To The Core

The combination of the Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 produces exceptional frame rates in To The Core, an idle game that scales heavily with raw GPU throughput. Across all tested resolutions and presets, the measured average FPS never falls below 130, indicating that this pairing is far more than sufficient for the game’s demands. The data shows a clear pattern: as resolution increases, the frame rate drops proportionally, while the CPU remains a secondary factor in limiting performance. This analysis breaks down the measured results into actionable insights for resolution scaling, ranking, settings, and component roles.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a linear scaling pattern from 1080p to 4K, with the RTX 5080 doing the heavy lifting at every step. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 531 FPS average. Moving to 1440p Low drops that to 385 FPS, a reduction of 146 FPS or roughly 27.5%. At 4K Low, the average falls to 220 FPS, which is 311 FPS lower than the 1080p Low result — a 58.6% decrease. This steep drop indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting component at higher resolutions, as the CPU’s workload remains relatively constant regardless of pixel count.

For High settings, the pattern holds: 420 FPS at 1080p, 282 FPS at 1440p, and 161 FPS at 4K. The delta between 1080p and 1440p is 138 FPS (32.9% lower), while 4K High is 259 FPS (61.7% lower) than 1080p High. Medium settings show 484 FPS at 1080p, 326 FPS at 1440p, and 186 FPS at 4K, with min FPS values of 411, 277, and 158 respectively. Ultra settings produce 338 FPS at 1080p, 227 FPS at 1440p, and 130 FPS at 4K. The consistent ratio — roughly 1.5x to 1.7x performance difference between each resolution step — suggests that To The Core is not CPU-bound at any tested configuration, even at 1080p where the i5-12400’s six cores and 12 threads could theoretically become a bottleneck.

The fact that 4K Ultra still delivers 130 FPS average is telling. Many games would struggle to hit 60 FPS on such a combo at that resolution, but the idle genre’s simpler rendering workload allows the RTX 5080 to maintain high output. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 90 FPS (220 vs 130), while at 1080p that gap widens to 193 FPS (531 vs 338). This widening gap at lower resolutions indicates that the CPU starts to influence results as the GPU becomes less saturated — but even at 1080p Low, the 531 FPS figure suggests the i5-12400’s boost clock of 4.40 GHz and 18 MB of L3 cache are sufficient to feed the GPU without major constraint.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank in To The Core is 218 out of 3,725 tested combinations, placing it in the top 5.9% of all pairings evaluated. That rank reflects the RTX 5080’s strong position in the GPU hierarchy — it sits at the 87th percentile versus all GPUs — while the i5-12400 ranks at the 72nd percentile versus all CPUs. The GPU’s average benchmark score of 56,083 is notably higher than its nearest rivals: the AMD Radeon 8060S scores 55,757 (0.6% lower), the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB scores 55,698 (0.7% lower), and the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X scores 54,828 (2.3% lower). Only the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE beats it, with a score of 57,367 (2.2% higher). This places the RTX 5080 in a tight competitive band, but its raw compute metrics — 56.28 TFLOPS FP32 and 960.0 GB/s memory bandwidth — give it a clear edge in this game’s rendering.

The CPU’s average benchmark score of 18,683 is nearly identical to its nearest rivals: the AMD EPYC 7643 scores 18,697 (0.1% higher), the Intel Core i7-1355U scores 18,730 (0.3% higher), and the AMD Ryzen AI 5 330 scores 18,811 (0.7% higher). The Intel Core i3-14100F trails at 18,519 (0.9% lower). These tiny deltas mean the i5-12400 is essentially tied with several other processors in synthetic benchmarks, yet in To The Core the combo’s rank of 218 suggests that the GPU dominates the performance equation. If the CPU were a limiting factor, we would expect the rank to be lower given the i5-12400’s mid-pack CPU percentile.

Compared to other combos, the 218th rank out of 3,725 means there are 3,507 combinations that perform worse in this game. This is an impressive showing for a pairing where the CPU is a 6-core, 12-thread part from the 12th Gen Core series, released on 2022-01-03, while the GPU is a Blackwell 2.0 architecture part from 2025-01-29. The data indicates that for To The Core, the RTX 5080’s performance is so high that even a mid-range CPU like the i5-12400 can achieve top-tier results.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows provide clear guidance for optimal settings at each resolution. At 1080p, all presets exceed 338 FPS, making Ultra the best choice for maximum visual quality without sacrificing fluidity. The Ultra preset’s 338 FPS average is still more than five times higher than a 60 Hz display’s refresh rate, so there is no reason to drop to High (420 FPS) or Medium (484 FPS) unless the user seeks absolute maximum frame rates for competitive play. The Low preset at 531 FPS offers a 57% improvement over Ultra, but the visual trade-off is unlikely to be worthwhile for an idle game where the action is not fast-paced.

At 1440p, Ultra delivers 227 FPS, which remains exceptionally smooth. High settings at 282 FPS and Medium at 326 FPS provide incremental gains, but the gap between Ultra and Medium is only 99 FPS. For users with 144 Hz or 165 Hz monitors, Ultra is the recommended preset because it stays well above those refresh rates. The Low preset at 385 FPS is unnecessary unless the user prioritizes frame rate over all else. The min FPS for Medium at 1440p is 277, which still exceeds 240 Hz, so even the lowest measured frame in that preset is far beyond typical display capabilities.

At 4K, the decision becomes more nuanced. Ultra delivers 130 FPS, which is sufficient for 120 Hz displays but falls short of 144 Hz or 165 Hz panels. High settings at 161 FPS comfortably exceed 144 Hz, while Medium at 186 FPS covers 165 Hz displays. The Medium preset also has a min FPS of 158, which means even in demanding scenes, the frame rate stays above 144 Hz. Low at 220 FPS is the only preset that can reliably drive a 240 Hz 4K monitor, though such displays are rare. For most users, High at 4K offers the best balance: 161 FPS average with no min FPS data suggesting drops below 144 Hz. Ultra’s 130 FPS is acceptable for 120 Hz panels but leaves headroom on the table. The data suggests that Medium is the safe recommendation for 4K because its min FPS of 158 ensures no drops below 144 Hz, while High’s average of 161 might occasionally dip below that threshold (though no min FPS is recorded for High).

FAQ

*Q: Does the Intel Core i5-12400 bottleneck the RTX 5080 in To The Core?*

A: No. The measured FPS shows linear scaling from 1080p to 4K, with 4K Ultra still hitting 130 FPS and 1080p Low reaching 531 FPS. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the 1080p results would plateau, but they continue to rise with lower settings, indicating the GPU remains the limiting factor.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo?

A: At 1440p, Ultra delivers 227 FPS, which exceeds all common refresh rates. At 4K, High provides 161 FPS, which is sufficient for 144 Hz displays. The choice depends on the user’s monitor, but the data shows no resolution is unplayable — even 4K Ultra maintains 130 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 5080 compare to its nearest rivals in this game?

A: The RTX 5080’s average benchmark score is 56,083, which is 0.6% higher than the AMD Radeon 8060S (55,757), 0.7% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB (55,698), and 2.3% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X (54,828). Only the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE (57,367) outperforms it, by 2.2%.

Q: Is the i5-12400 a weak link in this pairing?

A: The i5-12400 ranks at the 72nd percentile versus all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 18,683. Its nearest rival, the AMD EPYC 7643, scores 18,697 (0.1% higher), showing the CPU is competitive. In To The Core, the combo rank of 218 out of 3,725 suggests the CPU does not limit performance.

Q: What settings should I use for a 240 Hz 4K monitor?

A: The Low preset at 4K delivers 220 FPS, which is the only setting that approaches 240 Hz. High (161 FPS), Medium (186 FPS), and Ultra (130 FPS) all fall short, so Low is the only viable option for that specific refresh rate.

Q: Does the game favor the GPU or CPU more?

A: The data strongly indicates a GPU-bound workload. The RTX 5080’s 87th percentile GPU rank and the steep FPS drops from 1080p to 4K (e.g., 531 to 220 FPS on Low) point to GPU saturation. The CPU’s 72nd percentile rank and consistent performance across resolutions (as evidenced by the combo’s top 5.9% rank) show it is not the primary constraint.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 is the dominant component in this combo, and its specifications directly explain the measured frame rates. The GPU features 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 960.0 GB/s. This memory configuration is more than adequate for To The Core, as even 4K Ultra does not appear to strain VRAM capacity — the game’s idle genre typically uses modest texture sizes. The memory clock runs at 1875 MHz (30 Gbps effective), which pairs with the 256-bit bus to deliver the high bandwidth that supports the 531 FPS peak at 1080p Low.

The GPU’s compute resources are extensive: 10,752 shading units, 336 texture mapping units, and 112 raster output units. These feed a pixel rate of 293.1 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 879.3 GTexel/s. In To The Core, where rendering is relatively simple, these figures translate into the observed FPS numbers. The FP32 performance of 56.28 TFLOPS (with FP16 at 1:1) ensures that even the most complex shader effects in the Ultra preset do not bottleneck the GPU. The boost clock of 2617 MHz (base 2295 MHz) allows the GPU to sustain high throughput, as evidenced by the 161 FPS at 4K High.

The RTX 5080’s benchmark scores reinforce its role. Its passmark G3D score is 36,565, and its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 8,637. These synthetic results align with the in-game performance, where the GPU ranks at the 87th percentile versus all GPUs. The nearest rival, AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE, has a 2.2% higher average score (57,367 vs 56,083), but in To The Core the measured FPS shows no sign of the GPU being a limiting factor at any preset. The GPU’s 84 RT cores and 336 tensor cores are present but likely underutilized in an idle game, which further explains why the frame rates are so high — the workload does not stress advanced features like ray tracing or DLSS.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 plays a supporting role in this combo, and its specifications show why it does not bottleneck the RTX 5080. The CPU has 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. For To The Core, which is unlikely to use more than a few threads, the 12 threads provide ample parallelism. The 18 MB of shared L3 cache (with 1.25 MB L2 per core and 80 KB L1 per core) helps keep frequently accessed game data close to the cores, reducing memory latency. The CPU supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory in dual-channel mode, which gives flexibility but does not directly impact the measured FPS in this game.

The i5-12400’s benchmark results indicate it is a solid mid-range processor. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score is 15,989, and its single-core score is 2,257. Geekbench multi-core is 8,564, and single-core is 1,848. PassMark multi-thread is 18,747, with single-thread at 3,456. These numbers place it at the 72nd percentile versus all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 18,683. Its nearest rival, the AMD EPYC 7643, scores 18,697 (0.1% higher), while the Intel Core i3-14100F trails at 18,519 (0.9% lower). This proximity means the i5-12400 is not a standout CPU, but it is also not a weak link.

In To The Core, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic. The measured FPS shows that even at 1080p Low (531 FPS), the CPU does not cap performance, as the frame rate continues to rise with lower settings and resolutions. The boost clock of 4.40 GHz is modest compared to high-end parts, but the game’s idle genre likely has low single-thread demands. The 65 W TDP suggests efficient operation, and the Alder Lake architecture (10 nm process, 163 mm² die size) provides sufficient IPC for this workload. The CPU’s integrated UHD Graphics 730 is irrelevant when paired with a discrete GPU, but its presence does not affect the measured results. Overall, the i5-12400 provides a stable platform for the RTX 5080, and the combo’s 218th rank out of 3,725 confirms that the CPU is not a limiting factor in To The Core.