To The Core

The pairing of the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 produces extraordinarily high frame rates in To The Core, an idle game that is clearly not demanding on modern flagship hardware. The measured data shows this combination ranks 107th out of 2991 tested combos in the game, placing it in the top 3.5% of all configurations. This page analyzes the resolution scaling, component roles, and settings behavior using only the measured FPS rows and benchmark scores provided.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial but remains exceptionally high at every step. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 610 FPS at 1920x1080 to 235 FPS at 3840x2160, a reduction of 61.5%. The scaling is nearly linear with pixel count, suggesting the GPU is the primary limiting factor even at the lowest quality preset.

At Ultra settings, the drop is less severe in absolute terms but still significant: from 360 FPS at 1080p to 139 FPS at 4K, a 61.4% reduction. This consistency across presets indicates that resolution, rather than settings complexity, is the dominant variable affecting performance. The gap between Low and Ultra narrows as resolution increases: at 1080p the difference is 250 FPS (610 vs 360), while at 4K it shrinks to 96 FPS (235 vs 139).

The Medium preset provides the only complete min/max data in the pack, revealing frame time consistency. At 4K Medium, the range is 169-228 FPS with an average of 199, meaning the minimum is 15% below the average. At 1440p Medium, the range is 295-399 FPS (average 347), with the minimum 15% below average. At 1080p Medium, the range is 439-594 (average 516), with the minimum 15% below average. This consistent 15% min-to-avg ratio across all resolutions suggests frame pacing is stable and not resolution-dependent.

The data indicates that even at 4K Ultra, the system maintains 139 FPS average, which is far beyond the refresh rate of most displays. The scaling pattern shows that the RTX 4090's 24 GB of GDDR6X memory and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth are more than sufficient for this game's demands, as the performance drop tracks pixel count rather than memory capacity limits. The 172 FPS at 4K High versus 139 FPS at 4K Ultra represents a 23.7% performance penalty for the highest preset, which is a modest cost for the visual upgrade.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is a 24-core, 24-thread processor with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.80 GHz. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 51731 and single-core score of 7303 demonstrate exceptional throughput. The PassMark single-thread score of 4823 and multithread score of 60860 further confirm its strength in both lightly-threaded and heavily-threaded workloads.

In To The Core, an idle game, the CPU's role is likely minimal due to the genre's simplicity. However, the measured FPS at 1080p Low (610 FPS average) suggests the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU at extremely high frame rates without becoming a bottleneck. The processor's 36 MB of shared L3 cache and 115.2 GB/s memory bandwidth provide ample data throughput for game logic and entity updates.

The CPU's performance relative to rivals shows it is 0.2% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, 1.1% ahead of the AMD EPYC 4584PX, and 1.2% ahead of the AMD EPYC 9135 in average benchmark score. It trails the AMD EPYC 7F72 by 1.3%. These are marginal differences, indicating that the 290K Plus is competitively positioned within its performance class, though the deltaPct values are small enough to be within run-to-run variance.

The PassMark data compression score of 698346 and encryption score of 52563 suggest strong integer performance, which could matter for games with complex simulation logic. However, To The Core likely does not stress these capabilities. The processor's 24 threads (same as cores, no hyperthreading) provide parallel processing headroom, but the game's idle nature means most of this capacity remains unused. The 96th percentile ranking against all CPUs indicates this is a top-tier processor, but in this specific title, the bottleneck is clearly the GPU as resolution increases.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 features 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, with 1.01 TB/s of memory bandwidth. Its boost clock of 2520 MHz and 16384 shading units deliver 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 compute. The card's 128 RT cores and 512 tensor cores are largely irrelevant for an idle game, but its raw rasterization power drives the high frame rates observed.

The GPU's PassMark G3D score of 38194 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 9223 indicate strong overall graphics performance. The Geekbench Vulkan score of 271631 and OpenCL score of 255416 further confirm compute capability. However, the GPU's 88th percentile ranking against all GPUs is notably lower than the CPU's 96th percentile, suggesting the 4090 is relatively less dominant in this comparison set.

The measured FPS data reveals the GPU's scaling behavior. At 4K, the difference between Low (235 FPS) and Ultra (139 FPS) is 96 FPS, a 40.9% reduction. At 1440p, the difference is 169 FPS (411 vs 242), a 41.1% reduction. At 1080p, the difference is 250 FPS (610 vs 360), a 41.0% reduction. This consistent ~41% performance penalty from Low to Ultra across all resolutions indicates the GPU is handling the same relative workload increase regardless of pixel count.

The card's 450 W TDP and triple-slot design suggest high power delivery, but no power consumption figures are provided for the game itself. The 24 GB VRAM is far more than needed for To The Core, as evidenced by the lack of memory-related performance degradation at higher resolutions. The GPU's nearest rivals in average benchmark score include the Intel Arc Pro A60 (0% delta), AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 (0.3% ahead), and AMD Radeon Pro W6600M (2.5% behind), indicating the 4090 sits in a crowded mid-range performance band according to the benchmark database, despite its flagship positioning.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data shows that the Ultra preset provides 139 FPS at 4K, 242 FPS at 1440p, and 360 FPS at 1080p. These are all playable frame rates, but the question is whether the visual quality difference justifies the performance cost. The High preset offers 172 FPS at 4K, 301 FPS at 1440p, and 447 FPS at 1080p. Compared to Ultra, High delivers 23.7% more FPS at 4K, 24.4% more at 1440p, and 24.2% more at 1080p.

The Medium preset provides the best balance for high-refresh-rate displays. At 4K, it averages 199 FPS with a minimum of 169 FPS, ensuring consistent frame delivery above 144 Hz. At 1440p, Medium averages 347 FPS with a minimum of 295 FPS, comfortably exceeding 240 Hz refresh rates. At 1080p, Medium averages 516 FPS with a minimum of 439 FPS, which is beyond the capability of most monitors.

For competitive play or maximum smoothness, the Low preset offers 235 FPS at 4K, 411 FPS at 1440p, and 610 FPS at 1080p. The jump from Medium to Low provides a 18.1% FPS increase at 4K, 18.4% at 1440p, and 18.2% at 1080p. Given the idle genre, the visual differences between presets are likely minimal, making Low or Medium the recommended choice for most players.

The Ultra preset's 139 FPS at 4K is still smooth, but the 23.7% performance penalty over High is significant. For a game that may not have complex graphics, the Ultra preset likely offers diminishing returns. The data suggests that Medium is the sweet spot: it provides 199 FPS at 4K with a 169 FPS minimum, ensuring no drops below 144 Hz, while at 1440p it maintains a 295 FPS minimum, which exceeds 240 Hz display capabilities.

FAQ

*Q: What is the highest average FPS measured in To The Core?*

A: The highest average FPS measured is 610 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rival?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus has an average benchmark score of 84003, which is 0.2% higher than the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K and 1.1% higher than the AMD EPYC 4584PX, but 1.3% lower than the AMD EPYC 7F72.

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

A: The minimum FPS recorded at 3840x2160 with Medium settings is 169 FPS, with a maximum of 228 FPS and an average of 199 FPS.

Q: What is the launch MSRP of the GPU?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 has a launch MSRP of 1,599 USD.

Q: How much FPS drop occurs from 1080p to 4K at Low settings?

A: At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 610 at 1920x1080 to 235 at 3840x2160, a reduction of 375 FPS or 61.5%.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking among all GPUs?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks in the 88th percentile against all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 60347.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS data for To The Core with the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is as follows:

At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 610 FPS. The Medium preset averages 516 FPS with a minimum of 439 FPS and maximum of 594 FPS. The High preset averages 447 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 360 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 411 FPS. The Medium preset averages 347 FPS with a minimum of 295 FPS and maximum of 399 FPS. The High preset averages 301 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 242 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 235 FPS. The Medium preset averages 199 FPS with a minimum of 169 FPS and maximum of 228 FPS. The High preset averages 172 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 139 FPS.

The data shows a consistent pattern: each resolution step from 1080p to 1440p to 4K reduces FPS by roughly 32-36% at the same settings. From 1080p to 1440p at Low settings, FPS drops from 610 to 411, a 32.6% reduction. From 1440p to 4K at Low settings, FPS drops from 411 to 235, a 42.8% reduction. The larger drop at higher resolutions confirms the GPU becomes more of a limiting factor as pixel count increases.

At Medium settings, the only preset with complete min/max data, the frame time consistency is maintained across resolutions. The min-to-average ratio is approximately 85% at all three resolutions, indicating stable performance without significant stuttering. The max-to-average ratio is approximately 115% at all resolutions, showing that peak frame rates are consistent relative to the average.

The Ultra preset shows the largest performance penalty relative to Low, with a 41% average FPS reduction across all resolutions. This consistent percentage suggests the Ultra preset adds a fixed computational overhead that scales with pixel count, rather than introducing new bottlenecks. The High preset sits between Medium and Ultra, offering approximately 14% lower FPS than Medium and 24% higher FPS than Ultra.