Inside

Inside is a puzzle platformer that demands precise, consistent frame delivery rather than raw geometry throughput, and the benchmark data for the Intel Core i5-11400F with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti shows a combo that can handle the game’s demanding lighting and occlusion effects with ease. The measured results across all resolutions and settings reveal a system that is rarely constrained by the CPU, instead shifting the bottleneck to the GPU only at the highest fidelity and resolution combinations. The data indicates that this pairing is capable of delivering a flawless experience on high-refresh-rate displays, though the choice of settings will determine whether the player prioritizes maximum fluidity or maximum visual polish.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark results clearly indicate that the Medium preset is the optimal balance for this hardware configuration. At 1080p, the Medium preset delivers an average of 224.8 FPS, which is a massive leap over the High preset’s 142.1 FPS and only slightly below the Low preset’s 273.7 FPS. The visual uplift from Low to Medium is typically significant in this genre, involving better shadow resolution and post-processing, while the performance cost is relatively modest compared to the jump from Medium to High. For players with a 144Hz monitor, the Medium preset provides ample headroom to avoid drops below the refresh rate.

If a player has a 1440p display, the Medium preset again proves to be the sweet spot, producing an average of 162.8 FPS. This is comfortably above the 144Hz threshold and represents a 58% improvement over the High preset’s 102.7 FPS. The Low preset at 1440p reaches 204.1 FPS, but the gain over Medium is not worth the visual degradation in a game where atmospheric lighting is a core component of the design. The Ultra preset, while visually stunning, drops performance to 94.4 FPS at 1440p, which is still playable but begins to sacrifice the fluidity that the CPU and GPU combo can otherwise provide.

At 4K, the recommendations shift. The High preset delivers an average of 61.6 FPS, which is just about playable for a slow-paced puzzle game, but the Medium preset offers a much safer 98.7 FPS. The Low preset at 4K hits 130.1 FPS, which is ideal for a 120Hz 4K television. The Ultra preset at 4K is the only configuration that dips below 60 FPS, averaging 57.9 FPS. For the best overall experience at 4K, the Medium preset is recommended, as it maintains a high frame rate while preserving the game’s visual identity; the difference between Medium and High at this resolution is a 37 FPS swing, making Medium the clear choice for consistent performance.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Rocket Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. While Inside is not a multi-threaded showcase, the CPU’s single-thread performance is crucial for maintaining consistent frame pacing. The benchmark data shows the processor achieves a single-thread score of 868 in 3DMark and 2029 in Cinebench R23, which places it in the 75th percentile of all CPUs. This level of performance is more than sufficient to feed the RTX 3060 Ti, even at high frame rates.

Evidence of the CPU’s capability is visible in the scaling patterns. At 1080p with the Low preset, the combo achieves 273.7 FPS, which is a demanding scenario for the CPU to generate frames quickly. The fact that the system reaches this figure indicates that the i5-11400F is not a limiting factor at lower resolutions. The processor’s 12 MB of shared L3 cache and 80 KB of L1 cache per core help reduce latency in the game’s physics and logic calculations, though the game’s simplicity means the CPU is rarely stressed.

However, the CPU’s role becomes more apparent when comparing the performance deltas between resolutions. The drop from 1080p Low at 273.7 FPS to 1440p Low at 204.1 FPS is a 25% reduction, which aligns with the increase in pixel count. This linear scaling suggests the GPU is taking over the primary workload as resolution increases. The i5-11400F’s 65W TDP and 14nm process node are not performance concerns here, as the game’s low thread count means the processor’s thermal headroom is never challenged. In essence, the CPU provides a robust foundation, but the RTX 3060 Ti is the component that dictates the experience at higher settings.

FAQ

Q: Is the RTX 3060 Ti capable of running Inside at 4K with High settings?

A: Yes, the measured average FPS at 3840x2160 with High settings is 61.6 FPS, which is just above the 60 FPS threshold. However, the frame rate is close to the edge, so players seeking more headroom should consider the Medium preset, which delivers 98.7 FPS at the same resolution.

Q: How does the i5-11400F compare to its nearest rival in CPU benchmarks?

A: The i5-11400F has an average benchmark score of 17181, which is nearly identical to the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U’s 17189, showing a 0% delta. It is slightly ahead of the Intel Core i7-1260P and Intel Core Ultra 7 164U, both with a -0.2% delta, and slightly behind the Intel Core i5-1240U, which has a 0.2% delta.

Q: What is the best preset for a 144Hz 1440p monitor?

A: The Medium preset is the best choice, as it provides an average of 162.8 FPS, which exceeds the 144Hz refresh rate. The High preset drops to 102.7 FPS, which would not fully utilize a 144Hz display.

Q: Does the game become CPU-bound at any resolution?

A: The data does not suggest a CPU bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 273.7 FPS, and the frame rate scales down proportionally with resolution increases, indicating the GPU is the limiting factor in most scenarios. The CPU’s 75th percentile ranking supports its capability to handle the game’s demands.

Q: How does the RTX 3060 Ti’s performance compare to its closest rivals?

A: The RTX 3060 Ti has an average benchmark score of 25120. It is 0.2% slower than the AMD Radeon RX 6700M, 0.5% slower than the AMD Radeon RX 6600 and AMD Radeon 890M, and 0.7% slower than the AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP. These deltas indicate that the GPU is positioned competitively in its tier.

Q: Is the Ultra preset viable at 1080p?

A: Yes, the Ultra preset at 1080p produces an average of 131.7 FPS, which is still suitable for high-refresh-rate gaming. However, the High preset at 142.1 FPS offers a 8% performance increase with likely minimal visual difference in this specific game.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-11400F and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti ranks 1211 out of 1671 tested combinations in Inside. This placement in the 72nd percentile of all combos indicates that while the system is by no means a top-tier performer, it sits in the upper-middle range of the database. The ranking is influenced by the fact that many tested configurations include higher-end CPUs and GPUs that can push frame rates above the 273.7 FPS ceiling observed here, though such frame rates are far beyond the refresh rates of most displays.

The ranking context is important to interpret alongside the actual measured FPS. For instance, the combo’s 1080p Medium result of 224.8 FPS is exceptionally high, but the ranking is dragged down by combos that achieve even higher numbers, such as those with flagship GPUs. In practical terms, a rank of 1211 does not indicate a poor experience, but rather that this is a mid-pack performer among a broad range of hardware. The delta between this combo and the top performers is less significant than the raw frame rates suggest, as the game is already running at speeds where the human eye perceives diminishing returns. For a puzzle platformer, the 1211 rank is a strong result, showing that the hardware is well-matched to the game’s requirements without excessive overkill.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling across resolutions reveals a clear pattern of GPU dependence. Moving from 1080p to 1440p at the High preset reduces the average FPS from 142.1 to 102.7, a 28% drop. Continuing to 4K at High brings the average down to 61.6 FPS, a 40% reduction from 1440p. This steep decline as resolution increases is a classic indicator that the RTX 3060 Ti is the limiting component in this configuration at higher fidelity settings. The pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K, and the frame rate scales accordingly, falling from 142.1 to 61.6 FPS, which is a 57% decrease.

At the Low preset, the scaling is more linear but still substantial. The system goes from 273.7 FPS at 1080p to 204.1 FPS at 1440p, and finally to 130.1 FPS at 4K. The 4K result is still highly playable, but the proportional drop from 1080p to 4K is 52%, which is slightly less than the High preset’s drop. This suggests that even at Low settings, the GPU’s memory bandwidth and fill rate are being taxed. The RTX 3060 Ti’s 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus with 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth is sufficient for the game, but the sheer number of pixels at 4K still overwhelms the GPU’s 4864 shading units.

The Medium preset shows the most consistent scaling between resolutions: 224.8 FPS at 1080p, 162.8 FPS at 1440p, and 98.7 FPS at 4K. The frame rate drops by 28% from 1080p to 1440p and by 39% from 1440p to 4K, which aligns closely with the pixel count increases. This consistency indicates that the CPU is not introducing any anomalies, and the GPU is handling the workload in a predictable manner. The Ultra preset, however, exhibits the worst scaling, with a 28% drop from 1080p to 1440p (131.7 to 94.4 FPS) and a 39% drop from 1440p to 4K (94.4 to 57.9 FPS), reinforcing that the RTX 3060 Ti is the bottleneck at maximum settings. The data across all presets confirms that the i5-11400F is not restricting performance; the GPU is the sole determinant of frame rates as resolution climbs.