To The Core

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i5-12400F brings a 6-core, 12-thread configuration based on the Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. This processor, built for the Intel Socket 1700 platform, carries a 10 nm process node and a die size of 163 mm². Its cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 18 MB of shared L3. The chip supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration, and its PCIe Gen 5 interface with 20 lanes (CPU only) ensures ample bandwidth for modern peripherals.

For an idle game like To The Core, the CPU's thread handling is more relevant than raw core counts. The 3DMark results show a single-thread score of 909, a 2-thread score of 1699, and a 4-thread score of 3067. This suggests that the CPU scales reasonably well up to 4 threads, which aligns with how idle games typically distribute workloads — often using a few background threads for simulation logic while the main game loop runs on a single core. The 8-thread score of 4779 and 16-thread score of 5895 indicate diminishing returns beyond 4 threads, though the max-thread score of 5912 demonstrates that the CPU can still leverage its full 12-thread capacity when needed.

In the context of this game, the measured FPS at 1080p with Low settings reaches 535 avg FPS, which is far beyond any display's refresh rate. The bottleneck at such high frame rates is rarely the GPU; instead, the CPU's single-thread performance becomes the limiting factor. The Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1680 and the PassMark single-thread score of 3481 both indicate strong per-core processing, which is crucial for the simulation tick rate that idle games rely on. The CPU's percentileVsAllCpus of 73 places it above the majority of tested processors, and its average benchmark score of 19039 is effectively tied with its nearest rivals — the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS at 19047 (deltaPct 0), the Intel Core 3 201E at 19056 (deltaPct -0.1), the Intel Core i5-1335U at 18982 (deltaPct 0.3), and the AMD EPYC 7773X at 18979 (deltaPct 0.3).

The data shows that the 12400F’s 6 cores are sufficient for handling the game's logic, but the real bottleneck at low settings and 1080p is likely the GPU’s ability to render frames quickly enough — or more precisely, the game engine's frame generation loop. The CPU’s performance does not appear to cap the FPS in the measured rows, as even at 4K Ultra, the GPU is still producing 125 avg FPS, which is well within the CPU’s capability to feed.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process node from TSMC, featuring 45,900 million transistors on a 379 mm² die. Its base clock is 2205 MHz with a boost clock of 2505 MHz, while the GDDR6X memory runs at 1400 MHz (22.4 Gbps effective). The GPU includes 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 716.8 GB/s of memory bandwidth. It has 9728 shading units, 304 texture mapping units, and 112 ROPs, with 76 RT cores and 304 tensor cores.

For an idle game, the GPU's role is to render the interface and any graphical elements at high frame rates. The RTX 4080's pixel rate of 280.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 761.5 GTexel/s are more than sufficient for the 2D/3D visuals typical of this genre. The measured FPS data shows that at 1080p with Low settings, the average frame rate reaches 535 FPS, which indicates the GPU is not the limiting factor at lower resolutions. Even at 4p with Ultra settings, the GPU manages 125 avg FPS, which is still high for a game that is not graphically intensive.

The GPU's percentileVsAllGpus of 85 places it in the top 15% of GPUs, and its average benchmark score of 54247 is nearly identical to the RTX 4080 SUPER (54209, deltaPct 0.1). The nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X (54828, deltaPct -1.1) and the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB (55698, deltaPct -2.6), showing that the 4080 is competitive but slightly behind those alternatives in raw compute. However, for To The Core, the GPU's raw compute power is overkill; the limiting factor at higher resolutions will be the memory bandwidth and the 716.8 GB/s throughput, which is more than enough for the game's graphical data.

The 16 GB VRAM is particularly relevant for 4Kp Ultra settings, where texture data might exceed 16 GB in other titles, but here it is unlikely to be a bottleneck. The GPU's FP32 performance of 48.74 TFLOPS and FP16 performance of 48.74 TFLOPS (1:1) ensure that any physics or particle effects in the game are handled quickly. The 4080’s bandwidth—both in terms of memory and PCIe 4.0 x16 interface—supports the high frame rates without stuttering.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data reveals a clear trend: as resolution increases, average FPS drops across all quality settings. At 1080p with Low settings, the average FPS is 535, which drops to 371 at 1440p (a decrease of 164 FPS, or about 30.7% lower) and further to 212 at 4p (a further drop of 159 FPS, or 42.9% lower than 1440p). This scaling pattern indicates that the GPU becomes the limiting component at higher resolutions, as the CPU is not struggling to keep up with these frame rates.

At Medium settings, the trend persists: 1080p averages 467 FPS, 1440p drops to 314 (32.8% reduction), and 4p falls to 180 (42.7% reduction from 1440p). For High settings, 1080p yields 405 FPS, 1440p gives 272 (32.8% drop), and 4p yields 156 (42.6% drop). Finally, Ultra settings show 326 FPS at 1080p, 219 at 1440p (32.8% drop), and 125 at 4p (42.9% drop). The consistent percentage drops across all settings indicate that the GPU's workload scales roughly proportional to the number of pixels, which is a hallmark of a GPU-bound scenario.

This pattern suggests that the RTX 4080 is capable of driving To the Core at extreme frame rates at 1080p, but the game's rendering engine is not CPU-limited — even the 12400F can keep up. The 4p Ultra result of 125 avg FPS is still well above 60 FPS, so no component is a bottleneck in the traditional sense. The data indicates that the GPU's memory bandwidth and pixel rate are the primary drivers of performance at higher resolutions, but the CPU's single-thread performance is sufficient to avoid becoming a limiter.

The min FPS values, when present, show that the Medium settings at 4p have a min of 153 and max of 207, which is a spread of 54 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the min is 267 and max is 361, a similar spread. This indicates that frame time variance is higher at lower resolutions, likely due to CPU scheduling, but not causing stutter.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of how the combo performs across three resolutions and four quality settings. At 1080p, the Low preset delivers an average of 535 FPS, which is the highest frame rate of all tested configurations. The Medium preset yields 467 FPS, High 405 FPS, and Ultra 326 FPS. This shows that the game's graphics settings have a moderate impact on performance, with Ultra being about 39% slower than Low.

At 1440p, the Low preset averages 371 FPS, Medium 314 FPS, High 272 FPS, and Ultra 219 FPS. The FPS drops from 1080p to 1440p are consistent across settings, ranging from 30.7% to 32.8%. At 4Kp, the Low preset averages 212 FPS, Medium 180 FPS, High 156 FPS, and Ultra 125 FPS. The transition from 1440p to 4p results in similar percentage drops, confirming the GPU's role as the scaling bottleneck.

The Medium settings are the only ones that provide min/max FPS values. At 1080p Medium, the min is 397 and max is 537, so the average of 467 sits comfortably between. At 1440p Medium, min 267, max 361, average 314. At 4p Medium, min 153, max 207, average 180. These min/max values indicate that the frame rate is relatively stable, with a spread of about 140 FPS at 1080p, 94 FPS at 1440p, and 54 FPS at 4p. The wider spread at lower resolutions suggests CPU-induced micro-stutters, but the absolute FPS is so high that it is not noticeable.

The data shows that the RTX 4080 is capable of delivering 125 FPS at 4p Ultra, which is above the typical 60 FPS target, and the 6-core CPU does not bottleneck the GPU in any tested configuration.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combo of the Intel Core i5-12400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 ranks 274 out of 3725 tested combinations in To The Core, placing it in the top 7.4% of all combos. This ranking is driven by the GPU's high performance, as the CPU is only average among its peers. The CPU's percentileVsAllCpus of 73 indicates that it is faster than 73% of CPUs, but the GPU's percentileVsAllGpus of 86 (top 14%) is what pushes the combo up the rankings.

The GPU’s nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the RTX 4080 SUPER, which is nearly identical in performance (deltaPct 0.1), and the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X (deltaPct -1.1) and AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 16 (deltaPct -2.6), which are slightly slower. This means that the 4080's performance is not unique—a similar combo with a 4080 SUPER would rank similarly.

The CPU's nearest rivals are all very close in performance, with deltaPct values of 0, -0.1, and 0.3, indicating that the 12400F is not a differentiator. The ranking is therefore primarily a reflection of the GPU's ability to deliver high frame rates in this idle game. However, the ranking also considers that many combos use more powerful CPUs, but the game is not CPU-intensive, so the 12400F's 6 cores do not hurt the ranking. The 274th position out of 3725 is strong, but it could be higher with a top-tier CPU, though the data suggests the GPU is the main contributor.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Based on the measured FPS rows, the best experience varies by resolution. At 1080p, the Low preset yields 535 FPS, which is far beyond any display's capabilities; however, the High preset at 405 FPS is still excessive, so the user can choose Ultra at 326 FPS for better visuals without sacrificing performance. The Medium preset at 467 FPS is a good balance, but High at 405 FPS is also sufficient.

At 1440p, the Low preset averages 371 FPS, which is still high. The High preset at 272 FPS is more than enough for any 1440p monitor (typically 144 Hz or 165 Hz), so users can pick High or Ultra (219 FPS) for visual quality. The Medium preset at 314 FPS is also viable, but the difference between Medium and High is only 42 FPS, so High is a better choice.

At 4Kp, the Low preset averages 212 FPS, which is above 60 FPS but not ideal for high-refresh-rate displays. The Medium preset at 180 FPS is still solid, but the High preset at 156 FPS is a good trade-off for better graphics. The Ultra preset at 125 FPS is acceptable for 4p if the display is 120 Hz, but High is the recommended setting because it offers a 31 FPS improvement over Ultra with minimal visual difference.

Overall, the data suggests that the RTX 4080 can handle To The Core at any settings without dropping below 125 FPS, so the recommendation is to prioritize visual quality. For 1080p and 1440p, Ultra is recommended for the best experience, but for 4Kp, High is the sweet spot because it balances frame rate and visual fidelity.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The highest average FPS is 535, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: How does the CPU rank among all CPUs in the database?

A: The Intel Core i5-12400F has a percentileVsAllCpus of 73, meaning it outperforms 73% of CPUs in the benchmark database.

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

A: The combo ranks 274 out of 3725 tested combinations, which places it in the top 7.4%.

Q: Is the GPU or CPU the limiting factor at 4Kp Ultra settings?

A: The GPU is the limiting factor, as the average FPS drops from 535 at 1080p Low to 125 at 4p Ultra, while the CPU's thread performance is not saturated.

Q: What is the GPU's memory bandwidth?

A: The RTX 4080 has a memory bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s, which is sufficient for this game's data.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rival in average benchmark score?

A: The nearest rival is the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS with a score of 19047, which is nearly identical to the 12400F's 19039, with a deltaPct of 0.