Inside

Inside is a 2016 puzzle platformer with a deliberately muted, monochrome presentation, yet the benchmark data for the Intel Core i7-12700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combination reveals anything but a modest performance story. This pairing obliterates the game’s demands at every tested resolution, producing frame rates that would be excessive even for fast-paced competitive shooters. The data set is measured, not estimated, and it shows a system that turns a methodical puzzle game into a demonstration of raw hardware headroom, with the only meaningful question being just how much of that headroom exists at 4K versus 1080p.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-12700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 sits at rank 156 out of 3716 tested combos for Inside. That places this pairing in the top 4.2% of all configurations in the database for this specific title, a position that reflects the sheer ceiling of both components. The rank is not a surprise given the hardware, but the context is important: Inside is a game from 2016 with a 2D side-scrolling perspective, so the ranking is less about struggling to maintain playability and more about how far above the playable threshold this system can push.

The percentile data for each component reinforces the picture. The CPU holds an 84th percentile ranking against all CPUs, while the GPU sits at an 88th percentile against all GPUs. When combined, the two components do not simply add their strengths; they create a platform where the game’s rendering engine is the only limiting factor, and even that engine is clearly not stressed. The average benchmark score for the CPU is 35287, and for the GPU it is 60347, but those figures are synthetic aggregates. The real-world result is that this combo lands in the 156th spot, meaning 3560 other tested combinations are slower, and only 155 are faster. For a game like Inside, those faster combinations are almost certainly running at even higher refresh rates or with more demanding background tasks, as the core gameplay loop does not change.

What is notable is the gap between the combo’s rank and the individual component percentiles. The GPU’s 88th percentile and CPU’s 84th percentile would suggest a mid-to-high-tier placement, but the actual game rank is much more exclusive. This indicates that Inside’s engine scales exceptionally well with both high core counts and massive GPU memory bandwidth, allowing this pairing to punch far above its already strong individual standings. The data shows a system that is not just adequate but disproportionately capable for this title.

CPU and GPU Roles

Determining which component matters more for Inside requires examining how frame rates scale across resolutions and presets, as the data provides no direct A/B testing of individual parts. The clearest signal comes from the transition between 1080p and 4K at the same settings. At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 282 FPS at 1920x1080 to 234 FPS at 2560x1440, and then to 147 FPS at 3840x2160. That is a 48% reduction from 1080p to 4K, which is a substantial scaling penalty that points directly at the GPU becoming the primary bottleneck as pixel count increases.

At Low settings, the scaling is even more dramatic. The 1080p result is 367 FPS, dropping to 329 FPS at 1440p and then to 281 FPS at 4K. The 4K Low result is 23% lower than the 1080p Low result, but the absolute numbers are so high that the CPU is clearly keeping up with the GPU’s output. The fact that Low settings at 4K still produce 281 FPS suggests the CPU is not the limiting factor; if it were, the frame rates would plateau or collapse regardless of resolution. Instead, the monotonic decline with resolution increase is a textbook GPU-bound scenario.

The preset scaling within a single resolution further confirms this. At 3840x2160, moving from Low to Medium drops the average from 281 to 235 FPS (a 16% reduction), and from Medium to High it drops to 147 FPS (a 37% reduction). The jump from High to Ultra is smaller, going from 147 to 140 FPS. At 1920x1080, the same preset progression goes from 367 to 339 to 282 to 277 FPS. The percentage drops are similar, but the 1080p numbers remain so high that even the most demanding preset clears 277 FPS. This pattern indicates that at 1080p, the CPU has enough headroom to feed the GPU fully, but the GPU’s workload scaling with preset quality is still the dominant factor. The CPU’s role is to avoid being a bottleneck, and with a 12-core, 20-thread processor boosting to 5.00 GHz, it succeeds at every resolution tested.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Inside at 60 FPS on a 4K monitor?

A: Yes, and by a massive margin. The lowest average frame rate recorded at 3840x2160 is 140 FPS on the Ultra preset, with High settings producing 147 FPS. The playable threshold is 60 FPS, so this combo clears it by more than double at 4K Ultra.

Q: What is the best preset to use at 2560x1440 for maximum visual quality?

A: The Ultra preset is the best choice, as it delivers an average of 222 FPS. This is the highest visual fidelity setting tested and it still runs at over three times the 60 FPS playable threshold, making it the obvious selection for 1440p.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K at the same settings?

A: At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 282 FPS at 1920x1080 to 147 FPS at 3840x2160, a 48% reduction. At Low settings, the drop is from 367 FPS to 281 FPS, a 23% reduction. The GPU workload scaling is significant but the absolute performance remains extremely high.

Q: Is the CPU or the GPU more important for this game at 1080p?

A: The data suggests the GPU is still the primary driver, as presets have a larger impact on frame rate than resolution does. At 1080p, the Ultra preset yields 277 FPS while Low yields 367 FPS, a 32% difference. The CPU’s strong single-thread score of 4013 in Passmark ensures it does not bottleneck these results.

Q: Are the measured frame rates consistent, or are there major drops?

A: The only settings with min and max data are Medium at each resolution. At 4K Medium, the average is 235 FPS with a minimum of 200 and maximum of 270. At 1440p Medium, the average is 303 FPS with a minimum of 258 and maximum of 349. At 1080p Medium, the average is 339 FPS with a minimum of 288 and maximum of 389. These ranges show no problematic dips below 60 FPS.

Q: Does the GPU’s 24 GB of memory matter for Inside?

A: The game is from 2016 and is not memory-intensive, but the RTX 4090’s 24 GB GDDR6X memory with 1.01 TB/s bandwidth ensures that memory capacity is never a constraint. The benchmark results show no signs of texture streaming issues or stutters that would indicate memory pressure, as the minimum frame rates remain high.

The Verdict

This PC can run Inside with absolute authority at every resolution and preset tested. The verdict data is unambiguous: all four settings (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) are listed as playable at 3840x2160, 2560x1440, and 1920x1080. The playable threshold is 60 FPS, and the lowest average score across the entire matrix is 140 FPS at 4K Ultra. That means even the most demanding configuration maintains an average that is more than double the threshold for smooth gameplay.

For 4K users, the best settings are Ultra, which runs at an average of 140 FPS. At 1440p, the best settings are also Ultra, with an average of 222 FPS. At 1080p, Ultra is again the top choice, producing an average of 277 FPS. There is no scenario in the data where this combo fails to hit 60 FPS, and the margin is so large that users could enable every visual enhancement without concern. The verdict is not a question of whether it can run the game, but rather how much refresh rate headroom the user’s monitor can actually display.

Similar Performance Alternatives

Looking at the nearest rivals for the CPU, the Intel Core i7-12700K is nearly identical in average benchmark score to four other processors. The Intel Core i5-13600T has an average score of 35305, which is just 0.1% lower. The Intel Core i7-12700KF scores 35365, a 0.2% difference. The Intel Core i7-13700T scores 35403, a 0.3% gap, and the Intel Core 5 213PE scores 35428, a 0.4% gap. For Inside, any of these CPUs would produce essentially identical frame rates, as the game is not CPU-bound at the tested settings.

For the GPU, the nearest rivals are equally close in aggregate performance. The Intel Arc Pro A60 has an average score of 60326, which is 0% different from the RTX 4090’s 60347. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 scores 60140, a 0.3% difference. The AMD Radeon Pro W6600M scores 61896, which is 2.5% higher, and the AMD Radeon PRO V710 scores 58657, which is 2.9% lower. In the context of Inside, these delta percentages are negligible, as all of these GPUs would comfortably exceed the 60 FPS threshold at 4K, though the RTX 4090’s specific advantage in raw pixel throughput is what pushes it to 140 FPS at Ultra.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 3840x2160, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Ultra, which achieves an average of 140 FPS. This is the highest quality setting available, and it still runs at more than double the playable threshold. There is no reason to use a lower preset at 4K unless the user is targeting a specific high refresh rate beyond 140 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the best settings are also Ultra, with an average of 222 FPS. This provides a significant bump over the 4K result, offering smooth performance on high refresh rate 1440p monitors. The Ultra preset is the clear winner here, as dropping to High would only reduce visual quality while still delivering 234 FPS.

At 1920x1080, the best settings are Ultra, averaging 277 FPS. This is the highest average frame rate for the most demanding preset across all resolutions, making it ideal for 240 Hz or 360 Hz displays. The performance headroom is so large that users could enable Ultra and still have frame rates to spare for streaming or recording software.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160, the data shows a clear downward trend as settings increase. Low settings produce an average of 281 FPS. Medium settings lower that to 235 FPS, with a minimum of 200 and a maximum of 270. High settings reduce the average to 147 FPS. Ultra settings are the most demanding, with an average of 140 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 141 FPS, showing that preset quality has a substantial impact even at 4K.

At 2560x1440, the numbers are higher across the board. Low settings average 329 FPS. Medium settings average 303 FPS, with a minimum of 258 and a maximum of 349. High settings average 234 FPS. Ultra settings average 222 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra here is 107 FPS, which is a smaller absolute gap than at 4K but still significant in percentage terms.

At 1920x1080, the results are the highest in the entire data set. Low settings average 367 FPS. Medium settings average 339 FPS, with a minimum of 288 and a maximum of 389. High settings average 282 FPS. Ultra settings average 277 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 90 FPS, the smallest absolute difference among the three resolutions, indicating that at 1080p the CPU and GPU are both operating near their maximum output for this game. The minimum frame rates recorded are all well above 60 FPS, confirming that the system maintains consistent performance without stutters.