To The Core

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for To The Core reveals a predictable but important scaling pattern as resolution increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the Intel Core i7-13700K and Intel Arc B580 combination produces 254.4 FPS, which drops to 171.5 FPS at 1440p and further to 95.6 FPS at 4K. This represents a 62.4% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K on Low settings, indicating that the GPU becomes progressively more stressed as pixel count rises.

The High preset tells a similar story: 183.7 FPS at 1080p, 126.7 FPS at 1440p, and 70.3 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 4K here is 61.7%, nearly identical to the Low preset's scaling. This consistency suggests the game's rendering load scales evenly with resolution regardless of quality tier, a hallmark of a GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions.

Medium settings follow the same trajectory: 211.6 FPS at 1080p, 146.3 FPS at 1440p, and 82.7 FPS at 4K. The 1080p-to-4K reduction is 60.9%. Ultra settings show the steepest absolute decline, from 148.2 FPS at 1080p down to 103.1 FPS at 1440p and finally 59.1 FPS at 4K — a 60.1% total drop.

What do these numbers reveal about the limiting component? At 1080p, even Ultra settings clear 148 FPS, which suggests the CPU is feeding frames faster than the GPU can render them at lower resolutions. The Intel Core i7-13700K, with its 16 cores and 24 threads running at a base clock of 3.40 GHz and boost of 5.40 GHz, provides ample headroom. However, the Arc B580's performance ceiling becomes evident at 4K, where even Low settings only reach 95.6 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 36.5 FPS, whereas at 1080p that same gap spans 106.2 FPS. This compression of the settings range at higher resolutions points directly to the GPU as the primary bottleneck at 4K, while at 1080p the CPU's strong single-threaded performance (3DMark single-thread score of 1136) keeps frame rates high across all presets.

FAQ

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

A: The maximum measured average FPS is 254.4, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: How does the Ultra preset perform at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the combo delivers 59.1 FPS average, which is the lowest measured result in the dataset.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more important for this game's performance?

A: Benchmark results indicate the GPU becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the CPU's 16 cores and 24 threads provide enough throughput to reach 148.2 FPS even on Ultra, but at 4K the Arc B580's rendering capacity caps performance at 95.6 FPS even on Low.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Low settings produce 171.5 FPS while Ultra produces 103.1 FPS, a difference of 68.4 FPS.

Q: How does the Arc B580 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The Arc B580's average benchmark score of 23021 places it 0.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon 760M and 0.3% ahead of the NVIDIA P106-100, while trailing the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 by 0.7%.

Q: Does the CPU's multi-threaded performance matter for this idle game?

A: The data shows strong multi-threaded capability (Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 39000), but the consistent FPS scaling across resolutions suggests the game's workload is not heavily multi-threaded — the GPU bottleneck appears at 4K regardless of CPU headroom.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K is a 16-core, 24-thread processor built on Intel's 10 nm Raptor Lake architecture. Its base clock of 3.40 GHz can boost up to 5.40 GHz, and it carries 30 MB of shared L3 cache alongside 2 MB of L2 cache per core. These specifications position it in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs tested, with an average benchmark score of 47282.

In To The Core, the CPU's role is best understood through the frame rates at lower resolutions. At 1080p, the combo reaches 254.4 FPS on Low and 211.6 FPS on Medium, numbers that suggest the processor is keeping pace with the GPU's output. The single-threaded performance — a 3DMark single-thread score of 1136 and Geekbench single-core score of 2850 — matters for a game that may rely on a primary simulation thread. The multi-threaded scores (Cinebench R23 multi-core of 39000, Geekbench multi-core of 17731) provide ample headroom for background tasks but do not appear to directly translate into higher FPS in this title, since the scaling pattern points to GPU limits at higher resolutions.

The CPU's nearest rivals in overall benchmark scores include the Intel Core i7-13700KF, which scores 47334 (0.1% higher), and the AMD EPYC 4364P at 47131 (0.3% lower). The i7-13700K also sits 0.4% above the Intel Core i9-12900F and 0.5% below the AMD Ryzen 9 PRO 5945. These tight margins indicate the i7-13700K is competitively positioned among desktop processors, but for To The Core specifically, the measured FPS data shows the GPU is the more consequential component for frame rate delivery, particularly at 4K where the Arc B580's 13.67 TFLOPS FP32 performance becomes the binding constraint.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows provide a clear picture of how each preset balances frame rate against visual fidelity. For players targeting 4K, the data shows that Ultra settings drop to 59.1 FPS, which falls short of smooth gameplay thresholds. High settings at 4K deliver 70.3 FPS, while Medium reaches 82.7 FPS and Low hits 95.6 FPS. The 4K data suggests that Medium is the optimal balance for 4K displays, offering 82.7 FPS — a 23.6 FPS improvement over Ultra — while retaining some quality headroom above Low.

At 1440p, the situation improves considerably. High settings produce 126.7 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS mark and approaches high-refresh territory. Medium reaches 146.3 FPS, and even Ultra clears 103.1 FPS. For 1440p users, High offers the best quality-to-performance ratio, with Ultra providing a playable alternative at 103.1 FPS if visual fidelity is prioritized.

At 1080p, all presets are playable, but the data shows diminishing returns from lowering settings. Ultra delivers 148.2 FPS, High reaches 183.7 FPS, Medium hits 211.6 FPS, and Low tops out at 254.4 FPS. Since even Ultra exceeds 144 FPS, the recommendation is to use Ultra at 1080p for the best visual experience without sacrificing smoothness. The 106.2 FPS gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is the largest of any resolution, indicating that the GPU has enough headroom at this resolution to absorb the extra rendering load.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i7-13700K + Intel Arc B580 combination ranks 1354 out of 1756 tested combos in To The Core, placing it in the lower-middle tier of the database. This ranking might seem surprising given the strong FPS numbers at 1080p, but it reflects the fact that many other combos in the database achieve higher frame rates, particularly at lower resolutions where CPU-bound performance dominates.

The combo's ranking is influenced by the Arc B580's position relative to other GPUs. With an average benchmark score of 23021, the GPU sits in the 66th percentile of all GPUs, which is below average. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060, scores 23181 — 0.7% higher — and the AMD Radeon 760M trails by just 0.1%. This clustering means the Arc B580 is competitive with mid-range options but does not push into high-end territory.

The CPU, by contrast, is a strong performer. Its 93rd percentile ranking and average score of 47282 place it just 0.1% below the Intel Core i7-13700KF, which scores 47334. The i7-13700K also outperforms the AMD EPYC 4364P by 0.3% and the Intel Core i9-12900F by 0.4%, while trailing the AMD Ryzen 9 PRO 5945 by 0.5%. This CPU strength, however, is not enough to boost the combo's rank in To The Core, because the game's frame rates are limited by the GPU at higher resolutions.

The rank of 1354 out of 1756 suggests that while this combo handles 1080p and 1440p admirably — with 148.2 FPS and 103.1 FPS respectively on Ultra — it falls behind at 4K compared to combos featuring higher-tier GPUs. The data indicates that the Arc B580's 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 456.0 GB/s of bandwidth, is sufficient for 4K in this title, but its 13.67 TFLOPS FP32 performance caps the ceiling. For users prioritizing 4K Ultra gameplay, this combo ranks lower than alternatives with more powerful GPUs; for 1080p or 1440p gaming, the ranking understates its practical capability.