To The Core

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data for To The Core reveals a clear stratification across the four available presets, with the gap between Low and Ultra widening dramatically as resolution increases. At 1920x1080, the jump from Ultra to High costs 48.4 FPS (243.8 vs 195.4), while the step from Medium to Low adds another 49.4 FPS (282.8 vs 332.2). This suggests that the Ultra preset imposes a heavy rendering load that yields diminishing returns for an idle-genre title where visual fidelity may not be the primary draw.

At 2560x1440, the pattern holds but with compressed margins: Low delivers 223.4 FPS, Medium drops to 187.7, High settles at 166, and Ultra falls to 129.7. The delta between Low and Ultra here is 93.7 FPS, which is substantial but less punishing than at 4K. At 3840x2160, the spread becomes severe: Low manages 127.3 FPS, Medium 110.1, High 95.9, and Ultra just 75.9 — a difference of 51.4 FPS between the two extremes.

The data indicates that High is the optimal preset for most use cases. It preserves a large portion of the visual uplift over Medium while avoiding the steep performance cliff of Ultra. At 1080p, High still produces 243.8 FPS, which is more than sufficient for any display refresh rate currently on the market. At 1440p, High's 166 FPS remains comfortably above the 144 Hz threshold that many gamers target. Even at 4K, High's 95.9 FPS is playable, whereas Ultra dips below 80 FPS — a noticeable degradation for a genre that benefits from smooth, consistent frame pacing.

Ultra appears to be a showcase preset rather than a practical choice, especially when the measured data shows it costing 79.6 FPS versus Low at 4K. Medium offers a balanced middle ground, but High's incremental cost over Medium (roughly 21-28 FPS across resolutions) is a reasonable trade for the visual improvements it likely brings. For players prioritizing maximum frame rates, Low at 1080p produces 332.2 FPS, which is extraordinary headroom for an idle game.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-13400F brings a 10-core, 16-thread configuration based on Raptor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz. Its benchmark profile shows strong multi-threaded capability: Cinebench R23 multi-core scores 21,279, while the single-core test reaches 3,004. This places the CPU at the 82nd percentile among all tested processors, with an average benchmark score of 25,236.

The data suggests that To The Core is not a CPU-bound title at the settings tested, given the massive frame rates achieved even at 1080p. However, the 13400F's thread count may matter for background simulation elements typical of idle games, where multiple systems tick simultaneously. The 16 threads provide ample parallelism for such workloads, and the 20 MB of shared L3 cache likely helps with data locality for game logic that iterates over many entities.

Comparing to nearest rivals, the 13400F sits within 0.5% of the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D (25,365 average) and the AMD EPYC 9474F (25,103), while edging out the Intel Core i7-13620H by 0.1% (25,201). This tight clustering indicates that the 13400F's performance envelope is well-established, and it does not represent a bottleneck for the frame rates observed in To The Core. The single-thread score of 3,004 in Cinebench R23 suggests that even if the game has a primary simulation thread, the 4.60 GHz boost clock should keep it adequately fed.

The CPU's 65 W TDP and 10 nm process node indicate efficient operation, though these factors are unlikely to influence gameplay directly. What matters more is that the 13400F's multi-threaded throughput, evidenced by Geekbench multi-core of 10,971 and PassMark multi-thread of 25,032, provides a solid foundation for the GPU to operate without waiting on CPU-side bottlenecks.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a 5 nm process from TSMC, featuring 3,840 shading units and 30 RT cores. Its memory subsystem comprises 8 GB of GDDR7 across a 128-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The boost clock of 2497 MHz and base clock of 2280 MHz contribute to a FP32 throughput of 19.18 TFLOPS.

The GPU's benchmark scores place it at the 73rd percentile among all GPUs, with an average score of 30,109. Its nearest rival is the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT at 30,097 (0% delta), while the AMD Radeon RX 570 scores 30,158 (-0.2%). This near-parity with the RX 7700 XT suggests the RTX 5060 is a mid-range performer that should handle most games at high settings without issue.

In To The Core, the GPU's role becomes increasingly prominent as resolution rises. At 1080p, the frame rates are so high (up to 332.2 FPS at Low) that the GPU is almost certainly the active component, but the CPU could be limiting in some scenarios. The 8 GB VRAM may be a concern at 4K Ultra settings, where texture memory demands could exceed capacity, potentially explaining the steep drop to 75.9 FPS. However, at 4K Low, the 127.3 FPS result indicates that the GPU can still perform admirably when memory pressure is reduced.

The 128-bit memory bus and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth appear sufficient for this genre, as idle games typically do not require massive texture streaming. The RT cores and tensor cores are likely underutilized in To The Core, but the raw rasterization performance of 19.18 TFLOPS is what drives the high frame counts observed.

How This Combo Ranks

This combination of Intel Core i5-13400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 ranks 826th out of 1,756 tested combos in To The Core, placing it in the 47th percentile. This middling rank is somewhat surprising given the high frame rates measured, but it reflects the fact that many other combinations — likely featuring higher-end GPUs — achieve even higher scores in this game.

The rank suggests that this combo is not at the bleeding edge for To The Core, but it is also far from the bottom. The 826th position out of 1,756 means roughly 47% of tested configurations outperform it, while 53% fall behind. This distribution indicates a competent mid-tier pairing that delivers playable performance across all settings and resolutions.

What the rank does not capture is the absolute performance level: at 1080p High, this combo produces 243.8 FPS, which is objectively smooth by any standard. The rank is relative, and the data shows that the combo is capable of exceeding 300 FPS at 1080p Low, which places it in the upper echelon of real-world usability even if the rank appears modest. The combination of a strong CPU (82nd percentile) and solid GPU (73rd percentile) creates a balanced system that avoids extreme bottlenecks in either direction.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS progression from 1080p to 4K reveals where the bottleneck lies. At High settings, the drop from 1080p (243.8 FPS) to 1440p (166 FPS) represents a 31.9% reduction, while the drop from 1440p to 4K (95.9 FPS) is another 42.2% reduction. This accelerating decline is characteristic of GPU-bound rendering, where pixel count grows quadratically with resolution.

At Low settings, the pattern is similar but with a more extreme 1080p result: 332.2 FPS at 1080p falls to 223.4 at 1440p (-32.7%) and then to 127.3 at 4K (-43.0%). The consistency of these percentage drops across settings suggests that the GPU is the primary limiter throughout, rather than the CPU or memory bandwidth.

The Ultra preset shows the steepest overall decline: 195.4 FPS at 1080p, 129.7 at 1440p (-33.6%), and 75.9 at 4K (-41.5%). The fact that the percentage drops are similar across all presets indicates that the rendering pipeline scales linearly with resolution, and the GPU's fill rate — 119.9 GPixel/s — is the constraining factor.

This scaling behavior implies that players with 1080p or 1440p monitors will experience abundant headroom, while 4K users may need to compromise on settings to maintain high frame rates. The 8 GB VRAM could also contribute to the 4K Ultra penalty, as the combination of high resolution and ultra details may exceed the memory capacity, causing the GPU to spill into system memory.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in To The Core?

A: The data shows 1440p High delivers 166 FPS, which balances visual quality with performance. At 4K High, the frame rate drops to 95.9 FPS, still playable but with significantly less headroom.

Q: How does the RTX 5060 compare to its nearest rival?

A: The RTX 5060's average benchmark score of 30,109 is virtually identical to the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT at 30,097 (0% delta), and it edges out the NVIDIA Tesla M60 by 0.5% (29,969).

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-13400F a bottleneck for this game?

A: No. The CPU's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 21,279 and single-core score of 3,004, combined with its 82nd percentile ranking, suggest it provides ample processing power for the frame rates observed.

Q: Which settings preset offers the best experience at 1080p?

A: High settings at 243.8 FPS provides excellent visual quality with minimal performance sacrifice compared to Ultra's 195.4 FPS. Medium at 282.8 FPS is also viable for players who prefer smoother motion.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming in this title?

A: Yes, but with caveats. At 4K High, the combo produces 95.9 FPS, while Ultra drops to 75.9 FPS. Low settings at 4K yield 127.3 FPS, indicating the GPU can manage 4K if settings are moderated.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-threaded performance compare to its rivals?

A: The 13400F's average score of 25,236 is within 0.1% of the Intel Core i7-13620H (25,201) and 0.5% of the AMD EPYC 9474F (25,103), while trailing the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D (25,365) by 0.5%.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS values are: Low 332.2, Medium 282.8, High 243.8, and Ultra 195.4. The spread from Low to Ultra is 136.8 FPS, indicating that settings have a substantial impact at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the values compress slightly: Low 223.4, Medium 187.7, High 166, and Ultra 129.7. The total spread is 93.7 FPS, showing that the GPU's pixel throughput becomes more limiting as resolution increases.

At 3840x2160, the values are: Low 127.3, Medium 110.1, High 95.9, and Ultra 75.9. The spread narrows to 51.4 FPS, which suggests that at 4K, the GPU is approaching its fill-rate ceiling and settings adjustments yield diminishing returns.

The most significant single-step drop occurs between Low and Medium at 1080p (49.4 FPS), while the smallest is between High and Ultra at 4K (20 FPS). This pattern indicates that the Ultra preset's additional effects are less costly at lower resolutions, but at 4K, they impose a proportionally larger burden on the GPU's already-strained resources. The data also reveals that Medium at 1440p (187.7 FPS) outperforms High at 4K (95.9 FPS) by nearly double, highlighting the resolution's outsized impact on frame rates for this combo.