To The Core

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 pairing delivers extreme performance in To The Core, an idle genre title that clearly favors high refresh rate displays. The measured data shows this combo sits at rank 107 out of 2991 tested combinations, placing it in the top 3.6% of all systems evaluated. This analysis breaks down exactly what those numbers mean across resolutions and settings, focusing on where the bottleneck lies and what the user experience looks like in practical terms.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial but remains far above playable thresholds. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 447 FPS at 1920x1080 to 301 FPS at 2560x1440, then to 172 FPS at 3840x2160. That represents a 33% reduction moving from 1080p to 1440p, and another 43% reduction from 1440p to 4K. The overall scaling from 1080p to 4K at High shows a 61.5% performance loss, which is typical for a GPU-bound scenario at higher pixel counts.

Looking at Low settings, the pattern is similar but with higher absolute numbers: 610 FPS at 1080p, 411 FPS at 1440p, and 235 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are 32.6% and 42.8% respectively, closely mirroring the High preset scaling. This consistency suggests the rendering load scales predictably with pixel count regardless of quality level.

Medium settings show 516 FPS at 1080p, 347 FPS at 1440p, and 199 FPS at 4K. The 1080p to 1440p drop is 32.8%, while 1440p to 4K drops 42.7%. Ultra settings follow suit: 360 FPS at 1080p, 242 FPS at 1440p, and 139 FPS at 4K. The scaling percentages here are 32.8% and 42.6%, nearly identical to the other presets.

What this scaling pattern reveals is that the RTX 4090 remains the dominant factor at every resolution. Even at 1080p with Low settings, the system produces 610 FPS, which is far beyond what any 60Hz or 144Hz monitor can display. The CPU is not holding back the GPU at lower resolutions, or we would see a plateau or diminishing returns as resolution decreases. Instead, the consistent percentage drops across all settings indicate a clean GPU-bound scaling curve.

At 4K Ultra, the system still delivers 139 FPS average, which is above the 120Hz threshold for high-refresh 4K displays. The minimum observed frame rate at 4K Medium is 169 FPS, suggesting that even in demanding scenes, the system stays well above 144 FPS at that setting. The data shows no resolution or settings combination drops below 139 FPS average, making this combo suitable for any current display technology.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with the AD102 chip, manufactured on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It packs 76,300 million transistors on a 609 mm² die, giving it a transistor density of 125.3M per mm². The GPU has 16,384 shading units, 512 texture mapping units, and 176 raster output pipelines. It also includes 128 ray tracing cores and 512 tensor cores, which are irrelevant for an idle game but contribute to the card's overall compute capabilities.

Clock speeds are 2235 MHz base and 2520 MHz boost. Memory runs at 1313 MHz with 21 Gbps effective speed. The 24 GB of GDDR6X memory sits on a 384-bit bus, delivering 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is overkill for To The Core, but it ensures zero memory-related bottlenecks at any resolution or settings level. The card's pixel rate is 443.5 GPixel/s, and texture rate is 1,290.2 GTexel/s. FP32 compute is rated at 82.58 TFLOPS, with FP16 at the same level due to 1:1 ratio.

In this game, the RTX 4090's performance percentile is 88th among all GPUs. Its average benchmark score is 60347, with nearest rivals including the Intel Arc Pro A60 at 60326 (0% delta) and AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 at 60140 (0.3% delta). The AMD Radeon Pro W6600M scores 61896 (2.5% higher), while AMD Radeon PRO V710 scores 58657 (2.9% lower). These rivals are workstation or professional cards, not gaming GPUs, which shows the RTX 4090's position among all graphics processors.

The measured FPS data shows the RTX 4090 is never the limiting factor in this title. At 1080p Low, the system hits 610 FPS, which is near the practical limit for any current GPU. The card's massive memory bandwidth and high pixel rate handle the simple geometry and textures of an idle game with enormous headroom. Even at 4K Ultra, the 139 FPS average indicates the GPU is still delivering well above the 60 FPS standard for 4K gaming.

The 24 GB VRAM is far more than needed; To The Core does not stress memory capacity at any settings. The GDDR6X type and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth ensure that texture streaming and frame buffer operations never become a constraint. The boost clock of 2520 MHz provides the raw compute throughput that drives the high frame rates observed, particularly at lower resolutions where the GPU's shading units are the primary workhorses.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 is part of the Core Ultra Series 2, built on the Arrow Lake architecture (Arrow Lake-S codename). It uses a 3 nm process from TSMC, packing 17,800 million transistors on a 243 mm² die. The CPU has 20 cores and 20 threads, with no hyperthreading, which aligns with the architecture's hybrid design. Base clock is 2.40 GHz with a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. TDP is rated at 65 W, and it uses the Intel Socket 1851.

Cache hierarchy includes 192 KB L1 per core, 3 MB L2 per core, and 30 MB shared L3 cache. Memory support is DDR5 with dual-channel configuration, providing 102.4 GB/s bandwidth. The CPU does not support ECC memory. PCIe connectivity is Gen 5 with 20 lanes from the CPU. Integrated graphics are Arc Xe-LPG with 32 execution units, though these are irrelevant when a discrete RTX 4090 is installed. The CPU has a locked multiplier, meaning no overclocking. It was released on 2025-01-06, and its launch MSRP is $394.

In synthetic benchmarks, the Core Ultra 7 265 scores 42216 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 5960 in single-core. Cinebench R20 results are 6268 multi-core and 884 single-core. Cinebench R15 shows 4255 multi-core and 600 single-core. PassMark tests include multi-thread score of 49682, single-thread score of 4689, physics score of 2923, and floating point math score of 172776. Integer math scores 134773, data compression scores 522983, and data encryption scores 40456. Extended instructions score 41478, find prime numbers scores 418, and random string sorting scores 63833.

The CPU's percentile versus all CPUs is 93rd, with an average benchmark score of 64640. Nearest rivals include AMD EPYC 4464P at 64823 (-0.3% delta), Intel Core Ultra 7 265F at 64438 (0.3% delta), AMD EPYC 7343 at 64202 (0.7% delta), and AMD EPYC 9124 at 65104 (-0.7% delta). These are server or workstation processors, indicating the Core Ultra 7 265 performs in the same league as high-end EPYC parts in multi-threaded workloads.

For To The Core, the CPU role is minimal because the game is an idle genre title with simple game logic. The 20 cores and 20 threads provide massive parallel processing capability, but the game likely uses only a fraction of that. The 5.30 GHz boost clock ensures single-threaded performance is excellent, which matters more for game logic and frame pacing. The 30 MB L3 cache reduces memory latency for frequently accessed data.

Benchmark results indicate the CPU is never a bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the system hits 610 FPS, which would require the CPU to feed frames at that rate. The fact that it does so without issue shows the Core Ultra 7 265 can handle even the most extreme frame rates. The 20 cores handle background tasks while the game threads run on the fast P-cores. The 65 W TDP means the CPU runs cool and quiet, though this is not a primary concern for gaming performance.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of Intel Core Ultra 7 265 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 107th out of 2991 tested combos in To The Core. This places it in the top 3.6% of all systems tested for this game. The rank reflects the combined capabilities of both components, but given the game's simplicity, the ranking is predominantly driven by the GPU's raw rasterization power.

The RTX 4090's percentile of 88th among all GPUs is lower than the combo's overall rank would suggest. However, this is because the GPU percentile includes professional and workstation cards that may excel in other benchmarks. The Core Ultra 7 265's 93rd percentile is higher, indicating the CPU is relatively stronger compared to its peers. In this game, the combo rank of 107 out of 2991 shows that both components work together without any obvious mismatch.

The nearest rival CPUs in terms of average benchmark score are all EPYC server parts, which are not typical gaming processors. This suggests the Core Ultra 7 265 has no direct desktop competitor in the same performance class. The delta percentages are small (within ±0.7%), meaning the CPU is very close in overall compute capability to those server chips. For gaming, the Core Ultra 7 265's higher boost clock and lower latency cache likely give it an advantage over EPYC parts.

The combo rank of 107 indicates there are 106 other combinations that score higher in this game. Those likely include CPUs with even higher single-thread performance or GPUs that are overclocked beyond stock. Given that the RTX 4090 is end-of-life (production status), this combo represents near the peak of what was achievable with the previous generation. The successor to the RTX 4090 (GeForce 50 series) would likely rank higher, but this data is not in the fact pack.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance on which settings preset offers the best experience. The primary consideration is refresh rate compatibility. For a 60Hz display, any preset works, but for 144Hz or higher, the choice becomes more nuanced.

At 4K, Ultra settings produce 139 FPS average, which is just below 144Hz. High settings increase this to 172 FPS, providing a comfortable margin above 144Hz. Medium settings hit 199 FPS, and Low settings reach 235 FPS. For 4K gamers with 144Hz monitors, High is the optimal choice because it maintains the 144 FPS target while offering better visual quality than Medium. Ultra is acceptable for 120Hz displays, but High provides headroom for frame time spikes.

At 1440p, Ultra delivers 242 FPS, which exceeds 240Hz displays. High settings produce 301 FPS, Medium hits 347 FPS, and Low reaches 411 FPS. For 240Hz monitors, Ultra is sufficient. For 360Hz displays, High or Medium would be needed to fully utilize the refresh rate. The minimum frame rate at 1440p Medium is 295 FPS, ensuring no drops below the 240Hz threshold.

At 1080p, the situation is about pushing maximum frame rates. Ultra gives 360 FPS, High gives 447 FPS, Medium gives 516 FPS, and Low gives 610 FPS. For 360Hz displays, Ultra works. For 500Hz or higher, Low or Medium is required. The minimum at 1080p Medium is 439 FPS, which is above 360Hz.

The best all-around recommendation is High settings at any resolution. At 4K, it offers 172 FPS, which is above 144Hz. At 1440p, it delivers 301 FPS, enough for 240Hz. At 1080p, it hits 447 FPS, suitable for 360Hz. High provides a balanced visual quality with performance headroom. Ultra should only be used at 1440p or lower, where the frame rates remain high enough to avoid any display refresh rate bottlenecks.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160 (4K), the measured average frame rates are as follows: Low settings produce 235 FPS, Medium produces 199 FPS with a minimum of 169 FPS and maximum of 228 FPS, High produces 172 FPS, and Ultra produces 139 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 96 FPS, showing a 40.9% performance penalty for maximum quality settings at 4K.

At 2560x1440 (1440p), Low settings deliver 411 FPS, Medium delivers 347 FPS with a minimum of 295 FPS and maximum of 399 FPS, High delivers 301 FPS, and Ultra delivers 242 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 169 FPS, representing a 41.1% reduction. The minimum frame rate at Medium is 295 FPS, which is still above 240Hz.

At 1920x1080 (1080p), Low settings reach 610 FPS, Medium reaches 516 FPS with a minimum of 439 FPS and maximum of 594 FPS, High reaches 447 FPS, and Ultra reaches 360 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 250 FPS, a 41.0% decrease. The minimum at Medium is 439 FPS, ensuring smooth playback on even the fastest gaming monitors.

The Medium preset is the only one with recorded minimum and maximum frame rates across all resolutions. At 4K Medium, the min is 169 FPS and max is 228 FPS, giving a range of 59 FPS. At 1440p Medium, min is 295 FPS and max is 399 FPS, a range of 104 FPS. At 1080p Medium, min is 439 FPS and max is 594 FPS, a range of 155 FPS. This data indicates that frame time consistency improves as resolution decreases, which is expected because the GPU has more headroom.

Comparing settings across resolutions, the performance ratios are consistent. At 4K, Low is 1.69x faster than Ultra (235/139). At 1440p, Low is 1.70x faster than Ultra (411/242). At 1080p, Low is 1.69x faster than Ultra (610/360). This consistency confirms that the settings scaling is uniform across resolutions, with no unexpected bottlenecks emerging at any quality level.

The maximum measured frame rate in the entire dataset is 610 FPS at 1080p Low. The minimum measured frame rate is 139 FPS at 4K Ultra. The highest minimum frame rate recorded is 439 FPS at 1080p Medium. These numbers show that even the most demanding configuration (4K Ultra) never drops below 139 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS standard. The system is capable of driving any current display technology to its full refresh rate, provided the display can accept the signal.