Inside

The Intel Core i9-14900K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 delivers an overwhelming performance surplus in Inside, a title whose modest graphical demands are dwarfed by this combination’s raw compute capabilities. Across all three tested resolutions, the system never dips below triple-digit average frame rates, even at the highest preset. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo produces an average of 430.1 FPS, a figure that underscores how far the hardware exceeds the game’s requirements. The data set, measured across 12 distinct resolution-and-settings combinations, shows a consistent pattern: the RTX 5070 and i9-14900K are effectively unconstrained by Inside’s engine, with performance scaling almost entirely with resolution rather than preset complexity.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160, the highest resolution tested, the combo maintains an average of 111.5 FPS on High settings. Dropping to Medium raises the average to 180.7 FPS, while Low settings produce 227 FPS. The Ultra preset, which is the most demanding configuration, still delivers 109.8 FPS, only marginally below the High preset’s 111.5 FPS. This narrow gap between High and Ultra suggests that the game’s Ultra settings introduce minimal additional GPU load, a conclusion supported by the fact that the difference between these two presets is just 1.7 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance headroom expands considerably. High settings yield an average of 178.5 FPS, while Medium reaches 285.3 FPS. Low settings push the average to 357.4 FPS, and Ultra remains comfortably high at 172.4 FPS. Notably, the scaling from 4K to 1440p at the same preset is substantial: High settings improve by 67 FPS (from 111.5 to 178.5), while Ultra improves by 62.6 FPS (from 109.8 to 172.4). This indicates that the GPU is the primary limiter at 4K, but even then, it never approaches a bottleneck that would threaten playability.

At 1920x1080, the system’s performance becomes almost absurdly high. High settings average 245.4 FPS, Medium averages 398.2 FPS, and Low reaches 430.1 FPS. The Ultra preset, despite being the most demanding, still produces 233.3 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium at 1080p is just 31.9 FPS, while the gap between Medium and High is 152.8 FPS, revealing that the High preset introduces a significant rendering cost compared to Medium, though the absolute numbers remain far beyond any practical display refresh rate.

Across all resolutions, the min and max FPS values are not reported in the data, so the analysis relies solely on average frame rates. However, the consistency of the averages—with no preset at any resolution falling below 109.8 FPS—strongly suggests that frame pacing is stable and that the system never struggles to feed the GPU or CPU.

CPU and GPU Roles

The data reveals a clear division of labor depending on resolution. At 1920x1080, the GPU is the dominant factor, as evidenced by the sharp FPS drops when moving from Low to High settings: 430.1 to 245.4 FPS, a 42.9% reduction. The CPU, with its 24 cores and 32 threads, is barely challenged at this resolution, as even the most demanding preset leaves the frame rate above 230 FPS. The i9-14900K’s single-core performance, reflected in its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2262.5, is more than sufficient for Inside’s physics and logic, which are unlikely to stress more than a few threads.

At 2560x1440, the GPU’s role intensifies. The drop from Low to High settings is less severe in percentage terms (178.5 vs. 357.4 FPS, a 50.1% reduction) but still indicates GPU-bound behavior. The CPU continues to provide ample headroom, as the frame rate at Ultra (172.4 FPS) remains nearly identical to the 4K Ultra result (109.8 FPS), suggesting that the CPU is not the limiting factor even at higher resolutions.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the unequivocal bottleneck. The scaling from 1080p to 4K at Ultra settings shows a 52.9% reduction in frame rate (233.3 to 109.8 FPS), which is consistent with a GPU that is being pushed progressively harder. The CPU’s role diminishes further, as the frame rate differences between presets at 4K are smaller than at lower resolutions. For instance, the gap between Medium and High at 4K is 69.2 FPS (180.7 to 111.5), whereas at 1080p the same preset gap is 152.8 FPS (398.2 to 245.4). This compression of preset-based scaling at 4K confirms that the GPU is the primary determinant of performance, while the CPU’s contribution is effectively static.

Best Settings per Resolution

For 1920x1080, the most demanding preset that remains at or above 60 FPS is Ultra, which delivers an average of 233.3 FPS. This is the clear choice for maximum visual fidelity, as the frame rate is nearly four times the playable threshold. The next step down, High, offers 245.4 FPS, but the difference in visual quality between High and Ultra is worth the minimal 12.1 FPS cost.

At 2560x1440, Ultra is again the best setting, producing 172.4 FPS. This is well above the 60 FPS threshold, and the margin is large enough that even the most demanding scenes would not cause perceptible stuttering. Medium settings, at 285.3 FPS, are unnecessary unless the user prioritizes extreme refresh rates, but Ultra remains the optimal balance.

At 3840x2160, Ultra is the recommended preset, with an average of 109.8 FPS. This is the only resolution where the frame rate drops below 100 FPS, but it still clears the 60 FPS threshold by a comfortable 49.8 FPS. High settings, at 111.5 FPS, offer a negligible 1.7 FPS improvement, making Ultra the superior choice for visual quality without any meaningful performance penalty. In all three resolutions, the system’s performance is so far above the 60 FPS target that users can safely max out every setting.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i9-14900K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 ranks 333rd out of 3716 tested combos in Inside, placing it in the top 9% of all configurations. This percentile ranking is consistent with the hardware’s benchmark performance: the CPU scores in the 95th percentile against all CPUs, while the GPU sits in the 82nd percentile against all GPUs. The rank of 333 indicates that while this combo is exceptionally fast, there are a significant number of more powerful combinations—likely featuring higher-end GPUs or more recent flagship CPUs—that achieve even higher frame rates in this game.

However, the rank must be contextualized by the game’s low system requirements. A rank of 333 out of 3716 means that roughly 3383 other combos score lower, which aligns with the fact that Inside is a 2016 puzzle platformer with minimal graphical complexity. The combo’s performance is so far beyond the playable threshold that the rank is more a reflection of raw hardware capability than practical usability. For perspective, the nearest CPU rivals—the Intel Core i9-14900KF (with a delta of -0.3%) and Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus (delta of -0.6%)—would produce nearly identical frame rates, differing by less than 1% in synthetic benchmarks.

Similar Performance Alternatives

On the CPU side, the Intel Core i9-14900KF is the closest match, with an average benchmark score of 79371 versus the i9-14900K’s 79097, a delta of -0.3%. This means the KF variant is effectively identical in performance, lacking only the integrated graphics. The Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus is also within 0.6% (79574 vs. 79097), making it a viable alternative if platform compatibility differs. The AMD EPYC 7413, despite being a server chip, scores 80041, which is 1.2% higher, but its platform and power characteristics make it an unlikely choice for a gaming system. The AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 trails by 1.7% (77740 vs. 79097), still delivering essentially the same frame rates in Inside.

For the GPU, the nearest rivals are all professional or mobile parts, which is unusual. The AMD Radeon Pro 580 scores 40318 versus the RTX 5070’s 40377, a delta of 0.1%, meaning it would perform nearly identically in this game. The AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100 is 0.8% slower, while the NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile is 2% slower. The AMD Radeon Pro 5300 is 1.2% faster on average, but these workstation cards are not designed for gaming and would lack the RTX 5070’s driver optimizations. In practice, a gamer would more likely compare against another GeForce RTX 50-series card, but the data shows that the RTX 5070’s performance in Inside is so high that any of these rivals would also exceed 100 FPS at 4K Ultra.

The Verdict

Can this PC run Inside? Unequivocally, yes. The verdict data lists all four settings presets—Low, Medium, High, and Ultra—as playable at every resolution tested. At 1920x1080, Ultra runs at 233.3 FPS; at 2560x1440, Ultra runs at 172.4 FPS; and at 3840x2160, Ultra runs at 109.8 FPS. In all cases, the frame rate exceeds the 60 FPS threshold by a margin of at least 83%, with the smallest margin being 49.8 FPS at 4K Ultra.

The system never approaches the playable limit, even under the most demanding conditions. The lowest recorded average is 109.8 FPS at 4K Ultra, which is still 83% above the threshold. The i9-14900K’s 24 cores and 32 threads, combined with the RTX 5070’s 12 GB of GDDR7 memory and 30.87 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, are dramatically overqualified for Inside. This is a configuration that would run the game flawlessly on any display, including high-refresh-rate monitors and 4K panels. Users seeking the absolute best visual experience can enable Ultra at 4K without any concern for frame rate drops, and those with 1080p or 1440p high-refresh displays will find the frame rates limited only by their monitor’s refresh rate, not the hardware.