Inside

Similar Performance Alternatives

The Intel Core i7-14700K sits in a narrow performance band among its closest rivals. Its average benchmark score of 69,355 places it within 0.1% of the AMD EPYC 9115, which scores 69,288, making those two effectively interchangeable in synthetic workloads. The AMD Ryzen 9 7950X trails by a negligible 0.2% with a score of 69,515, while the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX and AMD Ryzen 7 9700F lead by 0.7% and 0.9% respectively. This cluster of processors — all within a single percentage point — means that swapping between them would produce imperceptible differences in frame pacing for a game like Inside, which is not particularly CPU-intensive at high frame rates.

For the Intel Arc B570, the picture is similar. Its average GPU benchmark score of 20,556 is essentially tied with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile, which scores 20,534 (0.1% difference). The Intel Arc A750 comes in at 20,582, a 0.1% margin in the opposite direction. The NVIDIA Quadro M4000M and AMD Radeon R9 M390X round out the group with scores of 20,480 and 20,662, representing 0.4% and 0.5% deltas respectively. Any of these GPUs would deliver nearly identical frame rates in Inside, given that the game's visual style — a monochromatic side-scrolling puzzle platformer — places modest demands on raw rasterization throughput.

The practical takeaway: if a system builder had access to any of these rival components, the gameplay experience in Inside would be statistically indistinguishable. The CPU sits at the 94th percentile among all tested processors, while the GPU ranks at the 65th percentile, meaning the graphics card is the more likely bottleneck in demanding scenarios, but the overall combination remains well above the threshold needed for smooth gameplay.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 3840x2160, the most demanding preset that maintains 60 FPS or higher is Medium, which delivers an average of 87 FPS. The High preset drops to 54 FPS average, falling below the playable threshold, and Ultra manages only 52 FPS. Low runs at 108 FPS but sacrifices visual fidelity unnecessarily when Medium already provides a comfortable margin above 60 FPS. The data shows a steep drop-off between Medium and High — roughly 33 FPS — indicating that the High preset introduces significant rendering cost at 4K resolution.

At 2560x1440, every preset clears the 60 FPS bar. Ultra is the best playable setting, averaging 82 FPS. High runs at 86 FPS, Medium at 138 FPS with a minimum of 117 FPS and maximum of 159 FPS, and Low at 172 FPS. Since Ultra maintains 82 FPS average — well above the 60 FPS threshold — it is the recommended choice for this resolution. The difference between High and Ultra is small (86 vs 82 FPS), suggesting that Ultra's additional effects are relatively cheap at 1440p.

At 1920x1080, all presets are comfortably playable, with Ultra averaging 114 FPS. Medium runs at 192 FPS with a minimum of 163 FPS and maximum of 221 FPS, High at 120 FPS, and Low at 240 FPS. Ultra is the clear recommendation here, as it provides the full visual experience while still delivering nearly double the playable threshold. The minimum FPS figures for Medium at 1080p (163 FPS) exceed the average FPS for Ultra at 1440p (82 FPS), highlighting how resolution scaling affects performance more than preset changes.

CPU and GPU Roles

The scaling data across resolutions reveals which component dominates performance in Inside. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 at Ultra settings drops the average FPS from 114 to 82, a reduction of approximately 28%. Moving from 2560x1440 to 3840x2160 at Ultra drops the average from 82 to 52, a further 37% reduction. This progressive decline as pixel count rises indicates that the GPU is the primary performance limiter at higher resolutions.

At 1920x1080, the CPU's role becomes more relevant. The i7-14700K with its 20 cores and 28 threads, boosting to 5.60 GHz, is more than capable of feeding the Arc B570 at this resolution. The fact that Low settings at 1080p reach 240 FPS suggests the CPU can sustain very high frame rates when GPU load is minimal. However, the GPU's 65th percentile ranking versus the CPU's 94th percentile means the graphics card saturates before the processor does as resolution climbs.

The preset scaling at fixed resolutions also points to GPU-bound behavior. At 1440p, dropping from Ultra to Low increases average FPS from 82 to 172 — more than double. At 4K, the same preset change goes from 52 FPS to 108 FPS. These large swings from preset changes indicate that the GPU's shading, texture, and post-processing work dominate frame time. The CPU, with its robust single-threaded performance (2,160 in Cinebench R23 single-core), is unlikely to bottleneck even at the lowest presets where frame rates peak.

Interestingly, the Medium preset at all three resolutions shows the only recorded minimum and maximum FPS values. At 4K Medium, the range is 74 to 100 FPS; at 1440p Medium, 117 to 159 FPS; at 1080p Medium, 163 to 221 FPS. These data points confirm consistent frame pacing without major hitches, which is expected for a game with Inside's controlled, linear environments.

The Verdict

This PC configuration can run Inside successfully at all tested resolutions, provided the correct settings are selected. At 3840x2160, the playable settings are Low and Medium, with Medium being the best choice at 87 FPS average. High and Ultra both fall below 60 FPS — 54 and 52 FPS respectively — so they are not recommended for 4K gameplay.

At 2560x1440, all four presets — High, Low, Medium, and Ultra — clear the 60 FPS threshold. The best setting is Ultra at 82 FPS average, which provides the complete visual experience while maintaining a comfortable margin above the playability cutoff. This makes 1440p the sweet spot for this combination, offering both high visual fidelity and smooth performance.

At 1920x1080, every preset is playable, with Ultra delivering 114 FPS average. This resolution offers the highest performance ceiling, with Low reaching 240 FPS and Medium at 192 FPS. For players prioritizing maximum frame rates, 1080p Ultra provides an excellent balance of image quality and speed. The verdict is straightforward: this system fully handles Inside at 1080p and 1440p with maximum settings, and at 4K with Medium settings. The GPU's 10 GB of GDDR6 memory and 380 GB/s bandwidth prove sufficient for this game's modest texture requirements.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160, the measured average frame rates are as follows: Low runs at 108 FPS, Medium at 87 FPS with a minimum of 74 FPS and maximum of 100 FPS, High at 54 FPS, and Ultra at 52 FPS. The range between Low and Ultra spans 56 FPS, with the most dramatic drop occurring between Medium and High — an 33 FPS reduction. This suggests the High preset enables computationally expensive effects that disproportionately impact performance at 4K.

At 2560x1440, Low delivers 172 FPS, Medium averages 138 FPS with a range of 117 to 159 FPS, High runs at 86 FPS, and Ultra at 82 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 90 FPS, but the difference between High and Ultra is only 4 FPS, indicating that the Ultra preset's additional costs are minimal at this resolution. The Medium preset's minimum of 117 FPS remains well above the 60 FPS threshold, showing consistent performance.

At 1920x1080, the results are: Low at 240 FPS, Medium at 192 FPS with a range of 163 to 221 FPS, High at 120 FPS, and Ultra at 114 FPS. The step from Low to Medium costs 48 FPS, while Medium to High costs 72 FPS, and High to Ultra costs 6 FPS. The High-to-Ultra delta is notably small, mirroring the pattern seen at 1440p. The minimum FPS at 1080p Medium (163 FPS) exceeds the average FPS at 4K Ultra (52 FPS) by more than threefold, illustrating the substantial cost of 4K rendering.

How This Combo Ranks

Among the 3,716 tested CPU-GPU combinations for Inside, this pairing ranks 2,983rd. That places it in the 20th percentile of all tested combos, meaning roughly 80% of configurations outperform it in this specific game. This ranking is lower than the individual component percentiles might suggest — the CPU is in the 94th percentile and the GPU in the 65th — because Inside is a lightweight title where even modest hardware can achieve high frame rates, and the ranking is dominated by combinations with top-tier GPUs that push much higher FPS numbers.

The rank of 2,983 indicates that while this system is fully capable of running Inside smoothly at most settings, it is not a top-tier performer for this particular title. The game's 2016 release date and puzzle-platformer genre mean that many older or more balanced combinations can produce similar or better results. Players seeking the absolute highest frame rates at 4K would need a more powerful GPU than the Arc B570, as evidenced by the 4K High and Ultra presets falling below 60 FPS.

FAQ

Q: Can this PC run Inside at 4K resolution?

A: Yes, at Medium settings it averages 87 FPS, and at Low settings it averages 108 FPS. High and Ultra presets fall below 60 FPS (54 and 52 FPS respectively) and are not playable at this resolution.

Q: What is the best quality setting at 1440p?

A: Ultra is the best playable setting, averaging 82 FPS. All four presets — Low, Medium, High, and Ultra — exceed the 60 FPS threshold at this resolution.

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

A: The Intel Core i7-14700K scores 69,355 in average benchmarks, placing it within 0.1% of the AMD EPYC 9115 (69,288) and 0.2% of the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (69,515). It trails the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX by 0.7% and the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F by 0.9%.

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

A: The GPU is the primary performance limiter. Frame rates drop by roughly 28% from 1080p to 1440p and another 37% from 1440p to 4K at Ultra settings, while preset changes at a fixed resolution cause frame rate swings of more than double in some cases, indicating GPU-bound rendering.

Q: What are the minimum FPS values for Medium settings?

A: At 4K Medium, the minimum is 74 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the minimum is 117 FPS. At 1080p Medium, the minimum is 163 FPS. Only the Medium preset has recorded minimum and maximum FPS data across all resolutions.

Q: How does this combination rank against other tested systems?

A: It ranks 2,983rd out of 3,716 tested combinations for Inside, placing it in the lower portion of the rankings despite the CPU's 94th percentile and GPU's 65th percentile individual scores, because the game itself is not demanding enough to benefit from the CPU's full capabilities.