the best balance. It is 33 FPS faster than High and 87 FPS faster than Ultra, while only being 18.5 FPS slower than Low. Given that most monitors top out at 144 Hz or 165 Hz, Medium at 1440p provides more than double the necessary frame rate with improved visuals over Low. Ultra at 234.6 FPS is also excellent, but the 87 FPS drop from Medium is hard to justify unless you demand maximum fidelity.

At 1080p, the Ultra preset at 321 FPS is recommended. The CPU is the limiting factor here, as shown by the narrowing gaps between settings. Ultra is only 42.9 FPS slower than High and 69.9 FPS slower than Low, but it delivers the full visual experience. Since even the lowest setting at 1080p yields 390.9 FPS, there is no reason to sacrifice quality; the CPU will cap performance regardless. For competitive play, Low at 390.9 FPS might be preferred for minimal input lag, but for general use, Ultra's 321 FPS is more than sufficient.

In summary, the data indicates that this combo should be paired with a high-refresh monitor. At 4K, use High for a smooth 165 FPS. At 1440p, Medium provides a comfortable margin at 321.5 FPS. At 1080p, Ultra is the way to go at 321 FPS, as the CPU prevents higher averages anyway. The RTX 5080's 16 GB of VRAM and 960.0 GB/s bandwidth are more than enough for this idle game, and the i5-10400F, while older, does not hold the system back to a noticeable degree in this title.