To The Core

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS deltas across resolutions reveal a system that remains firmly GPU-bound at every tested configuration, though the degree of that bottleneck shifts predictably as pixel count rises. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the Intel Core i5-12600KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 combination produces 415.1 FPS, which drops to 275.8 FPS at 2560x1440 — a 33.6% reduction. Moving to 3840x2160 yields 161.6 FPS, representing a further 41.4% decline from the 1440p result. These are substantial scaling penalties that indicate the GPU's rendering throughput is the dominant constraint, especially as resolution climbs.

The scaling pattern is consistent across all four settings presets. For High settings, the frame rate falls from 305.5 FPS at 1080p to 205.3 FPS at 1440p (a 32.8% drop), then to 116 FPS at 4K (a 43.5% drop from 1440p). Medium settings show 351.7 FPS at 1080p, 235.6 FPS at 1440p, and 135.8 FPS at 4K, with the 1440p-to-4K penalty at 42.4%. Ultra settings follow the same trajectory: 244.6 FPS at 1080p, 161.8 FPS at 1440p, and 96.8 FPS at 4K.

What this scaling tells the analyst is that the RTX 3080's memory bandwidth and compute resources are being fully exercised at higher resolutions, while the CPU's 10 cores and 16 threads are not the limiting factor in this idle-genre title. The fact that even the largest resolution drop — from 1440p to 4K — produces frame rate reductions of roughly 40-44% across all presets suggests the GPU is operating near its saturation point. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see a smaller FPS delta between 1440p and 4K, because the additional pixel work would be absorbed by the GPU without affecting the CPU-bound portion of the frame time. The data shows no such plateau, confirming the GPU's dominant role.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080's specifications directly explain its behavior in this title. With 10 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 320-bit bus delivering 760.3 GB/s of bandwidth, the card has ample headroom for the visual complexity that "To The Core" presents at 4K. The GA102 chip contains 8704 shading units, 272 texture mapping units, and 96 ROPs, with a boost clock of 1710 MHz and a base clock of 1440 MHz. The memory runs at an effective 19 Gbps, which translates to a pixel rate of 164.2 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 465.1 GTexel/s.

The GPU's FP32 throughput of 29.77 TFLOPS is relevant when interpreting the scaling data. The 4K Ultra result of 96.8 FPS indicates that the card is being pushed near its limits with the highest preset, while the 4K Low result of 161.6 FPS shows there is still substantial performance left when shading load is reduced. The measured data suggests the RTX 3080's 68 RT cores and 272 tensor cores, while present, are not the primary factor in this idle genre — the game's rendering workload appears to be more conventional rasterization, which relies on the shading units and ROPs.

Relative to its nearest rivals, the RTX 3080's average benchmark score of 35787 places it at the 80th percentile among all GPUs. It trails the AMD Radeon Pro Duo by 0.2% (average score 35860) and the AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE by 0.9% (average score 36101), while leading the AMD Radeon 880M by 0.4% (average score 35646) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Mobile by 1% (average score 35435). These are tight margins, indicating the RTX 3080 remains competitive in raw compute despite its end-of-life production status and 2020 release date. In this specific game, the measured FPS data shows the card delivering playable frame rates even at 4K Ultra, which aligns with its high-end positioning.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows provide clear guidance for optimizing the experience in "To The Core." Across all three resolutions, the Medium preset offers the most balanced combination of visual quality and frame rate headroom. At 1920x1080, Medium produces 351.7 FPS — 36.4 FPS lower than Low (415.1 FPS) but 46.2 FPS higher than High (305.5 FPS) and 107.1 FPS higher than Ultra (244.6 FPS). The frame rate remains so far above display refresh rates that the visual uplift from Low to Medium is essentially free in practical terms.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset delivers 235.6 FPS, which represents a 14.6% reduction from Low (275.8 FPS) but a 27.9% improvement over High (205.3 FPS) and a 45.6% improvement over Ultra (161.8 FPS). This is the resolution where the choice becomes more meaningful, as the gap between presets widens. For users targeting 144 Hz or 165 Hz displays, Medium comfortably exceeds the refresh ceiling, while High also clears it with 205.3 FPS.

At 3840x2160, Medium produces 135.8 FPS, which is sufficient for high-refresh 4K panels (120 Hz and above) but with less margin. High drops to 116 FPS, still playable, while Ultra falls to 96.8 FPS — the only preset below 100 FPS in the entire measured data set. Low at 4K yields 161.6 FPS, which is the highest 4K result but sacrifices visual fidelity. The recommendation from the data is clear: Medium at 4K provides the best trade-off, with High as a viable alternative for users who prioritize image quality over the extra ~20 FPS. Ultra is only advisable for users with VRR displays who can tolerate the sub-100 FPS floor.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS matrix for the Intel Core i5-12600KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 in "To The Core" is as follows.

At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves 415.1 FPS average, the highest frame rate in the entire dataset. Medium follows at 351.7 FPS, High at 305.5 FPS, and Ultra at 244.6 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 170.5 FPS, representing a 41.1% performance drop for the highest preset. This indicates that even at 1080p, the GPU's shading load scales significantly with settings, and the CPU's 10-core, 16-thread configuration is never exposed as a limiting factor.

At 2560x1440, Low yields 275.8 FPS, Medium 235.6 FPS, High 205.3 FPS, and Ultra 161.8 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra spread is 114 FPS, a 41.3% reduction. The 1440p results are approximately 33-34% lower than the corresponding 1080p results across all presets, confirming consistent resolution scaling behavior.

At 3840x2160, Low produces 161.6 FPS, Medium 135.8 FPS, High 116 FPS, and Ultra 96.8 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra spread is 64.8 FPS, a 40.1% reduction. The 4K results are approximately 41-44% lower than the corresponding 1440p results, showing that the resolution penalty grows slightly at the highest pixel counts. Notably, the 4K Ultra result of 96.8 FPS is the only measured configuration below 100 FPS, and the 4K Low result of 161.6 FPS exceeds the 1440p Ultra result of 161.8 FPS by a negligible margin — a quirk that suggests the settings preset has a more significant impact on frame rate than resolution alone.

The combined ranking for this CPU-GPU pair in "To The Core" is 524 out of 1756 tested combinations, placing it in the top 29.8% of all configurations. This ranking is consistent with the RTX 3080's 80th percentile standing among all GPUs and the i5-12600KF's 84th percentile among all CPUs. The game's idle genre nature means it does not push either component to extreme limits, yet the measured data shows the GPU is the primary performance driver.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS measured for this combo in "To The Core"?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 415.1, achieved at 1920x1080 with the Low preset. This is the only configuration in the dataset to exceed 400 FPS.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU limit performance in this game?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the limiting component. Resolution scaling produces consistent 33-44% frame rate drops when moving from 1080p to 1440p to 4K, which would not occur if the CPU were the bottleneck. The i5-12600KF's 10 cores and 16 threads provide ample headroom for this idle genre title.

Q: How does the RTX 3080 compare to its nearest rivals in overall benchmark scores?

A: The RTX 3080's average benchmark score is 35787, placing it at the 80th percentile. It trails the AMD Radeon Pro Duo by 0.2% (35860) and the AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE by 0.9% (36101), while leading the AMD Radeon 880M by 0.4% (35646) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Mobile by 1% (35435).

Q: What is the best preset for 4K gaming on this hardware?

A: The Medium preset at 3840x2160 yields 135.8 FPS, which is the recommended balance. High produces 116 FPS, Low 161.6 FPS, and Ultra 96.8 FPS. Medium offers the highest visual quality while maintaining a comfortable margin above 120 FPS.

Q: Is the 4K Ultra preset playable on this system?

A: Yes, but marginally. The measured average FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings is 96.8, which is below 100 FPS. This is the only configuration in the entire dataset that falls below this threshold, making it suitable only for users with VRR displays or those who prioritize visual fidelity over frame rate.

Q: How does the i5-12600KF perform relative to its nearest rivals?

A: The i5-12600KF has an average benchmark score of 27827, placing it at the 84th percentile. It effectively matches the Intel Core i9-10900K (27829, 0% delta) and the Intel Core i5-12600K (27851, -0.1%), while trailing the Intel Core Ultra 5 125H by 0.2% (27872) and leading the Intel Core i7-13700H by 0.4% (27716).