To The Core

# To The Core with Intel Core i5-9400 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070

This pairing of a six-core Coffee Lake CPU with an Ampere-generation GPU produces a fascinating dataset for an idle game, revealing that even in a genre not typically associated with heavy hardware demands, resolution and preset choices create a wide performance envelope. The measured frame rates span from a very playable 78.8 FPS at 4K Ultra to a staggering 356.7 FPS at 1080p Low, indicating that the bottleneck shifts decisively depending on the configuration. The combo ranks 817th out of 1756 tested combinations, placing it in the upper-middle tier of system pairings for this title, which suggests a balanced but not dominant relationship between the two components.

Resolution Scaling

The data reveals a clear and consistent pattern of frame rate erosion as resolution increases, but the magnitude of that drop is heavily influenced by the graphics preset. Moving from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings reduces the average frame rate from 356.7 to 240.4, a significant 32.6% decrease. The same resolution step at High settings sees a smaller relative decline, from 260.7 to 172.5 FPS, which is a 33.8% reduction. This similarity in proportional loss across presets suggests that the GPU is the primary scaling factor, as the pixel count increase demands proportionally more rasterization work regardless of quality level.

The jump from 1440p to 4K tells a more nuanced story. At Ultra settings, the frame rate falls from 139.7 to 78.8 FPS, a 43.6% drop that highlights the immense pixel throughput required at 3840x2160. However, at Low settings, the 1440p-to-4K transition only reduces performance from 240.4 to 137.1 FPS, a 43.0% decline. The near-identical percentage drops across all presets for this resolution step indicate that the RTX 3070's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth are being taxed uniformly, with the 256-bit bus width becoming the limiting factor as fill rate demands escalate.

What the data implies is that at 1080p, the CPU begins to assert its influence. The i5-9400's six threads and 2.90 GHz base clock appear sufficient to keep the GPU fed at Low settings, where the 3070 produces 356.7 FPS, but the relatively modest single-core performance, evidenced by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1125, may cap higher preset frame rates. The 1080p-to-1440p drop at Ultra (211.7 to 139.7 FPS) is 34.0%, which is actually slightly less than the Low-setting drop, hinting that the CPU is already limiting at 1080p Ultra, where the GPU has less work per frame.

How This Combo Ranks

With a combo rank of 817 out of 1756, this system sits just below the median of all tested pairings for To The Core. This placement is somewhat surprising given the RTX 3070's strong standalone position, with a percentile rank of 72 against all GPUs and an average benchmark score of 28238. The CPU, however, only achieves a 50th percentile rank against all processors, with an average score of 2305, which drags the combined performance down.

The nearest rival comparisons for the GPU illustrate the 3070's competitive standing. It sits just 0.9% above the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT and 1% above the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti, while being 0.6% behind the AMD FirePro S7150 and 1.1% behind the AMD Radeon R9 M295X. This clustering suggests that the 3070's true peers in this game are a mix of older and newer architectures, and the measured FPS reflects that mid-pack positioning. The CPU's nearest rivals include the Intel Core i3-10305, which is 0.2% slower, and the Intel Core i7-8809G, which is 0.6% faster, indicating that the i5-9400 is squarely in a performance plateau where architectural differences matter more than core counts.

The rank of 817 implies that many other combinations, likely featuring newer CPUs with higher boost clocks or more threads, achieve better frame rates in this title. The data suggests that the i5-9400's 4.10 GHz boost clock is not enough to boost the combo into the top quartile, even though the 3070 is capable of delivering frame rates well above 200 FPS at lower settings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 offers 6 cores and 6 threads, a configuration that has become less common in modern desktop CPUs but remains relevant for gaming. Its base clock of 2.90 GHz and boost clock of 4.10 GHz are modest by current standards, and the 9 MB of shared L3 cache provides adequate but not exceptional data locality for game workloads. The 65 W TDP and Coffee Lake architecture, built on a 14 nm process, represent a mature design that prioritizes power efficiency over raw throughput.

In To The Core, an idle game that likely relies on simple update loops and UI rendering rather than complex physics or AI, the CPU's role is primarily to feed the GPU with draw calls and manage game state. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 7969 and single-core score of 1125 indicate that the i5-9400 is capable but not exceptional. The single-core score, which is more relevant for gaming, places it in the bottom half of all CPUs, and this limitation becomes apparent at 1080p where the GPU is not the bottleneck.

The evidence for CPU limitation is most visible in the 1080p results. At Low settings, the combo produces 356.7 FPS, but at Medium, the frame rate drops to 299, and at High, it falls to 260.7. These drops are larger than what would be expected from GPU load alone, suggesting that the CPU's six threads are struggling to process the increased draw calls and state changes associated with higher quality settings. The 4.10 GHz boost clock helps, but the lack of hyper-threading means only six threads are available, which can cause stalls in games that spawn background threads.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates across the board. Low settings yield 356.7 FPS, Medium produces 299, High achieves 260.7, and Ultra drops to 211.7. The gap between Low and Ultra is 145 FPS, a 40.7% reduction, indicating that the GPU is still the dominant factor at this resolution, but the CPU is beginning to show strain at the higher presets.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates become more moderate. Low settings deliver 240.4 FPS, which is still exceptionally smooth, while Medium produces 203.5, High drops to 172.5, and Ultra falls to 139.7. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1440p is a 41.9% reduction, similar to 1080p, which confirms that the relative impact of settings is consistent across these two resolutions.

At 3840x2160, the 4K results show the GPU's limits more clearly. Low settings produce 137.1 FPS, Medium delivers 113.9, High achieves 97.6, and Ultra drops to 78.8. The Ultra setting at 4K is the only configuration that falls below 100 FPS, and it represents a 42.5% reduction from Low. The fact that even the lowest preset at 4K stays above 137 FPS suggests that the RTX 3070 has ample headroom for this idle game, and the CPU is not the primary constraint at this resolution.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is built on the Ampere architecture with a GA104 chip manufactured on Samsung's 8 nm process. It features 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 96 raster operation units, with 46 ray tracing cores and 184 tensor cores. The base clock of 1500 MHz and boost clock of 1725 MHz are complemented by 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's 20.31 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 317.4 GTexel/s texture rate are substantial for a card in this class.

In To The Core, the GPU's role is primarily to render the game's visual elements at high frame rates. The measured results show that the 3070 is more than capable of handling this title, even at 4K Ultra, where it maintains an average of 78.8 FPS. The 165.6 GPixel/s pixel rate and 96 ROPs are well-suited to the resolution scaling demands of the game, and the 8 GB VRAM is sufficient for the memory footprint at all tested settings.

The GPU's benchmark scores further illustrate its capabilities. The Passmark G3D score of 22214 and Geekbench OpenCL score of 123479 indicate strong overall performance, while the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3162 shows competent DirectX 12 performance. The GPU's percentile rank of 72 places it in the upper third of all GPUs, and its nearest rivals, such as the RX 6600 XT and GTX 980 Ti, are all within 1% of its average score, confirming that the 3070 is a solid mid-to-high-end performer.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achievable with this combo?

A: The highest measured average frame rate is 356.7 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming?

A: Yes, the data shows playable frame rates at 3840x2160 across all presets, with the lowest being 78.8 FPS at Ultra settings and the highest being 137.1 FPS at Low settings.

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

A: The i5-9400 has an average benchmark score of 2305, which is 0.2% higher than the Intel Core i3-10305 and 0.4% higher than the Intel Xeon E-2134, but 0.6% lower than the Intel Core i7-8809G.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between 1080p and 1440p at High settings?

A: At High settings, the frame rate drops from 260.7 FPS at 1920x1080 to 172.5 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 88.2 FPS.

Q: Is the RTX 3070's memory bandwidth sufficient for this game?

A: The 448.0 GB/s bandwidth appears adequate, as the GPU maintains high frame rates even at 4K, with the lowest average being 78.8 FPS at Ultra settings.

Q: What is the combo's overall ranking?

A: The combo ranks 817th out of 1756 tested combinations for To The Core, placing it in the middle of the pack.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured data, the optimal balance of visual quality and frame rate depends on the user's display resolution. At 1920x1080, the High preset at 260.7 FPS is the best choice, as it provides a 34.2% improvement over Ultra's 211.7 FPS while maintaining a substantial visual quality increase over Medium's 299 FPS. The jump from Medium to High only costs 38.3 FPS, while the jump from High to Ultra costs 49 FPS, making High the sweet spot.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset at 203.5 FPS offers the best experience. The difference between Medium and High is 31 FPS, while the difference between High and Ultra is 32.8 FPS, meaning that Medium provides a more stable frame rate without a significant visual penalty. For users with high-refresh-rate 1440p monitors, Medium ensures the frame rate stays above the 200 FPS threshold.

At 3840x2160, the High preset at 97.6 FPS is the recommended choice. The gap between High and Medium is 16.3 FPS, while the gap between High and Ultra is 18.8 FPS, indicating that High offers the best compromise between visual fidelity and smoothness. Ultra at 78.8 FPS is still playable, but the 19.2% reduction from High makes it less desirable for competitive play. Low at 137.1 FPS is the best for maximum frame rate, but the visual downgrade is likely too severe for most users. The data suggests that High is the most balanced preset across all resolutions, with Medium being a viable alternative at 1440p for those prioritizing higher frame rates.