To The Core

The Intel Core i5-14600K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 delivers a combination that ranks 430th out of 1756 tested combos in To The Core, placing it in the top quarter of all configurations. This ranking reflects a system where both components contribute meaningfully, though the data reveals distinct roles for the CPU and GPU depending on resolution and settings. The measured frame rates range from a high of 434 FPS at 1080p Low to a low of 98.4 FPS at 4K Ultra, showing a wide performance envelope that scales predictably with workload.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 430 out of 1756 tested combinations places this pairing in the 75th percentile of all systems evaluated in To The Core. This is a strong showing, though not elite—the top tier of combinations sits well above this mark, and the data indicates that higher-end GPUs or CPUs would be needed to break into the upper echelons. The CPU itself holds a percentile rank of 93 among all processors, while the GPU sits at percentile 81 among all graphics cards; combined, they produce a system that outperforms the majority of tested configurations.

The CPU’s average benchmark score of 49166 places it nearly even with its closest rivals. It trails the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X by just 0.2 percent, sits 0.4 percent behind the Intel Core i5-14600KF, and is 0.9 percent behind the AMD EPYC 4345P. Against the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H, the i5-14600K leads by 1 percent. These margins are tiny, indicating that the processor is competitive with a broad range of high-end chips. The GPU’s average score of 37283 shows a similar pattern: it is 0.6 percent behind the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56, 1.9 percent behind the NVIDIA GeForce MX570 A, and 2.2 percent behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile, while leading the AMD Radeon RX 5300M by 2.5 percent. The near-parity with these rivals suggests that the 4070 is a well-balanced mid-to-high-range card.

GPU Role

The RTX 4070 brings 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, delivering 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. Its base clock runs at 1920 MHz, boosting to 2475 MHz, and the memory operates at 1313 MHz with 21 Gbps effective speed. The card contains 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 64 raster output units, along with 46 ray tracing cores and 184 tensor cores. These specifications support a pixel rate of 158.4 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 455.4 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance at 29.15 TFLOPS.

In To The Core, an idle game, the GPU’s role is primarily to drive high frame rates rather than complex rendering. The data shows that the GPU becomes the limiting factor at 4K Ultra, where the average FPS drops to 98.4—the lowest measured value in the entire set. At 1080p Low, the same GPU produces 434 FPS, indicating that the card is far from saturated at lower resolutions. The gap between 4K Ultra and 4K High (122.8 FPS) is 24.4 FPS, while the gap between 4K High and 4K Medium (141.3 FPS) is 18.5 FPS, showing that each settings tier imposes a meaningful load increase. The GPU’s 81st percentile ranking among all graphics cards is consistent with these results—it is a capable card that handles the game’s demands without bottlenecking at mainstream resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a clear pattern of GPU limitation at higher resolutions. At 1080p High, the combo achieves 318.2 FPS; at 1440p High, it drops to 214.9 FPS; and at 4K High, it falls to 122.8 FPS. This represents a 61.4 percent reduction from 1080p to 4K at High settings. The Low settings show a similar trend: 434 FPS at 1080p, 289.1 FPS at 1440p, and 163.6 FPS at 4K—a 62.3 percent drop. Medium settings span from 364.3 FPS at 1080p to 244.5 FPS at 1440p and 141.3 FPS at 4K, a 61.2 percent reduction. Ultra settings follow with 256.7 FPS at 1080p, 168.8 FPS at 1440p, and 98.4 FPS at 4K, a 61.7 percent decline.

The consistency of these drops—hovering around 61 to 62 percent across all settings—indicates that resolution scaling is the dominant factor, and the GPU is the primary constraint. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the scaling would be shallower at lower resolutions where the CPU is more heavily taxed. Instead, the frame rates remain high even at 1080p Ultra (256.7 FPS), suggesting the processor has ample headroom. The fact that 4K Ultra still manages nearly 100 FPS shows that the RTX 4070 is sufficient for this title at high resolutions, though the dramatic drop from 1080p makes the GPU’s workload clear.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p, the combo delivers its highest frame rates across all settings. Low settings produce 434 FPS, Medium reaches 364.3 FPS, High hits 318.2 FPS, and Ultra falls to 256.7 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 177.3 FPS, a 40.9 percent reduction that reflects the increasing graphical load. At 1440p, the numbers drop predictably: Low yields 289.1 FPS, Medium 244.5 FPS, High 214.9 FPS, and Ultra 168.8 FPS. The reduction from Low to Ultra at this resolution is 120.3 FPS, or 41.6 percent—a slightly larger relative drop than at 1080p.

At 4K, the frame rates compress further. Low settings average 163.6 FPS, Medium 141.3 FPS, High 122.8 FPS, and Ultra 98.4 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra spread is 65.2 FPS, a 39.9 percent reduction. Notably, the absolute frame rates remain playable even at 4K Ultra, which is impressive for an idle game. The data also shows that the difference between adjacent settings shrinks as resolution increases: at 1080p, the gap between Medium and High is 46.1 FPS, while at 4K it narrows to 18.5 FPS. This suggests that at higher resolutions, the GPU is so heavily loaded that settings changes have diminishing returns.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600K features 14 cores and 20 threads, with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. It is built on Intel’s Raptor Lake architecture using a 10 nm process, with 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 24 MB of shared L3 cache. The processor supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory in dual-channel configuration and offers PCIe Gen 5 with 16 lanes. Its benchmark scores include a Cinebench R23 multi-core result of 32881 and a single-core score of 4642, along with a Geekbench multi-core score of 15846 and single-core score of 2803.

In To The Core, the CPU’s role is secondary to the GPU, as evidenced by the frame rates remaining high even at 1080p where CPU load is typically greatest. The 434 FPS at 1080p Low suggests the processor can feed the GPU without becoming a bottleneck. The CPU’s 93rd percentile ranking among all processors supports this—it is a strong performer that keeps pace with the GPU’s output. The benchmark data shows the i5-14600K is nearly identical in average score to the Ryzen 9 5950X (49166 vs. 49062, a 0.2 percent difference), yet the 5950X offers 16 cores and 32 threads. This indicates that To The Core does not heavily leverage multi-threading, as the i5’s 14 cores are sufficient to match a higher-core-count rival. The single-core strength, evidenced by the 4642 Cinebench R23 single-core score, likely plays a larger role in this idle game, where per-thread performance matters more than raw core counts.

FAQ

*Q: How does this combo rank against all tested configurations in To The Core?*

A: It ranks 430th out of 1756 tested combos, placing it in the top 75th percentile of all systems evaluated.

Q: What is the highest frame rate this combo achieves?

A: The highest measured average is 434 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: What is the lowest frame rate this combo achieves?

A: The lowest measured average is 98.4 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings.

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

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

Q: How does the GPU compare to its nearest rival?

A: The RTX 4070 has an average benchmark score of 37283, which is 0.6 percent lower than the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56’s score of 37507.

Q: What is the frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the combo delivers 318.2 FPS at 1080p and 122.8 FPS at 4K, a reduction of 195.4 FPS.