To The Core

Resolution Scaling

The FPS curve from 1080p to 4K tells a clear story about where this combo's bottleneck sits. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the Intel Core i5-14600K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 push 468.5 FPS — an enormous number that suggests the CPU is doing heavy lifting at lower resolutions. Dropping to 2560x1440 Low reduces that to 315.4 FPS, a 32.7% decrease. The jump to 3840x2160 Low yields 178.6 FPS, another 43.4% cut. These steep percentage drops indicate that as resolution climbs, the GPU becomes progressively more dominant in determining frame rates.

The scaling pattern holds across all settings presets. At High settings, the combo delivers 343.1 FPS at 1080p, 228.9 FPS at 1440p (a 33.3% drop), and 130.3 FPS at 4K (a 43.1% drop from 1440p). Medium settings follow the same trajectory: 391.6 FPS at 1080p, 264.5 FPS at 1440p, and 154 FPS at 4K. Ultra settings show the most dramatic scaling — 277.5 FPS at 1080p falls to 187.7 FPS at 1440p, then to 104.5 FPS at 4K.

What this data reveals is that To The Core is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions. The RTX 5070's 12 GB of GDDR7 memory and 672.0 GB/s bandwidth become the limiting factors as pixel counts rise. At 1080p, the i5-14600K's 14 cores and 20 threads can feed frames fast enough to exceed 460 FPS on Low, but the GPU's rendering throughput caps performance once resolution increases. The fact that 4K Ultra still manages 104.5 FPS indicates the combo has headroom, but the 4.5x difference between 1080p Low and 4K Ultra (468.5 vs 104.5 FPS) shows how quickly the GPU becomes the primary constraint.

How This Combo Ranks

Among 1,756 tested combinations in To The Core, this pairing of Intel Core i5-14600K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 ranks 342nd. That places it in the top 19.5% of all combos tested — a strong showing for a mid-range CPU paired with a current-generation GPU. The rank reflects the aggregate performance across all resolutions and settings, and the data shows this combo consistently delivers high frame rates even at 4K.

The CPU itself sits in the 93rd percentile among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 49,166. Its nearest rivals in overall CPU benchmarks include the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X (average score 49,062, just 0.2% behind) and the Intel Core i5-14600KF (49,367, 0.4% ahead). The i5-14600K also edges out the AMD EPYC 4345P by 0.9% and trails the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H by 1%. These margins are tight, meaning the CPU is well-matched against both consumer and workstation parts.

The GPU, meanwhile, ranks in the 83rd percentile among all graphics cards, with an average benchmark score of 41,687. Its nearest rivals in overall GPU benchmarks are the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 (41,610, 0.2% behind), NVIDIA Tesla M40 (41,897, 0.5% ahead), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 (41,441, 0.6% behind), and AMD Radeon Pro 580X (41,991, 0.7% ahead). These comparisons show the RTX 5070 performing within a hair of last generation's flagship RTX 3090 in synthetic tests, which is notable given the generational leap in architecture.

The combo rank of 342 out of 1,756 suggests that while neither component is the absolute fastest in its class, the combination works well together for this specific title. The i5-14600K's strong single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4,642) pairs effectively with the RTX 5070's Blackwell architecture to deliver frame rates that exceed what most tested systems achieve.

Settings Recommendations

For 4K gaming, High settings at 130.3 FPS offers the best balance between visual fidelity and smoothness. Ultra drops to 104.5 FPS, which is still playable, but the 25.8 FPS gain from stepping down to High is substantial. Medium at 154 FPS and Low at 178.6 FPS are available if you prioritize frame rate, but High preserves more visual detail while staying above 120 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the choice becomes easier. High settings deliver 228.9 FPS, which is well beyond what any 1440p monitor can display (most cap at 165 or 240 Hz). Ultra at 187.7 FPS is still excellent, and Medium at 264.5 FPS approaches the ceiling of even the fastest 1440p displays. The data suggests Ultra is the best pick at 1440p — the 41.2 FPS drop from High to Ultra is noticeable in benchmarks but less impactful when both exceed 180 FPS.

For 1920x1080, every setting exceeds 277 FPS. Ultra at 277.5 FPS is the obvious recommendation, as it provides the highest visual quality while still delivering frame rates that exceed the refresh rate of virtually all 1080p monitors. Low at 468.5 FPS is technically impressive but pointless — the extra 191 FPS over Ultra buys nothing on standard displays. Medium at 391.6 FPS and High at 343.1 FPS are both viable options if you want to reduce GPU load, but Ultra is where this combo shines at 1080p.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo produces its highest frame rates across all presets. Low settings hit 468.5 FPS, Medium achieves 391.6 FPS (a 16.4% drop from Low), High reaches 343.1 FPS (12.4% below Medium), and Ultra delivers 277.5 FPS (19.1% below High). The total spread from Low to Ultra is 191 FPS, demonstrating that settings choices have a massive impact at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the numbers compress. Low yields 315.4 FPS, Medium 264.5 FPS (16.1% lower), High 228.9 FPS (13.5% lower than Medium), and Ultra 187.7 FPS (18.0% lower than High). The spread from Low to Ultra is 127.7 FPS — narrower than at 1080p, but still significant.

At 3840x2160, the spread tightens further. Low produces 178.6 FPS, Medium 154 FPS (13.8% below Low), High 130.3 FPS (15.4% below Medium), and Ultra 104.5 FPS (19.8% below High). The Low-to-Ultra gap is 74.1 FPS. Notably, the percentage drop from High to Ultra is consistent across resolutions — 19.1% at 1080p, 18.0% at 1440p, and 19.8% at 4K — suggesting the Ultra preset imposes a similar relative cost regardless of pixel count.

The data also shows diminishing returns from Low to Medium. At every resolution, the jump from Low to Medium costs roughly 14-16% of performance, while High to Ultra costs 18-20%. Medium to High is the steepest single step at every resolution: 12.4% at 1080p, 13.5% at 1440p, and 15.4% at 4K. This pattern indicates the High preset adds significant visual workload compared to Medium.

GPU Role

The RTX 5070's 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus provides 672.0 GB/s of bandwidth. In To The Core, this memory configuration appears sufficient — even at 4K Ultra, the combo maintains 104.5 FPS, suggesting the game does not exhaust the 12 GB VRAM allocation. The GPU's 31,100 million transistors on TSMC's 5 nm process deliver 30.87 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, which translates directly to the high frame rates observed.

The GPU's boost clock of 2512 MHz (base 2325 MHz) keeps it competitive with much larger cards. Its 6,144 shading units, 192 texture mapping units, and 80 ROPs work in concert to handle the rendering workload. The 48 RT cores and 192 tensor cores are Blackwell 2.0 parts that support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4 — all relevant APIs for modern games.

The RTX 5070's 250 W TDP and dual-slot design with a single 16-pin power connector make it a practical choice for this CPU pairing. The i5-14600K's 125 W TDP means the combined power draw is manageable with a 600 W power supply, which is the suggested PSU rating for the GPU. The 5 nm process node (vs. the CPU's 10 nm) and 263 mm² die size are notable — the GPU packs 31,100 million transistors into a smaller die than the CPU's 257 mm², achieving a transistor density of 118.3M per mm².

The GPU's benchmark scores reinforce its capabilities. PassMark G3D score of 29,137 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 5,077 show strong rasterization performance. Compute workloads are handled well too, with a PassMark GPU compute score of 15,787. The Geekbench OpenCL score of 185,269 and Vulkan score of 179,413 indicate the GPU is well-suited for both gaming and general-purpose compute tasks.

FAQ

*Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming in To The Core?*

A: Yes. At 4K High settings, the combo delivers 130.3 FPS, and even at 4K Ultra it maintains 104.5 FPS. All four settings presets exceed 100 FPS at 4K.

Q: What's the best resolution for this combo?

A: The data shows 2560x1440 Ultra at 187.7 FPS or 1920x1080 Ultra at 277.5 FPS. At 1440p, every preset exceeds 187 FPS, making it the sweet spot for high-refresh monitors.

Q: How does the RTX 5070 compare to previous generation cards?

A: In overall GPU benchmarks, the RTX 5070 scores 41,687, which is 0.6% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 (41,441). This puts it on par with the previous generation's flagship.

Q: Is the i5-14600K holding back the RTX 5070?

A: At 1080p Low, the combo hits 468.5 FPS, suggesting the CPU is not a bottleneck at lower resolutions. At 4K, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, but the CPU's 93rd percentile ranking among all processors indicates it's well-matched.

Q: Should I use Ultra settings?

A: At 1440p and 1080p, yes — Ultra delivers 187.7 FPS and 277.5 FPS respectively, which are excellent. At 4K, High (130.3 FPS) is recommended over Ultra (104.5 FPS) for a smoother experience.

Q: How much performance do I lose going from 1080p to 4K?

A: At Low settings, 468.5 FPS at 1080p drops to 178.6 FPS at 4K — a 61.9% reduction. At Ultra, 277.5 FPS drops to 104.5 FPS, a 62.3% reduction. The percentage loss is consistent across settings.