To The Core

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates for this Intel Core i5-11400F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER combination in To The Core reveal a predictable but telling scaling pattern as resolution increases. At 1080p with Ultra settings, the combo produces 155 FPS, which drops to 104.8 FPS at 1440p and further to 58 FPS at 4K. This represents a 32.4% performance loss from 1080p to 1440p and a 44.7% loss from 1440p to 4K, indicating that the GPU is becoming progressively more strained as pixel count rises.

The scaling behavior across all settings tells a consistent story. With High settings, the transition from 1080p (193.5 FPS) to 1440p (127.6 FPS) costs 34.1% performance, while the jump to 4K (72.2 FPS) costs another 43.4%. The Low preset shows the steepest absolute drops: from 262.4 FPS at 1080p to 177.5 FPS at 1440p, then 100.1 FPS at 4K. The percentage losses are 32.3% and 43.6% respectively, nearly identical to the High preset's pattern.

Medium settings follow the same trajectory: 221.3 FPS at 1080p, 148.6 FPS at 1440p, and 88.7 FPS at 4K. The relative drops are 32.9% and 40.3%. The consistency of these percentage losses across all four presets strongly suggests that resolution scaling is the dominant factor, with the GPU being the primary limiting component. The fact that 4K performance at High (72.2 FPS) is still above 60 FPS indicates the combo handles 4K reasonably well for this idle-genre title, but the steep drop to 58 FPS at Ultra shows the ceiling of what this GPU can deliver at that resolution.

What the data shows is that the scaling curve is not linear — the 4K to 1080p ratio ranges from 2.67x (High) to 2.62x (Low), meaning the performance penalty for 4K is roughly consistent regardless of settings. This points to a GPU-bound scenario where the RTX 2060 SUPER's capabilities are the limiting factor, not the CPU or memory bandwidth.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER brings 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. In To The Core, this memory configuration proves sufficient even at 4K Ultra, where the combo still manages 58 FPS. The GPU's base clock of 1470 MHz and boost clock of 1650 MHz, combined with 2176 shading units, 136 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, produce a pixel rate of 105.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 224.4 GTexel/s. These specifications directly influence how the card handles the rendering demands at each resolution.

The GPU's FP32 performance of 7.181 TFLOPS is the raw compute muscle behind the measured results. Benchmark data places this GPU in the 63rd percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 19774. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN (0.3% ahead), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 (0.5% ahead), NVIDIA Quadro K5200 (0.8% ahead), and NVIDIA Tesla K40m (1.3% ahead). This tight clustering means the RTX 2060 SUPER sits in a competitive band where small architectural differences translate into meaningful FPS deltas.

The 8 GB VRAM capacity is never a bottleneck in the measured data. Even at 4K Ultra, the card maintains playable frame rates, suggesting the game's memory footprint stays within the 8 GB allocation. The 256-bit bus width and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth provide sufficient throughput for the texture streaming demands at higher resolutions. The GPU's Turing architecture, built on a 12 nm process with 10,800 million transistors, delivers the DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4 API support that the game can leverage.

The fact that 4K Ultra yields 58 FPS while 4K High produces 72.2 FPS indicates that the Ultra preset's additional visual effects push the GPU to its limit. The GPU is clearly the performance ceiling here — the CPU has headroom left at lower resolutions where frame rates exceed 250 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations for To The Core, this specific pairing of Intel Core i5-11400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER ranks 1314th out of 1756 total combos. This places it in the bottom 25% of all tested configurations, which is a noteworthy positioning given the hardware's individual specifications.

The CPU alone sits in the 75th percentile among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 17181. Its nearest rivals are the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U (0% delta), Intel Core i7-1260P (-0.2%), Intel Core Ultra 7 164U (-0.2%), and Intel Core i5-1240U (0.2%). The GPU, at the 63rd percentile, is comparatively weaker in its own field. This imbalance — a strong CPU paired with a mid-tier GPU — explains the combo's lower rank. The data shows that the GPU's percentile position (63rd) drags the overall combo ranking down relative to configurations with more balanced or GPU-heavier pairings.

The rank of 1314 out of 1756 means 442 tested combos perform worse, while 1313 perform better. This is not a poor result in absolute terms — the combo delivers smooth 1080p and 1440p gameplay — but it indicates that many other pairings achieve higher frame rates in this specific title. The rank reflects the GPU's 63rd percentile standing more than the CPU's 75th percentile, confirming that To The Core is primarily GPU-bound at the tested settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest performance across all presets. Low settings produce 262.4 FPS, Medium 221.3 FPS, High 193.5 FPS, and Ultra 155 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 107.4 FPS, representing a 40.9% performance reduction when maxing out settings. Even at Ultra, the 155 FPS result is far above any display refresh rate, making 1080p completely CPU-unlimited territory.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain robust but show the GPU starting to work harder. Low yields 177.5 FPS, Medium 148.6 FPS, High 127.6 FPS, and Ultra 104.8 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra gap narrows to 72.7 FPS (a 41% reduction), consistent with the 1080p pattern. Notably, Ultra at 1440p (104.8 FPS) still comfortably exceeds 100 FPS, indicating excellent headroom for high-refresh-rate 1440p monitors.

At 3840x2160, the picture changes. Low produces 100.1 FPS, Medium 88.7 FPS, High 72.2 FPS, and Ultra 58 FPS. The Ultra preset dips below 60 FPS, which is the first time the combo fails to maintain a 60 FPS floor. The Low-to-Ultra gap is 42.1 FPS (a 42% reduction). The 4K numbers show that while the GPU can handle 4K at lower settings, the Ultra preset pushes it past its comfortable operating range.

The settings scaling within each resolution shows a consistent pattern: Low to Medium costs roughly 15-16% performance, Medium to High costs another 12-14%, and High to Ultra costs an additional 15-20%. This tiered degradation suggests each preset level adds meaningful visual complexity that directly impacts the GPU's workload.

FAQ

*Q: Can this combo run To The Core at 4K 60 FPS?*

A: Only at High settings and below. The measured data shows 72.2 FPS at 4K High, 88.7 FPS at 4K Medium, and 100.1 FPS at 4K Low. At 4K Ultra, performance drops to 58 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in this game?

A: 1440p provides the best balance. At 1440p Ultra, the combo delivers 104.8 FPS, while 1440p High reaches 127.6 FPS. Both exceed 100 FPS, offering smooth gameplay without the steep 4K penalty.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High at 1080p?

A: At 1080p, Ultra produces 155 FPS versus 193.5 FPS on High. This represents a 38.5 FPS difference, or about a 20% performance reduction for the Ultra preset's additional effects.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The GPU is the primary limiter. The CPU ranks in the 75th percentile with an average benchmark score of 17181, while the GPU sits in the 63rd percentile. The consistent resolution scaling pattern confirms the GPU is the bottleneck.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: It ranks 1314th out of 1756 total combos in To The Core. This places it in the lower quartile, primarily due to the GPU's 63rd percentile standing relative to other tested graphics cards.

Q: What settings should be avoided at 4K?

A: The Ultra preset should be avoided at 4K, as it produces 58 FPS. High settings at 4K yield 72.2 FPS and are the highest preset that maintains a 60 FPS floor.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured data, the optimal settings depend heavily on the target resolution and refresh rate. For 1080p displays, the Ultra preset at 155 FPS is the clear choice — it provides the highest visual quality while still delivering frame rates far above any standard 60 Hz or 144 Hz monitor. The 155 FPS result leaves substantial headroom, so there is no reason to compromise on visual fidelity at this resolution.

For 1440p, the High preset at 127.6 FPS offers the best experience for high-refresh-rate monitors. Ultra at 104.8 FPS is also viable and still exceeds 100 FPS, but High provides an additional 22.8 FPS (a 21.8% improvement) with a minimal visual downgrade. For 1440p 60 Hz displays, Ultra is perfectly acceptable since 104.8 FPS exceeds the display's capability.

At 4K, the recommendation is High settings at 72.2 FPS. This maintains a comfortable margin above 60 FPS while preserving most visual quality. Medium at 88.7 FPS is the choice for those prioritizing frame rate over fidelity, and Low at 100.1 FPS is available for maximum smoothness. The Ultra preset at 58 FPS should be avoided because it dips below the 60 FPS threshold, which can cause perceptible stutter on standard 60 Hz displays.

The data suggests that the High preset is the sweet spot across all resolutions. At 1080p it delivers 193.5 FPS, at 1440p 127.6 FPS, and at 4K 72.2 FPS. This consistency makes High a reliable recommendation for any resolution. The Medium preset offers a smaller but still significant step up in performance, while Low provides the highest frame rates at the cost of visual quality.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F provides 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. This Rocket Lake architecture chip, built on Intel's 14 nm process, has a 12 MB shared L3 cache and 80 KB L1 cache per core, plus 512 KB L2 per core. The CPU's memory support for DDR4 at dual-channel delivers 51.2 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient for this game's demands.

In synthetic benchmarks, this CPU achieves a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 14372 and a single-core score of 2029. The Geekbench multicore score is 7579 with a single-core score of 1979. These numbers place the CPU in the 75th percentile among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 17181. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U (0% delta), Intel Core i7-1260P (-0.2%), Intel Core Ultra 7 164U (-0.2%), and Intel Core i5-1240U (0.2%).

The CPU's performance headroom is evident in the measured frame rates. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 262.4 FPS, which is far above what the GPU can sustain at higher resolutions. The single-core performance (Cinebench R23 score of 2029, PassMark single-thread score of 2981) is particularly relevant for an idle-genre game like To The Core, which likely relies on consistent single-threaded simulation logic. The 3DMark single-thread score of 868 and 2-thread score of 1691 confirm that the CPU's per-core strength is adequate for the game's logic at all tested resolutions.

The CPU's 65 W TDP and 20 PCIe Gen 4 lanes provide a solid platform foundation. The fact that frame rates scale consistently with resolution changes — rather than showing CPU-related plateaus or stutters — indicates the processor is never the bottleneck in this configuration. The CPU's 12 threads ensure that background tasks and game threads have sufficient resources, while the 4.40 GHz boost clock delivers the responsiveness needed for the game's simulation updates.