To The Core

The Intel Core i5-14600K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 delivers measured frame rates in To The Core across 1080p, 1440p, and 4K at four quality presets. The data shows a combo that ranks 791st out of 1756 tested combinations, with the CPU sitting in the 93rd percentile of all processors and the GPU in the 72nd percentile of all graphics cards. The game, an idle title released on 2024-02-14, proves surprisingly demanding at higher resolutions, with the 4K Ultra preset dropping to 79 FPS.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear pattern: at every settings preset, the frame rate falls substantially when moving from 1080p to 4K. At Ultra settings, the average FPS drops from 213 at 1080p to 142.6 at 1440p and then to 79 at 4K. The High preset follows a similar trajectory: 259.6 at 1080p, 172.8 at 1440p, and 99.3 at 4K. The Low preset goes from 354.4 at 1080p to 241.5 at 1440p to 139.9 at 4K, and Medium goes from 301.2 to 203.8 to 115.7.

The scaling behavior indicates that the limiting component shifts as resolution increases. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 354.4 FPS — a figure so high that the CPU, not the GPU, is almost certainly the constraint. The RTX 3070's 20.31 TFLOPS of FP32 throughput and 448.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth are more than enough to render an idle game at low settings; the i5-14600K's 14 cores and 20 threads become the ceiling. As resolution climbs to 4K, the GPU takes over as the primary limiter. The 4K Ultra result of 79 FPS is consistent with a GPU-bound scenario, where the 8 GB GDDR6 frame buffer and 256-bit memory interface are being exercised more heavily.

Notably, the FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is not as severe as the pixel count increase would suggest. If the GPU were the sole bottleneck at all resolutions, the 4K figure would be much lower relative to 1080p. Instead, 4K FPS sits at a level that indicates a CPU-limited 1080p result: the processor cannot feed frames fast enough to saturate the GPU at low resolutions, so the 1080p numbers are artificially capped.

FAQ

Q: What average frame rate does this combo achieve at 1440p Ultra in To The Core?

A: The measured average is 142.6 FPS at 2560x1440 with Ultra settings.

Q: How does the Core i5-14600K compare to its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X?

A: The i5-14600K has an average benchmark score of 49166, which is 0.2% higher than the Ryzen 9 5950X's 49062.

Q: Is the RTX 3070's 8 GB of VRAM sufficient for this game at 4K?

A: Yes — the measured 4K Ultra result is 79 FPS, and the 4K High result is 99.3 FPS, indicating the 8 GB GDDR6 buffer and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth handle the game's demands at all tested presets.

Q: What percentile does the RTX 3070 rank in among all GPUs?

A: The GPU sits in the 72nd percentile of all graphics cards, with an average benchmark score of 28238.

Q: How much faster is the i5-14600K than the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H in average benchmark score?

A: The i5-14600K scores 49166, which is 1% higher than the Xeon Gold 5318H's 48698.

Q: What is the combo's overall rank among tested CPU-GPU pairings in this game?

A: The combo ranks 791st out of 1756 tested combinations.

How This Combo Ranks

The i5-14600K + RTX 3070 combination ranks 791st out of 1756 tested combos in To The Core. That places it in the upper half of all pairings. The rank reflects a balanced pairing: the CPU is in the 93rd percentile of all processors, while the GPU is in the 72nd percentile of all graphics cards. The CPU is the stronger component in this pairing, and the rank suggests the GPU is the more likely upgrade path for higher frame rates at 4K.

The CPU's average benchmark score of 49166 puts it 0.2% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X and 1% ahead of the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H, while trailing the Intel Core i5-14600KF by 0.4% and the AMD EPYC 4345P by 0.9%. The GPU's average benchmark score of 28238 puts it 0.9% behind the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT and 1% behind the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti, while leading the AMD FirePro S7150 by 0.6% and the AMD Radeon R9 M295X by 1.1%.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers 354.4 FPS on Low, 301.2 FPS on Medium, 259.6 FPS on High, and 213 FPS on Ultra. These are extremely high frame rates, making the CPU the practical limit at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the results are 241.5 FPS on Low, 203.8 FPS on Medium, 172.8 FPS on High, and 142.6 FPS on Ultra. The 1440p numbers remain well above 140 FPS even at the highest preset, which means the combo can drive high-refresh-rate 1440p panels without difficulty.

At 3840x2160, the results are 139.9 FPS on Low, 115.7 FPS on Medium, 99.3 FPS on High, and 79 FPS on Ultra. The 4K Ultra figure of 79 FPS is the lowest result in the entire dataset, and it remains playable for an idle game. The spread between Low and Ultra narrows as resolution increases, confirming that the GPU becomes the dominant constraint as pixel count rises.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is built on the GA104 chip with 17,400 million transistors on a 392 mm² die using Samsung's 8 nm process. It operates at a base clock of 1500 MHz and a boost clock of 1725 MHz, with memory running at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). The 8 GB GDDR6 frame buffer sits on a 256-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU has 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, 96 raster output units, 46 ray tracing cores, and 184 tensor cores. Its FP32 throughput is 20.31 TFLOPS, with pixel rate of 165.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 317.4 GTexel/s. The GPU launched with a launch MSRP of 499 USD.

In To The Core, the GPU's role becomes more pronounced as resolution increases. At 1080p, the 354.4 FPS Low result suggests the GPU is not the limiting factor — the CPU caps the frame rate first. At 4K Ultra, the 79 FPS result shows the GPU being pushed harder, though the game's idle genre means even this figure is comfortably playable. The 8 GB VRAM capacity is not stressed by this title, as evidenced by the 4K High result of 99.3 FPS and 4K Medium of 115.7 FPS. The GPU's 72nd percentile ranking and average benchmark score of 28238 place it in the mid-to-upper tier of graphics cards, with its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT, trailing by 0.9%.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600K is a 14-core, 20-thread processor from the Core 14th Gen series, built on Intel's 10 nm process with a 257 mm² die. It has a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, with a 125 W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 24 MB of shared L3. It supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration, with ECC support, and connects via PCIe Gen 5 with 16 CPU lanes. The integrated UHD Graphics 770 is present but irrelevant for gaming with a discrete GPU installed. The CPU launched with a launch MSRP of $319.

The CPU's benchmark results are strong: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32881 and single-core score of 4642, a Geekbench multi-core score of 15846 and single-core score of 2803, and a Passmark multi-thread score of 38682 with a single-thread score of 4270. Its average benchmark score of 49166 places it in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs, just 0.2% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X and 1% ahead of the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H.

In To The Core, the CPU's influence is most visible at 1080p, where the frame rates of 213-354.4 FPS across presets are likely CPU-capped. The 5.30 GHz boost clock and 20 threads provide ample single-thread and multi-thread performance for an idle game's simulation logic. At 4K, the CPU's role diminishes as the GPU becomes the bottleneck, but the high single-thread performance ensures the game's logic never drags down frame rates even at the lowest settings.