To The Core

The Intel Core i7-14700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 delivers exceptionally high frame rates in To The Core, an Idle genre title. The measured data shows this combination is capable of pushing well beyond the refresh rates of most displays, even at maximum settings and 4K resolution. This analysis breaks down the benchmark results, focusing on how the CPU and GPU individually contribute to performance, how the combo ranks among tested systems, and how resolution scaling affects the final output.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance on which preset offers the best experience across different resolutions. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset still achieves an average of 326 FPS, which is a substantial frame rate. However, the difference between Medium and Ultra at this resolution is notable: Medium averages 467 FPS while Ultra drops to 326 FPS, representing a 30% reduction in performance for the visual upgrade. Given that even the Ultra preset delivers over three times the frame rate of a standard 60Hz display, the choice comes down to whether the higher fidelity of Ultra is worth the performance cost. For players seeking the absolute smoothest experience on high-refresh-rate monitors, the Medium preset at 467 FPS is the superior option, as the jump from Medium to High (405 FPS) is smaller than the drop from Medium to Ultra.

At 2560x1440, the pattern repeats. The Ultra preset averages 219 FPS, which is still exceptionally playable, but the Medium preset at 314 FPS provides a 43% performance advantage. The High preset at 272 FPS sits between the two. For 1440p users, the Medium preset is the recommended balance, as it provides a frame rate high enough to take full advantage of 240Hz displays while maintaining the visual quality that the High and Ultra settings offer. The Low preset at 371 FPS is only modestly faster than Medium, suggesting that the performance gain from dropping to Low is not worth the significant visual downgrade.

At 3840x2160, the data shows a tighter spread. The Ultra preset averages 125 FPS, which is still comfortably above 60 FPS and suitable for high-refresh 4K monitors. The High preset at 156 FPS offers a 25% improvement over Ultra, while Medium at 180 FPS provides a 44% improvement. The Low preset at 212 FPS is nearly double the frame rate of Ultra. For 4K gaming, the High preset is the recommended choice because it offers a meaningful performance boost (156 FPS vs 125 FPS) while retaining the majority of visual enhancements. The Medium preset at 180 FPS is also a strong contender for players who prioritize frame rate above all else, but the jump from High to Medium does not provide the same dramatic gain as the jump from Ultra to High.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700K is a 20-core processor with 28 threads, featuring a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. Its architecture is Raptor Lake-R, built on Intel's 10 nm process. The processor includes a large L3 cache of 33 MB (shared) and supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory. In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU scores impressively: it achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 33440.5 and a single-core score of 2160. Its Geekbench multi-core score is 20767, and its single-core score is 2569. The Passmark multi-thread score is 52392, with a single-thread score of 4472.

For To The Core, an idle game, the CPU's role is typically less demanding than in action-oriented titles. However, the data shows that this processor has more than enough headroom. The measured FPS at 1080p with Low settings reaches 552 FPS, which is likely constrained more by the game engine or GPU than by the CPU. The CPU's percentile ranking of 94 among all CPUs indicates that it is in the top 6% of processors for overall performance. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, which has an average score of 69515 and a deltaPct of -0.2%, meaning the i7-14700K is essentially tied with it. The AMD EPYC 9115 is also nearly identical at 69288 with a deltaPct of 0.1%. This suggests that the i7-14700K is at the very top of the consumer CPU performance tier.

The high single-core performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2160) is particularly relevant for an idle game, as these titles often rely on a single main thread for game logic and simulation. The boost clock of 5.60 GHz provides the raw speed needed to handle any complex calculations the game might perform, and the multi-core capability (28 threads) ensures that background tasks or additional game systems do not bottleneck the experience. The data indicates that the CPU is not a limiting factor at any resolution tested, as the frame rates scale more significantly with GPU load (as seen in the resolution scaling section).

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process from TSMC. It features 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s. The GPU has a base clock of 2205 MHz and a boost clock of 2505 MHz, with memory running at 1400 MHz (22.4 Gbps effective). It contains 9728 shading units, 304 TMUs, and 112 ROPs, along with 76 RT cores and 304 tensor cores. The peak FP32 performance is 48.74 TFLOPS, and the texture fill rate is 761.5 GTexel/s. The GPU has a TDP of 320 W and is marked as end-of-life in production status.

In benchmark tests, the RTX 4080 achieves a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6567 and a Passmark G3D score of 34457. Its Passmark GPU compute score is 20671. The GPU's percentile ranking is 86 among all GPUs. Its nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER, which has an average score of 54209 and a deltaPct of 0.1%, indicating they are statistically identical. The AMD Radeon Pro W5700X is 1.1% faster (54828), while the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB is 2.6% faster (55698) in the aggregate benchmark score. This places the RTX 4080 in a competitive position, though slightly behind some AMD offerings in raw synthetic scores.

For To The Core, the GPU's role is clearly significant, as evidenced by the frame rate changes across settings. At 4K Ultra, the GPU produces 125 FPS, which confirms its raw power. The 16 GB VRAM capacity is more than sufficient for this title, even at 4K with high-resolution textures. The memory bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s ensures that the GPU can feed its 9728 shading units without stalling. The boost clock of 2505 MHz, combined with the high pixel rate of 280.6 GPixel/s, allows for rapid rendering of the game's visuals. The data suggests that the RTX 4080 is the primary driver of performance differences between settings, as the CPU is capable of much higher frame rates than what the GPU delivers at higher settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-14700K and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 ranks 226th out of 3725 tested combos in To The Core. This places the combo in the top 6% of all tested systems. The comboRankInGame field indicates that this is a high-performing pairing, but not the absolute best. The rank of 226 out of 3725 means there are 225 other combinations that achieve higher average FPS in this specific game.

Given the CPU's percentile rank of 94 and the GPU's percentile rank of 86, the combo's rank of 226 is slightly below what one might expect from simply averaging the two components' percentiles. This suggests that in To The Core, the GPU is the more limiting factor, as the CPU's performance headroom is not fully utilized. The fact that this combo sits at 226 suggests that some combinations with a faster GPU (but potentially a slower CPU) may achieve higher frame rates in this specific title, as the game is not heavily CPU-bound at the tested settings.

The nearest rival data for the CPU shows that the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X is essentially tied with the i7-14700K in average score (69515 vs 69355, deltaPct -0.2%). Therefore, swapping the CPU for a similarly performing AMD chip would likely not change the combo's rank significantly. On the GPU side, the RTX 4080 SUPER is also essentially tied (deltaPct 0.1%), so a system with an RTX 4080 SUPER would be expected to perform nearly identically. The rank of 226 is therefore a solid reflection of what this high-end combo delivers in To The Core.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals how this combo scales from 1080p to 4K. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset averages 326 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440, the Ultra preset drops to 219 FPS, a 33% reduction. Moving further to 3840x2160, the Ultra preset drops to 125 FPS, which is a 62% reduction from the 1080p figure. This scaling pattern is typical for a GPU-bound scenario, where the pixel count increase (from 2.07 million at 1080p to 3.68 million at 1440p, and 8.29 million at 4K) demands exponentially more GPU compute.

The Low preset shows a similar trend: 552 FPS at 1080p, 371 FPS at 1440p (a 33% drop), and 212 FPS at 4K (a 62% drop from 1080p). The consistent percentage drops across settings and resolutions strongly indicate that the GPU is the limiting component. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rates would not scale as dramatically with resolution, since the CPU load remains constant regardless of pixel count.

The data also shows that the gap between settings widens at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 226 FPS (552 vs 326). At 4K, the difference is 87 FPS (212 vs 125). This indicates that at lower resolutions, the CPU has more headroom to push the GPU to its limits at lower settings, while at higher resolutions, the GPU is saturated more quickly, reducing the relative impact of settings changes. The medium preset's min and max FPS data (e.g., 397 min and 537 max at 1080p, and 153 min and 207 max at 4K) shows that the game maintains reasonably stable frame times, with the variance being more pronounced at lower resolutions where the frame rate is higher.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average FPS this combo achieves at 1080p?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 552 at 1080p with Low settings. The Ultra preset at the same resolution still achieves 326 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 4080 compare to the RTX 4080 SUPER in benchmark scores?

A: The RTX 4080 has an average benchmark score of 54247, while the RTX 4080 SUPER has a score of 54209. The deltaPct is 0.1%, indicating they are virtually identical in performance.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this game?

A: The resolution scaling data indicates the GPU is the limiting component. Frame rates drop by approximately 62% from 1080p to 4K across all settings, which is characteristic of GPU-bound scenarios.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested systems?

A: The combo ranks 226th out of 3725 tested combinations in To The Core, placing it in the top 6% of all tested systems.

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

A: The minimum FPS for the Medium preset at 3840x2160 is 153 FPS, with a maximum of 207 FPS and an average of 180 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU's single-core performance compare to its multi-core performance?

A: The CPU achieves a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2160 and a multi-core score of 33440.5, showing strong performance in both areas. Its Passmark single-thread score is 4472, while its multi-thread score is 52392.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following table details the exact measured average FPS values for all tested resolution and settings combinations.

| Resolution | Settings | Average FPS |

|:--------- |:------- | ----------: |

| 1920x1080 | Low | 552 |

| 1920x1080 | Medium | 467 |

| 1920x1080 | High | 405 |

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 326 |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 371 |

| 2560x1440 | Medium | 314 |

| 2560x1440 | High | 272 |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 219 |

| 3840x2160 | Low | 212 |

| 3840x2160 | Medium | 180 |

| 3840x2160 | High | 156 |

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 125 |

For the Medium preset, additional data is available: at 1080p, the minimum FPS is 397 and the maximum is 537. At 1440p, the minimum is 267 and the maximum is 361. At 4K, the minimum is 153 and the maximum is 207. This data shows that the Medium preset provides the most consistent frame delivery, with the variance between min and max FPS being proportionally similar across resolutions (approximately 35% of the average).

In summary, the Intel Core i7-14700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 combo is a formidable pairing for To The Core, delivering exceptionally high frame rates at all tested settings and resolutions. The GPU is the primary performance driver, with the CPU providing ample headroom. The combo's rank of 226 out of 3725 confirms its position in the upper echelon of tested systems, though it is not the absolute fastest. For the best balance of visual quality and performance, the Medium preset at 1440p or the High preset at 4K are recommended based on the measured data.