Inside

Inside, a 2D puzzle platformer from 2016, is not typically a title that stresses modern hardware. However, the measured data for the Intel Core i5-12400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti reveals a fascinating case of extreme performance headroom and how a game's engine can behave unexpectedly under high frame rates. The benchmark results show that this combination is capable of frame rates far beyond the refresh rate of most displays, shifting the bottleneck analysis from the GPU to the CPU's single-thread capabilities in certain configurations. The data provides a clear picture of scaling across resolutions and presets, allowing for a methodical breakdown of where the performance ceiling lies.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data demonstrates that resolution scaling has a significant but predictable impact on performance, though the sheer speed of the RTX 4070 Ti keeps even 4K frame rates exceptionally high. At the High preset, dropping from 3840x2160 to 2560x1440 increases the average frame rate from 121.1 FPS to 194.1 FPS, a substantial 60% improvement. Moving further down to 1920x1080 yields 246.9 FPS, which is a 104% increase over the 4K result. This pattern indicates that at 4K, the GPU is the primary limiting component, as the raw pixel throughput demand is substantial enough to engage the RTX 4070 Ti's rendering pipeline fully.

The scaling becomes more pronounced at lower graphical presets, where the GPU load is reduced and the CPU's influence grows. At the Low preset, the frame rate rises from 243.4 FPS at 4K to 287.7 FPS at 1440p, and then to 321.7 FPS at 1080p. The gap between 4K and 1080p at Low settings is 78.3 FPS, which is smaller in percentage terms (32%) compared to the High preset's 104% increase. This compression of scaling at lower settings is a classic sign that the CPU is beginning to hit its limits; the i5-12400F's single-core performance, while strong, creates a bottleneck that prevents the frame rate from scaling linearly with reduced resolution.

At the Ultra preset, the behavior is similar to High, with frame rates of 118.1 FPS at 4K, 182.8 FPS at 1440p, and 240.3 FPS at 1080p. The 4K to 1080p jump here is 122.2 FPS, a 103% increase, reinforcing that the GPU is the main constraint when visual quality is maximized. However, the absolute frame rates indicate that even at 4K Ultra, the combo is nowhere near struggling, as the 118.1 FPS average is well above the standard 60 FPS target. The data suggests that for this specific game, the RTX 4070 Ti is so powerful that the CPU's role becomes more prominent at lower resolutions, but the overall experience is fluid across all tested configurations.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achieved by this combo in Inside?

A: The highest measured average frame rate is 321.7 FPS, which occurs at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low settings preset. This figure represents the absolute ceiling of the tested configurations, likely constrained by the CPU's single-thread performance.

Q: How does the RTX 4070 Ti perform at 4K resolution in this game?

A: At 3840x2160, the average frame rates range from 118.1 FPS on the Ultra preset to 243.4 FPS on the Low preset. The High preset delivers 121.1 FPS, while the Medium preset achieves 197.8 FPS, showing that the GPU can handle 4K with ease.

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-12400F a bottleneck for the RTX 4070 Ti in Inside?

A: The data indicates that the CPU becomes a limiting factor at lower resolutions and settings. For instance, at 1080p, the difference between Low (321.7 FPS) and Ultra (240.3 FPS) is 81.4 FPS, which is smaller than the scaling observed at 4K, suggesting that the CPU's processing speed caps the frame rate before the GPU can fully flex its capabilities.

Q: What is the performance difference between the Medium and High presets at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Medium preset delivers an average of 264.8 FPS, while the High preset averages 194.1 FPS. This represents a 70.7 FPS drop, or approximately 27% lower performance when moving from Medium to High, indicating that the High preset introduces a substantial increase in rendering complexity.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested combinations for this game?

A: The Intel Core i5-12400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti combination holds a rank of 254 out of 1671 tested combos for Inside. This places it in the top 15% of all configurations tested, reflecting its high performance capability.

Q: What is the most consistent frame rate across all resolutions?

A: The Ultra preset shows the most consistent scaling, with frame rates of 240.3 FPS at 1080p, 182.8 FPS at 1440p, and 118.1 FPS at 4K. While the absolute numbers drop significantly with resolution, the percentage drop between each step is relatively uniform, around 24-35%, which is a more predictable pattern than the Low preset's CPU-bound behavior.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data suggests that the Ultra preset offers the best overall experience for this hardware combination, despite not having the highest frame rates. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset delivers 240.3 FPS, which is more than sufficient for any high-refresh-rate monitor and only 26% lower than the Low preset's 321.7 FPS. Moving to 1440p, the Ultra preset still maintains 182.8 FPS, a figure that exceeds the capabilities of most 144Hz displays, while the Low preset's 287.7 FPS provides no practical benefit for the visual quality loss. At 4K, Ultra yields 118.1 FPS, which is still comfortably above the 60 FPS standard and only 3 FPS lower than the High preset's 121.1 FPS, making it the clear choice for maximum visual fidelity.

The Medium preset presents a middle ground, offering 292.8 FPS at 1080p and 264.8 FPS at 1440p, but its visual improvements over Low are marginal in a game like Inside, which has a distinct, muted art style. The High preset, while delivering solid numbers (246.9 FPS at 1080p, 194.1 FPS at 1440p), sits in an awkward spot where it sacrifices frame rate compared to Medium without the full visual feature set of Ultra. Given that the Ultra preset's frame rates never drop below 118 FPS even at 4K, the data strongly indicates that users should prioritize the Ultra preset for the best balance of image quality and performance, as the RTX 4070 Ti has ample headroom to render the game at its highest settings without any perceptible compromise.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the benchmark results show a clear progression from Low to Ultra settings. The Low preset achieves an average of 321.7 FPS, which is the highest score in the entire dataset. The Medium preset follows with 292.8 FPS, a 28.9 FPS drop that reflects the addition of more complex shading. High settings reduce the average to 246.9 FPS, while the Ultra preset brings it down to 240.3 FPS. The relatively small gap between High and Ultra (6.6 FPS) suggests that the Ultra preset adds minimal extra load over High at this resolution, likely due to the CPU limiting the frame rate.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates scale downward across all presets. Low averages 287.7 FPS, Medium hits 264.8 FPS, High reaches 194.1 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 182.8 FPS. The drop from Medium to High is substantial at 70.7 FPS, indicating that the High preset introduces significant GPU work that becomes more pronounced at this resolution. At 3840x2160, the RTX 4070 Ti continues to deliver exceptional performance, with Low averaging 243.4 FPS, Medium at 197.8 FPS, High at 121.1 FPS, and Ultra at 118.1 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra shrinks to just 3 FPS at 4K, suggesting that the Ultra preset's additional effects are nearly negligible at this pixel count, and the GPU is still not fully taxed.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-12400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti combination holds a rank of 254 out of 1671 tested combos for Inside, placing it in the 85th percentile of all configurations. This high ranking is unsurprising given the measured frame rates, which exceed 100 FPS even at the most demanding 4K Ultra setting. The CPU's percentile ranking against all processors is 77, while the GPU sits in the 85th percentile, indicating that both components are above average in their respective categories. The combo's performance is particularly notable because it achieves such high frame rates in a game that is not graphically intensive, suggesting that the ranking is heavily influenced by the CPU's strong single-thread performance, which is critical for maintaining high FPS in engine-limited scenarios.

Compared to other tested combos, this pairing outperforms the vast majority, as evidenced by its top 15% ranking. The data shows that the RTX 4070 Ti is the primary driver of this high ranking, as its raw rendering power ensures that even at 4K, the frame rate remains well above playable thresholds. The i5-12400F, while not the fastest CPU on the market, provides sufficient single-thread speed to avoid being a major bottleneck except in the most extreme low-resolution, low-settings cases. Overall, the combo's rank reflects a well-balanced system that excels in this title, with the GPU providing the bulk of the performance headroom and the CPU ensuring that frame rates do not collapse at lower resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. In the context of Inside, a game that is not heavily multi-threaded, the CPU's single-core performance is the most critical factor. The benchmark data shows that the CPU's single-thread score in Cinebench R23 is 2332, while the multi-core score is 16518, indicating a strong single-core capability that is well-suited for this game's engine. The CPU's 3DMark single-thread score of 909 further confirms this, as it demonstrates the processor's ability to handle the game's logic and physics calculations efficiently.

The measured FPS data reveals that the CPU's role becomes more pronounced at lower resolutions and settings. At 1080p Low, the frame rate reaches 321.7 FPS, which is likely near the CPU's maximum output for this game. The fact that the frame rate does not increase proportionally when moving from 1440p to 1080p at Low settings (287.7 FPS to 321.7 FPS, a 12% increase) suggests that the CPU is approaching its limit. In contrast, at 4K Ultra, the frame rate is 118.1 FPS, which is heavily GPU-bound, as the RTX 4070 Ti's rendering tasks dominate. The CPU's 12 threads are more than sufficient for this title, as the game's puzzle-platformer nature does not leverage multi-threading heavily, and the data shows that the i5-12400F's single-core boost clock of 4.40 GHz is the key enabler for the high frame rates observed at lower resolutions.