Inside

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates across resolutions reveal a game that is remarkably easy to drive at extreme settings, even for a combination featuring a flagship GPU. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces an average of 276.1 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low only drops this to 245.7 FPS, a reduction of roughly 11%. At 4K Low, the average sits at 206.5 FPS, which is still an extremely high refresh rate and only 25% below the 1080p Low figure.

The scaling pattern shifts when examining higher presets. At High settings, the frame rate goes from 210.4 FPS at 1080p to 189.9 FPS at 1440p, and then to 145.5 FPS at 4K. This represents a 31% total drop from 1080p to 4K. The Ultra preset shows similar behavior: 208.1 FPS at 1080p, 184.2 FPS at 1440p, and 140.2 FPS at 4K, a 33% decline.

These results indicate that the RTX 4090 is not the primary bottleneck at lower resolutions. The gap between 1080p and 1440p is consistently small across all presets, suggesting that the CPU is handling the workload capably. The larger drop from 1440p to 4K—where the 4K High result is 23% lower than the 1440p High result—shows the GPU beginning to take on more responsibility as pixel count increases. However, even at 4K Ultra, the system never dips below 140 FPS, which is exceptionally smooth for a puzzle platformer.

The data points to a system that is heavily over-provisioned for this title. The Intel Core i5-11400F, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, appears sufficient to feed the RTX 4090. The CPU's boost clock of 4.40 GHz and its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 14372 suggest it has ample headroom for a game like Inside, which does not push multi-threaded workloads as hard as modern AAA shooters. The game's 2016 release date means it was designed around hardware that is now several generations old, so this modern combination simply overwhelms it.

How This Combo Ranks

Out of 1671 tested combinations, this pairing of the Intel Core i5-11400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 achieves rank 456 in Inside. This places it in the top 27% of all tested systems, which is a solid position but not near the top. The ranking is likely held back by the CPU, which sits at the 75th percentile when compared to all processors in the database.

The CPU's average benchmark score is 17181, which puts it in a tight cluster of rivals. The AMD Ryzen 7 5700U scores 17189, a 0% delta, making them effectively identical in overall compute performance. The Intel Core i7-1260P and Intel Core Ultra 7 164U both trail by 0.2%, while the Intel Core i5-1240U leads by 0.2%. This grouping shows that the i5-11400F is a mid-pack performer in the broader CPU landscape, but its 6-core, 12-thread configuration is more than adequate for this game's demands.

The GPU, on the other hand, is a top-tier part. The RTX 4090 sits at the 91st percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 66473. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Tesla T4 (66733, -0.4%), the Tesla P40 (66127, +0.5%), and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 (67097, -0.9%). None of these are gaming-focused cards, which underscores the 4090's dominance in consumer gaming workloads.

The combination's rank of 456 is therefore a product of the CPU's relatively modest standing dragging down an otherwise elite GPU. In a game like Inside, where frame rates are consistently high, the CPU's 75th percentile standing is not a practical limitation. The measured FPS figures show that even the lowest recorded average (140.2 FPS at 4K Ultra) is far above the refresh rate of most monitors. The rank reflects synthetic compute balance, but real-world gameplay is exceptionally smooth.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications explain why the frame rates are so high. The GPU features 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, delivering 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. For a game like Inside, which was released in 2016 and has modest texture and geometry demands, this memory configuration is massively over-provisioned. The game's assets simply cannot saturate a 24 GB buffer or utilize the available bandwidth fully.

Clock speeds are also a factor. The GPU has a base clock of 2235 MHz and a boost clock of 2520 MHz. These high frequencies, combined with 16384 shading units and 512 texture mapping units, produce a texture rate of 1,290.2 GTexel/s and an FP32 throughput of 82.58 TFLOPS. In practice, this means the GPU can process the game's pixel and vertex workloads far faster than the engine can deliver them, which is why the frame rates remain high even at 4K.

The RTX 4090 also includes 128 ray tracing cores and 512 tensor cores, though Inside does not feature ray tracing effects. The DirectX 12 Ultimate and Vulkan 1.4 support are present, but the game's engine likely operates on older API paths. The GPU's 450 W TDP and triple-slot cooler are overkill for this title, as the measured FPS suggests the card is never working at full capacity. The passmark G3D score of 38194 and the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 9223 confirm the GPU's high compute capability, but the game is too light to push it into a demanding state.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance on preset selection. At any resolution, the Low preset delivers the highest frame rates: 276.1 FPS at 1080p, 245.7 FPS at 1440p, and 206.5 FPS at 4K. However, Low settings are rarely the best choice for a game like Inside, which relies on atmospheric lighting and shadow detail. The jump from Low to Medium costs relatively little performance: at 1080p, Medium drops to 253 FPS (-8%), and at 4K, Medium drops to 190.6 FPS (-8%). This is a small penalty for what is likely a meaningful visual improvement.

The High preset is the sweet spot for visual quality. At 1080p, High delivers 210.4 FPS, which is only 9% below Medium. At 1440p, High produces 189.9 FPS, and at 4K, it maintains 145.5 FPS. All of these figures exceed 144 Hz, so gamers with high-refresh monitors will not see a practical difference between Medium and High. The Ultra preset, however, offers diminishing returns: at 4K, Ultra drops to 140.2 FPS, a 4% reduction from High. This is still smooth, but the visual uplift from High to Ultra is often minimal in this genre.

The data suggests that playing at 4K High is the optimal configuration. It provides the highest visual fidelity among the presets that still maintain a 140+ FPS average. For those prioritizing maximum smoothness at 1080p, the Medium preset is a better choice than Low, as it preserves some visual polish while staying above 250 FPS. There is no scenario where Low is recommended unless the user is chasing absolute maximum frame rates for competitive play, which is not applicable to a puzzle platformer.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 4K Ultra with this combination?

A: The system achieves an average of 140.2 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings. This is the lowest measured average across all tested configurations, but it remains well above 120 FPS.

Q: How does the Intel Core i5-11400F compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The CPU has an average benchmark score of 17181. The AMD Ryzen 7 5700U scores 17189 (0% delta), while the Intel Core i7-1260P and Intel Core Ultra 7 164U both score 17212 and 17215 respectively, each trailing by 0.2%. The Intel Core i5-1240U leads by 0.2% with a score of 17141.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking among all tested GPUs?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 sits at the 91st percentile. Its average benchmark score is 66473, and its nearest rival, the NVIDIA Tesla T4, scores 66733 for a -0.4% delta.

Q: What is the performance difference between 1080p High and 4K High?

A: At 1080p High, the average FPS is 210.4. At 4K High, the average drops to 145.5. This represents a 31% reduction in frame rate when moving from 1080p to 4K at the same preset.

Q: Does the combo rank among the top tested systems for this game?

A: The pairing ranks 456 out of 1671 tested combinations. This places it in the top 27% of all systems tested for Inside, though it is not near the top of the overall list.

Q: What is the boost clock of the CPU and the memory size of the GPU?

A: The Intel Core i5-11400F has a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 features 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus with 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth.