Inside

Inside is a puzzle platformer from 2016 that remains surprisingly demanding at high resolutions, and the data for the Intel Core i5-10400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7700 reveals a system that is heavily balanced toward GPU performance. The measured frames per second (FPS) across all settings and resolutions show a clear hierarchy where the graphics card is the primary driver of performance, with the CPU providing ample headroom. This analysis will break down the optimal settings, the specific roles of the processor and graphics card, how this combination stacks up against others in the database, and what the frame rate scaling tells us about the system's bottlenecks.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data for this combination suggests that the High preset offers the most balanced experience, but the choice depends heavily on the target resolution. At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers an average of 177 FPS, which is more than sufficient for smooth gameplay on a high-refresh-rate monitor. Moving to the Ultra preset at this resolution only drops the average to 168 FPS, a mere 5% reduction, making Ultra a viable option for those who prioritize visual fidelity over marginal frame rate gains. However, the data shows that the Medium preset at 1080p provides an average of 215 FPS, which is a significant jump from High, making it the best choice for competitive or high-speed play if the display can support it.

At 2560x1440, the High preset remains strong, with an average of 127 FPS. This is still well above the 60 FPS threshold for most displays. The Ultra preset here yields 121 FPS, showing that the performance cost of Ultra over High is minimal at this resolution as well. The Medium preset at 1440p is the standout, however, with an average of 192 FPS, which is a substantial 51% increase over High. This makes Medium the clear recommendation for 1440p users who want to maximize frame rates without sacrificing too much visual quality, as the jump from Medium to High is a steep 65 FPS drop.

The 4K resolution (3840x2160) is where the settings choices become more critical. The High preset at 4K delivers an average of 80 FPS, which is just on the edge of smoothness for many players. The Ultra preset drops this to 76 FPS, a small difference that might not justify the extra graphical load. The Medium preset, however, provides a much more comfortable 128 FPS, making it the superior choice for 4K gaming to ensure a fluid experience. The Low preset at 4K hits 160 FPS, but the visual compromise is likely too great for a game like this. Therefore, the data suggests that Medium at 4K and High at 1440p or 1080p are the sweet spots for this combo, balancing frame rate and visual quality effectively.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 is clearly the dominant component in this pairing. Its specifications include 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 624.1 GB/s. This substantial memory allocation and bandwidth are evident in the game's performance scaling. The GPU's clock speeds are also notable, with a base clock of 1900 MHz, a game clock of 2041 MHz, and a boost clock of 2459 MHz. These high clocks contribute to the card's ability to push high frame rates, especially at lower resolutions where the CPU is less likely to be a constraint.

The benchmark results for the GPU show a strong overall performance profile. It scores 20974 in the Passmark G3D test and 106028 in Geekbench OpenCL, placing it in the 58th percentile of all GPUs. When compared to its nearest rivals, its average benchmark score of 15852 is remarkably close to the AMD Radeon RX 9060, which scores 16014, a delta of -1%. Conversely, it is 1.7% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, which scores 16129, and 1.1% behind the AMD Radeon Pro W5500, which scores 15679. This indicates that the RX 7700 is a very capable mid-to-high-end card, and in this game, its performance is the main reason for the high frame rates observed.

The data shows that the GPU's role is most critical at higher resolutions. At 4K, the difference between the Low and Medium settings is 32 FPS (160 vs 128), and between Medium and High is 48 FPS (128 vs 80). This scaling suggests that the GPU is being pushed to its limits as the pixel count increases. The card's 16 GB of VRAM is likely sufficient for this title, but the sheer number of pixels at 4K is a significant workload. The GPU's FP32 performance of 25.18 TFLOPS provides the raw compute needed to handle these loads, and the data confirms that it is the primary determinant of performance in this system.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Comet Lake generation, with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz. It has 12 MB of shared L3 cache and supports dual-channel DDR4 memory with a bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s. In the context of this game, the CPU's role appears to be supportive rather than limiting. The measured frame rates show a very clear trend: performance scales almost entirely with resolution, which is a classic sign of a GPU-bound scenario. At 1080p, the CPU has to feed frames to the GPU as fast as possible, and the i5-10400F seems to do this capably, as evidenced by the 233 FPS average at Low settings.

The CPU's benchmark scores reinforce its adequacy for this task. It achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 10283 and a single-core score of 1451. Its Passmark multithread score is 12115, and its single-thread score is 2541. These scores place it in the 68th percentile of all CPUs, which is respectable but not top-tier. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core 7 160UL, which has an average score of 14232, a delta of -0.3%, and the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C, with an average score of 14277, a delta of -0.6%. This shows that the i5-10400F is in the same performance bracket as these other mid-range processors.

The fact that the CPU is not the bottleneck is most evident when looking at the frame rate differences between settings at the same resolution. For example, at 1080p, the difference between Low and Medium is only 18 FPS (233 to 215), and between Medium and High is 38 FPS (215 to 177). If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect these differences to be minimal. Instead, the GPU is responsible for the frame rate drops as settings increase. The CPU's 12 threads are more than enough for a puzzle platformer like Inside, which likely doesn't utilize many cores. The data strongly suggests that the i5-10400F provides a solid foundation, but the RX 7700 is the component that determines the final performance output.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations, this specific pairing of the Intel Core i5-10400F and AMD Radeon RX 7700 achieves a rank of 1565 out of 2887 combos for this game. This places it in the 54th percentile of all tested systems, which is a solidly mid-pack result. The ranking indicates that while this combo is capable of excellent performance, as seen in the high FPS numbers, there are many other combinations that can achieve higher frame rates. This is likely due to the fact that the RX 7700, while strong, is not the absolute fastest GPU available, and the i5-10400F, while competent, is not a top-tier processor.

The rank reflects a balanced system that performs well but has room for improvement. The high frame rates at 1080p and 1440p suggest that this combo is more than sufficient for most gamers. However, the rank of 1565 is not a top-tier result, indicating that users seeking the absolute highest performance in this game might need to look at more powerful components. The data shows that the combo is not held back by a single weak link, but rather, it is a well-matched pair that delivers consistent performance across the board. Its position in the middle of the pack reflects its overall capability, but it also highlights that there is a significant performance ceiling that other, more expensive combos can surpass.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play this game at with this CPU and GPU combo?

A: According to the data, 2560x1440 at Medium settings provides the best balance, with an average of 192 FPS. This is significantly higher than the 127 FPS at High settings and offers a great visual experience. 1080p is also excellent, with High settings hitting 177 FPS.

Q: How does the performance at 4K compare to 1440p for this system?

A: The performance drops significantly at 4K. For example, at High settings, the average FPS goes from 127 at 1440p to 80 at 4K, a reduction of 47 FPS. This indicates that the GPU is heavily taxed at 4K, and users should consider using Medium settings to maintain a smoother experience.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more important for this game's performance?

A: The data strongly indicates the GPU is the main driver of performance. The frame rate scales more with resolution and settings than with CPU-dependent tasks. The CPU's high multi-threaded scores are sufficient, but the GPU is the component that limits performance as pixel count increases.

Q: How does this combo compare to the nearest rival GPU in terms of overall benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7700 has an average benchmark score of 15852. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 9060, scores 16014, which is a 1% difference. The RX 7700 also outperforms the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, which scores 16129, by 1.7%.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for this system in the measured data?

A: The lowest minimum FPS recorded is 108 FPS, which occurs at 3840x2160 resolution with Medium settings. This indicates that even at 4K, the system maintains a frame rate that is well above the standard 60 FPS target.

Q: Does the system performance vary much between the High and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: No, the difference is minimal. At 2560x1440, the High preset averages 127 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 121 FPS. This is a small 6 FPS difference, suggesting that Ultra can be used without a major performance penalty at this resolution.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a detailed look at the system's performance across all settings. At 1920x1080, the system achieves an average of 233 FPS on Low, 215 FPS on Medium, 177 FPS on High, and 168 FPS on Ultra. The Medium setting also has a recorded minimum FPS of 183 and a maximum of 247. This shows a very capable performance at the entry-level resolution, with even the most demanding setting staying above 160 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages are 208 FPS on Low, 192 FPS on Medium, 127 FPS on High, and 121 FPS on Ultra. The Medium setting here shows a minimum of 164 FPS and a maximum of 221 FPS. The drop from Low to High is significant, highlighting the GPU's workload at this resolution. At 3840x2160, the averages are 160 FPS on Low, 128 FPS on Medium, 80 FPS on High, and 76 FPS on Ultra. The Medium setting at 4K has a minimum of 108 FPS and a maximum of 147 FPS, making it the only 4K setting that consistently stays above the 100 FPS mark.

This breakdown reveals that the system can handle 1080p and 1440p with ease, even at the highest settings. The 4K resolution is more challenging, but the Medium preset offers a playable and smooth experience. The data for the High and Ultra presets at 4K shows they are borderline, with averages in the 76-80 FPS range, which might be acceptable for some but not ideal for high-refresh-rate displays. The overall trend is a predictable decline in performance as both resolution and settings increase, with the GPU being the clear limiting factor.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K is a clear indicator of a GPU-bound system. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 177 at 1080p to 127 at 1440p, a 28% decrease, and then to 80 at 4K, a 55% decrease from the 1440p figure. This non-linear drop is characteristic of a system where the GPU is struggling to fill the increasing number of pixels. The CPU, which is not being tasked with more work at higher resolutions, is able to maintain its frame-feeding rate, but the GPU simply cannot render the frames fast enough.

The scaling pattern is similar across all settings. For Low, the drop from 1080p to 4K is from 233 FPS to 160 FPS. For Medium, it's from 215 FPS to 128 FPS. This consistent drop across all settings points to the GPU's fill-rate and compute capabilities as the bottleneck. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect to see the frame rates at 1080p to be much lower and the drop to 4K to be less severe, as the GPU would have more headroom to work with.

The data implies that the limiting component in this system is the AMD Radeon RX 7700. The Intel Core i5-10400F is sufficient to keep up with the GPU's demands, even at lower resolutions where the CPU's role is most critical. The performance degradation as resolution increases is a textbook example of a GPU-limited scenario. This means that for users of this combo, upgrading the graphics card would yield the most significant performance gains, while a CPU upgrade would likely result in little to no improvement in this specific game.