Inside

The Intel Core i7-14700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER delivers a remarkably fluid experience in Inside, a 2016 puzzle platformer. The recorded data shows this combination is not just playable, but capable of running the game at maximum image quality with substantial headroom across all common resolutions. Below is a detailed breakdown of the measured performance, followed by an analysis of the hardware dynamics at play.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The benchmark results for this title are exceptional, with no resolution or preset dipping below the 60 FPS playability threshold. The data shows a clear scaling pattern from 1080p up to 4K, with frame rates remaining high even under the most demanding settings.

At 1920x1080, the combination produces extremely high frame rates. With Low settings, the average FPS reaches 277.9. Moving up to Medium, the average is still very high at 226.4. High settings maintain a robust 142.9 average, while Ultra settings, the most demanding preset, still delivers an average of 131.2 FPS. This demonstrates that at 1080p, the system is heavily unconstrained, likely limited by the CPU's single-thread performance or the game's engine frame pacing rather than the GPU.

Stepping up to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain well above the playable threshold. Low settings produce an average of 199.4 FPS. Medium settings are close behind at 161.1 FPS. High settings yield an average of 102.8 FPS, and Ultra settings still hold a strong average of 94.7 FPS. The performance drop from 1080p to 1440p is noticeable but not steep, indicating the GPU is beginning to take on more responsibility while the CPU remains a capable partner.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is clearly the dominant factor. Here, the performance is still impressive. Low settings deliver an average of 125.9 FPS. Medium settings reduce this to 100.9 FPS. High settings produce 64.2 FPS, and Ultra settings maintain an average of 61.2 FPS. The scaling from 1440p to 4K is more pronounced, showing the expected increase in pixel shading workload. The minimum and maximum FPS values were not recorded, but the average frame rates alone indicate a smooth experience.

Best Settings per Resolution

Given that every preset at every resolution clears the 60 FPS playable threshold, the "best settings" are simply the highest quality presets available.

At 3840x2160, the most demanding preset, Ultra, is the best choice. The recorded average FPS at Ultra is 61.2, which is just above the 60 FPS target. This is the tightest margin in the dataset, but it is still a playable and, for a game like Inside, a visually stunning configuration.

At 2560x1440, Ultra is also the best setting. The average FPS at this resolution and preset is 94.7, providing a significant cushion above the playability threshold. This allows for full visual fidelity without any concern for frame rate dips.

At 1920x1080, Ultra remains the optimal choice. The average FPS of 131.2 is more than double the playable threshold. This setup is ideal for users with high-refresh-rate monitors, as the frame rates are high enough to take advantage of displays that go beyond 60 Hz.

CPU and GPU Roles

The performance scaling across resolutions reveals a classic shift in system bottleneck. The Intel Core i7-14700K is a high-end desktop processor with 20 cores and 28 threads, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is a capable, albeit older, graphics card. The data indicates that the GPU is the primary limiter as resolution increases.

At 1920x1080, the frame rates are extraordinarily high, with Low settings hitting 277.9 FPS. This suggests that the CPU is doing the heavy lifting at this resolution, feeding frames as fast as the engine allows. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 146.7 FPS, which is a substantial gap, but the absolute numbers are so high that neither the CPU nor GPU appears to be a hard bottleneck. The CPU's high single-thread performance and the game's age allow for this level of performance.

At 2560x1440, the GPU starts to assert its role. The drop from 1080p to 1440p at Ultra settings is 36.5 FPS (from 131.2 to 94.7). This is a more significant percentage decrease than the drop from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings, which is 78.5 FPS (from 277.9 to 199.4). This indicates that the increased pixel count is directly impacting the GPU's render time. The CPU is likely still capable of producing frames faster than the GPU can render them, but the margin is narrowing.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is definitively the limiting factor. The average FPS at Ultra drops to 61.2, which is a 35.5% decrease from the 1440p Ultra result. This is a much larger relative drop than what was seen between 1080p and 1440p, which was around 28%. The RTX 2060 SUPER's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and its compute resources are being fully taxed at 4K. The CPU, in contrast, has ample headroom, as evidenced by the fact that even at 4K Low settings, the system achieves 125.9 FPS, showing the CPU is not a limiting factor even when the GPU workload is light.

The Verdict

This PC can absolutely run Inside. The verdict by resolution is clear: all four settings presets (Low, Medium, High, and Ultra) are playable at all three resolutions tested. The 60 FPS playable threshold is exceeded in every single scenario.

At 3840x2160, the system clears 60 FPS with an average of 61.2 FPS on Ultra, making it a viable 4K experience. At 2560x1440, performance is excellent, with Ultra settings producing 94.7 FPS. At 1920x1080, the system excels, with Ultra settings hitting 131.2 FPS. For a game like Inside, which relies on atmospheric visuals and precise platforming, this performance ensures a smooth and visually consistent experience. The only caveat is that at 4K Ultra, the margin above 60 FPS is slim, so users with very sensitive displays might prefer High settings for additional headroom, though the data shows it is not strictly necessary.

How This Combo Ranks

In the grand scheme of the database, this specific combination of CPU and GPU ranks at 2630 out of 3716 tested combos for Inside. This places it in the 70th percentile of all systems tested, meaning it outperforms a majority of the hardware combinations in the database for this specific game. While it is far from the top of the list, this rank reflects the balance of the components.

The ranking is likely held back by the GPU, which has a lower benchmark percentile. The RTX 2060 SUPER sits in the 62nd percentile of all GPUs, while the CPU is in the 94th percentile. The high rank of the CPU ensures the system is never held back by processing power, but the GPU's performance is what ultimately determines the frame rate at higher resolutions. For a game as light as Inside, this combination still performs exceptionally well, but the rank shows that other combos with more powerful GPUs will achieve even higher frame rates, especially at 4K.

Similar Performance Alternatives

Looking at the nearest rivals based on average benchmark scores provides context for what other hardware would behave similarly.

For the CPU, the Intel Core i7-14700K is closely matched by the AMD EPYC 9115, which has an average score 0.1% higher. This means a system with that EPYC processor would likely produce nearly identical frame rates in Inside. The AMD Ryzen 9 7950X is also extremely close, with an average score 0.2% lower, and the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX and AMD Ryzen 7 9700F are within 0.7% and 0.9% respectively. In practice, for a game like Inside, the difference between these CPUs would be negligible, as they all vastly exceed the performance demands of the game. The choice between them would come down to platform features rather than gaming performance in this title.

For the GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is closely matched by the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile, which has an average score 0.4% lower. A desktop system using that mobile GPU would perform nearly identically. The AMD Radeon Pro 5700 is also a close match, with a score 0.5% lower, and the AMD Radeon RX 460 and Intel Arc A770M are 1.5% and 1.6% lower respectively. These alternatives would all provide a very similar experience in Inside, meaning users with these GPUs can expect frame rates in the same ballpark. The differences between them are so small that they would be imperceptible in real-world gameplay, especially given the high frame rates this game produces on all of them.