Inside

The Intel Core i7-14700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 delivers exceptional performance in Inside, a 2016 Puzzle Platformer. Benchmark data shows this combination produces extremely high frame rates across all tested resolutions and settings, with the lowest recorded average being 132.5 FPS at 4K Ultra. The data indicates a system that not only clears the 60 FPS playable threshold everywhere but does so with such massive headroom that the limiting factor becomes the display's refresh rate rather than the hardware's capability. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS, optimal settings, component roles, and how this specific combo ranks against other tested configurations.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for this combo covers three resolutions and four quality presets, with all results showing average frame rates comfortably above the 60 FPS playable threshold. At 1920x1080, the lowest average FPS recorded is 296 at Ultra settings, while the highest reaches 409.2 at Low settings. Medium settings produce 377.6 FPS, and High settings yield 309.2 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 113.2 FPS, representing a 38.2% drop from the lowest to the highest quality preset, which suggests the GPU is not the bottleneck at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages remain exceptionally high. Low settings deliver 365.7 FPS, Medium drops to 335.9 FPS, High produces 220.7 FPS, and Ultra settles at 211.2 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra here is 154.5 FPS, a 42.2% decrease. Interestingly, the jump from Medium to High at 1440p is a substantial 115.2 FPS drop, whereas the difference between High and Ultra is only 9.5 FPS, indicating a significant rendering cost associated with the High preset's specific features.

At 3840x2160, the performance scales down as expected but remains extraordinary. Low settings average 282.5 FPS, Medium produces 222.4 FPS, High delivers 138.4 FPS, and Ultra yields 132.5 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 150 FPS, a 53.1% reduction. The transition from Medium to High at 4K is particularly steep, with a 84 FPS drop, while High to Ultra only loses 5.9 FPS. This pattern mirrors the 1440p results and suggests that the High preset introduces a specific rendering feature that is disproportionately demanding on the GPU across higher resolutions.

The data shows no min or max FPS values recorded, so the analysis relies solely on averages. This absence means the frame time consistency cannot be assessed from this dataset, but the sheer magnitude of the averages implies that even significant dips would remain far above the 60 FPS threshold. The scaling from 1080p to 4K at Ultra shows a 55.2% reduction in average FPS (296 to 132.5), which is relatively modest compared to what would be expected for a more GPU-intensive title, reinforcing that Inside is not particularly demanding on modern hardware.

Best Settings per Resolution

For 1920x1080, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Ultra, which achieves an average of 296 FPS. This is the maximum quality setting available in the data, and it delivers nearly five times the playable threshold. The data shows no need to compromise on visual quality at this resolution, as even the heaviest preset provides massive performance headroom.

At 2560x1440, Ultra again is the best setting, with an average FPS of 211.2. This represents a 28.6% reduction compared to the same preset at 1080p, but it remains over three times the 60 FPS threshold. The performance difference between Ultra and High at this resolution is only 9.5 FPS, which suggests that players could opt for either preset without a meaningful performance penalty, though Ultra provides the highest fidelity.

For 3840x2160, the best settings remain Ultra, producing an average of 132.5 FPS. This is the lowest average recorded across all tested configurations, yet it still doubles the 60 FPS playable threshold. The drop from 1440p Ultra to 4K Ultra is 78.7 FPS, a 37.3% reduction, but the absolute performance is more than sufficient for smooth gameplay. Across all three resolutions, the verdictByResolution data confirms that every preset—Low, Medium, High, and Ultra—is playable, meaning the system never falls below 60 FPS even at maximum settings and 4K resolution.

CPU and GPU Roles

The component dynamics in Inside are revealed by examining how frame rates scale across resolutions and presets. The CPU, an Intel Core i7-14700K with 20 cores and 28 threads, and the GPU, an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 with 16 GB of GDDR7 memory, both contribute, but their relative importance shifts with resolution. At 1920x1080, the close proximity of frame rates across presets—ranging from 296 to 409.2 FPS—indicates that the GPU is not heavily taxed, and the CPU's single-thread performance (as evidenced by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2160) becomes more relevant. The 38.2% drop from Low to Ultra at 1080p is relatively small, suggesting the CPU can feed the GPU adequately even at high frame rates.

At 2560x1440, the scaling becomes more pronounced. The gap between Low (365.7 FPS) and Ultra (211.2 FPS) widens to 42.2%, indicating a greater GPU workload. The sharp 115.2 FPS drop from Medium to High at this resolution is a clear signal that specific GPU-intensive effects are being enabled, shifting the bottleneck more firmly toward the graphics card. The RTX 5080's 56.28 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 960.0 GB/s memory bandwidth are evidently sufficient to handle this load, but the data shows the GPU's role increasing compared to 1080p.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the dominant factor. The 53.1% reduction from Low to Ultra is the largest across all resolutions, and the absolute frame rates—while still high—demonstrate the increased pixel throughput demand. The RTX 5080's 112 ROPs and 293.1 GPixel/s pixel rate are key specifications here, as the 4K resolution requires substantially more fill rate. The CPU's role diminishes at this resolution, as the frame rates drop to levels where even a less powerful processor could likely keep up. The data indicates that Inside is primarily GPU-bound at 4K, while at 1080p, the CPU's strong single-threaded performance (4472 in Passmark single-thread) ensures no bottleneck, allowing the GPU to push maximum frame rates.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 4K Ultra settings?

A: The average FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings is 132.5. This is the lowest average recorded across all tested configurations, but it still exceeds the 60 FPS playable threshold by more than double.

Q: How does the combo perform at 1080p Low settings?

A: At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the average FPS is 409.2. This is the highest average recorded in the dataset, showing that the system is capable of extremely high frame rates when graphical demands are minimized.

Q: Which resolution shows the largest performance drop from Low to Ultra?

A: The largest relative drop from Low to Ultra occurs at 3840x2160, where performance decreases by 53.1% (from 282.5 to 132.5 FPS). At 2560x1440, the drop is 42.2%, and at 1920x1080, it is 38.2%.

Q: Is the RTX 5080 or the i7-14700K more important for this game?

A: The data shows the GPU becomes more important at higher resolutions. At 4K, the frame rate drops significantly across presets, indicating GPU-bound behavior. At 1080p, the small performance spread suggests the CPU's strong single-thread performance is sufficient to avoid bottlenecks.

Q: Can this system run the game at 60 FPS on any preset?

A: Yes, all presets at all three tested resolutions—1920x1080, 2560x1440, and 3840x2160—produce average frame rates above 60 FPS. The lowest average is 132.5 FPS at 4K Ultra, which is still over double the threshold.

Q: What is the percentile ranking of this GPU compared to all others?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 ranks in the 87th percentile of all GPUs based on its average benchmark score of 56083. This places it in the upper tier of available graphics cards.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i7-14700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 combination ranks 87th out of 3716 tested combos for Inside, placing it in the top 2.3% of all configurations in the database. This high ranking is consistent with the measured frame rates, which show the system delivering well above the 60 FPS threshold at all settings and resolutions. The CPU itself holds a 94th percentile ranking among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 69355, while the GPU sits in the 87th percentile among all graphics cards.

The combination's rank suggests that while it is not the absolute fastest configuration ever tested, it is positioned exceptionally well for this game. The data indicates that the system's performance headroom is so large that it would likely be constrained by display refresh rates (typically 144 Hz or 240 Hz) rather than hardware limits at 1080p and 1440p. At 4K, the 132.5 FPS average at Ultra still exceeds what most 4K displays can show (typically 60-120 Hz), meaning the system is effectively future-proofed for this title. The ranking also reflects the balance between the CPU's strong multi-core and single-core performance—evidenced by a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 33440.5—and the GPU's high throughput capabilities.

The Verdict

Can this PC run Inside? The data answers with an unequivocal yes. The verdictByResolution field lists all settings—Low, Medium, High, and Ultra—as playable at every tested resolution, meaning the average FPS never drops below the 60 FPS playable threshold. At 1920x1080, the best settings are Ultra with an average of 296 FPS, more than 4.9 times the threshold. At 2560x1440, Ultra achieves 211.2 FPS, which is 3.5 times the threshold. At 3840x2160, Ultra still delivers 132.5 FPS, over double the threshold.

The system's performance is so robust that the concept of "best settings" becomes largely academic—every preset is not just playable but exceptionally smooth. The lowest recorded average (132.5 FPS at 4K Ultra) is higher than what many systems achieve at 1080p in other games. This combo is not merely capable of running Inside; it runs it with such massive headroom that users could enable maximum settings at 4K and still have performance to spare for background tasks or recording software. The data suggests that for this specific game, the hardware is significantly overqualified, but for a benchmark database, it demonstrates the upper echelon of what current desktop components can achieve.

Similar Performance Alternatives

Examining the nearest rivals to both the CPU and GPU provides context for what other hardware would behave similarly in this configuration. For the Intel Core i7-14700K, the closest rivals by average benchmark score are the AMD EPYC 9115, which scores 69288 (a 0.1% difference), the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X at 69515 (a -0.2% difference), the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX at 69875 (a -0.7% difference), and the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F at 69996 (a -0.9% difference). These processors all fall within a 1% performance band of the i7-14700K, meaning systems built with any of these CPUs would likely produce nearly identical frame rates in Inside, assuming the GPU remains the same.

For the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080, the nearest GPU rivals are the AMD Radeon 8060S with an average score of 55757 (a 0.6% difference), the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB at 55698 (a 0.7% difference), the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X at 54828 (a 2.3% difference), and the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE at 57367 (a -2.2% difference). The performance deltas here are slightly larger than those for the CPU, but all four GPUs are within 2.3% of the RTX 5080's average benchmark score.

In practical terms, swapping the i7-14700K for any of its listed rivals would result in imperceptible differences in Inside's frame rates, given the game's relatively low CPU demands and the high frame rates involved. Similarly, replacing the RTX 5080 with any of the listed GPU rivals would likely keep average FPS within a small margin of the measured values, though the exact scaling would depend on the game's specific rendering paths. The data suggests that this entire cluster of hardware—both on the CPU and GPU side—would deliver a very similar experience in Inside, with all configurations remaining far above the 60 FPS playable threshold at every resolution and preset.