Inside

How This Combo Ranks

This combination of the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 ranks 2915th out of 3716 tested combos in Inside. That places this pairing in the bottom 22 percent of all tested configurations, which is a poor result for a game that is otherwise not demanding by modern standards. The ranking reflects a severe bottleneck: the RTX 2060 sits at the 58th percentile among all GPUs, while the Core Ultra 9 290K Plus sits at the 96th percentile among all CPUs. The processor is exceptionally capable, but the graphics card limits the overall experience. The data shows that this combo is nowhere near the top of the database, and the GPU is the clear constraint in nearly every scenario measured.

CPU and GPU Roles

Benchmark results indicate that the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is massively overqualified for this pairing. The CPU scores 51,731 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 7,303 in single-core, placing it at the 96th percentile among all CPUs. In contrast, the RTX 2060 scores 14,111 in Passmark G3D and sits at the 58th percentile among all GPUs. This is a lopsided pairing where the CPU's role is largely irrelevant to the final frame rate. The recorded FPS data confirms this: at 1920x1080 Low, the combo reaches 256 FPS average, while at 3840x2160 Low it drops to 116 FPS. The scaling between resolutions is steep, which is the signature of a GPU-bound workload. Going from 1080p Low to 2160p Low reduces average FPS by roughly 55 percent, a change that would be far smaller if the CPU were the limiting factor. Similarly, moving from 2560x1440 Low at 184 FPS to 3840x2160 Low at 116 FPS is a 37 percent drop, again pointing to the GPU as the dominant constraint. The CPU's role only matters at the lowest resolution and lowest preset, where 256 FPS average suggests the processor can feed the GPU well beyond what the RTX 2060 can sustain at higher settings. At Ultra presets, the GPU is unquestionably the limiting component: 122 FPS at 1080p Ultra versus 55 FPS at 2160p Ultra is a 55 percent reduction, driven almost entirely by the graphics card's rendering load.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160, the measured data shows the following averages: Low preset delivers 116 FPS, Medium delivers 93 FPS with a minimum of 79 and a maximum of 106, High delivers 58 FPS, and Ultra delivers 55 FPS. No minimum or maximum values were recorded for Low, High, or Ultra presets at this resolution. The spread between Low and Medium is 23 FPS, while the gap between Medium and High is 35 FPS, indicating a steep cost for the High preset. High and Ultra are nearly identical at 58 and 55 FPS respectively, which suggests that the High preset already saturates the GPU's capabilities. At 2560x1440, the averages are: Low at 184 FPS, Medium at 147 FPS with a minimum of 125 and a maximum of 169, High at 92 FPS, and Ultra at 88 FPS. The drop from Medium to High is 55 FPS, the largest single-step decline at this resolution. Ultra is only 4 FPS behind High, showing diminishing returns beyond the Medium preset. At 1920x1080, the averages are: Low at 256 FPS, Medium at 205 FPS with a minimum of 174 and a maximum of 236, High at 128 FPS, and Ultra at 122 FPS. The Medium to High step costs 77 FPS, which is the largest preset-to-preset penalty anywhere in the measured data. The 1080p numbers exceed 120 FPS at every preset, with Low nearly reaching 256 FPS, which is far beyond the playable threshold of 60 FPS. The minimum recorded values at Medium preset scale consistently: 174 FPS at 1080p, 125 FPS at 1440p, and 79 FPS at 2160p, always remaining above the 60 FPS threshold.

The Verdict

This PC can run Inside, and it can run it well at most resolutions. At 1920x1080, every preset clears 60 FPS with substantial headroom: High averages 128 FPS and Ultra averages 122 FPS. At 2560x1440, every preset also clears 60 FPS, with Ultra at 88 FPS and High at 92 FPS. At 3840x2160, the situation is more limited: Low and Medium are playable at 116 and 93 FPS respectively, but High at 58 FPS and Ultra at 55 FPS fall below the 60 FPS threshold. The verdict by resolution is clear: 1080p and 1440p offer full preset freedom, while 4K requires sticking to Medium or lower. The RTX 2060 is the sole reason for this limitation, as the Core Ultra 9 290K Plus has more than enough compute headroom. The data shows that the High preset at 4K is the only scenario where this combo misses the playability mark by a small margin, just 2 FPS short of 60. Ultra at 4K is 5 FPS short. For a game from 2016, this is a surprisingly weak 4K showing, but the overall verdict is positive for 1080p and 1440p gaming.

Similar Performance Alternatives

Looking at the nearest rivals in the database, the RTX 2060's closest match is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580, with a delta of 0 percent in average benchmark score. The AMD Radeon 680M is 0.1 percent ahead, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM is 0.6 percent ahead, and the AMD Radeon RX 7600 is 0.8 percent ahead. Any of these GPUs would produce nearly identical frame rates in Inside when paired with the same CPU. The GTX 580 is effectively a peer, which is notable given its much older architecture. The Radeon 680M, an integrated solution, also lands within 0.1 percent, indicating that the RTX 2060's performance class is crowded. On the CPU side, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K is the closest rival at 0.2 percent higher average score, followed by the AMD EPYC 4584PX at 1.1 percent, the AMD EPYC 9135 at 1.2 percent, and the AMD EPYC 7F72 at 1.3 percent lower. All four CPUs would behave essentially identically in this game, because the RTX 2060 dominates the frame rate ceiling. Swapping the Core Ultra 9 290K Plus for any of these rivals would not change the measured FPS in a meaningful way, since the GPU is the binding constraint at all resolutions above 1080p Low. The practical takeaway is that the GPU choice matters far more than the CPU for this title, and the nearest GPU rivals would all deliver within 1 percent of the same experience.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 3840x2160, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Medium, with an average of 93 FPS and a minimum of 79 FPS. The High preset at 58 FPS and Ultra at 55 FPS both fail the 60 FPS threshold, so Medium is the ceiling for 4K. At 2560x1440, the best playable setting is Ultra, averaging 88 FPS, with High at 92 FPS and Medium at 147 FPS also available. The Ultra preset at 1440p provides the highest visual quality while still clearing 60 FPS by a comfortable margin of 28 FPS. At 1920x1080, the best playable setting is also Ultra, averaging 122 FPS, with High at 128 FPS and Medium at 205 FPS. The 1080p Ultra preset leaves 62 FPS of headroom above the 60 FPS threshold, making it the recommended choice for maximum fidelity. Across all resolutions, the pattern is consistent: Medium is the safe 4K choice, while Ultra is viable at 1440p and 1080p. The minimum FPS values at these best settings are 79 FPS at 4K Medium, and the recorded minimums at 1440p and 1080p Ultra were not captured in the data, but the averages suggest no risk of dropping below 60. The data indicates that this combo's only real weakness is 4K High and Ultra, where the RTX 2060 simply runs out of rendering headroom. For every other resolution and preset combination, the system delivers a smooth experience well above the playability threshold.