To The Core

This combo pairing of the Intel Core i5-14600K and Intel Arc B570 places well within the lower-middle tier of tested configurations for To The Core, securing the 2,380th spot out of 2,991 total combos. That puts it in the 20th percentile of all tested systems, meaning roughly four out of every five setups tested will outperform it in this specific idle game. The rank is a composite of component strength and game optimization, and with a CPU that sits in the 90th percentile against all CPUs and a GPU that sits in the 65th percentile against all GPUs, the data suggests the combination is held back more by its graphics card than its processor.

How This Combo Ranks

The 2,380th rank out of 2,991 combos is not a flattering position, but it is a telling one. The data shows that this pairing is closer to the bottom of the tested pool than the top, and the gap between the CPU and GPU percentiles explains why. The Core i5-14600K is a high-end processor, outperforming 90% of all CPUs in the benchmark database. Meanwhile, the Arc B570 outperforms just 65% of all GPUs. In a game like To The Core, which is an idle game that typically relies less on raw graphics horsepower than on sustained processing, the CPU's strength should be an asset. Yet the combo still lands in the 20th percentile overall, meaning the GPU's relative weakness is dragging the whole system down.

Looking at the CPU's nearest rivals, the data shows how tightly packed the mid-to-high end of the processor market is. The i5-14600K has an average benchmark score of 48,618, which is nearly identical to the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H (48,698, just 0.2% ahead), the AMD EPYC 4345P (48,470, 0.3% behind), the Intel Core Ultra 5 245HX (48,287, 0.7% behind), and the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 (48,995, 0.8% ahead). These deltas are all within a single percentage point, which suggests that in pure processing power, the i5-14600K is effectively interchangeable with these rivals. The fact that it ranks at 2,380 in To The Core despite this CPU strength points directly at the GPU as the limiting factor.

The GPU's nearest rivals paint a similar picture of tight competition. The Arc B570's average score of 20,556 is within half a percentage point of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (20,534, 0.1% ahead), the Intel Arc A750 (20,582, 0.1% behind), the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M (20,480, 0.4% behind), and the AMD Radeon R9 M390X (20,662, 0.5% behind). This means the B570 is essentially trading blows with a last-generation mobile GPU and a much older desktop card. In an idle game, this level of GPU performance is sufficient to run the game, but it does not provide the headroom needed to push high frame rates at higher resolutions and settings.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B570 is built on the Xe2-HPG architecture, a 5 nm design from TSMC that packs 19,600 million transistors onto a 272 mm² die. The GPU has a base and boost clock of 2500 MHz, with memory running at 2375 MHz, which translates to 19 Gbps effective. It has 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus, delivering 380.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The shading units number 2,304, with 144 texture mapping units and 80 raster output pipelines. The card also has 18 ray tracing cores and supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. Its compute power is rated at 11.52 TFLOPS for FP32 and 23.04 TFLOPS for FP16.

In To The Core, the GPU's role is evident when comparing the measured FPS across settings at each resolution. At 1080p, the card pushes from 225 FPS on Low to 133 FPS on Ultra, which is a drop of 92 FPS, or about 41%. At 1440p, the range is from 152 FPS on Low to 89 FPS on Ultra, a drop of 63 FPS, or about 41%. At 4K, the range is from 87 FPS on Low to 51 FPS on Ultra, a drop of 36 FPS, also about 41%. The consistency of this percentage drop across resolutions suggests that the GPU is the bottleneck, as its performance scales linearly with the workload increase from settings changes.

The 10 GB of VRAM is likely sufficient for this idle game, even at 4K Ultra, given that the game is not graphically intensive. However, the card's raw throughput limits the frame rates. The fact that it scores 65th percentile against all GPUs and has an average benchmark score of 20,556, which is nearly identical to the RTX 3070 Mobile, indicates that it is a mid-range performer. In a game that is not demanding, this translates to playable but not exceptional frame rates at higher settings.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows clear scaling from 1080p to 4K. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 165 at 1080p to 111 at 1440p, a 33% decrease, and then to 64 at 4K, a 42% decrease from 1440p and a 61% decrease from 1080p. At Low settings, the numbers are 225, 152, and 87, representing a 32% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 43% drop from 1440p to 4K. At Medium settings, the averages are 191, 128, and 73, with a 33% drop and a 43% drop respectively. At Ultra settings, the averages are 133, 89, and 51, with a 33% drop and a 43% drop.

The scaling pattern is remarkably consistent, with a roughly one-third drop from 1080p to 1440p and a further two-fifths drop from 1440p to 4K at every setting level. This uniformity is a strong indicator that the GPU is the limiting component. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see smaller drops at higher resolutions, as the GPU becomes less saturated and the CPU's fixed processing cost becomes more dominant. Instead, the frame rate drops in near-perfect proportion to the increase in pixel count, which points to the GPU's rendering pipeline being the constraint.

At 4K Ultra, the average FPS falls to 51, which is below the 60 FPS threshold that many consider the minimum for smooth gameplay. Even at 4K High, the average of 64 FPS is just above that threshold. This suggests that to maintain a consistently smooth experience at 4K, users would need to drop to Medium settings, where the average is 73 FPS, or Low settings, where it jumps to 87 FPS. The data shows that the Arc B570 can handle 4K in this game, but only at lower settings if the goal is to stay above 60 FPS.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal settings for this combo depend on the target resolution and frame rate. At 1080p, all settings are playable, with Low averaging 225 FPS, Medium averaging 191 FPS, High averaging 165 FPS, and Ultra averaging 133 FPS. Even at Ultra, the frame rate is well above the 60 FPS threshold, making it the best choice for a high-refresh-rate monitor. The data shows that the card has plenty of headroom at 1080p, so users can max out settings without concern.

At 1440p, the story is similar but with less headroom. Low averages 152 FPS, Medium averages 128 FPS, High averages 111 FPS, and Ultra averages 89 FPS. All of these are above 60 FPS, so Ultra remains a viable choice for a smooth experience. However, the gap between Ultra and High is 22 FPS, which might be noticeable on a 144 Hz monitor. For the best balance of visual quality and frame rate, High settings at 1440p provide a solid 111 FPS average, which is smooth and visually detailed.

At 4K, the recommendations change. Low averages 87 FPS, Medium averages 73 FPS, High averages 64 FPS, and Ultra averages 51 FPS. The Ultra setting dips below 60 FPS, which could result in noticeable stutter or lag. High settings at 64 FPS are just above the threshold, but the margin is thin. For a more comfortable buffer, Medium settings at 73 FPS are recommended, as they provide a smoother experience while still offering decent visual quality. Low settings at 87 FPS are the best for competitive play or if frame rate is the absolute priority. The data suggests that Medium is the sweet spot at 4K for this combo, balancing visual fidelity with a frame rate that stays comfortably above 60 FPS.

FAQ

*Q: What is the combo's overall rank in To The Core?*

A: The combo ranks 2,380 out of 2,991 tested combinations, placing it in the lower 20% of all systems tested for this game.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Core i5-14600K has an average benchmark score of 48,618, which is within 0.8% of its nearest rivals, including the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 (48,995), Intel Xeon Gold 5318H (48,698), AMD EPYC 4345P (48,470), and Intel Core Ultra 5 245HX (48,287).

Q: What is the best settings preset for 4K gameplay?

A: At 4K, Medium settings provide an average of 73 FPS, which is the best balance above the 60 FPS threshold. Ultra settings drop to 51 FPS, which is below that threshold.

Q: How does the GPU's performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Arc B570 has an average benchmark score of 20,556, which is nearly identical to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (20,534), Intel Arc A750 (20,582), NVIDIA Quadro M4000M (20,480), and AMD Radeon R9 M390X (20,662), with deltas all under 0.5%.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between 1080p and 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the average FPS drops from 165 at 1080p to 111 at 1440p and then to 64 at 4K, representing a 61% decrease from 1080p to 4K.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the limiting factor. The CPU has a 90th percentile rank, while the GPU has a 65th percentile rank, and the consistent FPS scaling across resolutions points to the GPU as the bottleneck.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600K is a 14-core, 20-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, specifically the Raptor Lake-R refresh, built on Intel's 10 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, with a TDP of 125 W. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 24 MB of shared L3 cache. It supports dual-channel DDR4 and DDR5 memory and has PCIe Gen 5 with 16 lanes from the CPU. The processor also includes integrated UHD Graphics 770.

In terms of raw benchmark scores, the i5-14600K posts a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 24,491 and a single-core score of 2,064. In Geekbench, it scores 16,673 multi-core and 2,491 single-core. Its Passmark scores include 38,682 for multi-thread, 4,270 for single-thread, and 125,737 for integer math. These numbers place the CPU in the 90th percentile against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 48,618.

In To The Core, the CPU's role is to handle the game's logic and simulation. As an idle game, the processing load may be more consistent than in action games, but the CPU's strong single-thread performance (4,270 Passmark single-thread) and multi-core capabilities (24,491 Cinebench R23 multi-core) should prevent it from becoming a bottleneck. The data confirms this, as the frame rates scale with GPU load rather than CPU load. The CPU's nearest rivals, all within 0.8% of its average score, would likely perform identically in this game, further confirming that the GPU is the determining factor in the combo's rank.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers the following average frame rates: Low settings produce 225 FPS, Medium settings produce 191 FPS with a minimum of 162 and maximum of 219, High settings produce 165 FPS, and Ultra settings produce 133 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 92 FPS, which is a 41% reduction in performance when maxing out settings.

At 2560x1440, the average frame rates are: Low settings at 152 FPS, Medium settings at 128 FPS with a minimum of 109 and maximum of 147, High settings at 111 FPS, and Ultra settings at 89 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 63 FPS, which is still a 41% reduction.

At 3840x2160, the average frame rates are: Low settings at 87 FPS, Medium settings at 73 FPS with a minimum of 62 and maximum of 84, High settings at 64 FPS, and Ultra settings at 51 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 36 FPS, maintaining the consistent 41% reduction seen at lower resolutions.

The Medium settings rows are the only ones with min and max FPS data, showing a range of 57 FPS at 1080p (162 to 219), 38 FPS at 1440p (109 to 147), and 22 FPS at 4K (62 to 84). This suggests that the frame time variance decreases as resolution increases, which is typical when the GPU becomes more saturated. The data across all resolutions and settings shows a clear pattern: the Arc B570 is the limiting component, and the i5-14600K provides ample processing headroom. The combo is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming at high or ultra settings, while 4K gaming requires dropping to medium settings to maintain a smooth frame rate.