To The Core

# To The Core with Intel Core i7-14700KF + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060

This combination of the Intel Core i7-14700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 delivers a remarkably fluid experience in To The Core, an idle genre title released in February 2024. The data reveals a system that never dips below 71 FPS at any tested setting or resolution, which is exceptional for a game that typically imposes minimal graphical demands. The 20-core processor and the 8 GB Ada Lovelace GPU form a pairing where the bottleneck shifts meaningfully depending on resolution, and the measured FPS rows show a pattern that invites closer inspection of how each component contributes to the final frame rate.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K tells a clear story about which component is doing the heavy lifting. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces 313 FPS, which falls to 210 FPS at 1440p and then to 120 FPS at 4K. That is a 61.7% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 42.9% reduction from 1440p to 4K. The scaling is not perfectly linear, but the pattern is unmistakable: as pixel count rises, the frame rate drops proportionally, which strongly suggests the GPU is becoming the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

The Ultra preset shows a similar trajectory. At 1080p Ultra, the system hits 185 FPS, dropping to 124 FPS at 1440p and 71 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops here are 33.0% and 42.7%, respectively. Interestingly, the drop from 1080p to 1440p is less severe on Ultra than on Low, which hints that the CPU is still providing enough headroom at lower resolutions to keep the GPU busy, but the GPU's raw throughput becomes the primary constraint as resolution climbs.

Comparing the Low and Ultra presets at each resolution reveals the GPU's workload sensitivity. At 1080p, the gap between Low (313 FPS) and Ultra (185 FPS) is 128 FPS, a 40.9% performance penalty for maxing out settings. At 1440p, the gap narrows to 86 FPS (210 vs. 124), and at 4K it narrows further to 49 FPS (120 vs. 71). This convergence suggests that at 4K, the GPU is so heavily loaded that even the difference between Low and Ultra settings becomes less impactful on the final frame rate—the pixel throughput bottleneck dominates.

The data implies that for this idle game, the RTX 4060's 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory bus are not the primary constraints, since even at 4K Ultra the system maintains 71 FPS. Instead, the scaling pattern indicates that the GPU's compute units, specifically its 3072 shading units and 48 ROPs, are what determine the ceiling at higher resolutions. The CPU, with its 20 cores and 28 threads, appears to have ample headroom at all tested resolutions, as evidenced by the fact that even the most demanding preset at 1080p does not cause a catastrophic frame rate collapse.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows provide a clear picture of which preset delivers the best experience relative to the hardware's capabilities. At 1080p, the Medium preset offers 265 FPS with a recorded minimum of 225 FPS and maximum of 304 FPS. This is only 48 FPS below the Low preset, yet it likely provides noticeably better visual quality. The Ultra preset at 1080p drops to 185 FPS, which is still well above any refresh rate threshold, but the 80 FPS gap between Medium and Ultra may not be worth the visual difference in an idle game where the action is minimal.

At 1440p, the Medium preset stands out as the sweet spot. It produces 178 FPS with a minimum of 151 FPS and maximum of 205 FPS. The High preset comes in at 154 FPS, and Ultra at 124 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 151 FPS ensures that even in the most demanding scenes, the frame rate never drops below what would be perceptible on most displays. For a game like To The Core, where the player is often watching numbers increment rather than engaging in fast-paced combat, the stability of the Medium preset is more valuable than the marginal visual improvements of Ultra.

At 4K, the situation changes. The Low preset delivers 120 FPS, Medium 102 FPS, High 88 FPS, and Ultra 71 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K provides a minimum of 87 FPS, which is the only preset at this resolution with a recorded minimum. This makes Medium the safest choice for 4K, as it balances the 102 FPS average with a floor that stays above 60 FPS. The Ultra preset's 71 FPS average is playable, but without a recorded minimum, there is no guarantee of sustained performance.

The data suggests that the Medium preset is the optimal choice across all three resolutions. It consistently delivers the best balance of average FPS and minimum FPS stability. At 1080p, it offers 265 FPS with a 225 FPS minimum; at 1440p, 178 FPS with a 151 FPS minimum; and at 4K, 102 FPS with an 87 FPS minimum. The High preset is a viable alternative for those who want slightly better visuals, but the 15-20% FPS penalty compared to Medium is difficult to justify when the visual difference in an idle game is likely minimal.

FAQ

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

A: The highest recorded average FPS is 313, achieved at 1080p with Low settings.

Q: Does this system maintain 60 FPS at 4K with Ultra settings?

A: Yes, the Ultra preset at 3840x2160 produces an average of 71 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: Which preset shows the most stable frame delivery?

A: The Medium preset is the only one with recorded minimum FPS values at all three resolutions, showing 225 FPS minimum at 1080p, 151 FPS at 1440p, and 87 FPS at 4K.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested configurations for this game?

A: This combo ranks 2004 out of 3725 tested combinations, placing it in the 46th percentile of all tested systems.

Q: Is the RTX 4060's 8 GB VRAM sufficient for this game?

A: The data shows no VRAM-related performance issues, as even at 4K Ultra the system maintains 71 FPS, indicating that 8 GB is adequate for To The Core.

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

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset produces 210 FPS while Ultra produces 124 FPS, a difference of 86 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p, the full range of settings produces a spread of 128 FPS. The Low preset leads with 313 FPS, followed by Medium at 265 FPS (with a minimum of 225 FPS and maximum of 304 FPS), High at 229 FPS, and Ultra at 185 FPS. The gap between consecutive presets is not uniform: the drop from Low to Medium is 48 FPS, from Medium to High is 36 FPS, and from High to Ultra is 44 FPS. This irregularity suggests that the Medium preset may be applying certain visual effects that have a disproportionate GPU cost, while the step from High to Ultra adds less demanding effects.

At 1440p, the pattern shifts. Low produces 210 FPS, Medium 178 FPS (minimum 151, maximum 205), High 154 FPS, and Ultra 124 FPS. The gaps here are 32 FPS from Low to Medium, 24 FPS from Medium to High, and 30 FPS from High to Ultra. The proportional drops are smaller than at 1080p, which is consistent with the GPU becoming more of a bottleneck as resolution increases—each preset's incremental cost is partially masked by the overall pixel throughput limit.

At 4K, the spread narrows to 49 FPS. Low produces 120 FPS, Medium 102 FPS (minimum 87, maximum 117), High 88 FPS, and Ultra 71 FPS. The gaps are 18 FPS from Low to Medium, 14 FPS from Medium to High, and 17 FPS from High to Ultra. The convergence of FPS values at 4K confirms that the GPU is the dominant constraint at this resolution, as the relative cost of each preset diminishes when the pixel fill rate becomes the limiting factor.

The minimum FPS data, available only for the Medium preset, shows that the system maintains a floor of 225 FPS at 1080p, 151 FPS at 1440p, and 87 FPS at 4K. These minimums are remarkably close to the averages (within 15-18%), indicating that To The Core does not produce significant frame time spikes or stutter, even in scenes that might stress the hardware.

How This Combo Ranks

This combination of the Intel Core i7-14700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 ranks 2004 out of 3725 tested combos for To The Core. This position, in the 46th percentile, is somewhat surprising given the high frame rates measured. The rank suggests that many other combinations achieve even higher FPS in this undemanding title, which makes sense for an idle game where even modest hardware can produce triple-digit frame rates.

The CPU's percentile of 94 among all processors indicates it is a top-tier part, but the GPU's percentile of 61 among all GPUs reveals that the RTX 4060 is a mid-range performer. This mismatch likely explains the combo's middling rank—the CPU is capable of feeding frames far faster than the GPU can render them, but the GPU's 61st percentile means it is not the fastest option available. For a game like To The Core, where the graphical demands are low, the GPU becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions, dragging the combo's rank down relative to systems with more powerful GPUs.

The rank of 2004 out of 3725 places this combo just below the median tested system. This is not a poor result—the measured FPS are all well above playable thresholds—but it indicates that there are many faster configurations for this specific title. The data implies that for idle games, the GPU choice matters less than the CPU's ability to maintain a consistent frame delivery, and the RTX 4060, while adequate, does not push this combo into the upper echelons of the rankings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700KF brings substantial processing power to this combination. With 20 cores and 28 threads, a base clock of 3.40 GHz, and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, this processor is capable of handling far more demanding workloads than To The Core presents. Its Raptor Lake architecture, built on a 10 nm process, includes 33 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB of L2 cache per core, which provides ample data locality for the game's logic and simulation loops.

In benchmark terms, the i7-14700KF scores 44167 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 6235 in single-core, placing it in the 94th percentile of all CPUs. Its average benchmark score of 70163 is essentially tied with the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F (0.2% faster) and the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX (0.4% faster), while slightly ahead of the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (0.9% faster). The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K is 1% faster, making this a tightly contested field at the top of the CPU performance spectrum.

For To The Core, the CPU's role is likely to handle the game's simulation and logic threads, which in an idle game can be substantial as the player accumulates resources and upgrades. The 28 threads ensure that even if the game spawns many concurrent tasks, there is no contention for processing resources. The high boost clock of 5.60 GHz also helps with single-threaded performance, which is important for games that do not scale well across many cores. The data shows no CPU-related bottlenecks, as the FPS at 1080p Low (313 FPS) suggests the processor is capable of delivering far more frames than the GPU can render.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060, based on the AD107 chip with Ada Lovelace architecture, is the more constrained component in this pairing. With 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, it offers 272.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its 3072 shading units, 96 TMUs, and 48 ROPs provide a compute throughput of 15.11 TFLOPS FP32. The GPU's boost clock of 2460 MHz and base clock of 1830 MHz are respectable for a 115 W part, but the 128-bit memory bus is a known limitation for higher resolutions.

In benchmark terms, the RTX 4060 scores 19545 in Passmark G3D and 95057 in Geekbench OpenCL, placing it in the 61st percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are all AMD parts: the Radeon HD 7790 is 0.2% faster, the Radeon 780M is 0.3% slower, the Radeon Pro 560 is 0.5% slower, and the Radeon Pro 460 is 0.7% slower. This grouping shows that the RTX 4060 sits in a crowded mid-range performance tier, where small architectural differences translate to minimal real-world FPS variation.

For To The Core, the GPU's role becomes more pronounced as resolution increases. At 1080p, the GPU has enough headroom to render frames at over 300 FPS on Low settings, but the 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit bus are not taxed. At 4K, the 71 FPS at Ultra settings indicates that the GPU is working near its limit, but the fact that it maintains playable frame rates at all reflects the game's undemanding nature. The 48 ROPs are likely the limiting factor at 4K, as pixel fill rate becomes critical at high resolutions, and the 118.1 GPixel/s pixel rate is modest by modern standards. The data suggests that the RTX 4060 is sufficient for this game, but it is the reason the combo does not rank higher among the 3725 tested systems.