To The Core

The Intel Core i5-11400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 lands at rank 187 out of 3725 tested combos in To The Core, placing it in the top 5% of all configurations. That rank is driven almost entirely by the GPU's raw output, since the pairing produces frame rates that exceed the refresh rates of most displays at every resolution tested. The combo's strength is consistency: from 1080p Low to 4K Ultra, the lowest average recorded is still 142 FPS, which means the system never dips below what most players would consider fluid gameplay. While the CPU is an older 11th-gen part, the data shows it does not meaningfully bottleneck this title, even at 1080p where the RTX 5090 is capable of generating hundreds of frames per second. The practical takeaway is that this is an unbalanced pairing on paper — a 65 W six-core chip from 2021 feeding a 575 W flagship GPU — but in To The Core, the measured results show the combination works without leaving performance on the table at any settings level.

How This Combo Ranks

The 187th position out of 3725 combos places this pairing in the 95th percentile of tested systems, which is a strong showing for a configuration built around a mid-range, end-of-life processor. The ranking is more a reflection of the RTX 5090's dominance than the i5-11400F's contribution, since the GPU alone sits in the 92nd percentile among all graphics cards. Compared to the CPU's own standing, the i5-11400F ranks in the 71st percentile against all processors, so the combo outperforms what the CPU's individual percentile would suggest. This indicates that To The Core is not heavily CPU-threaded, allowing the GPU to stretch its legs even when paired with a six-core, 12-thread chip.

The delta between the CPU and GPU performance tiers is worth noting. The i5-11400F's nearest rivals in average benchmark score include the AMD EPYC 7H12 (0.3% ahead), the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U (0.6% ahead), and the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G (0.6% behind), with the Intel Core i5-12450H sitting 0.4% ahead. These are all within a 1.2% spread, showing the CPU is firmly in a mid-pack performance band. In contrast, the RTX 5090's nearest rivals are the NVIDIA Tesla P100 variants (0.3% to 0.6% ahead) and the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (1.1% behind), placing it in a much higher performance tier. The combo rank of 187 reflects this gap: the system performs like a top-tier gaming rig because the GPU carries the load, and the CPU's modest standing does not drag the final result down in this specific title.

Settings Recommendations

For players prioritizing frame rate, the Low preset at 1080p delivers the highest measured average at 457 FPS, but such numbers are beyond what most monitors can display. The Medium preset at 1080p offers a more balanced experience, averaging 430 FPS with a minimum of 366 FPS and a maximum of 495 FPS, which provides a substantial visual upgrade over Low while keeping the frame rate well above any high-refresh display's capabilities. At 1440p, Medium again stands out as the sweet spot: 355 FPS average with a 302 FPS minimum and 409 FPS maximum, making it the best combination of visual fidelity and headroom for smooth gameplay.

The High preset at 1440p drops to a 308 FPS average, while Ultra falls to 248 FPS, both still excellent but offering diminishing returns for the visual cost. At 4K, the Medium preset is the recommended choice, averaging 203 FPS with a 173 FPS minimum and 234 FPS maximum. This keeps the experience above the 144 Hz threshold even during demanding scenes, whereas High drops to 176 FPS and Ultra falls to 142 FPS, which could challenge 144 Hz displays during intense moments. The data suggests that Medium is the optimal preset across all resolutions for this combo, as it provides the best balance of visual quality and frame rate stability without ever approaching the minimum FPS figures that would cause perceptible stutter.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals where the bottleneck lies in this pairing. Moving from 1080p Medium (430 FPS) to 1440p Medium (355 FPS) results in a 17.4% drop, while going from 1440p Medium to 4K Medium (203 FPS) results in a 42.8% drop. This pattern — a modest decline at 1440p followed by a sharp decline at 4K — is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions. The RTX 5090 is the limiting factor at 4K, where the pixel count increases by 2.25x over 1440p, and the frame rate falls by nearly half. The CPU is not the constraint here; a CPU-bound scenario would show a steeper drop from 1080p to 1440p as the GPU becomes less utilized.

At 1080p, the difference between Low (457 FPS) and Ultra (369 FPS) is 88 FPS, which is a 19.3% reduction. At 4K, the same settings spread from Low (240 FPS) to Ultra (142 FPS) is 98 FPS, a 40.8% reduction. This widening gap at higher resolutions further confirms that the GPU is doing the heavy lifting, with the CPU's role diminishing as resolution increases. The i5-11400F's 12 threads and 4.40 GHz boost clock are sufficient to feed the RTX 5090 at 1080p, but the scaling pattern shows that the GPU's raw compute power is what determines the final frame rate, particularly at 4K where the 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth come into play.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the data shows a tight spread across settings. Low averages 457 FPS. Medium averages 430 FPS with a minimum of 366 FPS and a maximum of 495 FPS. High drops to 409 FPS, and Ultra sits at 369 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 88 FPS, which is notable but does not affect playability since even Ultra maintains a 369 FPS average. The Medium preset's minimum of 366 FPS is higher than Ultra's average, suggesting that Medium offers better frame pacing than the most demanding preset.

At 2560x1440, the pattern continues with Low at 400 FPS, Medium at 355 FPS (302 min, 409 max), High at 308 FPS, and Ultra at 248 FPS. The drop from Medium to High is 47 FPS, while High to Ultra is 60 FPS, showing that the Ultra preset imposes a heavier cost at this resolution. The Medium minimum of 302 FPS remains above the 240 Hz threshold, making it ideal for high-refresh 1440p monitors. At 3840x2160, Low averages 240 FPS, Medium 203 FPS (173 min, 234 max), High 176 FPS, and Ultra 142 FPS. The 4K Ultra figure of 142 FPS is the only average below 144 FPS across the entire dataset, and the Medium preset's 173 FPS minimum ensures consistent performance above common high-refresh rates. The data shows that this combo can handle any settings at 1080p and 1440p, while 4K users should stick to Medium or High for the best experience.

GPU Role

The RTX 5090's 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus with 1.79 TB/s bandwidth is the primary driver of this combo's high frame rates. To The Core is not a memory-intensive title at the measured settings, but the sheer bandwidth ensures that texture streaming and data transfer never become a limitation, even at 4K Ultra where the GPU is rendering over 8 million pixels. The GPU's 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 1,636.8 GTexel/s texture rate provide the raw throughput needed to maintain 142 FPS at 4K Ultra, a figure that would be challenging for lesser hardware. The boost clock of 2407 MHz, while not the highest in the RTX 50-series lineup, is sufficient to sustain these performance levels across the entire test suite.

The GPU's benchmark scores place it in the 92nd percentile among all graphics cards, with an average score of 79842. Its nearest rivals in the PassMark G3D test are the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (0.3% ahead) and the Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB (0.6% ahead), which are data-center parts not intended for gaming. This means the RTX 5090 is effectively the top consumer GPU in the database, and its performance in To The Core reflects that standing. The GPU's 92nd percentile ranking is a better predictor of in-game performance than the CPU's 71st percentile, confirming that the RTX 5090 is the component responsible for the combo's strong results. The GPU's 575 W TDP and 950 W suggested PSU are high, but the measured FPS data shows that power budget is being converted into raw performance efficiently in this title.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F's six cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, are adequate for To The Core, which does not appear to stress the CPU heavily. The CPU's 12 MB of shared L3 cache and 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth are modest by modern standards, but the measured results show no signs of CPU-induced frame rate dips. The highest 1080p Low average of 457 FPS suggests that the CPU can keep up with the GPU's maximum output in this scenario, as any significant bottleneck would cap the frame rate regardless of GPU headroom. The CPU's PassMark multithread score of 16908 and single-thread score of 2981 place it in the 71st percentile, which is respectable for a 2021 part but not exceptional.

The CPU's nearest rivals in average benchmark score include the AMD EPYC 7H12 (0.3% ahead), the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U (0.6% ahead), and the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G (0.6% behind), showing that it performs in line with a range of server and mobile chips. In To The Core, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic, and the data indicates it does so without creating a bottleneck. The 1080p to 1440p scaling shows only a 17.4% drop at Medium settings, which is less than the 42.8% drop from 1440p to 4K, confirming that the CPU is not the limiting factor even at lower resolutions. The i5-11400F's 65 W TDP and end-of-life status mean it is not a future-proof choice, but within this specific game, it performs its role without complaint, allowing the RTX 5090 to deliver the frame rates that justify its position in the combo ranking.