Inside

The pairing of Intel’s Core i5-10400F with AMD’s Radeon RX 9070 XT produces a fascinating study in bottleneck behavior within Inside, a 2016 Puzzle Platformer that is anything but demanding on modern hardware. The measured frame rates across three resolutions reveal a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-limited at high fidelity settings, yet surprisingly CPU-bound at lower presets. The data indicates a combo that delivers exceptional performance, ranking in the 809th position out of 1671 tested combinations, placing it in the upper half of all systems benchmarked for this title.

Resolution Scaling

The performance trajectory from 1080p to 4K shows the classic signs of a system transitioning from a CPU-limited state to a GPU-limited one. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 232.7 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 at the same preset, the average drops to 205.9 FPS, a decline of roughly 11.5%. However, the most dramatic scaling occurs when jumping to 3840x2160, where the average falls to 175.5 FPS. This 14.8% drop from 1440p to 4K is significant, but the absolute numbers remain extraordinarily high.

The picture changes when examining the High preset. At 1080p, the system produces 178.6 FPS, which drops to 159.4 FPS at 1440p (a 10.7% reduction) and then plummets to 106 FPS at 4K—a 33.5% decrease from the 1440p result. This steep 4K cliff indicates that the RX 9070 XT's rendering workload is escalating rapidly, while the 1080p and 1440p figures suggest the i5-10400F is holding the system back from reaching even higher frame rates.

The Ultra preset tells a similar story with slightly lower absolute numbers: 176.8 FPS at 1080p, 155.9 FPS at 1440p, and 97.3 FPS at 4K. The gap between 1080p and 1440p is just 11.8%, but the jump to 4K represents a 37.6% loss. This pattern confirms that at lower resolutions and settings, the 6-core/12-thread Comet Lake processor becomes the limiting factor, capping performance well below what the GPU could theoretically deliver. Once resolution increases and pixel throughput demands rise, the Radeon RX 9070 XT takes over as the primary constraint.

FAQ

*Q: Can this system run Inside smoothly at 4K with maximum settings?*

A: Yes. The Ultra preset at 3840x2160 yields an average of 97.3 FPS, which is comfortably above 60 FPS and indicates a highly playable experience even at the highest fidelity.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K?

A: The loss depends heavily on the preset. At Low settings, the drop is from 232.7 FPS to 175.5 FPS, a 24.6% reduction. At High settings, the drop is steeper: from 178.6 FPS to 106 FPS, representing a 40.7% decrease.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the primary bottleneck in this game?

A: The data suggests the bottleneck shifts. At 1080p and 1440p with Low settings, the frame rates (232.7 and 205.9 FPS respectively) are likely constrained by the i5-10400F's single-thread performance. At 4K, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, as evidenced by the larger performance gaps between presets.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maximize frame rates?

A: For the absolute highest frame rates, 1080p with Low settings produces 232.7 FPS. However, even 1440p with Ultra settings delivers 155.9 FPS, making it an excellent choice for high-refresh-rate monitors without sacrificing visual quality.

Q: How does the system perform at 1440p with High settings compared to 4K?

A: The 1440p High preset achieves 159.4 FPS, which is 50.3% higher than the 106 FPS seen at 4K High. This makes 1440p the sweet spot for balancing visual fidelity and raw performance.

Q: Are there any settings where the frame rate exceeds 200 FPS?

A: Yes. The system surpasses 200 FPS at 1080p Low (232.7 FPS), 1080p Medium (213.2 FPS), and 1440p Low (205.9 FPS). All other tested configurations fall below this threshold.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Comet Lake architecture, built on Intel's 14 nm process. It features a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz, with 12 MB of shared L3 cache. Its synthetic benchmark scores show a processor that is competent but not exceptional: it achieves a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 10297 and a single-core score of 1453. In the broader CPU landscape, it sits at the 73rd percentile of all processors, with an average benchmark score of 14168.

In Inside, the CPU's role appears to be a limiting factor primarily at lower resolutions and settings. The fact that 1080p Low (232.7 FPS) and 1440p Low (205.9 FPS) show a relatively modest 11.5% difference suggests that the processor is struggling to feed the GPU with enough frames at these settings. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 4748 and the single-thread score of 688 indicate that while multi-threaded performance is solid, the per-core strength is moderate. This explains why the frame rates at 1080p don't scale linearly with resolution—the CPU simply cannot push beyond a certain threshold.

However, the CPU's 12 threads are sufficient for Inside's physics and logic, as evidenced by the fact that the system still manages over 175 FPS at 4K Low. The processor's 65W TDP and dual-channel DDR4 memory support (42.7 GB/s bandwidth) are more than adequate for this title. The data suggests that the i5-10400F is not a severe handicap in this game, but it does prevent the system from achieving the 300+ FPS territory that more modern CPUs might unlock at 1080p.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the i5-10400F and RX 9070 XT ranks 809th out of 1671 tested combos for Inside, placing it in the 48th percentile of all systems. This is a surprisingly low rank for hardware that produces such high absolute frame rates, which speaks to the nature of this game: it is so lightweight that even mid-range hardware can achieve triple-digit frame rates, and the ranking is dominated by combinations that can push past 250 FPS.

The i5-10400F's nearest rivals in the CPU benchmark database include the AMD EPYC 7552 (0.4% faster), AMD Ryzen 3 7320C (0.8% slower), and Intel Core i5-8500 (1.1% slower). These deltas are minimal, confirming that the processor's performance is well within its expected class. The RX 9070 XT, meanwhile, is compared to professional and older enthusiast cards like the AMD Radeon Pro 575 (0.1% faster), NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile (0.2% slower), and AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 (0.6% slower). These close margins indicate the GPU's position in the broader market.

Given that this combo ranks below the median, it is clear that other, more balanced pairings (likely with stronger CPUs) achieve higher frame rates in Inside. However, the absolute performance is still exceptional—the system never drops below 97.3 FPS in any tested configuration, meaning it delivers a flawless experience for a game that targets 60 FPS as a standard. The rank reflects the competition, not a deficiency in this specific setup.

Settings Recommendations

For players seeking the highest possible frame rates, the 1080p Low preset delivers an average of 232.7 FPS, which is ideal for competitive or high-refresh-rate play. However, the visual downgrade is unnecessary for a game like Inside, where atmosphere and art direction matter. The 1440p High preset strikes the best balance, offering 159.4 FPS—more than double the 60 FPS target—while maintaining a visually rich experience. This configuration avoids the steep 4K penalty (106 FPS at High) while still leveraging the RX 9070 XT's power.

The Medium preset at 1440p also warrants consideration, as it produces 193.9 FPS, a 21.6% improvement over High at the same resolution. For those with 144Hz monitors, this is the recommended setting to fully utilize the display's refresh rate. At 4K, the High preset (106 FPS) is preferable to Ultra (97.3 FPS), as the 8.9% performance gain from dropping to High is unlikely to be visually noticeable in this game's muted color palette and low-detail environments.

Ultimately, the data shows that this combo is overkill for Inside at any resolution below 4K. The 1080p Ultra preset still produces 176.8 FPS, meaning players can max out the game at 1080p without sacrificing performance. The only scenario where settings matter is 4K, where the gap between Low (175.5 FPS) and Ultra (97.3 FPS) is 44.5%, making preset selection critical for maintaining high refresh rates at that resolution. For the best experience, 1440p High is the recommended sweet spot, offering a 50.3% frame rate advantage over 4K High while delivering nearly identical visual quality on most displays.