Inside

The Intel Core i5-10400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER pairing delivers a remarkably consistent experience in Inside, a 2016 Puzzle Platformer that is far more demanding on frame rates than its minimalist art style suggests. The data shows a system that is never truly overwhelmed, but the scaling patterns reveal exactly where the CPU stops being the primary driver and the GPU takes over. Across all tested resolutions, this combo ranks 1271st out of 1671 total combos, placing it in the upper-middle tier of tested hardware, which is a solid position for a game that rewards high refresh rates.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep but not catastrophic, indicating a balanced system where the GPU becomes the limiting factor only at the highest pixel counts. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces 232.8 FPS, but this falls to 203.2 FPS at 1440p and then plummets to 129.1 FPS at 4K. This represents a 44.5% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, which is a significant hit but still leaves the game comfortably playable.

The scaling pattern shifts dramatically when moving to higher settings. At Ultra settings, the 1080p result is 131.3 FPS, which drops to 96.8 FPS at 1440p (a 26.3% reduction) and then to 59.7 FPS at 4K (a 54.5% reduction from 1080p). The 4K Ultra result of 59.7 FPS is the only sub-60 FPS figure in the entire dataset, showing that the RTX 2060 SUPER's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for most scenarios but hit a wall at the very top end.

The gap between Low and Ultra settings widens as resolution increases. At 1080p, the difference between Low (232.8 FPS) and Ultra (131.3 FPS) is 101.5 FPS, or a 43.6% performance penalty for maxing out settings. At 4K, that same gap shrinks to 69.4 FPS (from 129.1 to 59.7), a 53.8% penalty. This inversion indicates that at lower resolutions, the CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads are keeping the pipeline full enough that the GPU can stretch its legs, but at 4K, the GPU's raw pixel throughput becomes the bottleneck, and the CPU's headroom is largely irrelevant.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Comet Lake architecture, running on a 14 nm process with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz. Its 12 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support with 42.7 GB/s bandwidth provide solid fundamentals for a game like Inside, which is not heavily threaded but does require consistent single-thread performance for physics and logic.

The CPU's benchmark scores paint a picture of a mid-range part that punches above its weight. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 10297 and single-core score of 1453 are respectable, but the more telling figure is the PassMark single-thread score of 2541, which places it in the 73rd percentile of all CPUs. The nearest rivals show just how tight the competition is: the AMD EPYC 7552 scores 14115 (0.4% higher), the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C scores 14277 (0.8% higher), and the Intel Core i5-8500 scores 14332 (1.1% higher). These deltas are within 1.2% of the i5-10400F's average benchmark score of 14168, meaning the CPU is not a distinguishing factor in this pairing.

In Inside, the CPU's role becomes clear when examining the 1080p Low results. The 232.8 FPS figure is likely near the game's engine limit or the CPU's ability to feed frames, as the jump from Low to Medium at 1080p only costs 16.4 FPS (from 232.8 to 216.4), while the jump from Medium to High costs 79 FPS (from 216.4 to 137.4). This non-linear scaling suggests that at Low settings, the CPU is doing most of the heavy lifting, and the GPU is barely breaking a sweat. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 4748 and the PassMark multithread score of 12115 confirm that the CPU has enough headroom to avoid being a bottleneck in most scenarios.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is a Turing-architecture card built on TSMC's 12 nm process, featuring 2176 shading units, 136 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus delivers 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is ample for a game with Inside's relatively simple textures and lighting. The GPU's boost clock of 1650 MHz and base clock of 1470 MHz are modest by modern standards, but the 7.181 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is more than enough for this title.

The GPU's benchmark results show it is a solidly mid-range card, sitting in the 63rd percentile of all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 19774. Its nearest rivals are all within 1.3% of its score: the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN scores 19706 (0.3% lower), the RTX 2070 scores 19680 (0.5% lower), the Quadro K5200 scores 19623 (0.8% lower), and the Tesla K40m scores 19519 (1.3% lower). This clustering means the RTX 2060 SUPER is functionally equivalent to an RTX 2070 in raw compute terms, though the 2070 was a higher-tier card at launch.

The GPU's role in Inside becomes apparent when comparing the 1440p and 4K results. At 1440p High, the combo produces 98.4 FPS, but at 4K High, it drops to 64.7 FPS — a 34.3% reduction. The 4K Ultra result of 59.7 FPS is the only figure below 60 FPS, and it aligns with the GPU's PassMark G3D score of 16462, which suggests it is hitting its limits at that extreme. The 8 GB VRAM is never a constraint here, as the game's art style does not demand large texture pools, but the GPU's 105.6 GPixel/s pixel rate and 224.4 GTexel/s texture rate are the determining factors at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 1271 out of 1671 total combos places it in the 76th percentile of all tested pairings, which is a strong showing for a mid-range CPU and GPU from 2019-2020. The data indicates that this pairing is well-balanced for Inside, as the CPU and GPU are both in the upper-middle tier of their respective markets, and neither is dramatically holding back the other.

The rank suggests that roughly 400 combos outperform this one, and those are likely to feature newer, higher-end hardware. However, the measured FPS data shows that this combo still delivers excellent playability across all settings and resolutions except 4K Ultra. The fact that 4K High produces 64.7 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold, means that even at the highest resolution, only the absolute maximum settings require a compromise. This confirms the efficiency of the pairing rather than any single component's dominance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its best results. Low settings produce 232.8 FPS, Medium produces 216.4 FPS, High produces 137.4 FPS, and Ultra produces 131.3 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is just 16.4 FPS, but the jump from Medium to High costs 79 FPS, which is a dramatic step. The difference between High and Ultra is only 6.1 FPS, suggesting that Ultra adds little graphical benefit for a small performance cost at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the results scale down proportionally. Low produces 203.2 FPS, Medium produces 163.1 FPS, High produces 98.4 FPS, and Ultra produces 96.8 FPS. The Low to Medium gap is 40.1 FPS, while the Medium to High gap is 64.7 FPS. The High to Ultra gap narrows to just 1.6 FPS, indicating that Ultra is essentially free at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the GPU starts to struggle. Low produces 129.1 FPS, Medium produces 99.9 FPS, High produces 64.7 FPS, and Ultra produces 59.7 FPS. The scaling here is more linear, with each settings tier costing roughly 30-35 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is the only sub-60 FPS figure, and it is just barely below the threshold, meaning a slight overclock or driver update could push it over.

FAQ

Q: Is this combo capable of 60 FPS at 4K?

A: Yes, the data shows 64.7 FPS at 4K High settings, but 4K Ultra produces 59.7 FPS, which is just below the 60 FPS target. For a consistent 60 FPS at 4K, High settings are the safe choice.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its closest rivals?

A: The Intel Core i5-10400F has an average benchmark score of 14168, which is within 1.2% of the AMD EPYC 7552 (14115), AMD Ryzen 3 7320C (14277), Intel Core i5-8500 (14332), and AMD Ryzen Embedded V2546 (14336). This indicates the CPU is not a differentiating factor in this pairing.

Q: What is the best resolution for high refresh rate play?

A: At 1080p, the combo produces 232.8 FPS on Low and 131.3 FPS on Ultra, both well above typical 144 Hz monitors. At 1440p, Low produces 203.2 FPS and Ultra produces 96.8 FPS, so 1440p is also viable for high refresh rates.

Q: Does the GPU bottleneck the CPU at any settings?

A: Yes, the data suggests the GPU becomes the limiting factor at 4K, where the FPS drops are more severe. At 1080p and 1440p, the CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient to keep the GPU fed, as evidenced by the high FPS figures.

Q: How does this combo's rank compare to its component percentiles?

A: The CPU is in the 73rd percentile of all CPUs, and the GPU is in the 63rd percentile of all GPUs. The combo's rank of 1271 out of 1671 (76th percentile) is higher than either component's individual percentile, indicating good synergy in Inside.

Q: Is there a significant performance difference between High and Ultra settings?

A: The difference is minimal. At 1080p, it is 6.1 FPS (from 137.4 to 131.3); at 1440p, it is 1.6 FPS (from 98.4 to 96.8); and at 4K, it is 5.0 FPS (from 64.7 to 59.7). Ultra settings are essentially free performance-wise.