Inside

The Intel Core i5-11400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 delivers a performance profile in Inside that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher resolutions, yet reveals a capable mid-range CPU that keeps pace at lower settings. The measured frame rates across the four resolution and four quality presets show a clear pattern: the game scales aggressively with GPU load, while the processor provides a stable foundation that rarely becomes the primary constraint, even at 1080p where frame rates exceed 250 FPS.

Resolution Scaling

The data shows a steep and predictable drop in average frame rate as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160, which is characteristic of a title where the rendering resolution directly dictates GPU workload. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 186.7 at 1080p to 135.6 at 1440p, and finally to 83.6 at 4K. This represents a reduction of approximately 55% from the 1080p baseline when moving to 4K, indicating that the pixel throughput demand scales nearly linearly with the increase in pixel count, which is expected for a 2D side-scrolling puzzle platformer with limited geometric complexity.

The scaling pattern is even more pronounced at the Ultra preset, where the average FPS drops from 178.4 at 1080p to 129.4 at 1440p, and then to 82.9 at 4K. The difference between High and Ultra at each resolution is relatively modest, with the 4K Ultra score being only 0.7 FPS lower than the 4K High score. This suggests that the additional quality settings between High and Ultra impose a minimal incremental GPU cost, whereas the jump from Low to Medium is far more significant. For instance, at 4K, the average FPS decreases from 171.4 at Low to 135 at Medium, a drop of 36.4 FPS, which highlights that the Medium preset introduces substantially heavier shading or post-processing effects.

The implication for the limiting component is clear: at 4K, the GPU is the definitive bottleneck, as the RTX 3070’s throughput is saturated by the sheer number of pixels. Conversely, at 1080p Low, the average FPS reaches 270.8, which is more than three times the 4K Low score of 171.4. This wide gap suggests that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU far more frames than the GPU can render at higher resolutions, meaning the i5-11400F is not the constraining factor at 4K. The scaling from 1440p to 4K is remarkably consistent across all settings, with the average FPS roughly halving, which further confirms that the GPU’s memory bandwidth and compute resources are the primary limiters as resolution rises.

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. Its benchmark results place it in the 75th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 17181. In the context of Inside, this processor’s role is to handle the game’s simulation logic and draw calls, which for a puzzle platformer are not exceptionally demanding. The measured frame rates at 1080p Low, reaching 270.8 FPS, indicate that the CPU can drive the game far beyond typical display refresh rates without becoming a limiting factor.

The CPU’s multi-threaded performance is robust, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 14372 and its 3DMark max-thread score of 5652. However, the game’s frame rate at 4K Ultra (82.9 FPS) is only about 3% lower than at 4K High (83.6 FPS), which shows that the CPU is not struggling with the increased quality settings. When comparing to its nearest rivals, the i5-11400F’s average score of 17181 is essentially tied with the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U (17189) and Intel Core i7-1260P (17212), with a deltaPct of 0% and -0.2% respectively. This indicates that for a game like Inside, which is not highly threaded, the single-thread performance is more relevant; the processor’s Geekbench single-core score of 1979 and 3DMark single-thread score of 868 suggest it has sufficient per-core strength to avoid bottlenecks.

The fact that the average FPS at 1080p High (186.7) is significantly higher than at 1440p High (135.6) demonstrates that the CPU is not the limiting factor even at lower resolutions where GPU load is reduced. The processor’s 12 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support provide enough bandwidth for the game’s asset streaming, though the exact memory frequency is not specified in the data. The data suggests that the i5-11400F is more than adequate for this title, as its performance headroom is only fully utilized when the GPU is not stressed, such as at 1080p Low where the frame rate approaches the CPU’s ceiling.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is the dominant component in this pairing, with its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus providing a memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. Its boost clock of 1725 MHz and 5888 shading units deliver a theoretical FP32 performance of 20.31 TFLOPS, which is substantial for a game of Inside’s visual complexity. The GPU’s benchmark percentile of 72 places it above average, but its performance in this game is clearly defined by the resolution scaling observed. At 4K High, the average FPS is 83.6, which is a playable frame rate, but the drop from 1080p High (186.7) highlights how the pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth are taxed by the higher resolution.

The GPU’s role becomes more apparent when examining the Low vs. Ultra settings at each resolution. At 1080p, the difference between Low (270.8 FPS) and Ultra (178.4 FPS) is 92.4 FPS, which is a substantial gap that indicates the GPU’s shader cores are heavily utilized by the Ultra preset’s effects. At 4K, the same comparison shows a smaller absolute gap of 88.5 FPS (171.4 vs. 82.9), but the relative performance drop is similar. The RTX 3070’s 46 ray tracing cores and 184 tensor cores are not explicitly leveraged by the measured settings, but the standard rasterization performance is sufficient to maintain high frame rates. The GPU’s nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT, has an average benchmark score of 27985, which is 0.9% lower than the RTX 3070’s 28238, suggesting that this NVIDIA card holds a slight edge in synthetic tests, though in-game results may vary.

The data indicates that the GPU is the primary constraint at 4K, as the average FPS at Ultra (82.9) is the lowest across all tested configurations. The memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s is likely a critical factor here, as the high pixel count at 4K requires rapid texture and framebuffer access. The GPU’s power consumption of 220 W is substantial, but the frame rate results show that it is effectively utilized, with no signs of thermal throttling implied by the consistent scores across settings.

How This Combo Ranks

This combination of the Intel Core i5-11400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 holds a combo rank of 775 out of 1671 tested combos in Inside, placing it in the upper-middle portion of the database. This ranking is somewhat surprising given the high frame rates measured, but it reflects the fact that Inside is a lightweight title where even lower-end GPUs can achieve playable performance, and the ranking is relative to all tested combinations, which include faster processors and higher-tier GPUs. The combo’s position at the 46th percentile (775/1671) suggests that there are many configurations that deliver higher average FPS, particularly those with more powerful GPUs or newer CPU architectures.

The ranking is influenced by the CPU’s 75th percentile status and the GPU’s 72nd percentile, but the game’s low system requirements mean that the combo’s absolute performance is not exceptional in the broader context. For instance, the CPU’s average benchmark score of 17181 is comparable to the Intel Core i7-1260P (17212), which is a mobile processor, indicating that the i5-11400F is not a top-tier desktop part. However, the measured FPS in Inside at 1080p High (186.7) is well above the threshold for smooth gameplay, and the ranking does not diminish the practical experience. The combo’s rank of 775 suggests that while it is capable, there are 896 other tested combinations that achieve higher average FPS, likely due to more powerful GPUs or CPUs with better single-thread performance. The data confirms that this combo is well-balanced for the game, but not a top performer in the database’s overall ranking.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 4K High settings for this combo?

A: The average frame rate at 3840x2160 with High settings is 83.6 FPS, which is the second-highest score at that resolution, behind Low settings at 171.4 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rival in terms of benchmark scores?

A: The Intel Core i5-11400F has an average benchmark score of 17181, which is essentially identical to the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U (17189) with a deltaPct of 0%, and it is only 0.2% behind the Intel Core i7-1260P (17212).

Q: Is the GPU the bottleneck at 1080p Low settings?

A: No, the data shows an average FPS of 270.8 at 1920x1080 Low, which is the highest measured in the dataset, indicating that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU more than enough frames, and the GPU is not the limiting factor at this low resolution.

Q: What is the difference in average FPS between 1080p Ultra and 4K Ultra?

A: The average FPS at 1080p Ultra is 178.4, while at 4K Ultra it drops to 82.9, representing a decrease of 95.5 FPS, which demonstrates the significant impact of resolution on GPU workload.

Q: What is the GPU’s memory bandwidth and how does it affect performance?

A: The RTX 3070 has a memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s, which is substantial for an 8 GB GDDR6 configuration, and the data suggests this bandwidth is sufficient to maintain high frame rates, though the drop from 1080p to 4K indicates it is a contributing factor to the scaling.

Q: How does this combo rank in the database for this game?

A: The combo ranks 775 out of 1671 tested combinations, placing it in the upper-middle tier of the database, which reflects the game’s low system requirements and the presence of many higher-performing configurations.