To The Core

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS for this CPU-GPU combo at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings?

A: The measured average FPS at 4K Ultra is 144.4. This is the lowest frame rate recorded across all tested settings at this resolution, yet it remains well above the threshold for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the Intel Core i5-10400F compare to its nearest rival in CPU benchmarks?

A: The i5-10400F has an average benchmark score of 14168, placing it 0.4% ahead of the AMD EPYC 7552 (14115) and 0.8% behind the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C (14277). It sits in the 73rd percentile of all CPUs tested.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking among all graphics cards?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 ranks in the 94th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 84306. Its nearest rival, the RTX 5090 D, scores 84241, a 0.1% difference.

Q: What VRAM capacity does this GPU have, and what type of memory does it use?

A: The RTX 5090 features 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, delivering 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. This substantial memory allocation directly supports high-resolution texture workloads in this title.

Q: At which resolution does the combo achieve its highest frame rate?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 390.4, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. At the same resolution with Ultra settings, the combo still delivers 324.6 FPS.

Q: What is the combo's overall rank among all tested combinations for this game?

A: This pairing ranks 167th out of 1756 tested combos, placing it in the top tier of configurations evaluated for To The Core. The data is measured, not estimated.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture using a 5 nm process at TSMC, with a die size of 750 mm² containing 92,200 million transistors. Its base clock runs at 2017 MHz with a boost clock of 2407 MHz, while memory operates at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). The 32 GB GDDR7 frame buffer across a 512-bit bus provides 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth, a figure that proves decisive in this idle-genre title where large texture sets and scene complexity scale directly with resolution.

The GPU's compute resources are extensive: 21760 shading units, 680 TMUs, and 176 ROPs, alongside 170 RT cores and 680 tensor cores. Pixel rate reaches 423.6 GPixel/s and texture rate hits 1,636.8 GTexel/s, with FP32 throughput rated at 104.8 TFLOPS. These specifications translate to the measured frame rates in To The Core, where the GPU consistently drives high refresh rates even at maximum settings. At 3840x2160, the GPU's bandwidth and shading capacity keep average FPS between 144.4 (Ultra) and 244.3 (Low), demonstrating headroom for demanding visual configurations.

The 575 W TDP and dual-slot cooler with a single 16-pin power connector indicate the power delivery required to sustain these clocks. The card's PCIe 5.0 x16 interface ensures no bandwidth bottleneck from the system bus, a factor that becomes relevant when comparing results across different platform generations. Benchmark data shows the GPU scoring 14411 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, 380114 in Geekbench OpenCL, and 39650 in Passmark G3D, all of which corroborate its strong showing in the game's measured FPS data.

Settings Recommendations

At 1920x1080, all settings deliver exceedingly high frame rates: Low yields 390.4 FPS, Medium 367.4, High 350, and Ultra 324.6. The gap between Low and Ultra is 65.8 FPS, representing a 16.9% difference. Given that even Ultra exceeds 300 FPS, players on 1080p displays can safely enable maximum settings without sacrificing smoothness.

Moving to 2560x1440, the pattern continues with Ultra still delivering 248.4 FPS. Low produces 343.3 FPS, Medium 323.7, and High 307.5. The scaling from Low to Ultra shows a 94.9 FPS drop, yet every preset remains above 240 FPS, meaning high-refresh-rate 1440p monitors are fully utilized at any quality level. The data indicates that Medium or High offers a balanced trade-off, with High at 307.5 FPS providing substantial visual fidelity without the performance cost of Ultra.

At 3840x2160, the differences become more pronounced. Low hits 244.3 FPS, Medium 207.7, High 176.2, and Ultra 144.4. The 99.9 FPS spread between Low and Ultra represents a 40.9% performance penalty at maximum quality. For 4K gaming, the recommended preset is High: it retains 176.2 FPS, which comfortably exceeds 144 Hz refresh rates, while delivering noticeably better visual quality than Medium. Ultra remains viable for 120 Hz displays, but High provides the best experience per the measured rows, balancing frame rate headroom against the graphical demands of this title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest raw performance. Low settings produce 390.4 FPS, Medium 367.4, High 350, and Ultra 324.6. The delta from Low to Ultra is 65.8 FPS, showing that even at the most demanding preset, the pairing maintains exceptional throughput. The stepping between presets is consistent: Medium loses 23 FPS relative to Low, High loses 17.4 relative to Medium, and Ultra loses 25.4 relative to High.

At 2560x1440, frame rates remain elevated but begin to show scaling pressure. Low measures 343.3 FPS, Medium 323.7, High 307.5, and Ultra 248.4. The gap between Low and Ultra widens to 94.9 FPS, with the largest single-step drop occurring from High to Ultra at 59.1 FPS. This suggests that Ultra settings introduce a significant rendering load that the GPU absorbs with a measurable performance hit.

At 3840x2160, the resolution demands are fully apparent. Low yields 244.3 FPS, Medium 207.7, High 176.2, and Ultra 144.4. The step from Medium to High costs 31.5 FPS, while High to Ultra costs another 31.8 FPS. Total reduction from Low to Ultra reaches 99.9 FPS. Across all resolutions, the combo never drops below 144 FPS even at the most punishing settings, confirming that this pairing is never frame-rate-limited in this game.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-10400F with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 ranks 167th out of 1756 tested combos for To The Core, placing it in the top 9.5% of all configurations evaluated. This ranking reflects the GPU's dominance in this title, as the RTX 5090's 94th percentile standing among all GPUs drives the pairing's overall position. The CPU's 73rd percentile rank among all processors means the i5-10400F is not the limiting factor in this combination.

The GPU's nearest rivals in benchmark scores include the RTX 5090 D (84241, 0.1% lower), the RTX 5050 Mobile (84171, 0.2% lower), and the AMD Radeon PRO W6600 (83209, 1.3% lower). The NVIDIA CMP 40HX scores 85637, which is 1.6% higher than the RTX 5090. These narrow deltas indicate that the 5090 sits in a tightly clustered performance band at the top of the GPU hierarchy.

For the CPU, nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 7552 (14115, 0.4% lower) and the Intel Core i5-8500 (14332, 1.1% higher). The i5-10400F's average benchmark score of 14168 places it just below the Ryzen 3 7320C (14277, 0.8% higher). This positioning within 1.2% of all four nearest rivals shows that the CPU's performance is highly competitive for its segment, though its overall rank of 167 indicates that other combos with higher-end processors achieve better results in this game.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Comet Lake architecture, manufactured on a 14 nm process at Intel. Its base clock runs at 2.90 GHz with a boost clock of 4.30 GHz, and it carries a 65 W TDP. The CPU supports DDR4 memory in a dual-channel configuration with 42.7 GB/s of bandwidth, and its cache hierarchy includes 64 KB L1 per core, 256 KB L2 per core, and 12 MB of shared L3 cache.

In benchmark tests, the i5-10400F scores 10297 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 1453 in single-core, while Geekbench results show 5783 multi-core and 1454 single-core. Passmark multithread score reaches 12115 with a single-thread score of 2541. These figures place the CPU in the 73rd percentile of all processors, with an average benchmark score of 14168.

For To The Core, an idle-genre game, the CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads provide ample processing capacity. The boost clock of 4.30 GHz ensures responsive single-threaded performance, which matters for game logic and UI updates typical of idle titles. The 12 MB L3 cache helps maintain data locality for game state management. The CPU's 3DMark scores — 4748 for 16 threads, 3929 for 8 threads, 2560 for 4 threads, and 1350 for 2 threads — show consistent scaling that aligns with the game's moderate threading demands.

The measured FPS data indicates that the CPU does not bottleneck the RTX 5090, as frame rates scale predictably with resolution and settings. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 390.4 FPS, and even at 4K Ultra it sustains 144.4 FPS. The CPU's PCIe Gen 3, 16-lane interface provides sufficient bandwidth for the GPU, and its 42.7 GB/s memory bandwidth supports the data throughput required by this title without introducing measurable frame rate penalties.