To The Core

The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9060 delivers a performance profile in To The Core that is heavily skewed by resolution, with the GPU becoming the dominant constraint only at 4K. Across the measured data, the combo demonstrates a clear hierarchy: at 1080p, the system produces frame rates well above 170 FPS on every preset, indicating a significant surplus of computational headroom. The transition to 1440p reduces these figures by roughly 30-35%, and the jump to 4K imposes an additional 40-45% penalty. This scaling pattern suggests that while the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU at lower resolutions, the Radeon RX 9060's architectural limits become apparent as pixel count increases, particularly under the Ultra preset where the average frame rate drops to 66 FPS.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a consistent and predictable degradation as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 290 FPS, which serves as the baseline for the system's maximum potential throughput. Moving to 1440p Low reduces this to 195 FPS, a decline of approximately 33%. The 4K Low result of 112 FPS represents a further 43% drop from the 1440p figure, culminating in a total reduction of 61% from the 1080p baseline.

This scaling pattern is consistent across all Quality presets. For High settings, the progression from 213 FPS at 1080p to 143 FPS at 1440p and finally 82 FPS at 4K shows a similar 33% and 43% step-down respectively. The Medium preset follows the same trajectory: 246 FPS at 1080p, 165 FPS at 1440p, and 94 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset exhibits the steepest curve, with 171 FPS at 1080p, 115 FPS at 1440p, and 66 FPS at 4K — a 61% total reduction that mirrors the Low preset's scaling.

The fact that the percentage drops from 1080p to 1440p are nearly identical across all presets (33-34%) suggests that the limiting factor at these resolutions is not the GPU's compute capability but rather the memory subsystem or pixel throughput. However, the 4K step shows a slightly larger penalty for the Ultra preset (43%) compared to Low (43% as well), indicating that the GPU's 8 GB frame buffer and 128-bit memory bus begin to strain under the combined load of higher resolution and more complex shading work.

The data indicates that the Radeon RX 9060 is the primary bottleneck at 4K, as the CPU's six cores and six threads at up to 4.10 GHz boost clock are sufficient to maintain high instruction throughput even at lower frame rates. The fact that 4K Ultra produces 66 FPS while 4K Low produces 112 FPS — a 46 FPS spread — demonstrates that the GPU's shading units and ROPs are heavily taxed by the additional quality settings, whereas the CPU's workload remains relatively constant.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9060, built on the Navi 44 chip with RDNA 4.0 architecture, serves as the primary performance arbiter in this configuration at higher resolutions. The GPU operates with a base clock of 1700 MHz and a boost clock of 2990 MHz, with a game clock rated at 2400 MHz. These clock speeds, combined with 1792 shading units and 64 ROPs, produce a pixel rate of 191.4 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 334.9 GTexel/s. The FP32 throughput of 21.43 TFLOPS provides the raw compute necessary for the game's idle-genre rendering workloads.

The memory configuration is a critical factor in the observed scaling. The 8 GB GDDR6 VRAM operates across a 128-bit bus, delivering 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory bandwidth becomes the limiting factor at 4K Ultra, where the average FPS drops to 66. The benchmark results for the GPU show a PassMark G3D score of 17631 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3322, placing it in the 59th percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, scores 16129 on average — a mere 0.7% difference — indicating that the RX 9060 performs nearly identically to that card in synthetic tests.

The GPU's 29,700 million transistors on a 199 mm² die, manufactured on TSMC's 4 nm process, provide the efficiency needed to sustain high clock speeds without excessive power draw. The 132 W TDP and dual-slot cooler design indicate that thermal throttling is unlikely to be a significant factor in the measured results. The presence of 28 RT cores and support for DirectX 12 Ultimate suggests that the card is well-prepared for modern rendering techniques, though the idle genre of To The Core may not heavily utilize ray tracing.

FAQ

Q: What is the performance difference between 1080p and 4K on the High preset?

A: At 1080p High, the combo achieves 213 FPS average, while 4K High drops to 82 FPS. This represents a 61.5% reduction in frame rate, indicating that the GPU becomes progressively more constrained as pixel count increases.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to Low at 1440p?

A: At 1440p, the Low preset produces 195 FPS average, while Ultra produces 115 FPS. The 80 FPS gap demonstrates that the additional quality settings (shadows, textures, post-processing) consume significant GPU resources, reducing throughput by 41%.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1080p?

A: The data suggests the GPU is not the primary bottleneck at 1080p, as even the Ultra preset achieves 171 FPS. The Intel Core i5-9400 with 6 cores and 6 threads at up to 4.10 GHz boost is capable of feeding the GPU sufficiently at this resolution, as evidenced by the 290 FPS result on Low settings.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded in the dataset?

A: The only minimum FPS values provided are for the Medium preset: 80 FPS at 4K, 140 FPS at 1440p, and 209 FPS at 1080p. These minimums indicate frame time consistency, with the 4K Medium result showing the tightest margin above the average of 94 FPS.

Q: How does the RX 9060 compare to its nearest competitor in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Radeon RX 9060's average benchmark score of 16014 is 0.7% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti's 16129. It is also 1% higher than both the AMD Radeon R9 370X and AMD Radeon RX 7700, indicating near-identical performance across these cards.

Q: Does the combo rank favorably among all tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 1719 out of 2991 tested combinations, placing it in the 42.5th percentile. This mid-pack ranking reflects the CPU's age (released in 2018) combined with the GPU's modern architecture, resulting in balanced but not outstanding overall performance.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend heavily on the target resolution and refresh rate. For 1080p displays, the Ultra preset at 171 FPS average is entirely playable on any modern monitor, including high-refresh-rate panels up to 165 Hz. The Medium preset at 246 FPS and Low at 290 FPS provide diminishing returns in visual quality for the additional frame rate, making Ultra the recommended choice for 1080p users seeking the best visual experience without sacrificing smoothness.

At 1440p, the Ultra preset's 115 FPS average is sufficient for most gaming scenarios, though users with 144 Hz or higher refresh rate monitors may prefer the High preset at 143 FPS. The Medium preset at 165 FPS offers the best balance for competitive play, providing a 43% improvement over Ultra while maintaining respectable visual quality. The Low preset at 195 FPS is only recommended for users prioritizing maximum frame rate above all else, as the visual sacrifices are substantial.

For 4K resolution, the data strongly suggests avoiding the Ultra preset, as the 66 FPS average falls below the 70 FPS threshold that many users consider the minimum for smooth gameplay. The High preset at 82 FPS is the best choice for 4K, offering a 24% improvement over Ultra while maintaining high visual fidelity. The Medium preset at 94 FPS provides a further 15% boost over High, making it the recommended option for 4K users who prioritize frame rate stability. The Low preset at 112 FPS is viable for esports-style play but represents a significant downgrade in visual quality for an idle-genre game where graphics may contribute to the experience.

The measured data indicates that the Medium preset offers the most consistent performance across all resolutions, with the only recorded minimum FPS values in the dataset. At 4K Medium, the minimum of 80 FPS and maximum of 109 FPS show a 29 FPS spread, while 1080p Medium ranges from 209 to 282 FPS. This consistency suggests that the Medium preset avoids the extreme shader complexity of Ultra while providing enough visual detail to engage the GPU properly.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo demonstrates its peak performance envelope. The Low preset achieves 290 FPS average, representing the absolute ceiling of the system's frame generation capability. The Medium preset produces 246 FPS with a minimum of 209 and maximum of 282, showing a 73 FPS variance that indicates some frame time inconsistency. The High preset delivers 213 FPS, while the Ultra preset produces 171 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1080p shows a 41% reduction in frame rate, from 290 to 171 FPS, which is the smallest relative drop across all resolutions due to the abundant GPU headroom.

At 2560x1440, the performance scales down proportionally. The Low preset achieves 195 FPS, which is 67% of the 1080p Low result. The Medium preset produces 165 FPS with a minimum of 140 and maximum of 190, showing a 50 FPS spread that narrows from the 1080p variance. The High preset delivers 143 FPS, while the Ultra preset produces 115 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra scaling at 1440p shows a 41% reduction, identical to the 1080p percentage, reinforcing that the GPU's relative performance ceiling scales linearly with pixel count.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the clear limiting factor. The Low preset achieves 112 FPS, which is 38.6% of the 1080p Low result and 57.4% of the 1440p Low result. The Medium preset produces 94 FPS with a minimum of 80 and maximum of 109, showing a 29 FPS spread that is the tightest in the dataset, indicating more consistent frame pacing at this resolution. The High preset delivers 82 FPS, while the Ultra preset produces 66 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra scaling at 4K shows a 41% reduction, maintaining the same relative performance drop as lower resolutions despite the absolute frame rates being much lower.

The aggregate data shows that the combo's performance is highly predictable: each resolution step from 1080p to 1440p to 4K reduces frame rates by approximately 33% and 43% respectively, regardless of quality preset. This consistent scaling pattern suggests that the GPU's memory bandwidth and pixel throughput are the primary constraints, rather than any software or driver inefficiency.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400, a Coffee Lake Refresh part from 2018, provides the computational foundation for this combo. With 6 cores and 6 threads, the CPU operates at a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. The 9 MB of shared L3 cache and 256 KB L2 cache per core facilitate efficient data access for game logic and physics calculations. The CPU's dual-channel DDR4 memory support with 42.7 GB/s bandwidth ensures that memory access does not become a bottleneck for the GPU.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i5-9400 scores 6629 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 935 in single-core, with a Geekbench multi-core score of 5141 and single-core score of 1389. These results place the CPU in the 47th percentile among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 2254. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 (0.2% lower score) and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 (0.4% higher), indicating that the CPU performs within a narrow band of similarly aged mid-range processors.

The CPU's role in To The Core is primarily to maintain minimum frame rates and ensure that the GPU is not starved of draw calls. At 1080p Low, the 290 FPS result demonstrates that the CPU can sustain very high instruction throughput, as the game's idle-genre mechanics do not impose heavy single-threaded workloads that would bottleneck the 4.10 GHz boost clock. The fact that the 1080p Ultra result of 171 FPS is still well above the 1440p Ultra result of 115 FPS suggests that the CPU is not the limiting factor at any resolution tested.

However, the CPU's age is reflected in its 47th percentile ranking, and the 0.4% difference from the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 indicates that it is competitive with processors from a similar era. The lack of hyperthreading (6 cores, 6 threads) means that heavily threaded workloads could expose limitations, but the measured FPS data shows no evidence of such constraints in this game. The CPU's 65 W TDP and 14 nm process node are modest by modern standards, but the benchmark results confirm that it remains a capable partner for the RX 9060 in this specific title.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-9400 + AMD Radeon RX 9060 combination ranks 1719 out of 2991 tested combos in To The Core, placing it in the 42.5th percentile of all configurations. This mid-pack ranking is somewhat surprising given the GPU's modern architecture, but it reflects the CPU's older generation and the fact that the game's performance scaling is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions. The GPU's 59th percentile ranking among all GPUs is offset by the CPU's 47th percentile, resulting in a combined score that lands slightly below the median.

The combo's ranking suggests that while the GPU is capable of high frame rates, the overall system performance is limited by the CPU's ability to feed it in certain scenarios. The 1080p Low result of 290 FPS indicates that the system can reach very high frame rates when the GPU is not the bottleneck, but the 4K Ultra result of 66 FPS shows that the GPU's memory bandwidth and pixel throughput are insufficient for the most demanding settings. This balanced limitation places the combo in the middle of the pack, outperforming older or lower-end pairings but falling short of configurations with newer CPUs or higher-tier GPUs.

The fact that the combo ranks 1719 out of 2991 means that approximately 42.5% of tested configurations perform worse, while 57.5% perform better. This distribution suggests that the combo is a viable mid-range option for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but not competitive at 4K with maximum settings. The data supports this conclusion: the combo excels at 1080p Ultra (171 FPS) and 1440p High (143 FPS), but struggles at 4K Ultra (66 FPS), which is below the 70 FPS threshold commonly considered the minimum for smooth gameplay. Users targeting 4K should reduce settings to High or Medium, while those at 1080p can maximize quality without concern.