To The Core

The Intel Core i5-12400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 delivers a striking performance profile in To The Core, a game where the combination of a 6-core/12-thread Alder Lake processor and an Ada Lovelace GPU produces results that are surprisingly consistent across resolutions. The data shows a system that is clearly capable of high refresh rate gameplay, yet the scaling patterns reveal a nuanced balance between CPU and GPU limitations that shifts depending on the settings and resolution selected.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. Its cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and a shared 18 MB L3 cache. In synthetic benchmarks, the processor shows strong scaling from 2 to 12 threads: a 3dmark 2-thread score of 1699 rises to 4779 at 8 threads and 5912 at max threads, indicating that the 12 threads are effectively utilized. The single-thread score of 909 in 3dmark and 2332 in Cinebench R23 suggests solid per-core performance, which is critical for games that rely on a few heavily loaded threads.

In To The Core, the CPU's role is most evident at lower resolutions where the GPU is not the primary bottleneck. At 1080p Low settings, the average FPS reaches 313.6, a figure that is 37% higher than the 228.2 FPS seen at 1080p High. This 85 FPS gap is far larger than what would be expected from GPU load alone, indicating that at Low settings, the CPU's ability to feed the GPU becomes a limiting factor. The processor's 3dmark 16-thread score of 5895 and max-thread score of 5912 show that it is not a high-core-count monster, but its 12 threads are sufficient for this idle-genre title. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 16518 places it in a competitive position, with its nearest rival being the Intel Core i7-8700K, which has an average score of 19210 and a deltaPct of 0.1 — essentially a statistical tie. This means the i5-12400F's thread performance is on par with an older, higher-tier chip, which bodes well for maintaining frame pacing in CPU-bound scenarios.

FAQ

Q: How does the Intel Core i5-12400F compare to its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The i5-12400F has an average benchmark score of 19221, which is 0.1% higher than the Intel Core i7-8700K's 19210. It also outperforms the Intel Core i5-1335U by 0.3% and the AMD EPYC 7773X by 1.3%, but trails the AMD Ryzen 5 7533HS by 0.7%.

Q: What is the GPU's performance percentile relative to all other graphics cards?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 holds a percentile rank of 66 among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 23181. Its closest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6600M, scores 23321, which is 0.6% higher, while the Intel Arc B580 is 0.7% lower with a score of 23021.

Q: Does the RTX 4060 demonstrate better synthetic performance in DirectX 12 or Vulkan?

A: In the Geekbench tests, the RTX 4060 scores 101030 in OpenCL and 98095 in Vulkan. The Passmark DirectX 12 score is 76, while the DirectX 11 score is 175, indicating that the card's driver and hardware handle older APIs more efficiently in these specific tests.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-threaded performance scale compared to its single-thread performance?

A: The 3dmark scores show a steady climb: 1699 for 2 threads, 3067 for 4 threads, 4779 for 8 threads, and 5912 for max threads. This represents a 3.5x increase from 2 to 12 threads, which is respectable for a 6-core part.

Q: What is the launch MSRP of the CPU and GPU in this combo?

A: The Intel Core i5-12400F has a launch MSRP of $174, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 has a launch MSRP of 299 USD. These figures represent their initial release pricing and nothing more.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more likely to be the performance ceiling at 4K Ultra?

A: At 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 71.9, which is the lowest recorded in the dataset. This is a 27% reduction from 4K High (85.8 FPS), suggesting that the GPU's workload at Ultra settings is the primary limiter, as the CPU's contribution does not change with resolution.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound performance at higher resolutions, with CPU influence waning as pixel count increases. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 313.6 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low, the average drops to 211.4 FPS, a 33% reduction. At 4K Low, it falls further to 122.2 FPS, another 42% drop. This consistent scaling with resolution indicates that at Low settings, the GPU's rendering throughput is the dominant factor, as the CPU is not being stressed by complex game logic.

The scaling tightens at higher settings. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 186 FPS; at 1440p Ultra, it is 125.7 FPS (a 32% drop); and at 4K Ultra, it is 71.9 FPS (a 43% drop from 1440p). The percentage drops from 1080p to 4K are similar across Low (61% reduction) and Ultra (61% reduction), which is unusual. Typically, higher settings would make the GPU the bottleneck more decisively, but the similar drop percentages suggest that To The Core's rendering pipeline is consistently GPU-limited across settings, with the CPU providing enough headroom to avoid becoming a constraint. The fact that 1080p High (228.2 FPS) is 27% lower than 1080p Low (313.6 FPS) while 4K High (85.8 FPS) is 30% lower than 4K Low (122.2 FPS) reinforces that the GPU's shader and texture work scales linearly with resolution, while the CPU's frame preparation time remains constant.

The limiting component shifts based on the FPS target. At 1080p, the system is capable of exceeding 300 FPS on Low, which is beyond the refresh rate of most monitors, indicating the CPU can keep up. At 4K Ultra, the 71.9 FPS average suggests that the RTX 4060's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 128-bit bus are being pushed to their limits. The GPU's 272.0 GB/s bandwidth and 15.11 TFLOPS FP32 performance are the likely constraints at this resolution, as the CPU's 18 MB L3 cache and 12 threads are not the bottleneck.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations for To The Core, this specific pairing of the Intel Core i5-12400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 ranks at position 1000 out of 1756 total combos. This places it in the 57th percentile of all tested systems, meaning it outperforms a slight majority of configurations but is not in the top tier. The rank is a holistic measure that accounts for performance across all resolutions and settings, and the data indicates that while this combo delivers high absolute FPS, it does not stand out as an exceptional pairing.

The CPU's percentile rank of 77 among all CPUs suggests that the i5-12400F is a well-above-average processor, but its GPU counterpart, with a percentile of 66, is closer to the median. This imbalance implies that the combo's overall rank is dragged down by the GPU's relative position. The nearest rival GPUs to the RTX 4060, such as the AMD Radeon RX 6600M (0.6% higher average score) and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti (0.7% higher), show that the 4060 is in a crowded performance band. Similarly, the CPU's rivals are tightly clustered, with the i7-8700K at a 0.1% deltaPct. The combination of a slightly-above-average CPU and a slightly-above-average GPU yields a mid-pack rank, which is consistent with the measured FPS being high but not record-breaking.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for To The Core shows a comprehensive set of results across three resolutions and four quality settings. At 1920x1080, the system averages 313.6 FPS on Low, 262.7 FPS on Medium, 228.2 FPS on High, and 186 FPS on Ultra. The step from Low to Medium is a 16% reduction, from Medium to High is a 13% reduction, and from High to Ultra is an 18% reduction. This progressive decline indicates that each quality tier adds a consistent workload to the GPU.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 211.4 FPS on Low, 178.3 FPS on Medium, 155.4 FPS on High, and 125.7 FPS on Ultra. The reduction from Low to Ultra is 41%, which is slightly less than the 41% reduction seen at 1080p (from 313.6 to 186). The 1440p results show that the system remains highly playable, with even the Ultra setting exceeding 120 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the averages are 122.2 FPS on Low, 103.4 FPS on Medium, 85.8 FPS on High, and 71.9 FPS on Ultra. The drop from Low to Ultra is 41%, matching the percentage reduction at 1440p. This consistency suggests that the GPU's scaling with settings is linear and predictable. The 4K Ultra result of 71.9 FPS is the lowest in the dataset, but it still meets the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The RTX 4060's 8 GB memory capacity is sufficient for this title, as evidenced by the playable frame rates even at the highest settings. The measured data is marked as "dataIsMeasured: true," confirming that these are actual benchmark results rather than estimates. The combo rank of 1000 out of 1756, combined with the FPS figures, paints a picture of a balanced system that can handle To The Core at any resolution, though it is not optimized for the absolute highest frame rates at 4K Ultra.