Inside

FAQ

Q: What is the game Inside, and what genre does it belong to?

A: Inside is a Puzzle Platformer released on 2016-07-06.

Q: What CPU and GPU are used in this tested combination?

A: The CPU is the Intel Core i3-12100F, a 4-core, 8-thread Alder Lake desktop processor with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz. The GPU is the AMD Radeon RX 580, a Polaris 20 chip with 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus.

Q: How does this PC perform at 1920x1080 resolution?

A: At 1080p, the combination clears 60 FPS on all four tested settings. The average frame rates are 151.6 FPS on Low, 121.2 FPS on Medium, 74.2 FPS on High, and 73.5 FPS on Ultra.

Q: What is the best playable setting at 2560x1440 resolution?

A: At 1440p, the best setting that stays at or above 60 FPS is Medium, which delivers an average of 84.6 FPS. Low runs at 110.5 FPS, while High drops below the threshold at 54.6 FPS.

Q: Can this system handle 4K resolution?

A: At 3840x2160, only Low settings are playable, producing an average of 67.2 FPS. Medium averages 52.3 FPS, High averages 32.7 FPS, and Ultra averages 35.2 FPS, all below the 60 FPS target.

Q: What is the overall rank of this combo among tested systems for Inside?

A: The combination ranks 3370 out of 3716 tested combos in the database, placing it in the lower portion of the performance distribution.

Best Settings per Resolution

The recorded data indicates that at 1920x1080, the most demanding preset that keeps the average frame rate at or above 60 FPS is Ultra. The measured average at Ultra is 73.5 FPS, which clears the threshold by a margin of 13.5 FPS. Lower presets also remain playable: High delivers 74.2 FPS, Medium delivers 121.2 FPS, and Low delivers 151.6 FPS. The data shows that the GPU has ample headroom at 1080p to handle the maximum visual quality preset.

Moving to 2560x1440, the best playable setting is Medium, with an average of 84.6 FPS. This is a substantial drop from the 1080p Medium result of 121.2 FPS, but it still provides a comfortable cushion above the 60 FPS threshold. Low is also playable at 110.5 FPS, but High falls below the threshold at 54.6 FPS, and Ultra averages 51.0 FPS. The database suggests that resolution scaling has a strong impact on this GPU, as the gap between Medium and High at 1440p is 30.0 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the only playable preset is Low, which averages 67.2 FPS. This is a narrow margin above the 60 FPS target, and the other presets fall significantly short: Medium averages 52.3 FPS, High averages 32.7 FPS, and Ultra averages 35.2 FPS. The data implies that 4K gaming with this combination requires substantial settings reductions to maintain smooth gameplay.

CPU and GPU Roles

Examining the frame rate scaling across resolutions reveals how the CPU and GPU split the workload for Inside. At 1920x1080, the CPU is likely the limiting factor at lower presets, since the GPU is capable of producing very high frame rates: Low averages 151.6 FPS and Medium averages 121.2 FPS. These numbers suggest that the Intel Core i3-12100F, with its 4 cores and 8 threads, is sufficient to feed the GPU at these levels. The single-thread score of 893 in 3DMark and 1674 in Cinebench R23 indicates strong per-core performance for a game that may rely on a few primary threads.

As resolution increases to 2560x1440, the GPU begins to take a more dominant role. The drop from 121.2 FPS at 1080p Medium to 84.6 FPS at 1440p Medium represents a 30.2% reduction, a clear sign that pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth are becoming constraints. The RX 580's 256.0 GB/s bandwidth and 42.88 GPixel/s pixel rate are being taxed more heavily. At 1440p High, the average falls to 54.6 FPS, which is below the threshold, further confirming that GPU compute and ROP throughput are the primary bottlenecks at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is overwhelmingly the dominant factor. The frame rate at High drops to 32.7 FPS, and even Medium only reaches 52.3 FPS. The CPU's role diminishes because the GPU cannot produce enough frames to expose any CPU limitation. The fact that Ultra at 4K averages 35.2 FPS, slightly higher than High at 32.7 FPS, is an anomaly in the data, but it does not change the overall picture: the RX 580's 6.175 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is insufficient for high-fidelity 4K rendering in this game. The 14 nm Polaris chip, with 2304 shading units, delivers consistent results across resolutions, but the scaling curve clearly shows that resolution, not CPU choice, drives performance at 1440p and above.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The nearest rivals for the Intel Core i3-12100F, based on average benchmark scores, include the Intel Core 3 N355 with an average score of 13492 and a delta of 0%, the Intel Core i5-9500 with an average score of 13452 and a delta of 0.3%, the Intel Core 5 120UL with an average score of 13594 and a delta of -0.7%, and the Intel Core i7-1250U with an average score of 13351 and a delta of 1.1%. These processors would likely deliver similar CPU-bound performance in Inside, given their close aggregate scores. The i5-9500, for instance, is only 0.3% slower on average, which translates to negligible frame rate differences in a game that is not heavily multithreaded. The Core 3 N355 matches the i3-12100F almost exactly, suggesting interchangeable behavior in CPU-limited scenarios.

On the GPU side, the AMD Radeon RX 580's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile with an average score of 12940 and a delta of -0.1%, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER with an average score of 12986 and a delta of -0.4%, the AMD Radeon 740M with an average score of 12870 and a delta of 0.5%, and the AMD FirePro W5100 with an average score of 12847 and a delta of 0.6%. The GTX 1660 SUPER, being only 0.4% faster on average, would produce nearly identical frame rates in Inside across all resolutions and presets. The RTX 3050 Ti Mobile, despite being a mobile part, is also closely matched, which means users with that GPU can expect similar playability characteristics. The Radeon 740M and FirePro W5100 are marginally slower, with deltas of 0.5% and 0.6% respectively, so they would sit just below the RX 580 in performance, potentially pushing some border-line presets below the 60 FPS threshold.

For the specific case of Inside, the data suggests that GPU choice matters more than CPU choice for resolutions above 1080p. The RX 580's nearest rivals all fall within a 1% band of average benchmark scores, which implies that swapping to any of these alternatives would not meaningfully change the verdict at any resolution. The CPU rivals, similarly, are clustered within a 1.8% range, so the i3-12100F's performance in this puzzle platformer would be representative of any of these processors.

How This Combo Ranks

The recorded data places this combination of Intel Core i3-12100F and AMD Radeon RX 580 at rank 3370 out of 3716 tested combos for Inside. This puts the system in the 9th percentile of tested configurations, meaning it performs worse than approximately 90% of the combos in the database. However, the rank alone does not tell the full story, because Inside is a relatively lightweight game in terms of graphical demands. Despite the low percentile, the combination still achieves playable frame rates at 1080p on all presets and at 1440p on Medium and Low.

The gap between this rank and the playability results indicates that many other combos in the database are substantially more powerful, but that extra power is not necessary for this specific title. The CPU's percentile of 68 among all CPUs and the GPU's percentile of 53 among all GPUs suggest that both components are mid-range within their respective categories. The combination's rank in the lower portion of the distribution is likely driven by the GPU's age, as the RX 580 was released in 2017 and is now classified as end-of-life. The CPU, by contrast, is an active production part from the Core 12th Gen series.

The data shows that the combo rank is more informative about relative system capabilities than about the actual gaming experience for Inside. A rank of 3370 out of 3716 might sound alarming, but the measured frame rates demonstrate that this system can run the game smoothly at common resolutions. The discrepancy between rank and playability highlights how game-specific requirements vary: a title like Inside, with its puzzle platformer genre and 2016 release date, does not demand the same resources as a modern AAA shooter.

The Verdict

Yes, this PC can run Inside, but the playable settings depend heavily on the chosen resolution. At 1920x1080, the verdict is fully positive: all four presets, Low, Medium, High, and Ultra, clear the 60 FPS threshold. The Ultra preset averages 73.5 FPS, which is the best visual quality available in the game, and High averages 74.2 FPS. Users with 1080p displays can enable maximum settings without concern.

At 2560x1440, the verdict is conditional. The Medium preset averages 84.6 FPS, which is comfortably playable, and the Low preset averages 110.5 FPS. However, the High preset drops to 54.6 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 51.0 FPS, both below the 60 FPS target. The database indicates that Medium is the best setting for 1440p, offering a balance between visual fidelity and frame rate. Users who prioritize smooth gameplay over graphical details can play at Medium, but those who insist on High or Ultra would need to accept lower frame rates.

At 3840x2160, the verdict is marginal. Only the Low preset achieves playable performance, with an average of 67.2 FPS. This is just 7.2 FPS above the threshold, leaving little headroom for demanding scenes. The Medium preset averages 52.3 FPS, and both High and Ultra fall into the 32-35 FPS range. The data suggests that 4K gaming is only viable with significant settings reductions, and even then, the margin is thin. The recorded data confirms that the combination is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, with 4K reserved for low-detail play.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average frame rates are 151.6 FPS on Low, 121.2 FPS on Medium, 74.2 FPS on High, and 73.5 FPS on Ultra. The difference between Low and Medium is 30.4 FPS, indicating a moderate performance cost for the medium preset. The difference between Medium and High is 47.0 FPS, a much larger drop that suggests High introduces significantly more graphical effects. The High and Ultra results are nearly identical, with only a 0.7 FPS difference, which implies that Ultra adds minimal overhead over High at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the measured averages are 110.5 FPS on Low, 84.6 FPS on Medium, 54.6 FPS on High, and 51.0 FPS on Ultra. The scaling from Low to Medium is a 25.9 FPS reduction, and from Medium to High is a 30.0 FPS reduction. The High to Ultra drop is 3.6 FPS, again showing that Ultra is only slightly more demanding than High. Compared to the 1080p results, the 1440p High preset is 19.6 FPS slower, and the 1440p Ultra preset is 22.5 FPS slower, confirming that resolution has a substantial impact on the GPU.

At 3840x2160, the measured averages are 67.2 FPS on Low, 52.3 FPS on Medium, 32.7 FPS on High, and 35.2 FPS on Ultra. The Low to Medium drop is 14.9 FPS, and the Medium to High drop is 19.6 FPS. The Ultra result of 35.2 FPS is higher than the High result of 32.7 FPS, which is an unusual inversion in the data. This could be due to specific rendering paths or driver behavior, but the overall trend is clear: 4K performance is severely limited. The difference between the 1440p Low and the 4K Low is 43.3 FPS, and the difference between the 1440p Medium and the 4K Medium is 32.3 FPS. The data shows that the RX 580's memory bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s becomes a limiting factor at 4K, as the pixel throughput requirements exceed what the GPU can deliver.