Inside

The Intel Core i3-12100F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7700 delivers a decisive performance victory in Inside, clearing the 60 FPS threshold with substantial headroom at every resolution and preset combination. Benchmark data confirms that this system is not merely playable but overwhelmingly capable, with the weakest recorded average still reaching 76 FPS at 4K Ultra settings. This combination ranks 1669th out of 3716 tested configurations, placing it in the upper half of all systems benchmarked for this title, and the measured results show a GPU-bound scenario where the RX 7700 provides consistent frame rates across all tested settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system produces exceptional frame rates that leave little room for improvement. The Low preset delivers an average of 315 FPS, while Medium averages 282 FPS with a minimum of 240 FPS and a maximum of 325 FPS. High settings reduce the average to 177 FPS, and Ultra still maintains a robust 168 FPS average. These figures represent a performance envelope where even the most demanding preset operates at nearly three times the playable threshold of 60 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the scaling pattern shows the GPU beginning to feel the resolution increase, though the results remain overwhelmingly positive. Low settings produce an average of 254 FPS, Medium averages 203 FPS with a minimum of 173 FPS and a maximum of 234 FPS, High drops to 127 FPS, and Ultra settles at 121 FPS. The transition from 1080p to 1440p reduces performance by roughly 24-28% across presets, which is consistent with a system where the GPU is the primary performance driver.

At 3840x2160, the RX 7700 demonstrates its 4K capability in this title. Low settings yield an average of 160 FPS, Medium averages 128 FPS with a minimum of 108 FPS and a maximum of 147 FPS, High drops to 80 FPS, and Ultra maintains a 76 FPS average. The 4K Ultra result is particularly notable because it remains above the 60 FPS threshold despite representing the most demanding configuration tested, with the minimum recorded frame rate at Medium settings staying well clear of any playback issues.

The data shows a clear and consistent hierarchy: resolution scaling impacts performance more dramatically than preset changes. From 1080p Ultra to 4K Ultra, the average frame rate falls from 168 FPS to 76 FPS, a reduction of approximately 55%, while within any single resolution, the gap between Low and Ultra settings is consistently smaller. This pattern reinforces that the GPU is the limiting factor at higher resolutions, but the RX 7700 has sufficient headroom to absorb the load without compromising playability.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The nearestRivals data positions the Intel Core i3-12100F in a tight cluster of processors with nearly identical average benchmark scores. The Intel Core 3 N355 scores 13492, just 0.1% below the i3-12100F's 13494 average, while the Intel Core i5-9500 scores 13452, a 0.3% deficit. The Intel Core 5 120UL scores 13594, putting it 0.7% ahead, and the Intel Core i7-1250U scores 13351, trailing by 1.1%. In practical terms, any of these CPUs would deliver statistically indistinguishable performance in Inside, meaning the game's frame rates would remain effectively unchanged if the i3-12100F were swapped for one of these alternatives.

On the GPU side, the AMD Radeon RX 7700's nearestRivals present a more varied picture. The AMD Radeon R9 370X scores 15862, a 0.1% difference from the RX 7700's 15852 average, while the AMD Radeon RX 9060 scores 16014, 1% higher. The AMD Radeon Pro W5500 scores 15679, 1.1% lower, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti scores 16129, 1.7% higher. These deltaPct values indicate that the RX 7700 sits within a narrow performance band, and any of these GPUs would produce similar frame rates in Inside, though the RTX 3060 Ti and RX 9060 would offer a marginal edge in the most demanding scenarios.

For this specific game, the combination's overall ranking of 1669 out of 3716 tested combos suggests that while the hardware is competent, many other configurations achieve higher performance. However, the measured FPS data tells the more relevant story: the system exceeds the playable threshold by such a wide margin that the ranking becomes secondary to the actual gameplay experience.

CPU and GPU Roles

The benchmark results indicate that the AMD Radeon RX 7700 is the dominant component in this configuration for Inside, with the Intel Core i3-12100F providing ample processing headroom. Evidence for this comes from the resolution scaling patterns: when moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440, average frame rates drop by approximately 24-28% across all presets, and from 2560x1440 to 3840x2160, they drop by another 37-40%. This consistent reduction with increasing resolution is characteristic of GPU-limited performance, where the CPU has already delivered all necessary draw calls and physics calculations.

The preset scaling within each resolution further confirms the GPU's central role. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 147 FPS (from 315 to 168), while at 4K, the same preset change produces a difference of 84 FPS (from 160 to 76). In both cases, the magnitude of the drop scales with the additional pixel count, which is a GPU workload parameter. The CPU's contribution is constant regardless of resolution, so if the i3-12100F were the bottleneck, we would expect to see frame rates plateau at higher resolutions rather than continue declining.

The 4K Ultra result of 76 FPS is particularly telling. At this resolution and preset, the GPU is processing 8.3 million pixels with full visual effects, yet it still maintains a frame rate above the 60 FPS threshold. This suggests that even at maximum load, the RX 7700 has residual capacity, and the CPU is not preventing the GPU from reaching its potential. The i3-12100F's 4 cores and 8 threads, with a boost clock of 4.30 GHz, are sufficient for a puzzle platformer like Inside, which does not feature the complex simulation workloads found in strategy or open-world titles.

The Verdict

This PC can run Inside at every resolution and preset combination tested, with all twelve configurations clearing the 60 FPS playable threshold. The verdictByResolution data confirms that all settings are playable at every resolution, with the best settings being Ultra at each. At 3840x2160, Ultra averages 76 FPS, providing a comfortable margin above the threshold. At 2560x1440, Ultra averages 121 FPS, nearly double the playable threshold. At 1920x1080, Ultra averages 168 FPS, approaching three times the threshold.

The weakest result in the entire dataset is the 4K Ultra average of 76 FPS, which still leaves a 16 FPS buffer above the 60 FPS requirement. The minimum recorded frame rates, available for Medium settings at each resolution, show 108 FPS at 4K, 173 FPS at 1440p, and 240 FPS at 1080p. These minimums indicate that even during demanding scenes, the frame rate does not dip toward the threshold. The system is not merely playable; it is future-proofed against any potential performance degradation from patches or background processes.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the most demanding preset that maintains at or above 60 FPS is Ultra, with an average of 168 FPS. This represents the highest visual quality available while still delivering nearly three times the playable threshold. Lower presets offer diminishing returns in frame rate but no visual benefit, so Ultra is the clear recommendation.

At 2560x1440, Ultra remains the optimal choice, averaging 121 FPS. This preset provides the full visual experience while maintaining more than double the required frame rate. The gap between High (127 FPS) and Ultra (121 FPS) is minimal, making the upgrade to Ultra essentially free in performance terms.

At 3840x2160, Ultra again qualifies, averaging 76 FPS. This is the only resolution where the margin above 60 FPS narrows below 30%, but the result is still comfortably playable. The alternative High preset averages 80 FPS, but the 4 FPS difference is negligible compared to the visual benefits of Ultra. For users prioritizing maximum frame rate, High offers a slight edge, but Ultra provides the best balance of quality and performance.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i3-12100F and AMD Radeon RX 7700 ranks 1669th out of 3716 tested configurations for Inside, placing it in the 55th percentile of all systems benchmarked. This ranking is lower than the individual component percentiles might suggest—the CPU sits at the 68th percentile against all CPUs, and the GPU at the 58th percentile against all GPUs—indicating that the pairing is slightly less effective than either component would be in isolation.

The ranking reflects the game's modest hardware requirements rather than any weakness in this specific combination. Inside is a puzzle platformer with release date of 2016-07-06, and its visual complexity is limited by design. The RX 7700, with its 16 GB of GDDR6 memory and 624.1 GB/s bandwidth, is disproportionately powerful for this title, and the i3-12100F's single-thread performance, evidenced by its 3dmark single_thread score of 893, is more than adequate. The result is a system that significantly outperforms its ranking suggests, with actual frame rates far exceeding what the percentile positions would imply.