Inside

Inside is a modest 2D puzzle-platformer from 2016, and this pairing of an Intel Core i5-12400 with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 produces extreme frame rates that are almost entirely GPU-bound at higher settings, with the CPU proving more than sufficient to push the frame ceiling at lower presets. The data shows a combination that delivers an overwhelmingly smooth experience across all tested resolutions, with the primary challenge being frame rate capping rather than performance deficits.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is steep but expected for a title with such high absolute performance. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 164.7 at 1920x1080 to 119.6 at 2560x1440, a 27.4% reduction, and then further to 75.5 at 3840x2160, which is a 54.2% drop from the 1080p figure. This scaling pattern indicates that the RTX 4060 is the limiting component at 4K, as the pixel fill rate demand overwhelms the GPU's 118.1 GPixel/s pixel rate and 272.0 GB/s memory bandwidth.

The Low preset tells a different story. At 1920x1080, the system reaches 317.6 FPS, but this drops to 236.5 at 1440p (a 25.5% reduction) and 148.4 at 4K (a 53.3% reduction from 1080p). The fact that Low settings still show a substantial resolution penalty suggests that even at minimal graphical load, the GPU remains the bottleneck at higher resolutions, rather than the CPU. If the i5-12400 were the limiting factor, the 1080p Low result would show much less headroom for the 1440p and 4K results to scale down from.

The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic scaling, with 157.2 FPS at 1080p, 114.2 at 1440p (a 27.4% drop), and 72.1 at 4K (a 54.1% drop from 1080p). This consistent ~27% and ~54% scaling pattern across all presets reinforces that resolution, not settings complexity, is the dominant factor in performance degradation, pointing squarely at the GPU's rendering throughput as the constraint.

GPU Role

The RTX 4060's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 272.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is adequate for Inside's art style but not abundant at 4K Ultra. The measured data shows that the gap between High and Ultra at 4K is 75.5 FPS versus 72.1 FPS, a modest 4.5% difference, indicating that the Ultra preset's additional effects are not heavily memory-bandwidth constrained at that resolution. Instead, the GPU's compute throughput, rated at 15.11 TFLOPS FP32, appears to be the more relevant limit.

The GPU's boost clock of 2460 MHz and base clock of 1830 MHz allow it to maintain high utilization in this lightweight title. At 1080p Low, the system hits 317.6 FPS, which is likely near the engine's practical limit for the CPU to feed, but at 4K Ultra, the 72.1 FPS result shows the GPU working harder. The pixel rate of 118.1 GPixel/s and texture rate of 236.2 GTexel/s are the specifications that correlate with the observed scaling, as doubling the resolution quadruples the pixel workload, which aligns with the roughly 54% FPS drop seen across all settings.

The GPU's 48 ROPs are a potential constraint at 4K, where fill-rate demand is highest. Comparing the Low preset at 4K (148.4 FPS) to the High preset at 4K (75.5 FPS), the 49.1% drop suggests that the additional shading and texture work in High settings doubles the per-pixel cost, overwhelming the ROP throughput. This is a classic sign of a mid-range GPU being pushed to its fill-rate limits at UHD resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the i5-12400 and RTX 4060 ranks 894th out of 1671 tested combos for Inside, placing it in the 46.5th percentile of all pairings. This mid-pack ranking is surprising given the raw frame rates, but it reflects the fact that Inside is an older, lightweight title where many high-end CPUs paired with top-tier GPUs can achieve similar or higher FPS due to lower CPU overhead.

The CPU's nearest rivals in average benchmark score include the Intel Core i7-9700 (0.1% higher score) and the Intel Core i5-11600K (0.4% higher score), while the GPU's rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 6600M (0.6% lower score) and the Intel Arc B580 (0.7% higher score). These small deltas indicate that the combo's ranking is not driven by any single component being exceptional, but rather by the balanced, mid-range nature of both parts. The 894th rank out of 1671 suggests that while this combo performs well in absolute terms, there are many other tested pairings that deliver comparable or better results in this specific game, likely due to higher-end GPUs that can push even higher frame rates at 1080p.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo maintain 144 FPS at 1440p for high-refresh monitors?

A: Yes, at High settings the average FPS at 2560x1440 is 119.6, but dropping to Medium raises it to 193.5, and Low reaches 236.5. Only the Ultra preset (114.2 FPS) falls slightly short of a 144 Hz target.

Q: Is 4K gaming viable with this setup?

A: At 4K, the High preset averages 75.5 FPS and Ultra averages 72.1 FPS, which are playable for a slow-paced puzzle platformer. For smoother motion, the Medium preset at 118.9 FPS is the better choice for 60 Hz displays.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The i5-12400's average benchmark score is 19850, which is 0.1% higher than the Intel Core i7-9700 (19831) and 0.4% higher than the Intel Core i5-11600K (19771). It trails the Intel Core i7-8700 by 0.2% (19894).

Q: What is the most consistent performance setting across all resolutions?

A: The Medium preset shows the most balanced scaling, with 268.9 FPS at 1080p, 193.5 at 1440p, and 118.9 at 4K. This provides a smooth experience at any resolution without the steep drop seen from High to Ultra.

Q: Does the GPU's 8 GB VRAM limit performance in this game?

A: The data shows no evidence of VRAM capacity limiting performance. The 4K Ultra result of 72.1 FPS is higher than the 4K High result of 75.5 FPS, but the difference is small (4.5%), suggesting the GPU's compute and fill-rate limits are hit before memory capacity.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: It ranks 894th out of 1671 tested combos for Inside, placing it in the lower-middle of the pack. This is due to the game's low system requirements rather than any deficiency in the hardware.

Settings Recommendations

For the best balance of visual quality and performance, the Medium preset is the clear recommendation across all resolutions. At 1920x1080, Medium delivers 268.9 FPS, which is 63.3% higher than High's 164.7 FPS while presumably retaining most of the visual features that matter in a 2D side-scroller. At 2560x1440, Medium's 193.5 FPS is still well above the 144 Hz threshold, whereas High's 119.6 FPS falls short. Even at 4K, Medium's 118.9 FPS provides a smooth experience for a game that does not require twitch reflexes.

The Ultra preset is not recommended, as it offers only marginal visual gains over High (75.5 vs 72.1 FPS at 4K, a 4.5% difference) while costing significant performance. At 1080p, Ultra's 157.2 FPS is actually lower than High's 164.7 FPS, which is an anomaly suggesting that Ultra's additional effects are not well-optimized for this GPU architecture. The Low preset is only useful for extreme frame rate chasing at 1080p (317.6 FPS) but sacrifices the atmospheric lighting and shadow work that defines Inside's visual style.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 features 6 cores and 12 threads with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. This 12th-gen Alder Lake-S part shows its strength in single-threaded performance, scoring 2249 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 3456 in Passmark single-thread, which are crucial for a game like Inside that relies on a primary game thread for physics and logic updates.

The data suggests the CPU is rarely the bottleneck in this pairing. At 1080p Low, the system hits 317.6 FPS, which is likely near the engine's frame rate cap or the GPU's ability to process draw calls at that speed. The 3dmark single-thread score of 910 and 2-thread score of 1692 indicate strong per-core performance that can feed the RTX 4060 efficiently, even at high frame rates. The CPU's 18 MB of shared L3 cache helps with the game's asset streaming, though the modest size is not a constraint given the game's 2016 release date.

The CPU's multi-threaded capabilities (Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 15935) are largely irrelevant for this title, as Inside does not scale across many cores. The 12 threads are more than sufficient, and the percentileVsAllCpus of 77% reflects that this CPU is well above average for all tasks, but the game's performance is more dependent on the single-core boost clock of 4.40 GHz to maintain high frame rates without stutter.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers 317.6 FPS on Low, 268.9 FPS on Medium, 164.7 FPS on High, and 157.2 FPS on Ultra. The gap between Low and Medium is 18.1%, while the gap between High and Ultra is a mere 4.8%, showing diminishing returns at the top end.

At 2560x1440, the results are 236.5 FPS on Low, 193.5 FPS on Medium, 119.6 FPS on High, and 114.2 FPS on Ultra. The Medium to High drop is 38.2%, which is the largest single-setting jump at this resolution, indicating that High introduces a significant additional GPU workload.

At 3840x2160, the averages are 148.4 FPS on Low, 118.9 FPS on Medium, 75.5 FPS on High, and 72.1 FPS on Ultra. The Low to Medium drop is 19.9%, but the Medium to High drop is 36.5%, confirming that the High preset's features (likely dynamic shadows and post-processing) are the most demanding per-setting increase across all resolutions. The Ultra preset consistently adds only 3-5 FPS over High, making it the least efficient setting for this hardware.