To The Core

# To The Core with Intel Core i9-14900K + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090

The Intel Core i9-14900K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 delivers exceptional frame rates in To The Core, an idle genre title that scales heavily with both resolution and settings. The measured data shows this combination producing triple-digit frame rates even at 4K Ultra, with the 1080p Low configuration exceeding 600 FPS. This pairing ranks 67th out of 3,725 tested combos in this game, placing it in the top 2% of all configurations. The benchmark results reveal a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher resolutions, while the CPU's 24 cores and 32 threads provide enough headroom to keep frame rates high even at 1080p.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep but predictable, revealing a system that transitions from a balanced workload to a heavily GPU-limited one. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 458 FPS at 1080p to 308 FPS at 1440p, then to 176 FPS at 2160p. This represents a 33% reduction when moving from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 43% drop when moving from 1440p to 4K. The scaling pattern indicates that the RTX 5090's rendering pipeline becomes the primary constraint at higher resolutions, while the i9-14900K's processing power remains sufficient throughout.

The Low settings preset shows a similar trajectory but with higher absolute numbers: 625 FPS at 1080p, 420 FPS at 1440p, and 240 FPS at 4K. The 4K Low result being exactly 240 FPS is notable, as it suggests that the GPU still has considerable headroom even at this demanding resolution when graphical complexity is reduced. The Medium preset follows the same pattern with 528 FPS at 1080p, 355 FPS at 1440p, and 203 FPS at 4K.

The Ultra preset produces the most dramatic scaling curve, with 369 FPS at 1080p dropping to 248 FPS at 1440p and finally 142 FPS at 4K. The gap between 1080p and 4K Ultra is 227 FPS, which represents a 61% reduction in frame rate. This indicates that the Ultra preset introduces enough additional rendering complexity to make the GPU the clear bottleneck, even with the RTX 5090's substantial compute resources. Across all presets, the resolution scaling behavior confirms that this is a GPU-bound scenario at 4K, while at 1080p, the CPU's role becomes more significant, though still not limiting given the high frame rates achieved.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data suggests that the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience across all resolutions, providing a strong compromise between visual quality and performance. At 4K, Medium delivers 203 FPS average with a minimum of 173 FPS and a maximum of 234 FPS, which represents the only preset at this resolution with recorded frame time variance. The 30 FPS spread between minimum and maximum at 4K Medium indicates consistent frame delivery, making it suitable for smooth gameplay even during demanding scenes.

For users prioritizing maximum visual fidelity, Ultra at 4K still maintains 142 FPS average, which is well above typical display refresh rates. However, the lack of recorded minimum and maximum values for Ultra presets suggests the data collection focused on averages for that tier. At 1440p, the High preset at 308 FPS presents an excellent option for high-refresh-rate displays, while Medium at 355 FPS offers additional headroom for those with 360Hz or higher monitors.

The Low preset at 1080p produces 625 FPS, which is likely beyond the refresh rate capabilities of most displays, making this configuration more of a benchmark curiosity than a practical recommendation. The Medium preset at 1080p with 528 FPS average and a 449-608 FPS range provides the most stable experience at this resolution, with the minimum value still exceeding 400 FPS. Based on the measured rows, Medium is the recommended preset for consistent performance, while High at 1440p or 4K offers the best balance of visual quality and frame rate for most users.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of Intel Core i9-14900K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 achieves a rank of 67 out of 3,725 tested combos in To The Core. This places the system in the 98.2nd percentile of all configurations tested for this game, indicating that it outperforms the overwhelming majority of alternatives. The rank reflects the combined capabilities of both components, with the RTX 5090's 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth proving particularly well-suited to this game's rendering demands.

Relative to other tested combinations, this pairing's performance is consistent with the individual component rankings. The CPU sits in the 95th percentile among all processors, while the GPU ranks in the 92nd percentile among all graphics cards. The game-specific rank of 67 out of 3,725 suggests that To The Core responds favorably to the combination of high core counts and substantial GPU memory bandwidth. The nearest CPU rivals show minimal performance deltas, with the Intel Core i9-14900KF scoring 0.3% lower and the Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus scoring 0.6% lower in average benchmarks. On the GPU side, the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB scores 0.3% higher on average, while the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT trails by 1.1%.

The high rank in this game indicates that the measured FPS results are not merely a product of raw component power but also of the specific optimization of To The Core for this hardware configuration. The game's idle genre nature likely means that frame rates are less constrained by complex physics or AI calculations, allowing the GPU's raw throughput to shine.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combination?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 625 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: Does the RTX 5090 bottleneck the i9-14900K in this game?

A: At 4K Ultra, the system produces 142 FPS average, while at 1080p Low it reaches 625 FPS, indicating that the GPU becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions and settings, while the CPU provides sufficient headroom at lower resolutions.

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

A: The lowest average FPS is 142 FPS, recorded at 3840x2160 resolution with Ultra settings. This remains well above playable thresholds for most users.

Q: How does the Medium preset compare between 1440p and 4K?

A: At 1440p Medium, the system averages 355 FPS with a minimum of 302 FPS and maximum of 409 FPS. At 4K Medium, the average drops to 203 FPS with a minimum of 173 FPS and maximum of 234 FPS.

Q: What is the frame time variance at 1080p Medium?

A: The 1080p Medium preset shows an average of 528 FPS with a minimum of 449 FPS and maximum of 608 FPS, representing a 159 FPS spread between the lowest and highest recorded values.

Q: Where does this combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: This combination ranks 67th out of 3,725 tested combos in To The Core, placing it in the top 2% of all tested configurations.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 plays a dominant role in determining frame rates across all tested resolutions and settings in To The Core. The GPU's 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus provides 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth, which is critical for feeding the 21,760 shading units and 176 ROPs at high resolutions. The card's Blackwell 2.0 architecture, built on a 5 nm process at TSMC, contains 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die, giving it substantial compute resources for this game's rendering requirements.

The GPU clock speeds of 2017 MHz base and 2407 MHz boost contribute to the observed performance scaling. At 4K Ultra, the system maintains 142 FPS average, demonstrating that even with maximum settings, the RTX 5090 has enough throughput to keep frame rates well above 100 FPS. The memory bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s is particularly relevant at 4K resolutions where texture data requirements increase substantially, and the 32 GB capacity ensures that even the most demanding configurations avoid memory capacity limitations.

The GPU's FP32 performance of 104.8 TFLOPS and texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s align with the measured results, showing that To The Core benefits from raw compute throughput rather than specialized ray tracing or tensor operations. The card's 680 tensor cores and 170 RT cores are present but likely underutilized in this idle genre title, which appears to favor traditional rasterization performance. The measured FPS at 4K High of 176 FPS, compared to 142 FPS at Ultra, indicates that the difference between these settings has a meaningful impact on GPU load, with the Ultra preset introducing additional effects that reduce frame rates by approximately 19%.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i9-14900K provides ample processing headroom for To The Core, with its 24 cores and 32 threads ensuring that the CPU never becomes the primary bottleneck in the tested configurations. The processor's hybrid architecture, based on Raptor Lake technology, combines performance and efficiency cores to handle both single-threaded and multi-threaded workloads effectively. With a boost clock of 6.00 GHz and a base clock of 3.20 GHz, the CPU can rapidly respond to varying processing demands.

The 36 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB L2 cache per core provide substantial on-die storage for game data, reducing the frequency of memory accesses. The CPU's support for both DDR4 and DDR5 memory, with a dual-channel memory bus, allows for flexible system configurations. In the context of To The Core, the CPU's role is most apparent at 1080p Low settings, where the system achieves 625 FPS average, indicating that the processor can feed the GPU fast enough to maintain extremely high frame rates.

The i9-14900K's benchmark scores corroborate its strong performance in this game. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 39,399.5 and single-core score of 2,262.5 demonstrate balanced processing capability, while the Geekbench multi-core score of 21,697 and single-core score of 2,655 further confirm its position as a high-end desktop processor. The PassMark multi-thread score of 58,674 and single-thread score of 4,697 show that the CPU maintains excellent performance across different workload types. The CPU's 95th percentile ranking among all processors aligns with its role in this combination, providing enough power to avoid limiting the RTX 5090's output in most scenarios, though at 4K Ultra, the GPU clearly becomes the determining factor in overall frame rates.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS data across all resolutions and settings provides a comprehensive picture of this combination's performance in To The Core.

At 3840x2160 (4K), the system delivers the following average frame rates: Low settings produce 240 FPS, Medium settings produce 203 FPS with a minimum of 173 FPS and maximum of 234 FPS, High settings produce 176 FPS, and Ultra settings produce 142 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a steady decrease in performance, with the gap between Low and Ultra being 98 FPS, representing a 41% reduction in frame rate.

At 2560x1440 (1440p), the measured results show: Low settings at 420 FPS, Medium settings at 355 FPS with a minimum of 302 FPS and maximum of 409 FPS, High settings at 308 FPS, and Ultra settings at 248 FPS. The performance spread between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 172 FPS, a 41% reduction consistent with the 4K scaling pattern.

At 1920x1080 (1080p), the system achieves: Low settings at 625 FPS, Medium settings at 528 FPS with a minimum of 449 FPS and maximum of 608 FPS, High settings at 458 FPS, and Ultra settings at 369 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 256 FPS, representing a 41% reduction, maintaining the same proportional scaling observed at higher resolutions.

The Medium preset is the only configuration that includes minimum and maximum FPS values across all three resolutions, providing insight into frame time consistency. At 1080p Medium, the range is 449-608 FPS; at 1440p Medium, the range is 302-409 FPS; and at 4K Medium, the range is 173-234 FPS. The proportional consistency of these ranges suggests that To The Core maintains stable frame delivery across different resolutions, with the Medium preset offering the most predictable performance characteristics.