To The Core

The Intel Core i7-12700KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 delivers a distinctive performance profile in To The Core, an idle game that scales heavily with raw frame throughput. The measured data reveals a system that is clearly capable of high refresh rates at standard resolutions, but the relationship between resolution, settings, and frame rate exposes where the bottleneck lies.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial, but the pattern is not uniform across all quality presets. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 238.5 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low, that figure falls to 159.3 FPS, a reduction of 79.2 FPS. At 4K Low, the average drops further to 92.4 FPS. This scaling indicates that even at the lowest settings, the GPU is being progressively loaded as pixel count increases.

The behavior at Ultra settings tells a slightly different story. At 1080p Ultra, the system achieves 144 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, it falls to 93.5 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it bottoms out at 56.1 FPS. The delta between 1080p and 1440p Ultra is 50.5 FPS, while the delta between 1440p and 4K Ultra is 37.4 FPS. This suggests that the GPU's rendering resources are the limiting factor at higher resolutions, particularly with more demanding settings.

The data shows a clear inflection point. At 1080p, the frame rates are high enough across all presets that the CPU's single-thread performance (3dmark_single_thread score of 1043) likely plays a more prominent role in keeping frametimes consistent. However, the steep drop to 4K — where even Low settings only yield 92.4 FPS — points to the RTX 2060's 6 GB VRAM and 192-bit memory bus as constraining factors. The scaling from Medium to High is also telling: at 4K, the difference between Medium (80.1 FPS) and High (67.1 FPS) is 13 FPS, while the gap from High to Ultra is 11 FPS. This linear degradation suggests the GPU is nearing its throughput ceiling rather than hitting a memory capacity cliff.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination ranks 1449 out of 1756 tested combos in To The Core. This places it in the lower third of the field, which aligns with the hardware's profile. The CPU, however, is a strong performer on its own: the Intel Core i7-12700KF sits at the 89th percentile versus all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 35355. It trades blows with the Intel Core i5-14400, which scores 35336 (a delta of 0.1%), and the Intel Core i9-12900HX at 35289 (delta of 0.2%).

The GPU is the weaker link in this pairing. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 ranks at the 58th percentile versus all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 16074. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 7600S, scores 15996 (delta of 0.5%), while the AMD Radeon Pro 5700 scores 16351 (delta of -1.7%). The CPU's substantial headroom — evidenced by its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 28979 — is not fully utilized in this game because the GPU's DirectX 12 score of 53 (from Passmark) indicates limited raw compute for modern workloads.

In practical terms, the combo rank of 1449 out of 1756 means that roughly 307 other tested combinations deliver higher average FPS in To The Core. The data suggests that the RTX 2060 is holding back the i7-12700KF, since the CPU's multithreaded benchmark score (Passmark multithread of 34092) is far above what this idle game would demand. The bottleneck is unambiguously on the graphics side.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in To The Core?*

A: Based on the measured FPS, 1080p is the only resolution where all settings remain above 144 FPS. At 1440p, only Low and Medium settings exceed 120 FPS, and at 4K, even Low settings drop to 92.4 FPS.

Q: How much FPS is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K at Ultra settings?

A: The average frame rate falls from 144 FPS at 1080p Ultra to 56.1 FPS at 4K Ultra, a reduction of 87.9 FPS. This represents a 61% drop in performance.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The GPU is the limiting factor. The RTX 2060's Passmark G3D score of 14111 and its 6 GB VRAM are the primary constraints, as evidenced by the severe FPS drop at 4K. The i7-12700KF's Cinebench R23 score of 28979 indicates it has ample compute headroom.

Q: Does increasing settings from Low to Ultra at 1080p cause a significant FPS penalty?

A: Yes. At 1080p, the difference between Low (238.5 FPS) and Ultra (144 FPS) is 94.5 FPS. This is a substantial penalty, suggesting that Ultra settings impose a heavy load even at lower resolutions.

Q: What is the frame rate at 1440p Medium settings?

A: The measured average FPS at 2560x1440 with Medium settings is 134.9. This is above the 120 FPS threshold, making it a viable option for high refresh rate displays.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 compare to its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 2060 scores 16074 on average, which is 0.5% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 7600S (15996) and 1.8% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 (15786). It trails the AMD Radeon Pro 5700 by 1.7%.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete dataset provides a clear picture of performance across all tested configurations. At 1920x1080, the combo starts strong with 238.5 FPS on Low, 202.4 FPS on Medium, 176.5 FPS on High, and 144 FPS on Ultra. The progression is consistent: each settings tier costs roughly 30 FPS, with the largest single drop being 26.1 FPS between Medium and High.

Moving to 2560x1440, the numbers scale down proportionally. Low settings yield 159.3 FPS, which is 79.2 FPS lower than 1080p Low. Medium hits 134.9 FPS, High reaches 120.2 FPS, and Ultra settles at 93.5 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 65.8 FPS, which is narrower than the 94.5 FPS gap at 1080p, indicating that the GPU is becoming more saturated.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops become more pronounced. Low settings average 92.4 FPS, Medium 80.1 FPS, High 67.1 FPS, and Ultra 56.1 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra is 36.3 FPS, which is the smallest relative spread across all resolutions. This compression suggests that at 4K, the GPU is hitting a hard limit where settings adjustments have diminishing returns because the rendering pipeline is fully occupied.

The most striking single data point is the 238.5 FPS at 1080p Low. This is 2.6 times higher than the 92.4 FPS at 4K Low, demonstrating how pixel count alone can halve performance even with identical settings. For users targeting 144 Hz displays, 1080p Ultra (144 FPS) is the exact threshold, while 1440p High (120.2 FPS) also clears 120 Hz.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 plays the decisive role in this combo's To The Core performance. Its specs — 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus with 336.0 GB/s bandwidth — are modest by modern standards. The GPU's base clock of 1365 MHz and boost clock of 1680 MHz are typical for the Turing architecture, and its FP32 throughput of 6.451 TFLOPS is the theoretical ceiling for compute work.

The VRAM capacity is a critical detail. At 4K Ultra, the game likely requires more memory than the 6 GB available, which can cause frame pacing issues or texture streaming delays. However, the measured FPS data does not show catastrophic drops, only a steady decline from 67.1 FPS (High) to 56.1 FPS (Ultra). This suggests the game is managing memory within the 6 GB limit, but the 336.0 GB/s bandwidth is likely the constraint when moving from Medium to High at 4K, as the 13 FPS drop indicates.

The GPU's DirectX 12 score of 53 on Passmark is notably low compared to its DirectX 11 score of 110. This is a known characteristic of Turing's asynchronous compute implementation, but in To The Core, an idle game that likely uses a simpler rendering path, the DirectX 11 performance is more relevant. The GPU's passmark_g3d score of 14111 places it in the 58th percentile, which aligns with its ranking as a mid-tier card from 2019.

The RTX 2060's 30 RT cores and 240 tensor cores are present but irrelevant for this title, as idle games rarely use ray tracing or DLSS. The 1920 shading units are the workhorses here, and their 201.6 GTexel/s texture rate directly impacts how fast the game can fill pixels. At 4K, the 80.64 GPixel/s pixel rate becomes the hard bottleneck, explaining why Ultra settings cannot exceed 56.1 FPS.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data supports a clear set of recommendations based on target frame rates. For users with 1080p displays, the High preset (176.5 FPS) is the optimal balance between visual quality and performance. It delivers 32.5 FPS more than Ultra (144 FPS) and still maintains a comfortable margin above 144 Hz. Medium (202.4 FPS) is a better choice for 240 Hz displays, while Low (238.5 FPS) approaches the 240 Hz ceiling but sacrifices visual fidelity.

At 1440p, the situation is more constrained. Low settings (159.3 FPS) are the only preset that comfortably exceeds 144 Hz, but Medium (134.9 FPS) and High (120.2 FPS) both clear 120 Hz. For a 144 Hz monitor, Medium is the best choice as it keeps the average above 120 FPS while providing better visuals than Low. Ultra at 93.5 FPS is only suitable for 60-90 Hz displays.

For 4K displays, the data shows that this combo is not well-suited for high refresh rates. Low settings (92.4 FPS) are the only preset that exceeds 90 FPS, and Medium (80.1 FPS) is a viable option for 60 Hz panels. High (67.1 FPS) and Ultra (56.1 FPS) are playable but will feel less smooth. The 4K Ultra setting at 56.1 FPS is the worst measured result, and users should avoid it unless they prioritize absolute visual quality over frame rate.

The overall pattern suggests that the RTX 2060 is best utilized at 1080p or 1440p with Medium to High settings. The CPU's high single-thread score (3dmark_single_thread of 1043) ensures that frame pacing remains consistent, but the GPU's 6 GB memory and 192-bit bus are the deciding factors at higher resolutions. For the best experience, 1440p Medium at 134.9 FPS offers the sweet spot between clarity and smoothness, while 1080p High at 176.5 FPS is the safest recommendation for competitive play.