To The Core

The Intel Core i5-13400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 delivers exceptional performance in To The Core, a game that clearly favors high refresh rate displays. The data shows this combination is not just capable of running the game smoothly; it obliterates standard refresh rate targets, with average FPS figures never dropping below 125 across any tested setting or resolution. The most demanding configuration tested, 4K Ultra, still produces an average of 125 FPS, while stepping down to 1080p Low yields a staggering 552 FPS average. This indicates a system with substantial headroom, making the limiting factor more about the display's refresh rate than the hardware's capability.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling across resolutions reveals a classic pattern where the GPU becomes increasingly burdened as pixel count rises, yet the sheer power of the RTX 4080 ensures playable, and often overkill, frame rates at every step. The most significant drop occurs when moving from 1440p to 4K. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 272 at 2560x1440 to 156 at 3840x2160, a reduction of 116 FPS, or roughly 43%. This substantial decrease underscores that the RTX 4080 is being pushed harder at 4K, though the absolute result remains impressive.

When examining the jump from 1080p to 1440p, the scaling is less severe but still considerable. For instance, with Medium settings, the average FPS drops from 467 at 1920x1080 to 314 at 2560x1440. This represents a 153 FPS difference, indicating that while the resolution increase demands more from the GPU, the performance headroom is so vast that even the lower-resolution figures are far beyond what any standard monitor can display. The data suggests that at 1080p and 1440p, the system is likely hitting a CPU or engine-level limit in some scenarios, as the frame rates are so high that the GPU is not the primary bottleneck.

The scaling from 1440p to 4K is where the GPU's workload becomes the defining factor. The FPS drops are more pronounced, confirming that the RTX 4080's rendering capabilities are the primary constraint at this resolution. For example, at Low settings, the average FPS drops from 371 at 1440p to 212 at 4K, a 159 FPS decline. This pattern across all settings—Low, Medium, High, and Ultra—confirms that 4K is the only resolution where the RTX 4080's performance ceiling is meaningfully approached, while at 1080p and 1440p, the results are so high that they are likely limited by other factors like CPU draw-call throughput or game engine physics.

The data indicates that the RTX 4080 is the decisive component at 4K, but its dominance is less clear at lower resolutions. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra settings is 226 FPS (552 vs 326), a massive gap that shows the GPU is still doing significant work. However, the absolute numbers suggest that even at Ultra settings, the system is not GPU-bound in the traditional sense, as the frame rate is still exceptionally high. This implies that for users with 1080p or 1440p displays, the system is over-provisioned, and the experience will be silky smooth regardless of the in-game graphics preset.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear hierarchy of performance across the four tested presets: Low, Medium, High, and Ultra. For users prioritizing the highest possible frame rates, especially on high-refresh-rate monitors, the Low preset offers the most headroom. At 1080p, Low produces an average of 552 FPS, which is 85 FPS higher than the Medium preset and 226 FPS higher than Ultra. This makes Low the optimal choice for competitive play or for users with 360Hz or faster displays, though the visual trade-offs are not quantified in the data.

For a balanced experience that still delivers exceptional smoothness, the Medium preset is a strong candidate. It offers a significant performance boost over High settings while presumably providing better visual quality than Low. The data shows that at 1440p, Medium averages 314 FPS, which is 42 FPS higher than High and 95 FPS higher than Ultra. At 4K, Medium averages 180 FPS, with a minimum frame rate of 153 FPS, ensuring that even the most demanding scenes stay well above the 144Hz threshold. This preset appears to be the sweet spot for users who want high fidelity without sacrificing the fluidity that this hardware can provide.

The High preset is a viable option for those who want enhanced visuals but still demand high performance. At 4K, it averages 156 FPS, which is still excellent for most displays. However, the data shows that the step from Medium to High costs 24 FPS at 4K (180 to 156) and 42 FPS at 1440p (314 to 272). This indicates that the visual upgrade may not be worth the performance loss for users with 144Hz monitors, as the Medium preset is more likely to maintain a consistent frame rate above the refresh rate cap.

The Ultra preset is the most demanding and is only recommended for users with 4K displays that support a 120Hz refresh rate or lower. The data shows that Ultra at 4K averages 125 FPS, which is just above the 120Hz threshold but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes. At 1440p, Ultra averages 219 FPS, which is still incredibly smooth, but the 95 FPS drop from Medium (314 FPS) suggests that the visual improvements come at a high cost. For most users, the Medium or High preset will provide the best experience per the measured rows, balancing visual fidelity with the extremely high frame rates that this hardware can achieve.

FAQ

*Q: What is the highest average frame rate achievable with this hardware in To The Core?*

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 552, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low settings preset.

Q: Can this system maintain a stable 144 FPS at 4K resolution?

A: Yes. At 3840x2160 with Medium settings, the average FPS is 180, with a minimum FPS of 153, ensuring the frame rate stays above 144 FPS. Even at High settings, the average is 156 FPS.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1440p to 4K?

A: The performance drop varies by settings. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 272 at 2560x1440 to 156 at 3840x2160, a decrease of 116 FPS. At Low settings, the drop is 159 FPS, from 371 to 212.

Q: Is the RTX 4080 the main bottleneck at 1080p resolution?

A: The data suggests that at 1080p, the frame rates are so high (over 326 FPS even at Ultra) that the GPU is likely not the primary limiting factor. Other components, such as the CPU or game engine, may be more significant at this resolution.

Q: Which settings preset provides the best balance of performance and visual quality?

A: Based on the measured FPS, the Medium preset offers a strong balance. At 1440p, it achieves 314 FPS average, and at 4K, it achieves 180 FPS average, both significantly higher than the High and Ultra presets while presumably offering better visuals than Low.

Q: What is the lowest average frame rate recorded in the test data?

A: The lowest average FPS is 125, recorded at 3840x2160 resolution with the Ultra settings preset.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete dataset provides a comprehensive view of performance across all tested configurations. At 1920x1080, the system delivers extraordinary performance. The Low preset achieves an average of 552 FPS, which is the highest score in the entire dataset. The Medium preset follows with 467 FPS average, showing a minimum of 397 FPS and a maximum of 537 FPS. The High preset drops to 405 FPS average, and the Ultra preset brings up the rear at 326 FPS average. These figures are all far beyond the refresh rate capabilities of typical monitors, indicating that users with 1080p displays will experience perfectly smooth gameplay regardless of the settings chosen.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance remains exceptionally high. The Low preset again leads with an average of 371 FPS. The Medium preset averages 314 FPS, with a minimum of 267 FPS and a maximum of 361 FPS. The High preset achieves 272 FPS average, and the Ultra preset averages 219 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p shows a consistent reduction in FPS across all settings, with the Low preset experiencing a 181 FPS drop, the Medium preset a 153 FPS drop, the High preset a 133 FPS drop, and the Ultra preset a 107 FPS drop. This pattern confirms that the GPU is being pushed harder at this resolution, but the performance remains more than sufficient for any current display technology.

At 3840x2160, the RTX 4080's workload becomes significantly more demanding. The Low preset averages 212 FPS, which is still a very high frame rate. The Medium preset averages 180 FPS, with a minimum of 153 FPS and a maximum of 207 FPS, making it the only configuration with reported min/max values. The High preset averages 156 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 125 FPS. The transition from 1440p to 4K results in substantial FPS drops: 159 FPS for Low, 134 FPS for Medium, 116 FPS for High, and 94 FPS for Ultra. This data clearly shows that 4K is the most demanding resolution for this hardware, but the system still provides an excellent experience, with even the most taxing preset maintaining an average above 120 FPS.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is the dominant component in this system, and its specifications directly explain the high frame rates observed in To The Core. The GPU features 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s. This substantial memory bandwidth is crucial for handling the texture and geometry data at high resolutions, particularly at 4K where the demand for memory throughput increases significantly. The 16 GB capacity ensures that the game's assets can be loaded without exceeding VRAM limits, preventing potential stuttering or texture pop-in that can occur with smaller memory pools.

The RTX 4080's compute capabilities are equally impressive. With 9,728 shading units, 304 texture mapping units, and 112 render output units, the GPU is well-equipped to handle the parallel workloads required by modern game rendering. The boost clock of 2505 MHz allows for high sustained performance, and the 48.74 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power provides ample headroom for the shader complexity found in To The Core. The GPU also features 76 RT cores and 304 tensor cores, which are relevant for ray tracing and DLSS features, although the measured FPS data does not specify whether these features were enabled.

The benchmark results for the RTX 4080 place it in the 86th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 54,247. This is nearly identical to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER, which has a deltaPct of 0.1% higher, and it outperforms the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X by 1.1% and the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB by 2.6%. This positioning confirms that the RTX 4080 is a top-tier graphics card, and its performance in To The Core reflects this, with the system ranking 226th out of 3,725 tested combinations. The GPU's role is clear: it is the primary driver of performance at 4K and ensures that the game runs at incredibly high frame rates at all lower resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-13400F serves as the central processor for this system, and its specifications are well-matched to the GPU's capabilities. This CPU features 10 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz. The combination of performance and efficiency cores is typical of Intel's 13th Gen architecture, providing strong multi-threaded performance for background tasks while maintaining high single-thread speeds for gaming. The 20 MB of shared L3 cache helps reduce memory latency, which is beneficial for game logic and physics calculations.

The CPU's benchmark scores indicate solid performance, placing it in the 77th percentile of all CPUs. Its average benchmark score of 25,292 is comparable to its nearest rivals, including the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS and the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D, both with a deltaPct of 0% and -0.3%, respectively. In Cinebench R23, the CPU scores 22,604 in multi-core and 3,191 in single-core, demonstrating strong performance in both heavily threaded and lightly threaded workloads. This balance is important for To The Core, which, as an idle game, may have varying CPU demands depending on the number of simulated entities or calculations.

The CPU's role in this system is to feed the GPU with data efficiently. At 1080p resolution, where the GPU is less stressed, the CPU's performance becomes more critical. The extremely high frame rates observed at 1080p (405-552 FPS) suggest that the CPU is capable of keeping up with the GPU's output, but it may also be the limiting factor at these settings. The data shows that the FPS differences between settings at 1080p are large, which could indicate that the CPU is not the primary bottleneck, as the GPU workload changes significantly with settings. The CPU's 10 cores and 16 threads are more than sufficient for an idle game, and its high boost clock ensures that single-threaded performance is not a hindrance. Overall, the i5-13400F provides a solid foundation that does not bottleneck the RTX 4080 in this title, allowing the GPU to deliver its full performance potential.