To The Core

The Intel Core i5-11400F and Intel Arc B570 pairing delivers a surprisingly robust experience in To The Core, an idle game that nevertheless scales heavily with hardware. The data shows a combo that is positioned in the 2380th spot out of 2991 tested combinations, placing it in the lower-middle tier of the database, yet the measured frame rates suggest it clears the playability threshold at every setting and resolution tested. This analysis breaks down the CPU and GPU contributions, scaling behavior, and optimal configurations based strictly on the recorded metrics.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i5-11400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Rocket Lake architecture, built on Intel's 14 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU's cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 512 KB of L2 per core, and a shared 12 MB L3 cache. Memory support is limited to DDR4 in a dual-channel configuration, providing a theoretical bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s, which is a factor for a game that may rely on memory throughput.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i5-11400F shows a strong single-thread showing with a 3DMark single-thread score of 868, and a multi-thread score of 5652 in the max-threads test. Cinebench R23 results are 2024 for single-core and 14340 for multi-core. The processor's percentile versus all CPUs is 71, indicating it outperforms roughly 71% of the database's tracked processors in aggregate benchmark score. Its nearest rivals in average score are the AMD EPYC 7H12 (0.3% higher), the Intel Core i5-12450H (0.4% lower), the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G (0.6% lower), and the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U (0.6% higher), showing that the i5-11400F sits in a tightly contested performance band.

For To The Core, which is an idle game, the CPU's role is likely more about maintaining a stable simulation loop than pushing extreme frame rates. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 225 FPS average, which is significantly above any display refresh rate, implying the CPU is not a bottleneck at lower resolutions. However, the 12-thread count and 4.40 GHz boost clock are sufficient to feed the GPU even at 1080p Ultra, where the average FPS drops to 133. The 3DMark 4-thread score of 3171 and 8-thread score of 4691 suggest that the CPU can handle moderate parallel workloads, which is typical for games that spawn background processes. The lack of integrated graphics is irrelevant here, as the dedicated Arc B570 handles rendering. The CPU's 71st percentile ranking and its close rivalry with the EPYC 7H12 and i5-12450H indicate that it is not a top-tier part, but for an idle game, the data suggests it does not hinder performance in the measured scenarios.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Arc B570 is a discrete GPU based on the Xe2-HPG architecture (Battlemage generation), manufactured on TSMC's 5 nm process with 19,600 million transistors. It features 2304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 80 raster output units, along with 18 ray tracing cores. The GPU clock is fixed at 2500 MHz for both base and boost, with memory clocked at 2375 MHz (19 Gbps effective). The memory subsystem consists of 10 GB of GDDR6 on a 160-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 380.0 GB/s. The card's theoretical performance is 11.52 TFLOPS for FP32 and 23.04 TFLOPS for FP16 (2:1 ratio), with pixel and texture rates of 200.0 GPixel/s and 360.0 GTexel/s, respectively. It has a 150 W TDP and requires a 450 W power supply, connecting via PCIe 4.0 x8.

In the GPU benchmark suite, the Arc B570 scores 14195 in Passmark G3D and 7281 in Passmark GPU Compute, with a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2649. Its percentile versus all GPUs is 65, meaning it outperforms 65% of tracked GPUs. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (0.1% higher), the Intel Arc A750 (0.1% lower), the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M (0.4% higher), and the AMD Radeon R9 M390X (0.5% lower). The GPU's 10 GB VRAM is ample for an idle game, which typically does not have high texture memory demands, but the 380 GB/s bandwidth ensures that even at 4K Ultra, the GPU can sustain a 51 FPS average.

The GPU's role in To The Core is evident in the scaling from Low to Ultra settings. At 1080p, the average FPS drops from 225 on Low to 133 on Ultra, a 41% decrease, indicating that the GPU's shading and ROP throughput are being taxed by higher visual fidelity. At 4K, the drop is from 87 on Low to 51 on Ultra, a 41% decrease as well, showing a consistent relationship between settings and GPU load. The Arc B570's 2500 MHz clock and 11.52 TFLOPS are sufficient to maintain playable frame rates even at the highest settings, but the data shows that the GPU is the primary limiter at 4K Ultra, where the average FPS falls below 60.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of resolution scaling. Moving from 1080p to 1440p to 4K, the average frame rates decrease consistently across all settings. For High settings, the average FPS goes from 165 at 1080p, to 111 at 1440p, to 64 at 4K. This represents a 33% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a 42% drop from 1440p to 4K. For Low settings, the progression is 225 FPS at 1080p, 152 FPS at 1440p, and 87 FPS at 4K, with drops of 32% and 43% respectively. Medium settings show a similar trend: 191 FPS at 1080p, 128 FPS at 1440p, and 73 FPS at 4K, with drops of 33% and 43%. Ultra settings yield 133 FPS at 1080p, 89 FPS at 1440p, and 51 FPS at 4K, with drops of 33% and 43%.

The consistent percentage drops across settings indicate that the GPU is the scaling bottleneck. The CPU's performance, as measured by its 3DMark multi-thread score of 5652, is not changing with resolution, so the FPS reduction is attributable to the GPU's pixel throughput. The Arc B570's pixel rate of 200.0 GPixel/s and texture rate of 360.0 GTexel/s are fixed, and as the resolution increases, the number of pixels to shade increases, leading to lower frame rates. The fact that the drop from 1440p to 4K is larger (~43%) than from 1080p to 1440p (~33%) suggests that the GPU is approaching its limits at 4K, where the memory bandwidth of 380 GB/s also becomes a factor. At 1080p, the GPU is not fully saturated, as evidenced by the 225 FPS on Low, which likely exceeds the CPU's ability to feed frames, but the CPU's 12 threads are sufficient to keep up.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and desired smoothness. At 1080p, all presets are playable, with Low averaging 225 FPS, Medium 191 FPS, High 165 FPS, and Ultra 133 FPS. The Medium preset offers a good balance, with a 191 FPS average and a minimum of 162 FPS, which is well above any standard 60 Hz or 144 Hz display. High settings at 1080p yield 165 FPS average, which is still smooth, but the jump from Medium to High costs 26 FPS, while the jump from High to Ultra costs 32 FPS. For a game like To The Core, where visual fidelity may not be critical, Medium provides the best experience per the measured rows, as it maintains a high frame rate with only a 15% reduction from Low.

At 1440p, Medium is again recommended, with an average of 128 FPS and a minimum of 109 FPS, which is sufficient for high-refresh monitors. High settings at 1440p drop to 111 FPS average, and Ultra drops to 89 FPS. The data shows that Ultra at 1440p is still playable, but the 39 FPS difference between Medium and Ultra may not justify the visual upgrade for an idle game. At 4K, the choices are tighter. Medium averages 73 FPS with a minimum of 62 FPS, which is playable but near the 60 FPS threshold. High averages 64 FPS, which is borderline, and Ultra averages 51 FPS, which is below 60. Low averages 87 FPS, which is the only preset at 4K that provides a comfortable margin above 60 FPS. Therefore, for 4K, Low is the recommended preset to ensure smooth gameplay, as the jump to Medium only provides a 14 FPS improvement over Low, but the minimum FPS for Medium is 62, which is close to the edge.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the Intel Core i5-11400F and the Intel Arc B570 ranks 2380th out of 2991 tested combos in To The Core. This places it in the 79.6th percentile of all combos, meaning it performs better than roughly 79.6% of the combinations in the database. However, this rank is relatively low compared to the individual component percentiles (CPU at 71st, GPU at 65th), suggesting that the game may not be particularly demanding on either component, or that other combos with lower-tier parts achieve similar FPS due to the game's idle nature.

The rank of 2380 indicates that there are 611 combos that perform worse, but also that the majority of combos outperform this pairing. The data shows that the combo is not bottlenecked by CPU or GPU in isolation, as the 1080p Low FPS of 225 is high, but the rank suggests that many other CPUs and GPUs can achieve similar or better results. The nearest rival combos in terms of individual component scores are not available, but the CPU's nearest rivals (EPYC 7H12, i5-12450H) and GPU's nearest rivals (RTX 3070 Mobile, Arc A750) likely form combos that rank higher. For instance, the Arc A750, which is 0.1% lower in GPU score, may pair with a faster CPU to push higher FPS. The rank of 2380 is a modest result, indicating that this combo is adequate but not exceptional for To The Core, with the GPU's 10 GB VRAM and 380 GB/s bandwidth being more than sufficient for the game's demands, but the overall system performance being limited by the mid-range components.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The exact measured FPS data is as follows. At 1920x1080, the average FPS by settings is: Low at 225, Medium at 191 (with a minimum of 162 and maximum of 219), High at 165, and Ultra at 133. At 2560x1440, the average FPS is: Low at 152, Medium at 128 (with a minimum of 109 and maximum of 147), High at 111, and Ultra at 89. At 3840x2160, the average FPS is: Low at 87, Medium at 73 (with a minimum of 62 and maximum of 84), High at 64, and Ultra at 51. The Medium settings at each resolution are the only ones with recorded minimum and maximum FPS values, providing a range that indicates frame time consistency. At 1080p Medium, the range is 162 to 219 FPS, a spread of 57 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the range is 109 to 147 FPS, a spread of 38 FPS. At 4K Medium, the range is 62 to 84 FPS, a spread of 22 FPS, showing that as resolution increases, the frame time variance decreases, likely due to the GPU being more consistently loaded.

The data shows that the combo can push past 200 FPS at 1080p Low, but at 4K Ultra, it dips to 51 FPS. The step from Medium to High at each resolution results in a drop of about 26 FPS at 1080p (191 to 165), 17 FPS at 1440p (128 to 111), and 9 FPS at 4K (73 to 64). The step from High to Ultra results in drops of 32 FPS at 1080p (165 to 133), 22 FPS at 1440p (111 to 89), and 13 FPS at 4K (64 to 51). These diminishing returns suggest that the GPU's resources are being saturated at higher settings, particularly at 4K, where the difference between High and Ultra is only 13 FPS, indicating that the GPU is running out of headroom.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p Ultra with this combo?

A: The average FPS at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings is 133.

Q: Does this combo maintain 60 FPS at 4K on any preset?

A: Yes, at 3840x2160 with Low settings, the average FPS is 87, and with Medium settings, the average is 73 with a minimum of 62. However, High averages 64 FPS, which is barely above 60, and Ultra averages 51 FPS, which is below 60.

Q: How does the Intel Core i5-11400F compare to the Intel Core i5-12450H in average benchmark score?

A: The i5-11400F has an average benchmark score of 17177, while the i5-12450H has an average score of 17239, making the i5-12450H 0.4% higher.

Q: What is the GPU's memory bandwidth and VRAM size?

A: The Intel Arc B570 has 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus, with a bandwidth of 380.0 GB/s.

Q: Which resolution and settings give the highest minimum FPS?

A: The highest minimum FPS recorded is 162 at 1920x1080 with Medium settings. At 2560x1440 Medium, the minimum is 109, and at 3840x2160 Medium, the minimum is 62.

Q: How many total combos are ranked in this game, and where does this combo place?

A: This combo ranks 2380th out of 2991 tested combinations in To The Core.