To The Core

The Intel Core i7-12700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 delivers exceptionally high frame rates in To The Core, an idle game that is surprisingly demanding at high resolutions. The data shows this combination ranks 17th out of 1,756 tested combos, placing it in the top 1% of all systems. Across all resolutions and settings, the lowest average FPS recorded is 143.2 at 4K Ultra, which remains highly playable, while the highest reaches 617.9 at 1080p Low. This wide spread of results reveals a system with immense headroom, though the scaling patterns suggest the CPU begins to assert its influence at lower resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial, but the pattern varies significantly by settings preset. At Low settings, the average frame rate declines from 617.9 at 1080p to 423.7 at 1440p, then to 242.4 at 4K — a reduction of 31.4% and 42.8% respectively for each step. This steep drop at 4K Low indicates the GPU is finally being pushed, though the absolute numbers remain far beyond what any display can currently show. At High settings, the progression is 461.5 at 1080p, 310.5 at 1440p, and 179 at 4K, showing a more uniform decline of roughly one-third per resolution step. The Ultra preset tells a slightly different story: 373.1 at 1080p falls to 250 at 1440p (a 33% drop), then to 143.2 at 4K (a 42.7% drop). The fact that the 1080p-to-1440p drop is consistently around 31-33% across all presets suggests the CPU is not yet the limiting factor at these settings, while the larger 4K drop — especially at Low settings — points to the GPU becoming the primary bottleneck only at the highest pixel count.

GPU Role

The RTX 5090’s specifications explain why 4K performance remains so robust. With 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, the card offers 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth — more than enough for an idle game’s modest VRAM demands. The GPU’s boost clock of 2407 MHz and base clock of 2017 MHz, combined with 21,760 shading units, produce 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 compute. The measured results show the card’s headroom: even at 4K Ultra, the average FPS of 143.2 is well above the 60 FPS threshold, and at 4K Medium it reaches 207.3. The data suggests the RTX 5090 is never truly stressed in this title, as the 4K Low result of 242.4 is still more than double what most displays can output. The GPU’s 176 ROPs and 680 TMUs handle the texture and pixel throughput easily, and the 1,636.8 GTexel/s texture rate is overkill for an idle game’s visual complexity. The card’s 94th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 84,306, places it just 0.1% ahead of the RTX 5090 D and 1.3% ahead of the AMD Radeon PRO W6600 in synthetic tests — but in-game, the measured data shows far more separation from typical mid-range hardware.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 17th out of 1,756 tested combinations, which is an exceptionally strong position. This ranking reflects the synergy between the i7-12700K and RTX 5090, where the CPU’s 12 cores and 20 threads provide enough throughput to feed the GPU’s massive compute capacity. The CPU itself ranks in the 89th percentile among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 35,684 — nearly identical to its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845, which scores 35,802 (a delta of -0.3%). The Intel Core i7-13700T trails by 0.6% at 35,468, while the Core i5-14500HX is 0.7% behind at 35,940. These tiny margins in synthetic benchmarks suggest the CPU is not the differentiator; rather, the GPU’s dominance (94th percentile) drives the high combo ranking. The 17th place out of 1,756 implies that only 16 other systems — likely those with newer or more expensive CPUs paired with the same GPU — outperform this setup in To The Core. Given that the game is CPU-light at 1080p, the combo’s rank likely improves at higher resolutions where the GPU becomes more relevant.

FAQ

*Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo achieves in To The Core?*

A: The highest recorded average FPS is 617.9, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested systems?

A: It ranks 17th out of 1,756 tested combos, placing it in the top 1% of all systems.

Q: What is the biggest performance difference between settings at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, the spread is significant: Low averages 242.4 FPS, Medium averages 207.3 FPS, High averages 179 FPS, and Ultra averages 143.2 FPS — a 99.2 FPS gap between Low and Ultra.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more likely to be the bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The data shows the FPS drop from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings is 31.4% (from 617.9 to 423.7), which is nearly identical to the 33% drop at High settings — this consistent scaling suggests the GPU is still the primary driver, but the CPU’s 12 cores and 20 threads are sufficient to avoid becoming a hard limit.

Q: What is the RTX 5090’s memory bandwidth, and how does it relate to performance?

A: The GPU has 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth from 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus. This ample bandwidth helps maintain high frame rates even at 4K, where the average FPS never drops below 143.2 across all settings.

Q: How does the i7-12700K compare to its closest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The i7-12700K scores 35,684 on average, which is 0.3% behind the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 (35,802) and 0.6% ahead of the Intel Core i7-13700T (35,468).

CPU Role

The i7-12700K’s specifications suggest it is more than adequate for To The Core. With 12 cores and 20 threads, the CPU offers a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, which are high enough to handle the game’s single-threaded logic. The 25 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB L2 cache per core provide fast access to frequently used data, while the 10 nm Alder Lake architecture delivers solid IPC. Synthetic benchmarks show strong multi-threaded performance: Cinebench R23 multicore scores 29,241, and Passmark multithread scores 34,404. Single-thread performance is also respectable, with Cinebench R23 single-core at 4,128 and Passmark single-thread at 4,013. The 3dmark scores reveal scaling from 1,043 (single-thread) to 9,979 (max-threads), indicating efficient use of all cores. However, the game’s idle genre likely does not stress all 20 threads heavily, and the measured FPS at 1080p (up to 617.9) suggests the CPU can sustain very high frame rates without becoming a bottleneck. The CPU’s 89th percentile ranking among all processors, with an average score of 35,684, places it in a tight cluster with rivals — the gap to the Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 is just 0.3% — meaning any performance differences in-game are more likely attributable to the GPU.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance on which preset offers the best experience. At 4K, the Ultra preset averages 143.2 FPS, which is still well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, but the High preset at 179 FPS offers a 25% improvement with likely minimal visual difference in an idle game. Medium at 207.3 FPS and Low at 242.4 FPS are also viable, but the visual fidelity loss may not be worth the extra frames given that even Ultra is playable. At 1440p, the High preset delivers 310.5 FPS, which is more than enough for any high-refresh-rate monitor, while Ultra at 250 FPS still provides excellent smoothness. The most balanced choice appears to be High settings at any resolution: it provides a substantial FPS uplift over Ultra (25.5% at 4K, 24.2% at 1440p, and 23.7% at 1080p) while likely retaining most of the visual quality. For users with 120 Hz or higher refresh rate displays, even 4K Ultra remains viable, but the data suggests High is the sweet spot — it avoids the steep performance penalty of Ultra while offering a significant frame rate advantage. At 1080p, all settings exceed 373 FPS, so users should choose based on visual preference rather than performance concerns.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured results are as follows. At 1920x1080, Low settings average 617.9 FPS, Medium averages 532.8 FPS, High averages 461.5 FPS, and Ultra averages 373.1 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 244.8 FPS, representing a 39.6% reduction in frame rate at the highest settings. Moving to 2560x1440, the averages are 423.7 FPS (Low), 362.4 FPS (Medium), 310.5 FPS (High), and 250 FPS (Ultra). The gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 173.7 FPS (a 41% reduction). At 3840x2160, the averages drop to 242.4 FPS (Low), 207.3 FPS (Medium), 179 FPS (High), and 143.2 FPS (Ultra). The Low-to-Ultra difference is 99.2 FPS (a 40.9% reduction). Across all resolutions, the ratio between Low and Ultra remains remarkably consistent at roughly 40%, indicating that the settings presets scale uniformly regardless of resolution. The largest absolute FPS gain from lowering settings occurs at 1080p (244.8 FPS difference), while the smallest is at 4K (99.2 FPS difference), but the proportional impact is nearly identical. This consistency suggests the game’s rendering load scales predictably with both resolution and settings, making it easy to target specific frame rates by adjusting either parameter.