Inside

The Intel Core i3-12100F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is an extreme pairing for a 2016 puzzle platformer, and the measured frame rates reflect that. This combination delivers extraordinarily high performance across all tested resolutions and settings, leaving no doubt about its ability to run Inside. The data shows a system that is entirely GPU-bound at lower resolutions, with the CPU becoming a more relevant factor only when the resolution is pushed to 4K.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combination produces frame rates that are effectively limited by the game engine and the CPU's single-thread performance rather than the GPU. At Low settings, the average FPS reaches 315, which is the highest recorded average for this pairing. Moving to Medium settings, the average drops to 291 FPS, with a minimum of 247 and a maximum of 334. High settings yield an average of 242 FPS, while Ultra settings produce 238 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 77 FPS, which is significant, but even the lowest average at this resolution is nearly four times the 60 FPS playable threshold.

At 2560x1440, the performance curve follows a similar pattern but with slightly lower absolute numbers. Low settings average 282 FPS, while Medium settings average 260 FPS, with a minimum of 221 and a maximum of 299. High settings deliver 217 FPS, and Ultra settings produce 213 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 69 FPS, slightly smaller than at 1080p, indicating that the GPU is starting to take on more of the workload. The minimum recorded FPS at Medium settings, 221, is still more than 3.5 times the playable threshold.

The 3840x2160 results show the most pronounced scaling, as the RTX 4090's workload increases substantially. Low settings average 242 FPS, Medium settings average 223 FPS with a minimum of 190 and a maximum of 256, High settings average 147 FPS, and Ultra settings average 140 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 102 FPS, the largest gap across all resolutions. This indicates that the GPU is now the primary bottleneck, though it remains far from being challenged. Even the lowest average at 4K, 140 FPS on Ultra, is more than double the playable threshold.

Notably, the measured data lacks min and max FPS values for most setting combinations, with only the Medium preset at each resolution providing full frame time data. This suggests the benchmark methodology captured a stable frame delivery, or that the variance was too small to be meaningful at the extremes.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Ultra, which runs at an average of 238 FPS. This is the maximum quality setting available, and it clears the playable threshold by a margin of 178 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the best settings are again Ultra, with an average of 213 FPS. The performance headroom is slightly lower than at 1080p but still enormous, exceeding the 60 FPS threshold by 153 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset remains the best choice, averaging 140 FPS. This is the most demanding configuration tested, and it still clears the 60 FPS threshold by 80 FPS. The data indicates that this pairing can run Inside at maximum settings and maximum resolution without any concerns about frame rate.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i3-12100F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combination ranks 458th out of 3716 tested combos for this game, placing it in the top 12.3% of all configurations. This is a strong result, but the rank is not as high as the raw frame rates might suggest, because many other high-end GPU pairings produce similarly high FPS in a game as lightweight as Inside. The ranking reflects that this combo is highly capable, but not the absolute fastest, likely due to the CPU's 4-core/8-thread configuration limiting performance in scenarios where the game engine can utilize more threads.

The CPU itself sits in the 68th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 13494. Its nearest rivals in terms of average score are the Intel Core 3 N355 (13492, 0% delta), the Intel Core i5-9500 (13452, 0.3% delta), the Intel Core 5 120UL (13594, -0.7% delta), and the Intel Core i7-1250U (13351, 1.1% delta). These are all mid-range or mobile parts, confirming that the i3-12100F is positioned as a capable budget CPU rather than a high-end one.

The GPU, by contrast, is in the 88th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 60347. Its nearest rivals are the Intel Arc Pro A60 (60326, 0% delta), the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 (60140, 0.3% delta), the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M (61896, -2.5% delta), and the AMD Radeon PRO V710 (58657, 2.9% delta). These are professional workstation cards, which reflects the RTX 4090's raw compute power, but their gaming performance may differ. The GPU's high percentile and score relative to its rivals indicate that it is the dominant component in this pairing.

Similar Performance Alternatives

For the CPU, systems using the Intel Core 3 N355, Intel Core i5-9500, Intel Core 5 120UL, or Intel Core i7-1250U would behave similarly to the i3-12100F in Inside. The Core 3 N355 has a 0% delta in average benchmark score, meaning it is essentially identical in synthetic performance. The Core i5-9500 is 0.3% faster, the Core 5 120UL is 0.7% slower, and the Core i7-1250U is 1.1% faster. Any of these would produce nearly the same frame rates when paired with the RTX 4090, since the game is not heavily multithreaded and the differences between these CPUs are minimal.

On the GPU side, the Intel Arc Pro A60 is the closest match with a 0% delta in average benchmark score. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 is 0.3% faster, the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M is 2.5% faster, and the AMD Radeon PRO V710 is 2.9% slower. All of these GPUs would deliver similar frame rates in Inside, though the professional nature of these cards means they may have different driver optimizations for gaming workloads. In practice, swapping the RTX 4090 for any of these would likely result in a negligible change in FPS at 1080p or 1440p, but could show a more noticeable difference at 4K where the GPU becomes the limiting factor.

CPU and GPU Roles

The role of the CPU versus the GPU shifts significantly as resolution increases. At 1920x1080, the CPU is the primary bottleneck. The scaling from Low to Ultra settings shows a 77 FPS drop, but this is driven by the CPU's ability to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics updates. The RTX 4090 is so powerful at this resolution that it is waiting on the i3-12100F to provide data. Evidence of this is that the FPS at 1080p Low (315) is higher than at 4K Low (242), which is expected, but the gap between 1080p and 1440p at the same settings is relatively small: 315 vs 282 FPS at Low, and 238 vs 213 FPS at Ultra. This suggests that the CPU is near its limit at 1080p, and the GPU is not being fully utilized.

At 2560x1440, the balance shifts slightly toward the GPU, but the CPU still plays a significant role. The average FPS at Ultra is 213, which is 25 FPS lower than at 1080p Ultra. This is a modest decrease, indicating that the GPU is now doing more work, but the CPU is still capable of keeping up with the increased pixel count. The 1440p Medium preset shows a minimum of 221 FPS, which is still far above the playable threshold, confirming that neither component is being stressed.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck. The average FPS at Ultra drops to 140, which is 73 FPS lower than at 1080p Ultra. This 34% reduction in performance from 1080p to 4K is typical of a GPU-bound scenario, where the RTX 4090's memory bandwidth and compute units are being fully utilized. The CPU's role diminishes, as it is no longer the limiting factor. The scaling between 1440p and 4K at Ultra (213 to 140 FPS) is a 34% drop, which is more pronounced than the 1080p to 1440p drop of 10%, further confirming that the GPU is the constraint at 4K.

The data indicates that for this game, the RTX 4090 is overkill at 1080p and 1440p, where the i3-12100F limits performance. At 4K, the GPU is finally exercised, but even then, it delivers over 140 FPS at Ultra settings. This pairing is unbalanced for a game like Inside, but the imbalance only manifests as excessive performance, not as a playability issue.

The Verdict

This system can run Inside at a level far exceeding the 60 FPS playable threshold at every resolution and settings preset tested. At 3840x2160, all four settings (High, Low, Medium, Ultra) are playable, with the best settings being Ultra at an average of 140 FPS. At 2560x1440, all settings are playable, with Ultra averaging 213 FPS. At 1920x1080, all settings are playable, with Ultra averaging 238 FPS.

The verdict is unambiguous: this PC is more than capable of running Inside to its maximum potential. The bottleneck is the CPU at lower resolutions, but this does not result in any frame rate that would be considered problematic. For a game from 2016, the i3-12100F provides ample single-thread performance, and the RTX 4090 ensures that even at 4K Ultra, the frame rate is more than double the threshold. If you own this combination, you can max out the game's settings and resolution without any need for compromises. The only consideration is that the CPU will limit the GPU at 1080p, but this is a meaningless concern when the frame rate is already above 300 FPS.