To The Core

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 delivers a remarkable performance profile in To The Core, a game that clearly favors high-refresh-rate displays. This combination exhibits exceptional scaling across resolutions and settings, with the CPU providing a robust foundation and the GPU demonstrating its capability as a strong 1440p and 4K performer. The benchmark data reveals a system that is well-balanced, though the nature of the game's demands shifts as resolution increases.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and predictable performance curve as resolution scales from 1080p to 4K. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 432 FPS. This is an exceptionally high figure, indicating that at this resolution, the game is heavily CPU-bound, and the RTX 4070 is not being pushed to its full potential. When the resolution is increased to 2560x1440, the average FPS at Low settings drops to 290, a significant reduction of 142 frames. Moving further up to 3840x2160 at Low settings yields 166 FPS, marking another substantial decrease.

The scaling trend continues across all settings. At High settings, the average FPS descends from 316 at 1080p to 213 at 1440p, and finally to 122 at 4K. The Ultra settings show a similar pattern, with averages of 255, 171, and 98 FPS for 1080p, 1440p, and 4K, respectively. This data indicates that the performance drop is most pronounced when moving from 1080p to 1440p, which is typical when a system transitions from a CPU-limited state to a more balanced one. The drop from 1440p to 4K, while still significant, is comparatively less steep, suggesting that the GPU becomes the primary limiting factor at the higher resolutions.

This scaling behavior is a classic indicator of a system's bottleneck shifting. At 1080p, the extremely high frame rates suggest the CPU is the limiting component, as the GPU can render frames faster than the processor can feed them. As the resolution increases, the GPU's workload per frame grows, and it becomes the performance bottleneck. The fact that even at 4K Ultra, the system still maintains an average of 98 FPS demonstrates that the RTX 4070 is a capable GPU for this title, avoiding any severe performance collapse that would indicate a critical weakness.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is a powerful processor from the Core Ultra Series 2, based on the Arrow Lake Refresh codename and built on a 3 nm process by TSMC. It features 24 cores and 24 threads, which is an unusual configuration that omits hyper-threading. This design choice suggests a focus on raw multi-core throughput from physical cores. The CPU's base clock is 3.70 GHz, which can boost up to 5.80 GHz. This high boost clock is critical for achieving the exceptional frame rates seen at lower resolutions, where single-threaded performance often dictates the ceiling.

The processor's benchmark scores further underscore its capability. In Cinebench R23, it scores 51731 points in the multi-core test and 7303 points in the single-core test. The single-core score is particularly relevant for gaming, as it indicates the CPU's ability to handle the primary game thread. The PassMark single-thread score of 4823 corroborates this, highlighting excellent per-core performance. The CPU's L3 cache is 36 MB shared, and it supports DDR5 memory with a dual-channel bus and a bandwidth of 115.2 GB/s, ensuring the GPU has ample data throughput. Its performance percentile is 96, meaning it outperforms 96% of all CPUs in the database.

In the context of To The Core, the CPU's role is most evident at 1080p. The 432 FPS average at Low settings confirms the processor's ability to handle the game's logic and draw calls without becoming a bottleneck. The high boost clock of 5.80 GHz is likely the key factor here, allowing for rapid instruction processing. The CPU's nearest rivals include the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, which has an average score of 83807 (a 0.2% difference), and the AMD EPYC 4584PX with a score of 83090 (a 1.1% difference). The Ultra 9 290K Plus edges out these competitors, solidifying its position as a top-tier gaming processor.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is the graphics engine of this pairing, and its role becomes increasingly dominant as resolution and settings are cranked up. Based on the Ada Lovelace architecture and built on a 5 nm process by TSMC, the GPU features 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 64 raster output units. It operates at a base clock of 1920 MHz and a boost clock of 2475 MHz. The 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s, which is sufficient for the demands of To The Core at 4K.

The GPU's benchmark results show it is a solid performer, with a PassMark G3D score of 26927 and a Geekbench Vulkan score of 174152. Its percentile versus all GPUs is 81. In terms of nearest rivals, the RTX 4070's average score of 37648 is very close to the NVIDIA Tesla P4 (37628), the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (37507), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile (38135). The delta percentages are minimal (0.1%, 0.4%, and -1.3% respectively), indicating that these GPUs offer similar raw compute performance, though the RTX 4070's feature set and driver optimization may provide a tangible advantage in actual gameplay.

The game data shows the GPU's impact clearly. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 98, which is a substantial decrease from the 122 FPS at 4K High. This 24-frame difference highlights the cost of the Ultra preset's additional visual effects, which place a heavier load on the GPU's shading units and memory subsystem. The RTX 4070's 12 GB of VRAM is not a limiting factor in this title, as even at the highest settings, the game does not appear to exceed this capacity, allowing for stable performance without texture thrashing. The GPU is the primary driver of performance at 4K, and its capabilities are what keep the average FPS above the 60 FPS threshold even under maximum load.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations for To The Core, the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 combination ranks 659th out of 2991 total combos. This places it in the top 22% of all tested system configurations, which is a strong showing for a single-GPU setup. The rank reflects the system's ability to deliver high frame rates across various resolutions, but also indicates that there are many more powerful multi-GPU or top-tier configurations ahead of it.

The rank of 659 reflects the balance of this pairing. It is not the absolute fastest, but it is far from a weak contender. The high CPU performance ensures that the system is not held back at lower resolutions, while the GPU provides enough power to maintain playable frame rates at 4K. This combination is likely limited by the RTX 4070's position in the GPU hierarchy, as the data shows that the GPU is the bottleneck at higher resolutions. The combo's ranking suggests that users with this setup can expect a very smooth experience in To The Core, particularly at 1440p where the average FPS remains above 170 across all settings.

The ranking data also implies that the system's performance is consistent and predictable. It is not a configuration that suffers from unusual bottlenecks or inefficiencies. The 659th rank out of 2991 combos indicates that while there is headroom for improvement with a more powerful GPU, the current setup is well-optimized and provides excellent performance for its class.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution to play To The Core with this hardware?*

A: Based on the measured FPS data, 2560x1440 is the sweet spot. At this resolution, the system achieves an average of 213 FPS on High settings and 290 FPS on Low, offering a great balance between visual fidelity and extremely high frame rates. Even at Ultra settings, it maintains an average of 171 FPS.

*Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in To The Core?*

A: Yes, it can. At 3840x2160, the average FPS is 122 on High settings and 98 on Ultra. While this is lower than the 1440p results, it is still well above the 60 FPS standard for smooth gameplay, making 4K viable for this title.

Q: How does the CPU's core count affect performance in this game?

A: The CPU has 24 cores and 24 threads. The high single-thread performance (a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 7303) is more critical for gaming, as it allows for the extremely high frame rates seen at 1080p. The multi-core performance (a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 51731) ensures the system can handle background tasks without impacting the game's performance.

Q: Is the 12 GB of VRAM on the RTX 4070 sufficient for this game?

A: The data suggests it is. The game runs at an average of 98 FPS at 4K Ultra settings without any indicators of performance degradation that would typically be associated with VRAM limitations. The GPU's memory bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s is ample for the game's demands.

Q: How does this GPU compare to its closest rivals in terms of raw score?

A: The RTX 4070 has an average benchmark score of 37648. It is nearly identical to the NVIDIA Tesla P4, which has a score of 37628 (a 0.1% difference). It also performs similarly to the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (37507, a 0.4% difference) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile (38135, a -1.3% difference).

Q: At which settings does the performance drop most significantly?

A: The most significant performance drop occurs when moving from Low to Ultra settings at any given resolution. For example, at 1920x1080, the average FPS drops from 432 at Low to 255 at Ultra. This represents a substantial 177 FPS decrease, indicating that the Ultra preset has a high performance cost.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following table details the exact average FPS measurements for the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 combination in To The Core.

| Resolution | Settings | Average FPS |

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

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 98 |

| 3840x2160 | High | 122 |

| 3840x2160 | Medium | 140 |

| 3840x2160 | Low | 166 |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 171 |

| 2560x1440 | High | 213 |

| 2560x1440 | Medium | 245 |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 290 |

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 255 |

| 1920x1080 | High | 316 |

| 1920x1080 | Medium | 365 |

| 1920x1080 | Low | 432 |

The data reveals a consistent pattern: frame rates scale inversely with both resolution and settings. The highest performance is achieved at 1080p Low with 432 FPS, while the lowest is at 4K Ultra with 98 FPS. The Medium settings at each resolution provide a middle ground, with scores of 365, 245, and 140 FPS for 1080p, 1440p, and 4K, respectively. These figures confirm that the system is capable of delivering a highly responsive experience at any configuration, with the 4K Ultra setting being the most demanding but still playable.