To The Core

The Intel Core i5-12400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER delivers a highly capable experience in To The Core, an Idle genre title. Benchmark data shows the combination achieving very high frame rates across all tested resolutions and settings, positioning it in the 72nd percentile of all tested combos (rank 1264 out of 1756). The measured results indicate that this pairing is well-balanced for the game’s demands, providing smooth performance even at 4K with high settings, while excelling at lower resolutions where frame rates exceed 250 FPS.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings?

A: The measured average frame rate is 157.3 FPS, indicating that the combo can handle maximum settings at Full HD with substantial headroom.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-threaded performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The i5-12400F scores 19,221 on average, which is 0.1% ahead of the Intel Core i7-8700K and 0.3% ahead of the Intel Core i5-1335U, but 0.7% behind the AMD Ryzen 5 7533HS.

Q: What is the GPU's DirectX 12 benchmark score?

A: The RTX 2060 SUPER scores 61 in the Passmark DirectX 12 test, which is part of its overall benchmark profile that places it in the 63rd percentile of all GPUs.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra settings at 2560x1440?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low setting achieves an average of 176.7 FPS, while Ultra drops to 104.6 FPS, a difference of 72.1 FPS between the two extremes.

Q: Does the GPU outperform its closest rival in average benchmark score?

A: Yes, the RTX 2060 SUPER has an average score of 19,774, which is 0.5% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070's score of 19,680.

Q: What is the lowest average FPS recorded in the entire dataset?

A: The lowest average FPS is 57.4, which occurs at 3840x2160 resolution with Ultra settings.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is built on the Turing architecture using a 12 nm process at TSMC, featuring 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus. This configuration provides a memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s, which is adequate for the texture and geometry loads present in To The Core. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1470 MHz with a boost clock of 1650 MHz, and its memory runs at an effective speed of 14 Gbps. With 2176 shading units, 136 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, the card delivers a pixel rate of 105.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 224.4 GTexel/s, ensuring that even at higher resolutions, the rendering pipeline is not unduly strained.

The GPU’s FP32 performance is rated at 7.181 TFLOPS, which is supported by 34 RT cores and 272 tensor cores, though these features are less relevant for an idle game than for more graphically intensive titles. In terms of benchmark standings, the RTX 2060 SUPER holds a percentile rank of 63 against all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 19,774. Its closest competitor, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070, scores 19,680, a delta of 0.5%, showing that the 2060 SUPER is nearly on par with a higher-tier card in synthetic tests. The GPU’s Passmark G3D score of 16,462 and Geekbench OpenCL score of 87,670 further underscore its capability.

For To The Core, the data shows that the GPU is the primary driver of performance at higher resolutions. At 3840x2160, the average FPS drops from 101.7 on Low settings to 57.4 on Ultra, a 43.6% reduction. This scaling suggests that the 8 GB VRAM and memory bandwidth are sufficient, but the compute throughput limits ultra-high settings at 4K. At 1920x1080, however, the GPU is less stressed, with the Ultra setting still achieving 157.3 FPS, indicating that the card has ample headroom for lower resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Alder Lake-S architecture, manufactured on Intel’s 10 nm process. It features a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, 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, which is sufficient for handling the game’s logic and background tasks. The CPU supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory over a dual-channel bus, but the memory bandwidth is not specified, and it lacks integrated graphics, relying on the discrete GPU.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i5-12400F demonstrates strong multi-threaded performance, scoring 16,518 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 5,912 in 3DMark max threads. Its single-thread score of 2,332 in Cinebench R23 is robust, which is beneficial for games that rely on a few fast cores. The CPU’s average benchmark score is 19,221, placing it in the 77th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-8700K, scores 19,210, a negligible 0.1% difference, while the AMD Ryzen 5 7533HS scores 19,364, 0.7% higher.

For To The Core, an idle game, the CPU’s role is less about raw frame generation and more about maintaining consistent frame pacing and handling game logic. The measured FPS shows that at 1920x1080, the CPU is not a bottleneck, as even at Ultra settings the frame rate reaches 157.3 FPS. The high single-thread performance ensures that the game’s main thread is not starved, while the 12 threads provide ample capacity for background processes. The CPU’s performance relative to rivals is tight, with a delta of less than 1.3% against the AMD EPYC 7773X, indicating that the i5-12400F is well within the expected range for this class of processor.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-12400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER combination holds a rank of 1264 out of 1756 tested combos in To The Core, placing it in the 72nd percentile of all configurations. This ranking indicates that the combo performs well above the median, but is not at the very top tier. The data suggests that while the GPU and CPU are individually strong, their combined performance in this game is limited by the GPU at higher resolutions, as evidenced by the FPS scaling.

Compared to other combos, the rank implies that there are 492 configurations that achieve higher performance, likely featuring more powerful GPUs or CPUs. However, the measured FPS shows that the combo still delivers playable frame rates at 4K, with an average of 71.9 FPS on High settings, which is above the 60 FPS threshold. At 2560x1440, the combo excels, with all settings except Ultra exceeding 130 FPS, and at 1920x1080, it is exceptionally capable, with the Low setting reaching 265.7 FPS. The rank is a holistic measure, and the actual performance is sufficient for a smooth experience in this idle game, which does not demand the extreme frame rates required by competitive shooters or fast-paced action titles.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across three resolutions and four settings. At 3840x2160, the combo starts at 101.7 FPS on Low settings, drops to 85.0 FPS on Medium, and further to 71.9 FPS on High, before falling to 57.4 FPS on Ultra. This shows a clear scaling curve where each increase in settings reduces the frame rate by approximately 13-15 FPS, with the Ultra setting being the only one below 60 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the performance is notably higher. Low settings achieve 176.7 FPS, Medium reaches 150.8 FPS, High delivers 133.0 FPS, and Ultra still maintains 104.6 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 72.1 FPS, indicating that the GPU has more headroom at this resolution, but the settings still have a significant impact. The jump from 1440p to 1080p further improves performance, with 1920x1080 Low reaching 265.7 FPS, Medium at 225.6 FPS, High at 190.9 FPS, and Ultra at 157.3 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 108.4 FPS, showing that even at the lowest resolution, the settings scale consistently.

The data indicates that for a 60 Hz display, the combo can run at 4K with High settings (71.9 FPS), but for higher refresh rate monitors, 1440p or 1080p are more suitable. At 1440p, all settings except Ultra exceed 130 FPS, making it ideal for 144 Hz displays, while at 1080p, even Ultra settings exceed 157 FPS, suitable for 165 Hz or higher refresh rates. The lack of min FPS data means that frame time consistency cannot be assessed, but the average FPS figures suggest a stable experience across the board.