To The Core

Intel Core i7-13700K paired with the Intel Arc B570 delivers a surprisingly strong performance profile in To The Core, an idle genre title that scales predictably across resolutions and settings. The measured frame rates reveal a system that remains fluid even at 4K, with the CPU’s high core count and the GPU’s modern architecture combining to produce results that consistently exceed the 60 FPS threshold at maximum settings. The data indicates a balanced pairing where neither component becomes a severe bottleneck within the tested parameters, though the scaling patterns highlight the GPU as the primary driver of performance changes as resolution increases.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 4K produces a clear and expected decline in average frame rates across all settings presets, with the magnitude of the drop revealing the GPU’s growing influence at higher pixel counts. At High settings, the measured average FPS falls from 165 at 1920x1080 to 111 at 2560x1440, a reduction of 54 FPS or roughly 33%, before settling at 64 FPS at 3840x2160—a further 47 FPS decline that represents another 42% drop from the 1440p figure. This pattern indicates that the Intel Arc B570’s rendering throughput becomes the limiting factor as pixel count rises, though the absolute values remain playable throughout.

Low settings show an even steeper relative decline, starting at 225 FPS at 1080p, dropping to 152 FPS at 1440p (a 73 FPS or 32% reduction), and finally reaching 87 FPS at 4K, which is 65 FPS lower than the 1440p result. The consistency of the percentage drops—roughly one-third between each resolution step—suggests a linear scaling behavior typical of titles where the GPU’s fill rate and memory bandwidth are the dominant constraints. The Arc B570’s 380.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 200.0 GPixel/s pixel rate appear sufficient for 4K at these settings, but the data shows that 1080p results are likely CPU-limited or engine-limited, given the massive 225 FPS ceiling.

Medium settings provide the only complete frame time data, with minimum and maximum FPS recorded at each resolution. At 1080p Medium, the average is 191 FPS with a range from 162 to 219 FPS, while 1440p Medium averages 128 FPS (109-147 FPS range) and 4K Medium averages 73 FPS (62-84 FPS range). The minimum FPS values at 4K Medium (62 FPS) and 1440p Medium (109 FPS) indicate that even in demanding scenes, the system avoids severe frame drops, maintaining smoothness well above typical 60 FPS targets. The frame time consistency, as evidenced by the narrow ranges, suggests that the 16-core Intel Core i7-13700K provides ample processing headroom to feed the GPU without introducing stutter.

Ultra settings present the most demanding scenario, with 4K Ultra averaging 51 FPS—just below the 60 FPS standard—while 1440p Ultra reaches 89 FPS and 1080p Ultra achieves 133 FPS. The scaling from 1080p Ultra to 4K Ultra shows a 62% reduction in average FPS (from 133 to 51), which is more pronounced than the High settings drop of 61% (from 165 to 64). This amplified decline at Ultra settings reinforces the GPU-bound nature of high-resolution gameplay, as the Arc B570’s 11.52 TFLOPS FP32 compute and 10 GB GDDR6 memory capacity are taxed more heavily by the increased visual complexity.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 4K Ultra settings?

A: The measured average FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings is 51 FPS, which falls just short of the 60 FPS target but remains playable for an idle genre title.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B570 compare to its closest GPU rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Arc B570’s average benchmark score is 20556, placing it 0.1% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (20534) and 0.1% behind the Intel Arc A750 (20582). It also leads the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M by 0.4% and trails the AMD Radeon R9 M390X by 0.5%.

Q: What is the CPU’s percentile ranking among all tested processors?

A: The Intel Core i7-13700K ranks in the 89th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 46881. Its closest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 5900, scores 46971, a negligible 0.2% difference.

Q: Does the system maintain 60 FPS at 1440p across all settings?

A: Yes, the measured data shows 1440p averages of 152 FPS at Low, 128 FPS at Medium, 111 FPS at High, and 89 FPS at Ultra—all comfortably exceeding 60 FPS.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded at 4K Medium settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Medium settings, the minimum FPS is 62, which keeps the experience above the 60 FPS threshold even in the most demanding scenes captured.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested combinations in this game?

A: The Intel Core i7-13700K plus Intel Arc B570 combination ranks 2380th out of 2991 tested combos in To The Core, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the distribution.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B570 serves as the primary performance determiner in this pairing, particularly at higher resolutions where its rendering capabilities define the frame rate ceiling. The GPU’s 10 GB GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus delivers 380.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which proves adequate for the texture and buffer demands of To The Core across all tested settings, as evidenced by the absence of severe frame time spikes at 1440p and 4K. The memory clock runs at 2375 MHz (19 Gbps effective), and the base and boost clocks are both locked at 2500 MHz, indicating a fixed operating point that contributes to consistent performance.

The Arc B570’s Xe2-HPG architecture, built on TSMC’s 5 nm process with 19,600 million transistors, provides 2304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 80 raster output units. These specifications translate to a pixel rate of 200.0 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 360.0 GTexel/s, which directly influence the GPU’s ability to fill pixels at 4K resolution. The data shows that at 4K Ultra, the pixel fill requirements overwhelm the GPU’s capacity, resulting in the 51 FPS average—a 62% reduction from 1080p Ultra. Conversely, at 1080p Low, the GPU’s capabilities are underutilized, allowing the frame rate to reach 225 FPS, suggesting that the CPU or game engine becomes the limiting factor at lower resolutions.

The GPU’s FP32 compute throughput of 11.52 TFLOPS places it in the mid-range tier, and its synthetic benchmark scores corroborate the measured gaming performance. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, the Arc B570 scores 2649, while Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan scores are 83514 and 96844 respectively. The PassMark G3D score of 14195 and GPU compute score of 7281 further contextualize its capabilities. The GPU’s 65th percentile ranking among all GPUs and its average benchmark score of 20556 indicate that it performs competitively with established mid-range options, though it does not challenge high-end parts. The 18 ray tracing cores and DirectX 12 Ultimate support suggest future-proofing, but To The Core’s idle genre nature likely does not heavily utilize these features, as the measured FPS scales linearly with resolution rather than showing ray tracing-related anomalies.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets, with all twelve configurations tested and recorded. At 1920x1080, the system achieves its highest frame rates across all settings: Low averages 225 FPS, Medium averages 191 FPS, High averages 165 FPS, and Ultra averages 133 FPS. The Medium preset at 1080p includes minimum and maximum values of 162 FPS and 219 FPS respectively, demonstrating a 57 FPS spread that indicates manageable frame time variance. These 1080p results are consistently above 130 FPS even at Ultra, making this resolution ideal for high refresh rate displays if the user prioritizes maximum smoothness.

Moving to 2560x1440, the average FPS figures decline by 32-34% across all presets compared to 1080p. Low settings yield 152 FPS, Medium yields 128 FPS, High yields 111 FPS, and Ultra yields 89 FPS. The Medium preset at 1440p records a minimum of 109 FPS and maximum of 147 FPS, a 38 FPS range that is proportionally similar to the 1080p Medium spread. This consistency suggests that the GPU’s memory subsystem handles the increased resolution without introducing additional frame time instability. Every 1440p configuration stays well above 60 FPS, with even the Ultra preset’s 89 FPS average providing significant headroom for demanding scenes.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops become more pronounced, with Low averaging 87 FPS, Medium averaging 73 FPS, High averaging 64 FPS, and Ultra averaging 51 FPS. The 4K Medium preset shows a minimum of 62 FPS and maximum of 84 FPS, a 22 FPS range that is narrower in absolute terms but proportionally similar to lower resolutions. The 4K Ultra result of 51 FPS is the only configuration that falls below the 60 FPS threshold, indicating that users targeting 4K should select High or Medium settings to maintain smooth gameplay. The progression from Low to Ultra at each resolution shows a consistent performance cost: at 1080p, Ultra is 41% slower than Low (133 vs 225 FPS); at 1440p, Ultra is 41% slower (89 vs 152 FPS); and at 4K, Ultra is 41% slower (51 vs 87 FPS). This uniformity suggests that the settings presets impose similar relative loads on the GPU regardless of resolution.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings preset depends on the user’s target resolution and frame rate preference. For 1080p displays, the Ultra preset at 133 FPS average offers the best visual quality while still delivering frame rates well above standard 60 Hz displays and even suitable for 120 Hz or 144 Hz panels. The High preset at 165 FPS provides a 24% performance boost over Ultra with presumably minimal visual degradation, making it the recommended choice for users with high refresh rate monitors who want to maximize smoothness. For 1440p, the Ultra preset’s 89 FPS average is sufficient for 60 Hz displays and provides a 25% improvement over the 4K Ultra result, but the High preset at 111 FPS offers a more comfortable margin for 100 Hz+ displays. The data shows that 1440p High delivers a 25% higher average FPS than 1440p Ultra, a meaningful difference that likely outweighs the visual gains from Ultra settings in an idle genre game.

For 4K resolution, the recommendation is clear: the High preset at 64 FPS average is the highest quality setting that maintains a playable frame rate, while the Medium preset at 73 FPS provides additional headroom. The Ultra preset’s 51 FPS average may be acceptable for slower-paced idle gameplay, but the 22% performance gap between Ultra and High (51 vs 64 FPS) suggests that High offers a better balance of visual fidelity and smoothness. The Medium preset at 4K, with its 62 FPS minimum, ensures that even the most demanding scenes remain above the 60 FPS threshold, making it the safest choice for users who prioritize consistent frame times over maximum quality. Across all resolutions, the Low preset provides the highest frame rates—225 FPS at 1080p, 152 FPS at 1440p, and 87 FPS at 4K—but sacrifices visual quality, so it is only recommended for competitive play or extremely high refresh rate displays where every frame matters.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K provides the computational foundation for this gaming experience, and its specifications indicate that it is not the limiting factor in To The Core’s performance. With 16 cores and 24 threads running at a base clock of 3.40 GHz and boost clock of 5.40 GHz, this Raptor Lake-S processor offers substantial multi-threaded capability that benefits the background processing and simulation aspects typical of idle genre games. The CPU’s 30 MB shared L3 cache and 2 MB per-core L2 cache ensure that frequently accessed data remains close to the execution cores, reducing latency in game logic and UI updates. The 89th percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 46881, places it firmly in the high-performance tier, and its synthetic scores—Cinebench R23 multicore at 30745 and single core at 2116—demonstrate strong both multi-threaded and single-threaded performance.

The benchmark data shows that the CPU’s performance is competitive with its nearest rivals, with the AMD Ryzen 9 5900 scoring 46971 (a 0.2% difference), the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 375 scoring 47022 (0.3% difference), the AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX scoring 46654 (0.5% difference), and the Intel Xeon w3-2535 scoring 46653 (0.5% difference). These minuscule deltas indicate that the i7-13700K performs essentially identically to its closest competitors in synthetic benchmarks, meaning that any performance differences in To The Core would stem from the GPU rather than CPU choice. The PassMark multithread score of 45887 and single-thread score of 4333 further confirm the CPU’s balanced capabilities, with the single-thread performance being particularly relevant for game logic that often runs on a primary thread.

Given that the 1080p Low preset achieves 225 FPS, the CPU clearly has sufficient headroom to drive the GPU to its maximum output at lower resolutions. The fact that the frame rate drops by roughly one-third at each resolution step, regardless of settings, points to the GPU as the scaling bottleneck rather than the CPU. The CPU’s 125 W TDP and support for DDR4 and DDR5 memory with a dual-channel bus provide flexibility, but the measured results suggest that even the most demanding CPU-bound scenarios in To The Core are well within the i7-13700K’s capabilities. The 3DMark multi-threaded scores—10717 for 16 threads and 12412 for max threads—indicate that the CPU scales efficiently with thread count, which is beneficial for any background processes or multi-threaded game systems.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i7-13700K combined with the Intel Arc B570 ranks 2380th out of 2991 tested combinations in To The Core, placing it in the 80th percentile of all tested combos (specifically, better than 611 combos and worse than 2379). This ranking is notably lower than the individual component rankings—the CPU sits in the 89th percentile and the GPU in the 65th percentile—which suggests that the combination’s performance in this specific game is constrained by factors beyond raw component strength. The rank implies that many other CPU-GPU pairings, particularly those with higher-end graphics cards, achieve better frame rates in To The Core, even if their CPUs are less powerful.

The discrepancy between the combo’s rank and the CPU’s high percentile indicates that the GPU is the primary limiter in this pairing, as the Arc B570’s 65th percentile ranking aligns more closely with the combo’s overall position. The measured FPS data supports this interpretation: at 4K Ultra, the 51 FPS average is respectable but not exceptional, and many GPUs with higher synthetic scores would likely achieve better results. The GPU’s nearest rivals—the RTX 3070 Mobile and Arc A750—have nearly identical average benchmark scores (20534 and 20582 respectively, with deltas of 0.1% and -0.1%), suggesting that swapping to either of these GPUs would yield similar performance in To The Core. The combo’s rank of 2380 out of 2991 means that roughly 80% of tested combinations outperform it, which is consistent with a mid-range GPU paired with a high-end CPU.

However, the ranking should be interpreted in context: To The Core is an idle genre game where high frame rates are less critical than in fast-paced genres, and the combo still delivers 60+ FPS at 4K High and 4K Medium. The 51 FPS at 4K Ultra is the only configuration that falls below the 60 FPS standard, and even this is playable for the genre. The data shows that the combo’s performance is well-balanced for its component tier, with the CPU providing ample headroom for future GPU upgrades without requiring a platform change. The rank reflects the competitive landscape of 2991 tested combinations, many of which include higher-tier GPUs, but the measured FPS results demonstrate that this pairing remains a capable option for To The Core at mainstream resolutions and settings.