Inside

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 combination delivers extraordinarily high frame rates in Inside, a 2016 puzzle platformer with modest hardware demands. Benchmark data confirms that this pairing is heavily overqualified for the title, producing playable performance at every tested setting and resolution, with frame rates that far exceed the 60 FPS playable threshold. The measured FPS values indicate that the GPU is rarely stressed, while the CPU’s strong single-threaded performance handles the game’s physics and logic without issue. This analysis breaks down the exact measured performance, contextualizes it against rival hardware, and explains which component dominates at each resolution.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160 (4K), the RTX 4080 shows its capability with an average of 133 FPS on High settings, which is already more than double the 60 FPS threshold. Dropping to Low settings at 4K yields a massive jump to 265 FPS average, while Medium settings produce 212 FPS average with a minimum of 181 FPS and a maximum of 244 FPS. The most demanding Ultra preset still delivers 126 FPS average at 4K, meaning the game remains exceptionally smooth even at maximum quality. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 139 FPS, indicating that settings scaling has a significant impact, but even the worst-case Ultra scenario leaves ample headroom.

Moving to 2560x1440 (1440p), the performance scales predictably upward. High settings average 211 FPS, while Low settings reach 370 FPS. Medium settings at 1440p show an average of 338 FPS with a minimum of 287 FPS and a maximum of 389 FPS. Ultra at 1440p averages 201 FPS, which is 75 FPS higher than the same preset at 4K. This resolution-to-resolution scaling suggests that the GPU is not the bottleneck at 1440p, as the frame rate improvements are substantial but not linear with pixel count reductions.

At 1920x1080 (1080p), the combination becomes almost absurdly fast. High settings average 294 FPS, Low settings push to 413 FPS, and Medium settings hit 381 FPS average with a minimum of 324 FPS and a maximum of 439 FPS. Ultra at 1080p still averages 280 FPS. The jump from 1440p to 1080p is less dramatic than from 4K to 1440p, suggesting that at lower resolutions the CPU begins to play a more meaningful role in limiting maximum frame rates. The data shows that even at 1080p Ultra, the system has over four times the required performance for smooth gameplay.

FAQ

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 4K Ultra settings?

A: Yes, the measured average FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings is 126 FPS, which is more than double the 60 FPS playable threshold. The minimum FPS data is not provided for Ultra, but the average suggests consistent performance well above the target.

Q: How does the RTX 4080 compare to its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 4080 has an average benchmark score of 54247, placing it 0.1% ahead of the RTX 4080 SUPER (54209) and 1.1% behind the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X (54828). It trails the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB by 2.6% and the AMD Radeon 8060S by 2.7%, though these differences are minor in real-world gaming.

Q: What is the CPU’s percentile ranking among all tested processors?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 sits in the 89th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 46062. This places it in the upper tier of desktop processors, though its 14 cores and 14 threads indicate a design focused on efficiency rather than raw multi-threading.

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

A: The 4K resolution shows the largest drop, falling from 265 FPS at Low to 126 FPS at Ultra, a reduction of 139 FPS. At 1440p the drop is 169 FPS (370 to 201), and at 1080p it is 133 FPS (413 to 280), making 1440p the most settings-sensitive resolution.

Q: Does the game utilize the GPU’s full capabilities at 1080p?

A: Benchmark results indicate no. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 413 FPS, but the scaling from 1440p to 1080p is smaller than from 4K to 1440p. This suggests the CPU or game engine limits the frame rate at lower resolutions, leaving GPU headroom unused.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested system configurations?

A: The combination ranks 127th out of 3716 tested combos, placing it in the top 3.4% of all configurations in the database. This is consistent with the very high frame rates measured across all resolutions and presets.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and RTX 4080 pairing ranks 127th out of 3716 tested combinations for Inside, a position that reflects the extreme performance ceiling of this hardware. Being in the 96.6th percentile of all combos means that only 126 tested configurations outperform it, and these are likely to feature top-tier enthusiast components. The ranking is somewhat surprising given that the game is a 2D puzzle platformer, indicating that the benchmark database includes many lower-end systems that struggle with even modest titles.

The CPU’s percentile ranking of 89th among all processors is lower than the combo’s in-game ranking, which suggests that the RTX 4080’s 86th percentile among GPUs contributes more to the overall performance. The data implies that for Inside, the GPU has a larger influence on the final frame rate than the CPU, as the game’s rendering demands scale more with resolution and settings than with processor multi-threading. The CPU’s single-thread score of 2085 in Cinebench R23 is strong, but the game likely does not stress all 14 cores equally.

The Verdict

This system can absolutely run Inside at maximum quality. The verdict by resolution confirms that all four tested settings — Low, Medium, High, and Ultra — are playable at every resolution from 1080p through 4K. At 3840x2160, the best playable setting is Ultra with an average of 126 FPS, which clears the 60 FPS threshold by a wide margin. At 2560x1440, Ultra averages 201 FPS, and at 1920x1080, Ultra averages 280 FPS. There is no scenario in the measured data where this combination falls below 60 FPS, even at the highest preset and resolution. The minimum FPS values recorded at Medium settings — 181 FPS at 4K, 287 FPS at 1440p, and 324 FPS at 1080p — all remain far above the playable threshold, indicating stable frame pacing without severe drops.

Similar Performance Alternatives

For the CPU, the nearest rivals in average benchmark score are the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 (46030, 0.1% slower), the Intel Core i9-13900HX (46098, 0.1% faster), the AMD EPYC 4364P (45970, 0.2% slower), and the AMD EPYC 7303 (45960, 0.2% slower). These processors would deliver nearly identical frame rates in Inside, since the game does not heavily tax multi-core performance. The single-threaded scores of these rivals are not provided, but their overall benchmark parity suggests similar gaming behavior.

For the GPU, the RTX 4080’s closest competitors are the RTX 4080 SUPER (54209, 0.1% faster), the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X (54828, 1.1% faster), the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB (55698, 2.6% faster), and the AMD Radeon 8060S (55757, 2.7% faster). Interestingly, the RX 6750 GRE and Radeon 8060S score higher in synthetic benchmarks, but the real-world FPS in Inside would be nearly identical given the game’s low requirements. Users with these GPUs combined with similarly performing CPUs would expect comparable frame rates within a few percentage points.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 3840x2160, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Ultra, with an average of 126 FPS. This is the clear recommendation for 4K users, as it provides maximum visual quality while maintaining over double the playable threshold. At 2560x1440, Ultra again is the best choice, averaging 201 FPS, which offers a 141 FPS margin over the 60 FPS target. At 1920x1080, Ultra averages 280 FPS, making it the obvious selection for competitive or high-refresh-rate displays. In all cases, the data shows that there is no reason to reduce settings below Ultra, as even the most demanding preset leaves substantial performance headroom. The Medium preset’s minimum FPS values — 181 at 4K, 287 at 1440p, and 324 at 1080p — confirm that even if frame drops occur, they remain far above the playable threshold.

CPU and GPU Roles

The data reveals an interesting dynamic in how the CPU and GPU contribute to performance across resolutions. At 4K, the scaling from Low (265 FPS) to Ultra (126 FPS) is a 139 FPS reduction, which is the largest absolute drop of any resolution. This indicates that the GPU is the dominant factor at 4K, as higher settings increase pixel shading and texture work, directly impacting the RTX 4080’s workload. The GPU’s 86th percentile ranking and its 48.74 TFLOPS of FP32 performance are sufficient to handle 4K rendering without CPU interference.

At 1440p, the Low to Ultra drop is 169 FPS (370 to 201), which is proportionally larger than at 4K. This suggests that at 1440p, the CPU begins to exert more influence, as the GPU has more headroom and the game’s logic and physics become relatively more significant. The CPU’s single-thread performance, evidenced by its 4516 Passmark single-thread score, becomes a limiting factor at lower resolutions where the GPU can render frames faster than the CPU can feed it instructions.

At 1080p, the Low to Ultra drop narrows to 133 FPS (413 to 280), and the frame rates plateau around 280-413 FPS. This plateau indicates that the CPU is now the primary bottleneck, as the GPU can render frames much faster than the CPU can process the game’s simulation. The fact that 1080p Low (413 FPS) does not scale as much from 1440p Low (370 FPS) as 1440p does from 4K (265 FPS) further supports this conclusion. The CPU’s 14 cores and 14 threads are not fully utilized by Inside, which is a single-threaded-oriented title, making the Ultra 5 235’s 5.00 GHz boost clock the critical factor at lower resolutions.