To The Core

The Intel Core i5-12400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 delivers an extraordinary performance envelope in To The Core, a title where frame rates scale dramatically with resolution. At 1080p High settings, the combo produces an average of 451.6 FPS, but this figure climbs to 531.5 FPS at Low settings. Moving to 1440p drops the High preset to 305.2 FPS, while 4K High settles at 172.8 FPS. The most demanding configuration tested, 4K Ultra, still maintains a 140 FPS average. These results indicate a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at lower resolutions, with the CPU's capabilities becoming more relevant as pixel count rises.

Resolution Scaling

The scaling pattern from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic division of labor between the two components. At 1080p Low, the system hits 531.5 FPS, which is a staggering figure that suggests the RTX 4090 is far from saturated. The jump to 1440p Low drops the average to 408.5 FPS, a reduction of roughly 23%, while 4K Low yields 234.5 FPS. This steep decline across resolutions points to the GPU becoming the primary limiter as pixel throughput demands increase.

The High preset tells a similar story but with tighter margins. From 451.6 FPS at 1080p, the frame rate falls to 305.2 FPS at 1440p (a 32% drop) and then to 172.8 FPS at 4K (a 43% drop from 1440p). The Ultra preset shows the most pronounced scaling: 360.3 FPS at 1080p, 244.9 FPS at 1440p, and 140 FPS at 4K. The consistent downward trajectory across all presets indicates that the RTX 4090's 24 GB of GDDR6X memory and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth are being exercised heavily, while the i5-12400's six cores and 12 threads are sufficient to feed the GPU at every resolution.

Interestingly, the gap between Low and Ultra settings widens as resolution increases. At 1080p, the difference is 171.2 FPS (531.5 vs 360.3). At 1440p, that gap grows to 163.6 FPS (408.5 vs 244.9). At 4K, it narrows to 94.5 FPS (234.5 vs 140). This pattern suggests that at 4K, the GPU's raw compute capabilities—82.58 TFLOPS FP32 and 443.5 GPixel/s pixel rate—become the dominant factor, making settings-based headroom less impactful than at lower resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 is a six-core, 12-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 10 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, drawing a 65 W TDP. In To The Core, an idle genre title, the CPU's role is primarily about maintaining high minimum frame rates and avoiding bottlenecks at extreme FPS levels. Benchmark data shows the processor achieving a single-thread score of 910 in 3DMark and 2249 in Cinebench R23 single-core, which are solid figures for maintaining responsiveness.

The processor's 18 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel memory support for DDR4 and DDR5 provide adequate bandwidth for feeding the RTX 4090. Its PassMark multithread score of 18747 and 3DMark max-threads score of 5890 indicate that while it is not a top-tier workstation chip, it has enough multi-threaded headroom for this game's demands. The data reveals that the i5-12400 sits at the 77th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 19850, placing it nearly identical to the Intel Core i7-9700 (19831, a 0.1% delta) and slightly behind the Intel Core i7-8700 (19894, -0.2% delta).

In practical terms, the 1080p Low result of 531.5 FPS is likely approaching the effective ceiling of what this CPU can drive in To The Core. The fact that 1080p Medium (502.4 FPS) and 1080p High (451.6 FPS) are only 5-15% lower suggests the CPU is not the limiting factor until frame rates exceed roughly 500 FPS. The single-thread performance, evidenced by a PassMark single-thread score of 3456, is sufficient to handle the game's logic and physics without becoming a constraint.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the undisputed performance leader in this pairing. Built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process from TSMC, it packs 16,384 shading units, 512 texture mapping units, and 176 raster output pipelines. Its boost clock of 2520 MHz and base clock of 2235 MHz, combined with 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, deliver a memory bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s. The GPU's 82.58 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 1,290.2 GTexel/s texture rate are directly reflected in the game's high frame rates.

The RTX 4090's benchmark scores place it at the 91st percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 66473. This is remarkably close to its nearest rivals: the NVIDIA Tesla T4 (66733, -0.4% delta), the NVIDIA Tesla P40 (66127, 0.5% delta), and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 (67097, -0.9% delta). However, those comparisons are based on synthetic workloads; in To The Core, the RTX 4090's gaming-specific strengths shine through.

The GPU's dominance is most evident in the 4K Ultra result of 140 FPS, which is still well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The 4K High result of 172.8 FPS and 4K Medium of 197.6 FPS demonstrate that even the most demanding settings leave considerable headroom. The GPU's 128 RT cores and 512 tensor cores, while not directly relevant to an idle game, contribute to its overall architectural efficiency. The 450 W TDP and suggested 850 W PSU indicate significant power requirements, but the performance payoff is clear in the measured data.

How This Combo Ranks

According to the database, this combination of Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 57th out of 1756 tested combos in To The Core. This places it in the top 3.2% of all systems tested, a remarkable achievement given that the CPU is a mid-range part from 2022 while the GPU is a flagship from the same year. The ranking underscores how heavily this idle game rewards GPU horsepower, with the RTX 4090 making up for the i5-12400's relatively modest standing.

The CPU's own ranking (77th percentile) and the GPU's ranking (91st percentile) suggest that the combo's overall position is pulled upward by the GPU's strength. The i5-12400's nearest CPU rivals—the i7-9700, i7-8700, and Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5995WX—all have nearly identical average scores, showing that the processor is competitive within its tier. The RTX 4090's nearest GPU rivals are all professional or workstation cards, which highlights its unique position as a consumer gaming part with exceptional compute capabilities.

Given that the data is measured (not estimated), this rank of 57 out of 1756 reflects actual performance in the game. The gap between this combo and the top-ranked systems is likely attributable to more powerful CPUs, but the 140 FPS minimum at 4K Ultra suggests that the RTX 4090 is doing the heavy lifting. For users prioritizing frame rates in To The Core, this pairing represents a near-optimal balance of CPU affordability and GPU extremity.

FAQ

*Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo achieves in To The Core?*

A: The highest recorded average is 531.5 FPS at 1080p Low settings.

Q: How does the i5-12400 compare to its nearest rivals in average benchmark score?

A: The i5-12400 scores 19850, which is 0.1% above the Intel Core i7-9700 (19831) and 0.4% above the Intel Core i5-11600K (19771). It trails the Intel Core i7-8700 (19894) by 0.2% and the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5995WX (19928) by 0.4%.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between 1080p High and 4K High?

A: The system delivers 451.6 FPS at 1080p High and 172.8 FPS at 4K High, representing a 278.8 FPS reduction when moving to 4K.

Q: Is the RTX 4090's performance close to any other GPU in benchmark scores?

A: Yes, the RTX 4090's average benchmark score of 66473 is within 1.3% of the NVIDIA Tesla T4 (66733, -0.4% delta), NVIDIA Tesla P40 (66127, 0.5% delta), and AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 (67097, -0.9% delta).

Q: What is the combo's rank out of all tested configurations?

A: This combo ranks 57th out of 1756 tested combos in To The Core.

Q: How much faster is 1080p Low compared to 4K Ultra?

A: The 1080p Low setting produces 531.5 FPS, while 4K Ultra produces 140 FPS, making 1080p Low 391.5 FPS faster (approximately 3.8 times higher).