To The Core

# To The Core with Intel Core i7-13700K + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060

The Intel Core i7-13700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 delivers an exceptionally strong showing in To The Core, an idle-genre title where frame rates remain consistently high across all tested configurations. The data reveals a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher resolutions, yet still capable of pushing well past 300 FPS at 1080p on the lowest settings. The measured results place this combo at rank 1639 out of 3725 tested combinations, putting it in the upper half of all systems tested for this game. The 16-core, 24-thread Raptor Lake processor with a 5.40 GHz boost clock pairs with the Blackwell 2.0-based GPU featuring 8 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 128-bit bus to create a balanced platform that never appears to bottleneck the rendering pipeline in this particular title.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate degradation from 1080p to 4K is substantial but follows a predictable pattern that highlights the GPU as the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 at High settings drops the average FPS from 245 to 165, a reduction of 80 frames per second. Scaling further to 3840x2160 at the same settings yields 94 FPS average, meaning the transition from 1440p to 4K costs another 71 frames. The total scaling from 1080p to 4K at High settings represents a 62% reduction in average frame rate, which is a steep drop that clearly indicates the GPU is doing the heavy lifting as pixel count increases.

At Low settings, the scaling behavior shifts noticeably. The 1080p result of 334 FPS drops to 225 FPS at 1440p and then to 128 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 1440p is 33%, while the drop from 1440p to 4K is 43%. This steeper decline at the higher resolution step suggests that even at Low settings, the RTX 5060's 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory interface become increasingly stressed as the pixel workload quadruples from 1440p to 4K. The gap between Low and High settings at 4K is 34 FPS, whereas at 1080p that same gap is 89 FPS, indicating that the CPU has more headroom to express setting differences at lower resolutions.

The Medium preset shows the most complete dataset, with minimum and maximum frame rates recorded at every resolution. At 1080p Medium, the average is 282 FPS with a minimum of 240 and maximum of 325. At 1440p Medium, the average falls to 190 FPS with a range of 161 to 218. The 4K Medium result averages 109 FPS with a 92 to 125 range. The minimum frame rates at each resolution stay within 85-91% of the average, suggesting consistent frame pacing without severe hitches. Ultra settings produce the lowest averages across the board: 197 FPS at 1080p, 132 FPS at 1440p, and 76 FPS at 4K.

The scaling pattern across all four settings presets reveals that To The Core becomes heavily GPU-limited as resolution increases. The CPU's 3DMark single-thread score of 1136 and multi-thread score of 12412 indicate substantial headroom that is simply not taxed at 4K, where the GPU's 19.18 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 448.0 GB/s memory bandwidth become the determining factors.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture using TSMC's 5 nm process, with a die size of 181 mm² containing 21,900 million transistors. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2280 MHz and boosts to 2497 MHz, with memory running at 1750 MHz for an effective 28 Gbps across an 8 GB GDDR7 pool on a 128-bit bus. This configuration produces a memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s, which appears sufficient for To The Core at 1080p and 1440p but becomes a limiting factor at 4K Ultra where the average FPS drops to 76.

The GPU's benchmark scores place it at the 72nd percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 26331. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon 860M at 26401 (0.3% higher), the NVIDIA GeForce MX550 at 26421 (0.3% higher), the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary at 26553 (0.8% higher), and the AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT at 26011 (1.2% lower). These close margins indicate that the RTX 5060 is positioned in a highly competitive performance band, yet the measured game results show it delivering frame rates that are clearly playable at all tested settings.

The GPU's 3840 shading units, 120 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output pipelines provide a pixel rate of 119.9 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 299.6 GTexel/s. In an idle-genre game like To The Core, these rasterization capabilities are more relevant than the 30 RT cores or 120 tensor cores, as the title does not appear to leverage ray tracing or AI-accelerated features based on the measured data. The FP32 throughput of 19.18 TFLOPS, which matches the FP16 rate at a 1:1 ratio, provides ample compute headroom for the game's workload.

The 8 GB VRAM capacity is notable when examining the 4K results. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 76, and at 4K High it rises to 94. The 18 FPS difference between these two presets suggests that the memory subsystem is being taxed more heavily at Ultra, potentially due to larger texture footprints. The 128-bit bus width and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth are modest by modern standards, and the data indicates this becomes the bottleneck at 4K with higher settings, as the CPU could likely feed more frames if the GPU could process them faster.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K is a Raptor Lake-S part with 16 cores and 24 threads, running at a base clock of 3.40 GHz and boosting to 5.40 GHz. The processor features 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 2 MB of L2 cache per core, and 30 MB of shared L3 cache. Its 3DMark scores show strong scaling from 1136 single-thread to 2262 for 2 threads, 4469 for 4 threads, 8193 for 8 threads, and 10717 for 16 threads, reaching 12412 at max threads. This scaling pattern demonstrates that the CPU maintains efficiency as thread count increases, though the incremental gains diminish beyond 8 threads.

In To The Core, the CPU's role appears secondary to the GPU at higher resolutions. The 1080p results show the CPU providing enough throughput to allow the GPU to reach 334 FPS at Low settings, which is the highest measured value in the entire dataset. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 30745 and single-core score of 2116 further confirm that this processor has substantial compute headroom. The Geekbench multi-core score of 19429 and single-core score of 2529 reinforce this assessment.

The CPU's percentile ranking versus all CPUs is 89, with an average benchmark score of 46881. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 9 5900 at 46971 (0.2% lower), the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 375 at 47022 (0.3% lower), the AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX at 46654 (0.5% higher), and the Intel Xeon w3-2535 at 46653 (0.5% higher). The Core i7-13700K's PassMark multi-thread score of 45887 and single-thread score of 4333 indicate that it is not the limiting component in this game's performance envelope.

At 1080p Low, the system achieves 334 FPS, which is 49 FPS higher than the 1080p High result of 245 FPS. This substantial gap suggests that at lower settings, the CPU has enough headroom to feed frames to the GPU as fast as it can render them. However, at 4K Low, the system only manages 128 FPS, which is lower than the 1080p Ultra result of 197 FPS. This indicates that the GPU becomes the primary constraint at 4K regardless of settings, as the CPU's capacity to generate draw calls and process game logic exceeds what the GPU can render at that pixel count.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 334 FPS, Medium yields 282 FPS with a minimum of 240 and maximum of 325, High achieves 245 FPS, and Ultra drops to 197 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra represents a 41% reduction in average frame rate, which is a significant penalty for the highest visual quality preset.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain highly playable but show a clear step down. Low settings average 225 FPS, Medium averages 190 FPS with a range of 161 to 218, High reaches 165 FPS, and Ultra falls to 132 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 93 FPS, which is a 41% reduction, matching the scaling pattern seen at 1080p.

At 3840x2160, the system still maintains respectable performance. Low settings average 128 FPS, Medium averages 109 FPS with a 92 to 125 range, High achieves 94 FPS, and Ultra drops to 76 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K produces the lowest measured average in the entire dataset, yet it remains above the 60 FPS threshold that many users consider the minimum for smooth gameplay. The Medium preset at 4K shows the most consistent frame delivery, with the minimum of 92 FPS representing 84% of the average, indicating stable performance without major frame dips.

The complete dataset reveals that the RTX 5060 and Core i7-13700K combination can drive To The Core at 4K with playable frame rates on all presets, with even the most demanding configuration averaging 76 FPS. The 1080p results, ranging from 197 to 334 FPS, make this combo suitable for high-refresh-rate displays, while the 1440p results from 132 to 225 FPS provide a strong middle ground for users seeking a balance between visual quality and performance.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-13700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 ranks 1639 out of 3725 tested combos in To The Core, placing it in the 56th percentile of all systems tested for this game. This mid-pack ranking might seem modest given the high absolute frame rates, but it reflects the fact that To The Core is an idle-genre title where many systems can achieve high performance, and the ranking accounts for the entire system configuration rather than just the GPU or CPU individually.

The CPU's 89th percentile ranking among all processors indicates that the Core i7-13700K is a top-tier part in general benchmarks. The GPU's 72nd percentile among all GPUs shows that the RTX 5060 is solidly above average but not in the top tier. The combination of a high-percentile CPU with a mid-to-upper GPU results in a system that ranks in the upper half of all combos for this game, with the CPU providing ample headroom for the GPU to perform at its full potential.

The measured FPS data supports this ranking by showing that the system never falls below 76 FPS at 4K Ultra, which is the most demanding configuration tested. This level of performance is sufficient for smooth gameplay, and the 1080p results demonstrate that the system can take advantage of high-refresh-rate monitors with averages exceeding 300 FPS at Low settings. The rank of 1639 out of 3725 is consistent with a system that delivers strong but not class-leading performance in this particular title.

FAQ

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

A: The highest measured average is 334 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The lowest average is 76 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings.

Q: How does the Core i7-13700K compare to its nearest rival in terms of average benchmark score?

A: The Core i7-13700K has an average benchmark score of 46881, which is 0.2% lower than the AMD Ryzen 9 5900 at 46971 and 0.3% lower than the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 375 at 47022. It scores 0.5% higher than both the AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX and the Intel Xeon w3-2535, which have scores of 46654 and 46653 respectively.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Medium and High settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Medium settings average 190 FPS while High settings average 165 FPS, representing a 25 FPS difference. The Medium preset also has recorded minimum and maximum values of 161 and 218 FPS, while High settings do not have min/max data recorded.

Q: Does the GPU or CPU act as the limiting factor at 4K resolution?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the primary limiting factor at 4K. At 4K Low settings the system achieves 128 FPS, while at 1080p Low it reaches 334 FPS. This 206 FPS drop from increasing resolution alone, combined with the CPU's high benchmark scores, points to the RTX 5060's 8 GB VRAM and 448.0 GB/s memory bandwidth as the constraining resources at 4K.

Q: How does the RTX 5060's benchmark score compare to its nearest rival?

A: The RTX 5060 has an average benchmark score of 26331. The AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT scores 26011, which is 1.2% lower. The AMD Radeon 860M scores 26401 (0.3% higher), the NVIDIA GeForce MX550 scores 26421 (0.3% higher), and the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary scores 26553 (0.8% higher).

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded across all tested configurations?

A: The only configurations with recorded minimum FPS values are the Medium presets. The lowest minimum is 92 FPS at 3840x2160 Medium, with the 2560x1440 Medium showing a minimum of 161 FPS and the 1920x1080 Medium showing a minimum of 240 FPS.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data suggests that the Medium preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance for this combo across all resolutions. At 1080p, Medium delivers 282 FPS average with a 240 FPS minimum, which is 37 FPS higher than High and only 15 FPS below the maximum recorded at 1080p Low. The Medium preset at 1440p provides 190 FPS average with a 161 FPS minimum, remaining well above 144 Hz for high-refresh displays while still offering improved visuals over Low settings.

At 4K, the Medium preset becomes the optimal choice as it delivers 109 FPS average with a 92 FPS minimum, which is 15 FPS higher than High and 33 FPS higher than Ultra. The frame range of 92 to 125 FPS at 4K Medium indicates stable performance that will remain smooth on most displays. The Ultra preset at 4K drops to 76 FPS average, which is still playable but leaves less headroom for demanding scenes, and the High preset at 4K offers only 94 FPS average, making Medium the clear recommendation for 4K users.

For users with high-refresh-rate 1080p monitors, the Low preset at 334 FPS provides the maximum frame rate for competitive play, but the Medium preset at 282 FPS offers a more visually pleasing experience with only a 52 FPS penalty. At 1440p, the High preset at 165 FPS is a strong choice for users with 165 Hz displays, while the Medium preset at 190 FPS provides extra headroom for frame time variance. The Ultra preset is only recommended for users who prioritize visual fidelity over frame rate, as it delivers 197 FPS at 1080p, 132 FPS at 1440p, and 76 FPS at 4K, all of which remain playable but represent the lowest performance tier in the dataset.