To The Core

# To The Core with Intel Core i5-13400F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER

The Intel Core i5-13400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER delivers exceptional frame rates in To The Core, an idle genre title released in February 2024. The measured data shows this combo achieving over 100 FPS at every tested resolution and settings combination, with the lowest recorded average being 106.9 FPS at 4K Ultra. This positions the pairing as one of the stronger configurations among the 1,756 tested combos, ranking 327th overall, placing it comfortably within the top 19% of all tested systems. The CPU's 10 cores and 16 threads, combined with the GPU's 12 GB of GDDR6X memory, create a balanced platform that scales predictably across the three resolutions and four quality presets examined here.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound behavior as resolution increases. At 1080p Ultra, the combo produces 282.6 FPS, which drops to 188.9 FPS at 1440p Ultra (a 33.2% reduction) and further to 106.9 FPS at 4K Ultra (a 62.2% reduction from the 1080p figure). This steep decline indicates that the GPU is the limiting component at higher resolutions, as the workload per pixel grows substantially while the CPU's 2.50 GHz base clock and 4.60 GHz boost clock remain constant.

The scaling pattern is consistent across all settings presets. Low settings show the largest absolute drop, from 482.4 FPS at 1080p to 187.1 FPS at 4K, a 61.2% decrease. Medium settings fall from 403.7 FPS to 154.1 FPS (61.8% reduction), while High settings decline from 352 FPS to 133.2 FPS (62.2% reduction). The uniformity of these percentages—hovering around 61-62% from 1080p to 4K—suggests that resolution scaling is governed almost entirely by pixel throughput rather than any specific game engine characteristic. The RTX 4070 SUPER's 504.2 GB/s memory bandwidth and 198.0 GPixel/s pixel rate become the determining factors at 4K, where the 192-bit bus width is fully exercised.

At 1440p, the intermediate resolution, frame rates remain exceptionally high. The lowest 1440p result is 188.9 FPS on Ultra, which still exceeds the 4K High result of 133.2 FPS by 41.8%. This indicates that 1440p is a sweet spot where the GPU still has ample headroom, and the CPU's 16 threads are sufficient to feed the graphics pipeline without becoming a bottleneck. The data shows diminishing returns when moving from 1080p to 1440p compared to the larger drop from 1440p to 4K, which is typical for a GPU with 7,168 shading units and 80 ROPs.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 327th out of 1,756 tested combinations, placing it in the 81st percentile of all systems evaluated. This is a strong showing that reflects the synergy between the Core i5-13400F and the RTX 4070 SUPER. The CPU itself sits at the 82nd percentile among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 25,236, while the GPU ranks at the 84th percentile with an average score of 42,576. The slight discrepancy between component percentiles and the combined rank suggests that To The Core does not fully stress either component to its theoretical maximum, allowing the pair to perform slightly above what individual component rankings might predict.

Looking at the CPU's nearest rivals, the Core i5-13400F is essentially tied with the Intel Core i7-13620H, which scores 25,201 (a 0.1% difference), and the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D at 25,365 (0.5% higher). The AMD EPYC 9474F and AMD Ryzen AI 5 PRO 340 both score 25,103 and 25,099 respectively, each 0.5% below the i5-13400F. This clustering within a 1% band indicates that the 10-core, 16-thread configuration provides compute performance that is highly competitive with a wide range of alternatives, from mobile H-series chips to server-grade EPYC processors.

On the GPU side, the RTX 4070 SUPER's average benchmark score of 42,576 places it just 0.2% below the NVIDIA RTX A6000 (42,653) and 0.3% below the AMD Radeon RX 7650 GRE (42,723). It leads the AMD Radeon Pro 580X by 1.4% and the NVIDIA Tesla M40 by 1.6%. These margins are small, but in To The Core, where frame rates exceed 100 FPS even at 4K Ultra, the GPU's raw compute capabilities are more than adequate. The combination's rank of 327 suggests that many higher-ranked combos likely pair even more powerful GPUs with flagship CPUs, but for the target resolution of 1440p or below, this combo delivers performance that exceeds typical display refresh rate capabilities.

GPU Role

The RTX 4070 SUPER is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture using TSMC's 5 nm process, with a die size of 294 mm² and 35,800 million transistors. Its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory runs at an effective 21 Gbps across a 192-bit bus, yielding 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1980 MHz and boosts to 2475 MHz, with 7,168 shading units, 224 texture mapping units, and 80 raster operation units. These specifications translate to a FP32 performance of 35.48 TFLOPS and a texture rate of 554.4 GTexel/s.

In To The Core, the GPU's role becomes progressively more dominant as resolution increases. At 1080p, the frame rates range from 282.6 FPS on Ultra to 482.4 FPS on Low, suggesting that even at the highest quality preset, the GPU is not fully saturated and the CPU's 4.60 GHz boost clock is able to keep pace. The 5 nm process node and 220 W TDP allow the GPU to maintain high boost clocks under sustained load, which is critical for the consistently high averages recorded across all 12 measured configurations.

The 12 GB VRAM capacity is never a limiting factor in To The Core, as even the 4K Ultra preset with its highest texture and geometry demands does not appear to exceed the available memory. The 504.2 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient for the game's data transfer requirements, evidenced by the smooth scaling from 1080p to 4K without any anomalous frame rate collapses. The GPU's 84th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average score of 42,576, confirms that it is a high-end part, and its nearest rivals—the RTX A6000 and RX 7650 GRE—are all within 0.3% in average score, indicating that the RTX 4070 SUPER is operating at the upper echelon of graphics performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo produces its highest frame rates across all settings. Low settings yield 482.4 FPS, Medium produces 403.7 FPS, High delivers 352 FPS, and Ultra achieves 282.6 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 41.4% reduction in performance, which is a substantial cost for the visual quality improvements. The gap between consecutive presets is consistent: Low to Medium is a 16.3% drop, Medium to High is 12.8%, and High to Ultra is 19.7%. This suggests that the Ultra preset introduces disproportionately heavy effects compared to the step from Medium to High.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show the expected decline. Low settings produce 320.4 FPS, Medium delivers 272.8 FPS, High achieves 235.3 FPS, and Ultra drops to 188.9 FPS. The percentage reductions from 1080p are 33.6% for Low, 32.4% for Medium, 33.2% for High, and 33.2% for Ultra. The consistency of these percentages across all presets reinforces that resolution scaling is uniform regardless of quality level. The 1440p results still exceed 180 FPS at all settings, which is well above the refresh rate of most high-end monitors.

At 3840x2160, the GPU begins to show its limits, though the results remain playable. Low settings yield 187.1 FPS, Medium produces 154.1 FPS, High achieves 133.2 FPS, and Ultra drops to 106.9 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K barely crosses the 100 FPS threshold, and the gap between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 42.9%, slightly larger than at 1080p. The data shows that even the most demanding configuration—4K Ultra—remains fluid, but users seeking consistently high refresh rates at 4K would need to compromise on settings.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured frame rates, the High preset at 2560x1440 offers the best balance of visual quality and performance. The 235.3 FPS average at this setting is more than sufficient for any high-refresh-rate display, and the step up from Medium (272.8 FPS) to High (235.3 FPS) costs only 13.7% performance while providing meaningful visual improvements. At 4K, the High preset at 133.2 FPS is the recommended choice for users with 120 Hz displays, as it maintains a comfortable margin above the refresh rate while delivering better image quality than Medium.

For users with 1080p displays, the Ultra preset at 282.6 FPS is the clear recommendation, as the performance headroom is enormous and the visual quality benefits are fully realized. The Medium preset at 403.7 FPS offers diminishing returns for those prioritizing maximum frame rates, but the difference between Medium and Ultra at 1080p is 30%—a significant drop that may not be justified for all users. At 1440p, the Ultra preset at 188.9 FPS is viable for 165 Hz monitors, though the High preset provides a 24.6% performance increase over Ultra with only a modest reduction in visual fidelity.

The Low preset, while producing the highest frame rates at every resolution (482.4 FPS at 1080p, 320.4 FPS at 1440p, 187.1 FPS at 4K), is only recommended for competitive play where maximum frame rates take precedence over visuals. The data indicates that the combo has enough headroom that Low settings are rarely necessary, as even 4K High exceeds 130 FPS.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-13400F is a 10-core, 16-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 10 nm process with a die size of 215 mm². It features a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz, with 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 1.25 MB of L2 cache per core, and 20 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration and connects via PCIe Gen 5 with 16 lanes. Its 65 W TDP is modest for a desktop part, and it is not multiplier unlocked.

In To The Core, the CPU's role is secondary to the GPU at higher resolutions, but it still provides sufficient compute headroom to avoid bottlenecking. At 1080p Low, the 482.4 FPS result indicates that the CPU can feed the GPU at extremely high frame rates, though this likely approaches the practical limit for the 16-thread configuration. The CPU's single-thread performance, evidenced by its 3DMark single-thread score of 960 and Geekbench single-core score of 2,301, is adequate for the game's logic and physics calculations, which typically rely on a few fast cores.

The CPU's multi-threaded capabilities, demonstrated by its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 21,279 and PassMark multithread score of 25,032, ensure that background tasks and the game's auxiliary threads do not interfere with frame pacing. The 82nd percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average score of 25,236, places it just 0.5% below the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D and 0.1% above the Intel Core i7-13620H. In To The Core, the CPU's 4.60 GHz boost clock is the key specification, as the game appears to be lightly threaded based on the frame rate consistency across resolutions—if the CPU were a bottleneck, the 1080p results would not scale so dramatically when GPU load decreases.