To The Core

Intel Core i5-14600K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 produce a remarkably strong showing in To The Core, a 2024-released Idle title that clearly favors high refresh rate displays. The pairing lands at rank 226 out of 3725 tested combos, placing it in the top 6.1% of all configurations. With frame rates that never dip below 125 FPS even at 4K Ultra, this is a system built to eliminate any conceivable display bottleneck, though the data reveals interesting scaling behavior that points to the CPU as a more significant player than the GPU in this specific title.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data for this combo in To The Core shows that the optimal settings choice depends entirely on your target resolution and refresh rate, but the pattern across all three resolutions is clear: Medium settings offer the best balance of visual fidelity and raw performance headroom. At 1920x1080, the step from Medium to High costs 62 FPS (dropping from 467 to 405), while the step from High to Ultra costs another 79 FPS (dropping from 405 to 326). The jump from Low to Medium, however, only costs 85 FPS (from 552 to 467) while presumably adding substantial visual quality. This makes Medium the sweet spot for 1080p, as it still delivers 467 FPS — far beyond what any current display can show.

At 2560x1440, the same logic applies with even greater force. Medium produces 314 FPS, which is 42 FPS more than High (272 FPS) and 95 FPS more than Ultra (219 FPS). The 1440p Medium result of 314 FPS is still high enough to saturate a 240Hz or even 360Hz display, and it does so while maintaining a minimum FPS of 267 — meaning even the worst frame times stay above the refresh rate of most high-end monitors. For 3840x2160, Medium again emerges as the recommended preset, delivering 180 FPS with a minimum of 153 FPS and a maximum of 207 FPS. This is the only resolution where the min FPS data is recorded for Medium, and the 153 FPS floor is still comfortably above 144Hz.

The case for Ultra settings is harder to justify at any resolution. At 4K Ultra, the combo produces 125 FPS, which is playable but represents a 31% drop from Medium (180 FPS). At 1440p Ultra, 219 FPS is still fast, but it is 30% below Medium (314 FPS). At 1080p Ultra, 326 FPS versus 467 FPS on Medium is a 30% reduction. The data suggests that Ultra presets in To The Core carry a heavy performance tax that does not proportionally improve the experience, especially in an idle game where the visual complexity is likely less demanding on the GPU than on the CPU's ability to run game logic. For competitive play or high-refresh displays, stick with Medium. For casual play at 4K on a 144Hz display, Medium's 180 FPS average with a 153 FPS minimum provides a perfectly smooth experience with room to spare.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 brings substantial hardware to this pairing, but the frame rate data suggests that To The Core does not heavily tax its graphics capabilities. The GPU features 9728 shading units, 304 texture mapping units, and 112 raster output pipelines, backed by 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus. Memory bandwidth is listed at 716.8 GB/s, and the card runs at a base clock of 2205 MHz with a boost clock of 2505 MHz. Its compute potential is rated at 48.74 TFLOPS for both FP32 and FP16 (1:1), with a pixel rate of 280.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 761.5 GTexel/s.

In the context of To The Core, the RTX 4080's raw specifications appear to be overkill. The lowest measured frame rate across all settings and resolutions is 125 FPS at 4K Ultra, which is still a very high number for a 4K workload. The GPU's 86th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 54247, places it just 0.1% ahead of the RTX 4080 SUPER (54209) and 1.1% behind the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X (54828). This level of performance is simply not stressed by an idle game's rendering requirements.

However, the GPU's role becomes more apparent when examining the scaling from 1080p to 4K. At Medium settings, the frame rate drops from 467 FPS at 1080p to 314 FPS at 1440p (a 33% reduction) and then to 180 FPS at 4K (a further 43% reduction from 1440p). This steep decline with resolution indicates that the GPU is becoming more relevant at higher resolutions, even if it is still not the primary bottleneck. The 16 GB of VRAM is more than sufficient for any texture load To The Core can present, and the GDDR6X memory's 716.8 GB/s bandwidth ensures that data delivery is never a constraint. The data shows a GPU that is capable but underutilized, with the limiting factor appearing to be elsewhere in the system.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-14600K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 combination achieves a rank of 226 out of 3725 tested combos in To The Core. This places the pairing in the top 6.1% of all configurations, a strong result that reflects the high-end nature of both components. The CPU itself sits at the 90th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 48618. Its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H (48698, 0.2% higher), the AMD EPYC 4345P (48470, 0.3% lower), the Intel Core Ultra 5 245HX (48287, 0.7% lower), and the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 (48995, 0.8% higher). These deltas are all within 1%, indicating that the 14600K's CPU performance is tightly clustered with other strong processors.

The GPU's standing is similarly competitive. The RTX 4080's average benchmark score of 54247 places it just 0.1% ahead of the RTX 4080 SUPER (54209) and 1.1% behind the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X (54828). The AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB (55698) and AMD Radeon 8060S (55757) are 2.6% and 2.7% ahead, respectively. Despite the GPU being end-of-life (production status is listed as such, with a successor in the GeForce 50 series), its performance in this game remains competitive with newer and higher-tier options.

The combination's rank of 226 out of 3725 is notable because it suggests that the CPU-GPU pairing is well-balanced for To The Core. Many higher-ranked combos likely include more expensive CPUs or GPUs, but the 14600K's 14 cores and 20 threads, with a boost clock of 5.30 GHz and 24 MB of shared L3 cache, prove sufficient to keep the RTX 4080 fed. The 0.3% delta between the 14600K and the EPYC 4345P, and the 0.7% delta against the Core Ultra 5 245HX, indicate that minor CPU differences do not translate into major FPS swings in this title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers exceptional performance across all presets. Low settings produce an average of 552 FPS, Medium drops to 467 FPS (with a minimum of 397 and maximum of 537), High produces 405 FPS, and Ultra settles at 326 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 226 FPS, a 41% reduction, which is significant but leaves even the Ultra result far above any display's refresh rate. The Medium preset's minimum of 397 FPS is higher than the High preset's average of 405 FPS, showing that the Medium setting provides a more consistent frame time experience.

At 2560x1440, the performance scales down proportionally. Low produces 371 FPS, Medium drops to 314 FPS (with a minimum of 267 and maximum of 361), High produces 272 FPS, and Ultra settles at 219 FPS. The gap between Medium and High is 42 FPS, and between High and Ultra is 53 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 267 FPS is still above the refresh rate of all but the most extreme gaming monitors, making it the clear choice for high-refresh 1440p displays.

At 3840x2160, the data shows the largest relative drops. Low produces 212 FPS, Medium drops to 180 FPS (with a minimum of 153 and maximum of 207), High produces 156 FPS, and Ultra settles at 125 FPS. The step from Low to Medium is 32 FPS, from Medium to High is 24 FPS, and from High to Ultra is 31 FPS. The Ultra preset at 125 FPS is still above 120Hz, but the Medium preset's 180 FPS average with a 153 FPS minimum offers a much smoother experience on 144Hz displays. The 4K Medium result is particularly impressive, as it maintains a minimum frame rate that is higher than many systems' average at this resolution.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals important information about where the bottleneck lies in To The Core. At Medium settings, the progression is 467 FPS at 1080p, 314 FPS at 1440p, and 180 FPS at 4K. This represents a 33% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 43% drop from 1440p to 4K. The total drop from 1080p to 4K is 287 FPS, or 61%. This scaling pattern is steeper than what would be expected if the GPU were the primary bottleneck, where the pixel count increases by 2.25x from 1080p to 1440p and by another 2.25x from 1440p to 4K.

At Low settings, the scaling is even more pronounced: 552 FPS at 1080p, 371 FPS at 1440p, and 212 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 33% (181 FPS), and from 1440p to 4K is 43% (159 FPS). The consistency of these percentage drops across Low, Medium, High, and Ultra settings suggests that the scaling is driven by a component whose workload scales with resolution, but not in a purely linear fashion. At 4K Ultra, the frame rate drops to 125 FPS, which is 62% below the 1080p Ultra result of 326 FPS.

The relatively high frame rates at 1080p (over 500 FPS on Low) indicate that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU at very high rates. The Intel Core i5-14600K's 14 cores and 20 threads, with a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, provide ample single-thread performance for game logic. The fact that the frame rate does not scale linearly with pixel count suggests that To The Core has a CPU-bound component that becomes less dominant at higher resolutions, but the GPU still has headroom. The data indicates that the limiting factor at 1080p is likely the CPU's ability to process game state, while at 4K, the GPU begins to take on a more significant role, though it is still not fully saturated given the 125 FPS floor at Ultra.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combo for a 144Hz display?

A: At 3840x2160 with Medium settings, the combo delivers 180 FPS average with a 153 FPS minimum, which is above 144Hz. At 2560x1440 Medium, the result is 314 FPS with a 267 FPS minimum, providing ample headroom. Even 4K Ultra produces 125 FPS, which is just below 144Hz but still playable.

*Q: How does this CPU-GPU pairing compare to other tested combos in To The Core?*

A: The pairing ranks 226 out of 3725 tested combos, placing it in the top 6.1%. This is a strong result, especially considering the CPU's 90th percentile ranking and the GPU's 86th percentile ranking among their respective component categories.

*Q: Is the RTX 4080 overkill for an idle game like To The Core?*

A: The benchmark data suggests it is not fully utilized, but it does provide headroom for future titles. The GPU's average benchmark score of 54247 places it just 0.1% ahead of the RTX 4080 SUPER, and its 16 GB of GDDR6X memory is more than sufficient for this game's requirements.

Q: Why does the frame rate drop so much from 1080p to 4K?

A: At Medium settings, the frame rate drops 33% from 1080p to 1440p (467 to 314 FPS) and another 43% from 1440p to 4K (314 to 180 FPS). This scaling pattern indicates the CPU is heavily involved at lower resolutions, while the GPU becomes more consequential at 4K, though it still maintains high frame rates.

Q: What is the difference between the Medium and Ultra presets in terms of performance?

A: At 1080p, Medium produces 467 FPS versus 326 FPS on Ultra, a 141 FPS difference. At 1440p, the gap is 95 FPS (314 vs 219), and at 4K, the gap is 55 FPS (180 vs 125). The consistent 30% performance penalty for Ultra suggests it is not worth the visual gains for most users.

Q: How does the Intel Core i5-14600K compare to its nearest CPU rivals?

A: The 14600K has an average benchmark score of 48618. It is 0.2% behind the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H (48698), 0.3% ahead of the AMD EPYC 4345P (48470), 0.7% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 5 245HX (48287), and 0.8% behind the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 (48995). These differences are minimal and unlikely to cause noticeable FPS variations in To The Core.