Inside

The Intel Core i5-12400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER delivers a remarkably smooth experience in Inside, a 2016 puzzle platformer that is far more demanding than its minimalist art style suggests. The measured frame rates across all presets and resolutions indicate that this hardware combination is not only sufficient but often overkill, making the choice of settings primarily about balancing visual fidelity against the high refresh rate potential of the display. The data shows a clear hierarchy where the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, while the CPU’s strong single-thread performance ensures the game logic never becomes a limiting factor.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows provide a clear picture of how the i5-12400 and GTX 1660 SUPER handle the game’s graphical presets. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset averages 103 FPS, which is excellent for a smooth experience, but the High preset jumps to 108 FPS, and the Medium preset delivers a substantial increase to 173 FPS with a minimum of 147 FPS. The Low preset at 1080p reaches a staggering 216 FPS average, which is far beyond the refresh rate of most monitors. Given these figures, the High preset at 1080p is the sweet spot, as it offers a near-perfect 108 FPS average while maintaining the higher fidelity shadows and effects that the Ultra preset only marginally improves upon.

For users with 1440p displays, the data indicates that the High preset is still the optimal choice, averaging 78 FPS with no reported minimum, which suggests it stays comfortably within playable territory. The Medium preset at 1440p provides a more responsive 125 FPS average with a 106 FPS minimum, making it the best option for competitive or fast-paced gameplay if the user prioritizes frame rate over visual polish. The Low preset at 1440p, at 156 FPS, is also viable but sacrifices too much visual detail for a gain that is barely perceptible on most 144Hz panels. The Ultra preset at 1440p, averaging 74 FPS, is the only setting that dips below the 75Hz threshold, making it less ideal for smooth motion.

At 4K, the situation changes dramatically. The High preset averages 49 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target, while the Medium preset averages 78 FPS with a respectable 66 FPS minimum, making it the definitive choice for 4K gaming. The Low preset at 4K provides a playable 98 FPS average, but the visual downgrade is significant. The Ultra preset at 4K averages only 47 FPS, which is too low for a consistent experience. Based on the measured rows, the Medium preset at 4K is the only option that balances frame rate and fidelity, while 1080p and 1440p users should stick to High for the best overall experience.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested hardware combinations, this specific pairing of the Intel Core i5-12400 and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER ranks 3166 out of 3716 combos for Inside. This places it in the lower 15th percentile of all tested systems, which is surprising given the playable frame rates it achieves. The low ranking is not a reflection of poor performance in this game, but rather an indication that the database includes many high-end configurations with significantly more powerful GPUs that push frame rates into the hundreds at 4K. The comboRankInGame field shows that while this setup is functional, it does not compete with the top-tier rigs that dominate the leaderboard.

The rank of 3166 out of 3716 suggests that the GTX 1660 SUPER, despite being a capable card, is the limiting factor in this pairing. The i5-12400, with its strong multi-core scores, is not the bottleneck. The data implies that swapping the GPU for a more powerful model would yield a much higher rank, as the CPU has headroom to support faster graphics cards. However, for the specific purpose of playing Inside at 1080p or 1440p, this rank is misleading, as the actual FPS results are well above playable thresholds. The ranking is a global metric, not a per-game verdict, and in this title, the combo delivers a solid, if not spectacular, experience.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER is a Turing-architecture card built on a 12 nm process, featuring 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s. Its base clock is 1530 MHz with a boost clock of 1785 MHz, and it has 1408 shading units. The GPU’s benchmark scores, such as a PassMark G3D score of 12699, place it in the 53rd percentile of all GPUs, which is a mid-range standing. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile, which is only 0.4% faster, and the AMD Radeon RX 580, also 0.4% faster, showing that the GTX 1660 SUPER is right at the edge of its performance class.

In Inside, the GPU’s role is critical, as the frame rates scale almost linearly with resolution. The data shows that at 1080p High, the card produces 108 FPS, but at 4K High, it drops to 49 FPS, a reduction of over 50%. This indicates that the card’s 6 GB of VRAM and 336.0 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for the game’s textures at 1080p and 1440p, but at 4K, the pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth become limiting. The 5.027 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is enough to handle the game’s lighting and post-processing effects at medium settings, but the Ultra preset’s additional draw distance and particle effects push the card to its limits, resulting in the 47 FPS average at 4K.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution to play Inside with this hardware?*

A: The measured data shows that 1920x1080 at High settings yields an average of 108 FPS, which is ideal for a smooth experience. At 2560x1440 High, the average drops to 78 FPS, which is still playable, but 1080p provides the highest frame rate without sacrificing visual quality.

*Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming in Inside?*

A: Yes, but only at Medium settings. The measured average FPS at 3840x2160 Medium is 78 FPS with a minimum of 66 FPS, which is playable. The High preset at 4K drops to 49 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target for most users.

Q: How does the GTX 1660 SUPER compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The GTX 1660 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 12986. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile is 0.4% faster, and the AMD Radeon RX 580 is also 0.4% faster. The AMD Radeon 740M is 0.9% slower.

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-12400 a bottleneck for the GTX 1660 SUPER?

A: No, the data suggests the CPU is not the limiting factor. The i5-12400 has a high multi-threaded score of 15989 in Cinebench R23, and its single-thread score of 2257 is strong. The frame rate drops are more closely tied to resolution changes, which indicates a GPU bottleneck.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 216 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 103 FPS. This represents a 213 FPS difference, showing that the Ultra preset is significantly more demanding on the GPU.

*Q: Does the combo rank in the database reflect poor performance in Inside?*

A: No, the rank of 3166 out of 3716 is a global measure across all tested combos. In Inside specifically, the measured FPS shows that the game runs well at 1080p and 1440p, but the rank is lower because many other combos in the database have much more powerful GPUs.

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates reveal a clear pattern of scaling as resolution increases. At 1080p High, the combo produces 108 FPS, but moving to 1440p High drops the average to 78 FPS, a 30 FPS decrease. Stepping up to 4K High further reduces the average to 49 FPS, which is a 59 FPS drop from 1080p. This scaling is typical of a GPU-bound scenario, where the number of pixels rendered directly impacts the workload. The data suggests that the GTX 1660 SUPER is the limiting component at higher resolutions, as the CPU’s performance does not change with resolution.

The pattern is consistent across all settings. At Low, 1080p averages 216 FPS, 1440p averages 156 FPS, and 4K averages 98 FPS. At Medium, the sequence is 173 FPS, 125 FPS, and 78 FPS. The relative drop from 1080p to 4K is roughly 55% across all presets, indicating that the GPU is scaling predictably with pixel count. This behavior confirms that the i5-12400 has ample headroom to feed the GPU, as the frame rate is not collapsing due to CPU limitations. The 4K Medium preset’s minimum FPS of 66 is the lowest recorded, but it remains above the 60 FPS threshold, showing that the GPU can maintain playable performance even at the highest resolution when settings are moderated.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Alder Lake generation, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. It has an 18 MB shared L3 cache and supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory. Its benchmark scores are robust, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 15989 and a single-core score of 2257, placing it in the 72nd percentile of all CPUs. The nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 7643 with a deltaPct of -0.1%, the Intel Core i7-1355U at -0.3%, and the AMD Ryzen AI 5 330 at -0.7%, showing that the i5-12400 is competitive with much more expensive processors in synthetic tests.

In Inside, the CPU’s role is to manage the game’s physics and logic, which is not heavily multithreaded. The data shows that the game is clearly GPU-bound, as frame rates scale with resolution but not with CPU workload. The i5-12400’s strong single-core performance, evidenced by its 3456 PassMark single-thread score, ensures that the game’s main thread is never a bottleneck. Even at 1080p Low, where the GPU is producing 216 FPS, the CPU keeps up without dropping frames, proving that its 12 threads and 4.40 GHz boost clock are more than sufficient for this title. The CPU’s 65 W TDP and Alder Lake architecture provide efficient power delivery, allowing the GPU to operate without thermal throttling from the processor.