Inside

Inside is a 2016 puzzle platformer that, on paper, should not challenge modern hardware. Yet, the measured data for the Intel Core i5-10400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB combination reveals a title that scales predictably with resolution and settings, offering a clear view into where the bottleneck lies for this specific pairing. The benchmark results indicate a system capable of high refresh rate play at 1080p, with performance tapering off as pixel count increases, but never falling below playable thresholds.

Resolution Scaling

The performance delta between 1080p and 4K is substantial and tells a clear story about component utilization. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces 233 FPS. Moving to 1440p drops this to 208.1 FPS, and at 4K it falls to 175.3 FPS. This scaling pattern, from 233 to 175.3 FPS (a 24.7% reduction from 1080p to 4K), suggests that even at the lowest settings, the GPU is beginning to feel the load of higher resolutions, but the CPU is still keeping pace.

The picture changes dramatically when examining Ultra settings. At 1080p Ultra, the system hits 179.1 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, it drops to 129.6 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it falls to 81.9 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 4K at Ultra is a 54.3% reduction in frame rate. This steeper decline at higher settings indicates that the RTX 4060 Ti is the limiting component in this scenario; the GPU's rendering workload is scaling as expected with resolution, while the CPU has ample headroom.

The data shows that the gap between Low and Ultra settings widens with resolution. At 1080p, the difference is 53.9 FPS (233 vs 179.1). At 4K, that gap expands to 93.4 FPS (175.3 vs 81.9). This widening gap is a classic sign of a GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions; the extra work required for Ultra settings compounds with the pixel count, and the 8 GB frame buffer and 288.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth on the graphics card become increasingly relevant.

GPU Role

The RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB is a mid-range Ada Lovelace part with a base clock of 2310 MHz and a boost clock of 2535 MHz. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. For a game like Inside, which is not graphically intensive by modern standards, this memory configuration proves sufficient at 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K Ultra result of 81.9 FPS suggests the card is working near its limits.

The GPU's benchmark scores are modest, placing it in the 17th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 2913. Its nearest rivals in the database include the NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M, which scores identically at 2913, and the RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB, which scores 2907. This indicates that the 8 GB variant is performing as expected for its class. The game's results, however, show the card exceeding its percentile ranking, suggesting that Inside's art style and rendering techniques are well-suited to this hardware.

At 4K High, the system manages 89.2 FPS, which is still above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth play. The drop from Medium (141.3 FPS) to High (89.2 FPS) at 4K is a significant 36.9% reduction, highlighting that the High preset introduces effects that are particularly taxing on the GPU's shading units and pixel throughput. The card's 22.06 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 48 ROPs are the likely factors here, as the pixel rate of 121.7 GPixel/s becomes a constraint at this resolution.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Comet Lake architecture, 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 this game, the CPU's role is secondary, as the frame rates at 1080p Low (233 FPS) and Medium (216.9 FPS) are high enough to indicate that the processor is not the primary bottleneck.

The CPU's benchmark data shows a single-thread score of 688 in 3dmark and a multicore score of 4748 in 3dmark_16_threads. Its percentile rank of 73 among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 14168, places it slightly above the AMD EPYC 7552 (14115) and below the Intel Core i5-8500 (14332). For Inside, a game that is not heavily threaded, the single-core performance is what matters most, and the 4.30 GHz boost clock is sufficient to feed the GPU at all but the lowest settings.

At 1080p Low, the system produces 233 FPS, which is likely near the CPU's practical limit for this game's engine. When comparing 1080p Low (233 FPS) to 1440p Low (208.1 FPS), the drop is only 10.7%, whereas the drop from 1440p Low to 4K Low (175.3 FPS) is 15.8%. This pattern suggests that the CPU is still contributing to performance at 1080p, but the GPU becomes the dominant factor as resolution increases. The CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads are more than adequate for a title of this age.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific pairing of the Core i5-10400F and RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB is ranked 914 out of 1671 tested combos for Inside. This places it in the 54.7th percentile of all tested configurations, meaning it performs better than a slight majority of systems in the database. The ranking is measured, not estimated, which adds confidence to the data.

Given the game's release date in 2016, this ranking is expected. The combo is not a top-tier performer because the CPU, while competent, is not a high-end part, and the GPU, while modern, is an entry-level 40-series card. The data shows that this system is positioned in the middle of the pack, capable of excellent frame rates but not at the extreme high end that would be seen with flagship components. The rank of 914 suggests that many combos with newer CPUs or higher-tier GPUs will outperform it, but it also indicates that it beats a significant number of older or lower-spec systems.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates across all settings. Low settings produce 233 FPS, Medium yields 216.9 FPS, High results in 178.4 FPS, and Ultra achieves 179.1 FPS. The near-identical scores for High and Ultra (178.4 vs 179.1) are notable, suggesting that the Ultra preset does not add significant rendering load over High at this resolution, or that the CPU is capping performance at around 179 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high. Low settings drop to 208.1 FPS, Medium to 189.9 FPS, High to 142 FPS, and Ultra to 129.6 FPS. The delta between High and Ultra at 1440p is 12.4 FPS, which is more pronounced than at 1080p, indicating that the GPU is starting to feel the effect of the additional pixels.

At 3840x2160, the system still delivers playable results. Low settings produce 175.3 FPS, Medium yields 141.3 FPS, High achieves 89.2 FPS, and Ultra drops to 81.9 FPS. The 4K High result is the only one below 100 FPS, and even the Ultra result remains comfortably above 60 FPS. This makes 4K viable for this game, though the higher settings show a clear performance cost.

Settings Recommendations

For players using a 1080p display, the Ultra preset at 179.1 FPS is the best choice. It provides the highest visual quality with a frame rate that is still far beyond the refresh rate of most monitors. The difference between High and Ultra at this resolution is negligible in terms of FPS (178.4 vs 179.1), so opting for Ultra is a no-cost improvement.

At 1440p, the Medium preset offers the best balance, delivering 189.9 FPS. This is 47.9 FPS higher than High (142 FPS) and 60.3 FPS higher than Ultra (129.6 FPS). The visual jump from Medium to High does not justify the frame rate loss, especially for a game where smooth motion is critical for puzzle solving. The High preset at 142 FPS is also acceptable, but Medium provides a larger margin of safety.

For 4K displays, the Medium preset at 141.3 FPS is the recommended choice. It delivers a smooth, high-refresh experience that is far above the 60 FPS baseline. The High preset at 89.2 FPS is still playable, but the drop from Medium is steep (36.9% reduction). The Ultra preset at 81.9 FPS is the most demanding, and while it is playable, the performance cost over Medium (59.4 FPS difference) is substantial for the incremental visual gains in a game with a muted, atmospheric art style. The data shows that Medium is the sweet spot at 4K, providing a frame rate that fully utilizes the RTX 4060 Ti's capabilities without pushing into diminishing returns.