Inside

# Inside — Intel Core i5-12400F + AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT

The Intel Core i5-12400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT delivers a comprehensively playable experience in Inside, a 2016 puzzle platformer with modest graphical demands. The measured data shows this combination ranks 1045th out of 1671 tested configurations for this game, placing it in the upper-middle tier of the database. The RX 7600 XT sits at the 63rd percentile among all GPUs, while the i5-12400F lands at the 77th percentile among all CPUs, suggesting a balanced pairing where neither component is an obvious bottleneck at most settings. The benchmark results indicate that this system is capable of high refresh rate gameplay at 1080p, solid performance at 1440p, and remains playable even at 4K with appropriate settings.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial but reveals the expected scaling behavior for a GPU-bound title. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 291.5 FPS at 1920x1080 to 134.4 FPS at 3840x2160, a reduction to approximately 46% of the 1080p figure. This steep decline indicates that at Low settings, the GPU's rendering load dominates, and the RX 7600 XT's 16 GB GDDR6 memory and 288.0 GB/s bandwidth are being fully exercised as pixel count quadruples.

The scaling pattern shifts at higher quality presets. At Ultra settings, the drop from 140.6 FPS at 1080p to 61.5 FPS at 4K represents a similar proportional reduction, but the absolute headroom at 1080p is far lower than at Low. This suggests that the CPU, with its 6 cores and 12 threads boosting to 4.40 GHz, becomes a more significant factor at lower resolutions and higher settings, where the per-frame CPU work is proportionally larger relative to GPU load.

Intermediate resolutions show the transition clearly. At 2560x1440, Low settings produce 209.2 FPS, Medium delivers 166.1 FPS, and High reaches 104.1 FPS — all comfortably above 60 FPS. The 4K results at Medium (104 FPS) and High (68.4 FPS) demonstrate that even at the highest resolution, the system maintains playability, though Ultra dips to 61.5 FPS, right at the threshold of smooth motion. The data indicates that resolution scaling is consistent and predictable, with no anomalous bottlenecks at any specific configuration.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT, built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with the Navi 33 chip, is the primary driver of Inside's frame rates. Its 2048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 64 raster output pipelines provide ample raw throughput for this game's stylized 2D side-scrolling visuals, which rely more on fill rate and pixel shading than complex geometry. The GPU's boost clock of 2755 MHz and game clock of 2470 MHz ensure that the rendering pipeline stays saturated even at 4K resolution.

The 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus delivers 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is more than sufficient for Inside's texture and buffer requirements. The measured FPS data shows that memory capacity is not a limiting factor at any resolution or settings combination — even at 4K Ultra, the system maintains 61.5 FPS, indicating no memory-related stuttering or capacity spills. The GPU's 22.57 TFLOPS FP32 compute performance provides the arithmetic headroom needed for the game's lighting and post-processing effects at High and Ultra presets.

The GPU's benchmark scores place it in a competitive position. Its PassMark G3D score of 17132 and average benchmark score of 20146 put it within 0.6% of the AMD Radeon RX 7600 and 1.9% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2348 reflects modern API performance, though Inside's older engine does not fully utilize DirectX 12 Ultimate features. The GPU's 32 ray accelerators are largely unused in this title, but the raw rasterization performance is what drives the measured frame rates.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience across all three resolutions. At 1080p, Medium produces 234.9 FPS, which exceeds the refresh rate of virtually all gaming monitors. At 1440p, Medium delivers 166.1 FPS, providing smooth motion for high-refresh-rate displays. Even at 4K, Medium maintains 104 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for comfortable gameplay.

For users prioritizing visual fidelity over raw speed, the High preset is the recommended choice. It delivers 148.9 FPS at 1080p, 104.1 FPS at 1440p, and 68.4 FPS at 4K. The drop from Medium to High is significant — roughly 36% at 1080p — but the visual improvements in a puzzle platformer may justify the frame rate reduction for some players. The Ultra preset, while offering the highest quality, only achieves 140.6 FPS at 1080p and falls to 61.5 FPS at 4K, making it the least efficient choice in terms of performance per frame.

The Low preset is only recommended for competitive or speedrun scenarios where maximum frame rate is paramount, as it reaches 291.5 FPS at 1080p. However, the visual compromises in a game like Inside, which relies heavily on atmosphere and lighting, are likely too severe for most players. The data clearly shows that Medium at 4K (104 FPS) outperforms Ultra at 1440p (102.5 FPS) by a small margin, making Medium at the higher resolution a viable strategy for maximizing both quality and frame rate.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates across all settings. The Low preset achieves 291.5 FPS, Medium reaches 234.9 FPS, High produces 148.9 FPS, and Ultra manages 140.6 FPS. The gap between Medium and High is notably larger than the gap between High and Ultra, suggesting that the High preset introduces a significant rendering cost that Ultra only marginally extends. This pattern indicates that the most impactful visual features are enabled at the High tier.

The 2560x1440 results show a similar distribution with lower absolute values. Low settings produce 209.2 FPS, Medium delivers 166.1 FPS, High reaches 104.1 FPS, and Ultra achieves 102.5 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra at 1440p is a mere 1.6 FPS, making the Ultra preset essentially free in performance terms at this resolution. This near-identical performance suggests that at 1440p, the Ultra preset's additional features are not taxing the GPU significantly, and players should opt for Ultra if visual quality is a priority.

At 3840x2160, the system remains playable but with reduced headroom. Low settings yield 134.4 FPS, Medium produces 104 FPS, High delivers 68.4 FPS, and Ultra drops to 61.5 FPS. The 4K results show that the GPU's pixel throughput becomes the limiting factor, with the transition from Medium to High costing 35.6 FPS — the largest single-step drop in the entire dataset. This indicates that the High preset at 4K pushes the RX 7600 XT close to its rendering limits, while Ultra barely exceeds the 60 FPS threshold.

FAQ

*Q: Can this system run Inside at 4K with smooth frame rates?*

A: Yes, the measured data shows 68.4 FPS at 4K High settings and 61.5 FPS at 4K Ultra. The Medium preset at 4K achieves 104 FPS, providing comfortable headroom above 60 FPS.

Q: What is the best settings preset for a 144Hz monitor?

A: At 1080p, the Medium preset achieves 234.9 FPS, which exceeds 144Hz. At 1440p, Medium delivers 166.1 FPS, also above 144Hz. The High preset at 1440p (104.1 FPS) falls below 144Hz, so Medium is the recommended choice for 144Hz displays.

Q: How does the RX 7600 XT compare to its nearest rivals in this system?

A: The RX 7600 XT's average benchmark score of 20146 is 0.6% below the AMD Radeon RX 7600 (20258) and 1.9% above the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER (19774). It is also 0.3% above the AMD Radeon RX 460 (20088).

Q: Is the CPU a bottleneck at any resolution or settings combination?

A: The data suggests the CPU is not a significant bottleneck at higher resolutions, as frame rates scale consistently with resolution. At 1080p Low settings, the 291.5 FPS result indicates the CPU can feed the GPU effectively, though the i5-12400F's 6 cores and 12 threads are likely approaching their limit at such high frame rates.

Q: What is the performance difference between High and Ultra settings?

A: The difference is minimal at 1440p, where High produces 104.1 FPS and Ultra produces 102.5 FPS — a gap of 1.6 FPS. At 1080p, the difference is 8.3 FPS (148.9 vs 140.6), and at 4K, it is 6.9 FPS (68.4 vs 61.5). Ultra offers slightly better visuals at a modest frame rate cost.

*Q: How does this system's ranking in Inside compare to the individual component rankings?*

A: The combo ranks 1045th out of 1671 configurations for this game, which is lower than the CPU's 77th percentile and GPU's 63rd percentile rankings among all components. This indicates that many other component combinations achieve higher frame rates in this specific title.