Inside

The Intel Core i5-12400 with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 delivers a dominant performance in Inside, a puzzle platformer where the hardware is never the bottleneck. The data shows that this combination is heavily GPU-limited at higher resolutions, but the sheer power of the RTX 3070 ensures that even the most demanding preset at 4K remains well above the 60 FPS threshold. The core count and clock speeds of the i5-12400 are more than sufficient to feed the GPU, making this setup a high-refresh-rate monster at 1080p and a solid 4K experience at maximum settings.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is significant and reveals a clear GPU-bound scenario. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 188.2 FPS at 1920x1080 to 135.3 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of approximately 28%. Moving to 3840x2160, the frame rate drops further to 83.8 FPS, which is a 55% decrease compared to the 1080p result. This scaling pattern is typical for a game where the visual fidelity of the RTX 3070 is the primary constraint, rather than the central processor.

The most telling evidence of GPU limitation is seen in the Low settings results. At 1920x1080, the combination produces an average of 319.7 FPS. This drops to 269.7 FPS at 1440p and 172 FPS at 4K. While the 4K Low result is still extremely high, the 46% reduction from 1080p to 4K shows that the rendering resolution is the dominant factor in performance. The CPU is not holding the system back, as the frame rates scale inversely with pixel count, which is the expected behavior for a GPU-bound workload.

The gap between settings at 4K further confirms this. The difference between Low (172 FPS) and Medium (134.5 FPS) is 37.5 FPS, and the gap between Medium and High (83.8 FPS) is even larger at 50.7 FPS. The Ultra preset mirrors the High preset exactly at 83.8 FPS, indicating that the game’s Ultra settings do not add additional GPU strain beyond High for this title, or that the game is hitting a performance ceiling that is not related to the graphics card’s core clock but rather its memory bandwidth or fill rate. The data suggests that resolution scaling is the primary lever for performance, with the RTX 3070’s 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth being the deciding factors at higher pixel counts.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. Its benchmark scores indicate it is a very capable mid-range part. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 15935 and single-core score of 2249 show strong performance. The PassMark single-thread score of 3456 is equally impressive, suggesting that the CPU’s per-core performance is more than adequate for a game like Inside, which relies on physics and logic rather than massive multi-threaded workloads.

In the context of this game, the CPU’s role is to maintain a high frame rate floor. The data shows that at 1080p Low settings, the system achieves 319.7 FPS. This indicates that the i5-12400 can process game logic at a rate that far exceeds the 144 Hz refresh rate of most monitors. Even at 4K, the CPU is not the limiting factor; the GPU is. The processor’s 3dmark single-thread score of 910 and 2-thread score of 1692 suggest that it can handle the single-threaded nature of many game engines, and the 4-thread score of 3012 provides ample headroom for background tasks.

The i5-12400’s performance relative to its rivals is notable. It is 0.1% ahead of the Intel Core i7-9700 in average benchmark score, and 0.4% ahead of the Intel Core i5-11600K. It is 0.2% behind the Intel Core i7-8700. This places it in the same performance tier as these older processors, meaning that for a game like Inside, the CPU is not a differentiating factor. The bottleneck is unequivocally the GPU, as evidenced by the fact that the frame rate scales almost perfectly with resolution.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution to play Inside with this combo for a high refresh rate monitor?*

A: The data shows that at 1920x1080 with High settings, the average FPS is 188.2, and at Ultra it is 178. This is well above 144 Hz. For 1440p, the High preset yields 135.3 FPS, which is slightly below a 144 Hz target but still very smooth.

Q: Is the RTX 3070 powerful enough for 4K gaming in this title?

A: Yes. The measured results show an average of 83.8 FPS at 3840x2160 on both High and Ultra settings. This is a playable frame rate for most users, though not ideal for competitive play.

Q: Does the Ultra preset offer a better experience than High?

A: No. The measured average FPS for Ultra is identical to High at 83.8 FPS at 4K, 129.8 vs 135.3 FPS at 1440p, and 178 vs 188.2 FPS at 1080p. The performance cost of Ultra is significant, with a 5.4 FPS drop at 1440p and a 10.2 FPS drop at 1080p, without a corresponding performance benefit in the data.

Q: How much faster is the Low preset compared to Ultra at 1440p?

A: The Low preset at 2560x1440 produces an average of 269.7 FPS, while Ultra produces 129.8 FPS. This means Low is over 2x faster, providing a massive headroom for maximum refresh rates.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between 1080p and 4K on Medium settings?

A: The Medium preset yields 294.9 FPS at 1920x1080 and 134.5 FPS at 3840x2160. This shows a drop of 160.4 FPS, or approximately 54%, when moving from Full HD to 4K.

*Q: Is this a CPU-bound or GPU-bound setup for Inside?*

A: The data strongly indicates a GPU-bound scenario. The frame rate drops consistently as resolution increases, which is a classic sign of GPU limitation. The CPU’s high single-thread scores and the fact that the system can exceed 300 FPS at 1080p Low confirm it is not the limiting factor.

Settings Recommendations

For the best balance of visual quality and performance, the High preset is the clear recommendation. At 1920x1080, it delivers an average of 188.2 FPS, which is an excellent experience for any monitor. At 2560x1440, it still provides 135.3 FPS, which is suitable for high refresh rate gaming. The High preset is also the most efficient at 4K, producing 83.8 FPS, identical to the Ultra preset.

The Ultra preset is not recommended for this game. The measured data shows that it provides no performance advantage over High at 4K, while at 1080p and 1440p, it is actually slower (178 vs 188.2 FPS and 129.8 vs 135.3 FPS, respectively). Since there is no visual benefit measured in the data, High is the superior choice.

The Medium preset offers a middle ground for users with 144 Hz monitors at 1440p. It yields 218.1 FPS at that resolution, which is significantly higher than the 135.3 FPS from High. However, the visual quality reduction is not quantified in the data. The Low preset is only necessary for extreme refresh rates (240 Hz or more) at 1080p, where it achieves a staggering 319.7 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

This combination of components ranks 670 out of 1671 tested combos for Inside. This places it in the top 40% of all systems tested, which is a respectable position given the game’s age and the fact that the RTX 3070 is a high-end card from its generation. The rank is influenced by the fact that many other combos may feature even more powerful GPUs, but the data shows that this setup is not a slouch.

The GPU’s performance percentile is 72, meaning it outperforms 72% of all GPUs in the database. The CPU’s percentile is 77, outperforming 77% of all CPUs. When combined, these parts are well-matched, but the GPU is slightly more of a limiting factor than the CPU, as evidenced by the resolution scaling. The combo rank is a reflection of the entire system’s capability, and it shows that this is a solid mid-to-high-tier pairing for a game like Inside.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the i5-12400 and RTX 3070 combo shows its full potential. The Low preset averages 319.7 FPS, while Medium drops to 294.9 FPS. High settings produce 188.2 FPS, and Ultra is slightly lower at 178 FPS. This demonstrates that the CPU can push over 300 frames per second when the GPU is not heavily taxed.

Moving to 2560x1440, the numbers scale downward. Low settings average 269.7 FPS, and Medium averages 218.1 FPS. The High preset delivers 135.3 FPS, and Ultra drops to 129.8 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra is only 5.5 FPS, suggesting diminishing returns for the higher preset.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck. Low settings average 172 FPS, and Medium averages 134.5 FPS. High and Ultra are identical at 83.8 FPS. This is a significant drop from 1080p, with the High preset losing 104.4 FPS (55%) when moving from Full HD to 4K. The system remains playable at all resolutions and presets, but the 4K results show the limits of the RTX 3070’s memory bandwidth and pixel fill rate.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is the primary driver of performance in Inside. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is crucial for high-resolution textures. The data shows that the GPU is the limiting factor at 4K, as the frame rate drops consistently with resolution. The card’s boost clock of 1725 MHz and its 5888 shading units allow it to process the game’s visuals efficiently.

The GPU’s benchmark scores are solid, with a PassMark G3D score of 22214 and a Geekbench OpenCL score of 123479. Its performance is 0.9% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT and 1% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti, according to the nearestRivals data. It is 0.6% behind the AMD FirePro S7150. This places it in a competitive position, but the game’s performance is more dependent on the GPU’s fill rate and bandwidth than its raw compute power.

The identical frame rates for High and Ultra at 4K (83.8 FPS) suggest that the game is hitting a hard limit, likely related to the memory bandwidth or the pixel fill rate (165.6 GPixel/s). The GPU’s 96 ROPs are tasked with writing pixels to the framebuffer, and at 4K, this becomes a bottleneck. The RTX 3070 is a capable air-cooled card, but this title shows that even high-end GPUs have limits at 4K with maximum settings. The GPU’s 220 W TDP and PCIe 4.0 x16 interface are sufficient for this workload, and the data shows it is the component that determines the final frame rate.