Inside

Inside, the 2016 puzzle platformer, proves to be remarkably undemanding on modern hardware, and the data for the AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile shows a system that utterly dominates this title. The benchmark results indicate that this configuration is heavily GPU-limited at lower resolutions, but the sheer performance headroom means that even the most punishing settings at 4K produce frame rates well above the threshold for smooth gameplay. This is a pairing that turns a visually atmospheric game into a showcase for high-refresh-rate displays, with the primary bottleneck shifting from the graphics card to the CPU only at the very lowest settings and resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic performance curve where the GPU becomes the primary limiting factor as pixel count increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves an average of 357 FPS, which drops to 303 FPS at 1440p and further to 191 FPS at 4K. This scaling is not linear; the 4K figure represents a 46.5% reduction from the 1080p result, highlighting the immense fill-rate pressure that 4K resolution places on the RTX 4080 Mobile. The game is clearly capable of running at extremely high frame rates, but the data shows that the GPU is the component dictating the ceiling as resolution climbs.

Moving to High settings, the pattern persists but with a more pronounced drop. The 1080p High average is 211 FPS, falling to 152 FPS at 1440p (a 28.0% decrease) and then to 95 FPS at 4K (a 55.0% decrease from 1080p). The shift in bottleneck is evident when comparing the Low and High settings at the same resolution. At 1080p, the difference between Low (357 FPS) and High (211 FPS) is substantial, suggesting that even at this moderate resolution, the GPU is still doing significant work. However, the fact that the 1080p Low result is nearly double the 4K High result indicates that the RTX 4080 Mobile’s compute and memory bandwidth are the primary constraints at higher resolutions.

The scaling from 1440p to 4K is particularly telling. At High settings, the drop is from 152 FPS to 95 FPS, a 37.5% performance penalty. This is a larger relative loss than the 28% drop seen from 1080p to 1440p, confirming that the GPU is becoming progressively more saturated. The 4K Ultra result of 91 FPS is only marginally lower than the 4K High result of 95 FPS, which suggests that the additional rendering features enabled by the Ultra preset are not the main cost; rather, the sheer number of pixels is the dominant factor. This data indicates that for a game like Inside, which uses a primarily 2D side-scrolling perspective, the resolution scaling is almost entirely a function of GPU fill rate and memory bandwidth.

FAQ

Q: How does the RTX 4080 Mobile handle Inside at 4K with the highest settings?

A: The data shows an average of 91 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings. This is well above the 60 FPS target for most displays, indicating that the GPU can comfortably manage the game’s maximum visual fidelity at 4K.

Q: Is the AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX a bottleneck for this game?

A: The benchmark results suggest that the CPU is not a limiting factor at standard settings. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 357 FPS, which is an extremely high frame rate. The CPU’s 16 cores and 32 threads, with a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, provide more than enough processing power for a game of this genre, and the bottleneck is almost entirely on the GPU.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset produces an average of 303 FPS, while the Ultra preset produces 144 FPS. This is a 52.5% reduction in performance, showing that the graphical enhancements in the Ultra preset have a significant cost, though the absolute frame rates remain exceptionally high.

Q: Can this laptop configuration take advantage of a high-refresh-rate 1440p monitor?

A: Yes. The measured data shows an average of 243 FPS at 1440p with Medium settings, and 152 FPS with High settings. Both figures are comfortably above 144 Hz, meaning the system can fully utilize a 144Hz display at this resolution without needing to compromise heavily on visual quality.

Q: How does the performance at 1080p compare to 4K for this GPU?

A: The data reveals a massive scale. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 357 at 1080p to 191 at 4K, a 46.5% reduction. At High settings, the drop is from 211 FPS to 95 FPS, a 55.0% reduction. This highlights the significant workload increase that 4K resolution places on the GPU.

Q: Is the RTX 4080 Mobile’s performance consistent across different settings presets?

A: The data shows a clear hierarchy. At 4K, the average FPS ranges from 191 (Low) to 152 (Medium), 95 (High), and 91 (Ultra). The jump between Medium and High is the largest, indicating that the High preset includes features that are more costly to render than the step from Low to Medium.

Settings Recommendations

For this hardware combination, the benchmark data suggests that the Ultra preset is the optimal choice for the best visual experience. At 1440p, the Ultra preset delivers an average of 144 FPS, which is precisely the refresh rate of many high-end gaming monitors. This means users can enjoy the game’s full visual fidelity without sacrificing smoothness. The 4K Ultra result of 91 FPS is also highly playable, making it a viable option for users with 4K displays who prioritize image quality.

However, if the goal is to maximize frame rates for competitive or high-refresh-rate play, the Medium preset offers an exceptional balance. At 1080p, Medium settings achieve 330 FPS, and at 1440p, they reach 243 FPS. These figures are more than sufficient for any display currently on the market, and the visual difference between Medium and Ultra in a game with this art style is likely to be subtle. The data shows that the High preset is a middle ground, but it does not provide as large a jump in frame rate from Ultra as Medium does from High.

The Low preset, while capable of producing 357 FPS at 1080p, is not recommended because it unnecessarily sacrifices visual quality. The game’s atmosphere is heavily reliant on lighting and shadows, which are likely to be significantly reduced at Low settings. Given that the GPU can handle the Ultra preset at 4K with an average of 91 FPS, there is no reason to compromise on visuals. The data strongly supports using the Ultra preset for the definitive experience, with Medium as a fallback for users with monitors that support refresh rates above 144 Hz.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete set of measured results provides a granular view of performance across all combinations. At 1920x1080, the system delivers an average of 357 FPS on Low, 330 FPS on Medium, 211 FPS on High, and 201 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset shows a minimum of 280 FPS and a maximum of 379 FPS, indicating a tight frame time distribution. The High and Ultra presets do not have min/max values recorded, but their averages show a 4.7% difference, suggesting that the Ultra preset adds some visual features without a major performance penalty.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 303 FPS (Low), 243 FPS (Medium), 152 FPS (High), and 144 FPS (Ultra). The Medium preset here has a recorded minimum of 206 FPS and a maximum of 279 FPS. The performance gap between Low and Medium is 19.8%, while the gap between Medium and High is a substantial 37.4%. This indicates that the High preset introduces a significant increase in rendering complexity, likely involving more advanced lighting and post-processing effects.

At 3840x2160, the averages drop to 191 FPS (Low), 152 FPS (Medium), 95 FPS (High), and 91 FPS (Ultra). The Medium preset is the only one with min/max data, showing a minimum of 130 FPS and a maximum of 175 FPS. The scaling from 1440p to 4K is severe, with the High preset losing 37.5% of its performance and the Ultra preset losing 36.8%. This confirms that the RTX 4080 Mobile’s 12 GB of VRAM and 432.0 GB/s memory bandwidth are being fully utilized, but the 4K resolution still demands a heavy toll on the GPU’s pixel processing capabilities.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile is the definitive performance driver in this configuration. The GPU’s 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus provides 432.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is ample for a game like Inside, even at 4K. The data shows that the GPU is the limiting factor at all resolutions above 1080p Low, where the frame rates scale directly with the number of pixels being rendered. The boost clock of 1665 MHz and the 7424 shading units are more than capable of handling the game’s 2D visuals, but the sheer fill-rate demand at 4K is what causes the frame rate to drop from 357 FPS at 1080p to 191 FPS at 4K on Low settings.

The GPU’s architecture, Ada Lovelace, includes features like 58 RT cores and 232 tensor cores, but these are not heavily utilized in a title such as this. The performance is instead dominated by the rasterization throughput and memory bandwidth. The benchmark scores for the GPU, such as a Passmark G3D score of 24926 and a Geekbench OpenCL score of 159575, place it in the 81st percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Mobile and the RTX 4070, with which it trades blows in synthetic benchmarks (deltaPct of -0.6% and +1.3%, respectively). In this game, the GPU’s role is to provide enough fill-rate to push high pixel counts, and the data shows it does so with significant headroom, as even the 4K Ultra result of 91 FPS is well above playable thresholds.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX plays a secondary but important role in this game’s performance. With 16 cores and 32 threads based on the Zen 4 architecture, the CPU’s processing power is far beyond what Inside requires. The base clock of 2.50 GHz and boost clock of 5.40 GHz ensure that single-threaded performance is excellent, which is relevant for a game that may have a primary game logic thread. The benchmark results show that at 1080p Low, the system achieves 357 FPS, a frame rate so high that it is likely approaching the point where CPU limitations could emerge, but the data indicates that the CPU handles it without issue.

The CPU’s 64 MB of L3 cache and dual-channel DDR5 memory support provide a solid foundation for feeding the GPU with data. In the measured results, the CPU is not the bottleneck at 1080p High (211 FPS) or at any 1440p or 4K settings, as the GPU is clearly the limiting factor in those scenarios. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 76212 places it in the 95th percentile of all CPUs, and its nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX and AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D, have essentially identical average scores (deltaPct of 0.1% and 0.6%, respectively). For Inside, the CPU’s role is to provide a stable platform that never introduces a frame rate ceiling, and the data confirms that it succeeds. The only scenario where the CPU might become relevant is if the frame rate were uncapped at 1080p Low, but with a 357 FPS average, it is a non-issue for practical use.