To The Core

The Intel Core i7-12700K pairs with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER to deliver exceptionally high frame rates in To The Core, an Idle genre title. The benchmark data shows this combination producing three-digit average FPS figures at every tested resolution and preset, confirming that this hardware pairing is far more than sufficient for the game’s demands. The results indicate a system that is heavily GPU-bound at lower resolutions, with the CPU’s headroom becoming more apparent as resolution and graphical load increase.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i7-12700K is a 12-core, 20-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, and its performance in synthetic benchmarks places it in the 89th percentile of all CPUs tested. The processor’s multi-threaded capability is demonstrated by a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 29241 and a Passmark multi-thread score of 34404. Single-thread performance is also robust, with a Geekbench single-core score of 2561 and a Passmark single-thread score of 4013.

In the context of To The Core, an idle game, the workload is typically not heavily multi-threaded. The game’s mechanics often rely on a few primary threads for simulation logic and rendering. The i7-12700K’s strong single-core performance, evidenced by its Cinebench R15 single-core score of 415 and 3DMark single-thread score of 1043, is likely the more critical factor. However, the processor’s substantial multi-core resources, including a 25 MB shared L3 cache, ensure there is no bottleneck even when background tasks or game subsystems utilize additional threads. The measured frame rates show that the CPU is never the limiting factor, as even at 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves an average of 546.7 FPS, a figure that stresses the GPU’s output capability more than the CPU’s processing power.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

The measured data for To The Core covers four presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) across three resolutions. The results show a clear and consistent progression in frame rates as settings are lowered. At 1080p, the average FPS ranges from a high of 546.7 on Low to a low of 325.3 on Ultra. At 1440p, the range is from 367.9 on Low to 219.4 on Ultra. At 4K, the range narrows, from 210.1 on Low to 124.4 on Ultra.

Given the high baseline performance, the choice of preset depends on the user’s display refresh rate and preference for visual fidelity. For a 60 Hz display, even the Ultra preset at 4K, with an average of 124.4 FPS, provides a significant margin over the refresh rate, ensuring smooth gameplay. For 144 Hz or higher refresh rate monitors, the High preset appears to be the optimal balance, offering 401.8 FPS at 1080p, 274.1 FPS at 1440p, and 155.4 FPS at 4K. The Medium preset offers a modest performance increase over High (462.3 FPS at 1080p, 313.9 FPS at 1440p, 180 FPS at 4K) but the visual difference between Medium and High in a game like this is often more impactful than the frame rate gain. The Low preset provides the highest possible frame rates, reaching 546.7 FPS at 1080p, but sacrifices the most visual quality. The data suggests that High is the recommended preset for a consistently excellent experience, providing high frame rates while maintaining a higher level of graphical detail.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The frame rate scaling across resolutions provides insight into the system’s bottleneck. Comparing the High preset, the average FPS drops from 401.8 at 1080p to 274.1 at 1440p, a reduction of approximately 31.8%. Moving from 1440p to 4K, the average FPS drops from 274.1 to 155.4, a further reduction of approximately 43.3%. This pattern is consistent across all presets. For instance, on Ultra, the frame rate drops from 325.3 at 1080p to 219.4 at 1440p, a 32.5% reduction, and then to 124.4 at 4K, a 43.3% reduction from 1440p.

This data indicates that the performance scaling is not linear with pixel count. The transition from 1080p to 1440p increases the pixel count by 1.78 times, but the frame rate drops by roughly one-third. The transition from 1440p to 4K increases the pixel count by 2.25 times, but the frame rate drops by a similar proportion. This behavior suggests that at 1080p, the system is heavily CPU-bound or limited by the GPU’s geometry processing, not its pixel fill rate. The RTX 4080 SUPER has a pixel rate of 285.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 816.0 GTexel/s, which are immense. As resolution increases, the GPU’s shading and memory bandwidth become the primary limiting factor. The RTX 4080 SUPER’s 736.3 GB/s of memory bandwidth is substantial, but the increased pixel workload at 4K begins to tax the GPU more heavily, leading to the observed frame rate drops. The fact that the CPU can feed the GPU fast enough to achieve 546.7 FPS at 1080p Low confirms that the i7-12700K is not a limiting factor in this title.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

In the database of tested combinations for To The Core, this specific pairing of the Intel Core i7-12700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER holds a rank of 113 out of 1756 total combos. This places the configuration in the top 6.4% of all tested systems, indicating that it is a high-performing combination for this game. The GPU’s individual performance is a major contributor to this rank. The RTX 4080 SUPER sits in the 88th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 53610. Its nearest rivals, such as the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT, have a similar average score of 53489, showing a performance delta of only 0.2%.

The CPU’s ranking also supports this high combo placement. The i7-12700K’s average benchmark score of 35684 places it in the 89th percentile of all CPUs. Its closest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845, has a slightly higher average score of 35802, representing a negligible performance difference of -0.3%. The combination of a top-tier GPU and a high-end CPU ensures that the system is balanced and capable of delivering the high frame rates observed. The rank of 113 indicates that while some combinations with newer or more expensive components may outperform it, this pairing is exceptionally well-suited for To The Core, likely providing a smoother experience than the vast majority of systems in the database.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is a high-end graphics card built on the Ada Lovelace architecture and fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It features 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 736.3 GB/s. The card’s base clock is 2295 MHz with a boost clock of 2550 MHz, and it contains 10240 shading units, 320 TMUs, and 112 ROPs. Its raw compute power is substantial, with an FP32 performance of 52.22 TFLOPS. The GPU’s average benchmark score is 53610, placing it in the 88th percentile of all GPUs.

In To The Core, the GPU’s role is primarily to render the game’s scene and effects. The measured frame rates suggest that the RTX 4080 SUPER has ample resources for this task. Even at 4K Ultra, the most demanding setting tested, the card maintains an average of 124.4 FPS. This is likely due to the game’s nature as an idle title, which may not have complex geometry or advanced graphical effects that would stress the GPU’s shading units or ray tracing cores. The 16 GB of VRAM is more than sufficient for any texture or asset the game could load, preventing any memory-related bottlenecks. The card’s high texture rate of 816.0 GTexel/s ensures that even at 4K with high-resolution textures, the fill rate is not a limiting factor. The data indicates that the RTX 4080 SUPER is overqualified for To The Core, delivering performance that vastly exceeds the requirements, and its capabilities are the primary reason this combo achieves such high frame rates across all tested configurations.