To The Core

# How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-14600K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 places 45th out of 1,756 tested combinations in To The Core. This top 2.6% placement puts the combo in the upper echelon of systems, though not at the absolute pinnacle. The ranking reflects a balanced pairing where neither component dramatically bottlenecks the other across the tested resolution range.

The combo's position becomes clearer when examining the individual component standings. The RTX 4090 sits in the 91st percentile among all GPUs, while the i5-14600K ranks in the 93rd percentile among all CPUs. The GPU's average benchmark score of 66,473 is nearly identical to its nearest rival, the NVIDIA Tesla T4, which scores 66,733 — a mere 0.4% difference. Similarly, the CPU's average score of 49,166 sits just 0.2% above the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X at 49,062. This near-parity with rival components suggests the combo's 45th rank stems from the synergy between two top-tier parts rather than any exceptional overperformance from either.

What stands out is the consistency across resolutions. At 1080p High settings, the combo delivers 450.5 FPS, which is 1.5 times higher than the 4K High result of 175 FPS. This scaling pattern indicates a system that remains capable at 4K while offering extreme headroom at lower resolutions, a hallmark of a well-matched CPU-GPU duo in a lighter title like To The Core.

# GPU Role

The RTX 4090's 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus provides 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth, an enormous amount for an idle game like To The Core. The card's boost clock of 2520 MHz, built on the 5 nm Ada Lovelace architecture with 16,384 shading units, delivers 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. These specifications translate directly into the measured frame rates: even at 4K Ultra, the GPU sustains 139.1 FPS, a figure that would be impossible with lesser hardware.

The memory configuration deserves particular attention in this context. To The Core, being an idle genre title, likely does not stress the 24 GB frame buffer even at 4K. The 1.01 TB/s bandwidth remains largely untapped, as evidenced by the relatively modest drop from 4K Low at 234.8 FPS to 4K Ultra at 139.1 FPS — a 40.8% reduction. This suggests the GPU is never memory-bandwidth limited in this game, leaving headroom for future titles that demand more VRAM.

The RTX 4090's nearest rivals in the benchmark database — the Tesla T4, Tesla P40, Radeon Pro Vega 56, and Quadro P6000 — all post average scores within 1.3% of the 4090's 66,473. Yet in real gaming performance, the 4090's gaming-oriented design shines. The card's 128 RT cores and 512 tensor cores, while not directly relevant to an idle game, contribute to its overall compute capability that shows up in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 9,223.

# CPU Role

The Core i5-14600K brings 14 cores and 20 threads to the pairing, with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. This Raptor Lake Refresh chip, built on Intel's 10 nm process, includes 24 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB of L2 cache per core. In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU scores 32,881 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 4,642 in single-core, numbers that place it comfortably above most desktop processors.

For To The Core specifically, the CPU's single-thread performance matters more than its multi-core might. The game's idle genre mechanics often rely on a limited number of threads for game logic, simulation, and UI updates. The 5.30 GHz boost clock ensures that these single-threaded tasks complete with minimal latency, which helps maintain high frame rates even when the GPU is pushing 600+ FPS at 1080p Low.

The CPU's average benchmark score of 49,166 places it just 0.4% below the i5-14600KF at 49,367, a negligible difference that confirms the K-series and KF-series perform virtually identically in aggregate. The 14600K sits 0.9% above the AMD EPYC 4345P and 1% above the Xeon Gold 5318H, though those server-class chips target different workloads entirely. For gaming, the 14600K's 20 threads provide ample parallelism for background tasks, streaming, or voice chat while To The Core runs, without compromising frame delivery.

# FAQ

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested systems in To The Core?

A: It ranks 45th out of 1,756 tested combinations, placing it in the top 2.6% of all systems.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking among all GPUs?

A: The RTX 4090 sits in the 91st percentile, with an average benchmark score of 66,473.

Q: How much faster is the CPU than its nearest rival?

A: The i5-14600K's average score of 49,166 is 0.2% higher than the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X at 49,062.

Q: What is the highest measured frame rate for this combo?

A: The maximum average FPS recorded is 610.2 at 1080p Low settings.

Q: What is the lowest measured frame rate?

A: The lowest average FPS is 139.1 at 4K Ultra settings.

Q: What memory bandwidth does the GPU provide?

A: The RTX 4090 offers 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth from its 24 GB GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus.

# Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 4K reveals a clear scaling pattern. At High settings, the combo delivers 450.5 FPS at 1080p, dropping to 301.4 FPS at 1440p, and further to 175 FPS at 4K. This represents a 61.2% reduction from 1080p to 4K. At Low settings, the drop is steeper in absolute terms: from 610.2 FPS at 1080p to 410 FPS at 1440p, and 234.8 FPS at 4K — a 61.5% reduction.

The consistency of this percentage drop across settings suggests the GPU becomes increasingly the limiting factor as resolution rises. At 1080p Low, the CPU's 5.30 GHz boost clock can feed frames to the RTX 4090 fast enough to hit 610.2 FPS. By 4K Ultra, the GPU's workload increases substantially, and the frame rate falls to 139.1 FPS, a 77.2% drop from 1080p Ultra's 359.2 FPS.

This scaling behavior indicates that while the CPU remains capable even at high frame rates, the RTX 4090 is the primary determinant of performance at higher resolutions. The 24 GB VRAM and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth never become constraints, but the GPU's compute throughput at 4K Ultra settings reduces output to less than a quarter of its 1080p Low capability. For an idle game, these frame rates are far above what any display can show, meaning the combo is never truly limited in playable scenarios.

# Settings Recommendations

Among the tested settings, Medium at 1440p delivers 346.4 FPS, which is 85.6% of the 1440p Low result of 410 FPS. This represents a minimal visual quality sacrifice for a substantial frame rate. At 4K, Medium produces 197.5 FPS versus 234.8 FPS at Low — a 15.9% reduction for noticeably better visuals.

For players with high-refresh-rate 4K displays, High settings at 175 FPS offers the best balance, falling just 25.4% short of the 4K Low result while providing superior image quality. Ultra at 4K drops to 139.1 FPS, which still exceeds 120 Hz refresh rates but may not satisfy those with 144 Hz or higher panels.

At 1080p, even Ultra settings produce 359.2 FPS, which is 58.9% of the Low result. This means 1080p users can enable maximum settings without ever approaching display refresh limits, as the combo's performance at this resolution is overwhelmingly GPU-bound only at the highest settings. The data indicates that Medium or High settings provide the most efficient use of the hardware's capabilities across all resolutions, with Ultra reserved for players who prioritize visual fidelity over the already-excessive frame rates.