To The Core

The Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER pairing delivers a remarkably smooth experience in To The Core, an Idle game released on 2024-02-14. Benchmark results show the combo achieving an average of 212 FPS at 1080p High settings, with performance scaling predictably across resolutions. This particular hardware combination ranks 1098 out of 1756 tested combos in the game, placing it in the upper half of the field. The data indicates that while the GPU handles the graphical load efficiently, the system’s 6-core, 12-thread processor provides ample headroom for the game’s mechanics.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1440p with High settings for this combination?

A: At 2560x1440 with High settings, the measured average FPS is 140.7. This represents a drop of approximately 33.6% compared to the 1080p High result of 212 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 2070 SUPER compare to its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 5700?

A: The RTX 2070 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 22206, while the RX 5700 scores 21670. This puts the NVIDIA card 2.5% ahead of the AMD card in the database’s average benchmark score.

Q: What is the CPU’s single-thread performance in Cinebench R23?

A: The Intel Core i5-12400 achieves a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2249. Its multi-core score in the same test is 15935.

Q: Is the CPU performance closer to the Intel Core i7-9700 or the i7-8700?

A: The i5-12400’s average benchmark score is 19850. It is 0.1% ahead of the Core i7-9700 (score 19831) and 0.2% behind the Core i7-8700 (score 19894), making it effectively a statistical tie with both.

Q: What is the maximum average FPS recorded across all tested settings and resolutions?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 289.8, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The lowest average is 69.2 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings.

Q: Does the GPU support DirectX 12 Ultimate?

A: Yes, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), along with OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER serves as the primary rendering engine, built on the Turing architecture with a TU104 chip fabricated on a 12 nm process. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1605 MHz and a boost clock of 1770 MHz, with memory clocked at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). This configuration provides 8 GB of GDDR6 memory across a 256-bit bus, resulting in a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s.

The GPU’s raw compute capabilities are significant for the game’s demands. With 2560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, the card delivers a pixel rate of 113.3 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 283.2 GTexel/s. The FP32 performance is rated at 9.062 TFLOPS, which is supported by 40 RT cores and 320 tensor cores for specialized workloads. In benchmark scores, the GPU reaches a Passmark G3D score of 18169 and a Geekbench OpenCL score of 98316.

The measured FPS data shows the GPU’s scaling under different settings. At 1920x1080, the average FPS ranges from 289.8 at Low settings down to 170 at Ultra. At 2560x1440, the range narrows slightly, with 193.2 FPS at Low and 112.6 FPS at Ultra. When moving to 3840x2160, the GPU’s limits become more apparent, with the average dropping to 109.8 FPS at Low and 69.2 FPS at Ultra. The GPU’s percentile rank is 65, indicating it outperforms the majority of GPUs in the database, and its average benchmark score of 22206 places it close to rivals like the RTX A400 (score 22307, deltaPct -0.5) and the GTX TITAN Z (score 22006, deltaPct 0.9).

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 handles the game’s logic and frame pacing, providing 6 cores and 12 threads from the Alder Lake-S architecture. The processor runs at a base clock of 2.50 GHz with a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, built on Intel’s 10 nm process with a 65 W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 18 MB of shared L3 cache.

The CPU’s performance profile shows strong multi-threaded capabilities for a desktop segment chip. In Cinebench R23, the multi-core score is 15935, while the single-core score is 2249. The Passmark multi-thread score is 18747, with a single-thread score of 3456. The CPU’s 3DMark scores scale with thread count, starting at 910 for single-thread, 1692 for 2-threads, 3012 for 4-threads, and reaching 5890 for max threads.

The processor’s average benchmark score of 19850 puts it at the 77th percentile of all CPUs, and its nearest rivals are closely matched. The Core i7-9700 scores 19831 (deltaPct 0.1), the Core i7-8700 scores 19894 (deltaPct -0.2), and the Core i5-11600K scores 19771 (deltaPct 0.4). In the game’s context, the CPU’s 12 threads provide sufficient parallelism for the idle genre’s background calculations, and the high single-thread score of 2249 in R23 ensures responsive frame pacing even at high FPS levels.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across three resolutions and four quality settings. At 1920x1080, the average FPS is 289.8 at Low, 244.1 at Medium, 212 at High, and 170 at Ultra. The spread between Low and Ultra is 119.8 FPS, showing that the GPU is the limiting factor here, as the CPU can clearly sustain higher frame rates.

At 2560x1440, the average FPS drops to 193.2 at Low, 167.1 at Medium, 140.7 at High, and 112.6 at Ultra. The delta between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 80.6 FPS, indicating that the GPU is still the primary bottleneck but with less absolute headroom. The 1080p to 1440p transition at High settings sees a reduction from 212 FPS to 140.7 FPS, a 33.6% decrease.

At 3840x2160, the performance envelope tightens considerably. The average FPS is 109.8 at Low, 94.8 at Medium, 81.8 at High, and 69.2 at Ultra. The difference between Low and Ultra is now only 40.6 FPS, suggesting that at 4K, the GPU is heavily taxed, and the CPU has more influence on the final frame rate. The 1440p to 4K transition at High settings reduces the average from 140.7 FPS to 81.8 FPS, a 41.9% drop.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling analysis reveals how the system’s components interact. From 1080p to 1440p at High settings, the average FPS drops from 212 to 140.7, a decrease of 71.3 FPS or approximately 33.6%. From 1440p to 4K at High settings, the average drops from 140.7 to 81.8, a decrease of 58.9 FPS or approximately 41.9%. The scaling is not linear, with the 4K transition being more punishing in percentage terms.

This pattern indicates a shift in the limiting component. At 1080p, the CPU’s single-thread score of 2249 in Cinebench R23 and the high FPS numbers suggest the RTX 2070 SUPER is not fully utilized. The CPU’s 12 threads and boost clock of 4.40 GHz are sufficient to push frame rates above 200 FPS at 1080p Low. At 4K, the GPU’s 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth become the bottleneck, as evidenced by the 69.2 FPS average at Ultra settings.

The data shows that the RTX 2070 SUPER’s performance scales with resolution in a way that suggests it is the primary constraint at higher pixel counts. The GPU’s Passmark G3D score of 18169 and its rank at the 65th percentile among all GPUs align with this interpretation. At 1080p, the system is CPU-bound, but at 4K, the GPU’s 9.062 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is the limiting factor. The combo’s rank of 1098 out of 1756 in the game reflects this balanced performance profile, where neither component is drastically overpowered for the other.