Inside

The Intel Core i5-12400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 produces extraordinary frame rates in Inside, a 2016 Puzzle Platformer. The data shows that this combination is rarely constrained by the GPU, even at 4K, with performance deltas between settings and resolutions revealing a title that is far more dependent on CPU throughput than typical modern releases. This analysis breaks down the measured results to understand where the bottlenecks lie and what the optimal experience looks like.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with Ultra settings?

A: The measured average FPS at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings is 238.7. This is only slightly lower than the High preset at the same resolution, which averages 242.6 FPS.

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

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset achieves 287.7 FPS, while the Ultra preset achieves 216.4 FPS. This represents a performance advantage of roughly 33% for the Low preset over Ultra at this resolution.

Q: Does the RTX 4090 show a significant performance difference between 1080p and 4K at High settings?

A: Yes, but the absolute numbers remain very high. At 1080p High, the average is 242.6 FPS, while at 4K High, it drops to 145 FPS. This is a reduction of about 40%, indicating that resolution still has a measurable impact despite the GPU's capabilities.

*Q: What is the rank of this specific CPU and GPU combination among all tested combos for Inside?*

A: The combo ranks 178th out of 1671 tested combinations. This places it in the top 11% of all systems tested for this game, which is notable given the game's age and the hardware's relative newness.

*Q: Is the RTX 4090's performance in Inside close to its nearest rivals based on average benchmark scores?*

A: The RTX 4090 has an average benchmark score of 66473. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA Tesla T4, scores 66733, which is a delta of -0.4%. This indicates that in general compute benchmarks, the 4090 is statistically tied with the Tesla T4.

Q: What is the TDP and core count of the Intel Core i5-12400F?

A: The Intel Core i5-12400F has a TDP of 65 W and features 6 cores with 12 threads. Its base clock is 2.50 GHz and its boost clock is 4.40 GHz.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is a massive piece of silicon, built on a 5 nm process at TSMC with 76,300 million transistors. It features 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s. Its boost clock is rated at 2520 MHz. In Inside, these specifications translate to an absolute flood of frames. The data shows that even at the most demanding setting tested, 4K Ultra, the card still averages 137.8 FPS. This suggests the GPU is rarely the limiting factor, as it is capable of far exceeding the refresh rate of most displays.

The benchmark results indicate that the RTX 4090 is essentially overkill for this title. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra settings is only 78 FPS (316.7 vs 238.7), which is a relatively small percentage gap compared to what would be seen in a more demanding game. The GPU's raw power is so high that it can brute-force its way through the game's visuals. The fact that the average FPS at 4K High (145) is higher than the 1080p Ultra of many other systems demonstrates the sheer headroom available. The GPU's PassMark G3D score of 38194 and its 91st percentile ranking among all GPUs corroborate its position as a top-tier part, even if its nearest rivals in that specific benchmark are professional-grade Tesla and Quadro cards.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drops from 1080p to 4K are significant but not catastrophic, revealing a system that is partially CPU-bound at lower resolutions. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 242.6 at 1080p to 220 at 1440p, a drop of 22.6 FPS. Moving from 1440p to 4K, it falls further to 145, a much steeper 75 FPS decline. This pattern is consistent across all settings. For instance, at Low settings, the drop from 1080p (316.7 FPS) to 1440p (287.7 FPS) is 29 FPS, but the drop from 1440p to 4K (242.5 FPS) is 45.2 FPS.

This data implies that at 1080p and even 1440p, the CPU is beginning to limit the maximum frame rate. The RTX 4090 has enough headroom to render more frames, but the processor can't feed it data fast enough. The larger relative drop when moving to 4K suggests that this is where the GPU finally starts to become the primary bottleneck, as the pixel count and fill-rate demands increase substantially. The fact that the 4K Low setting (242.5 FPS) is nearly identical to the 1080p High setting (242.6 FPS) is a strong indicator that the 1080p High result is hitting a CPU-imposed ceiling around 242 FPS.

Settings Recommendations

For the best experience, the data suggests that the High preset at 1440p offers an ideal balance. It delivers an average of 220 FPS, which is smooth and well above the threshold for high-refresh-rate gaming. The jump to Ultra at 1440p only provides a marginal increase in visual fidelity but costs a small amount of performance, dropping to 216.4 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra at any resolution is minimal in terms of FPS, with the largest delta being just 7.3 FPS at 1080p (242.6 vs 238.7).

However, the data strongly implies that players with a 4K display should not hesitate to use High settings. At 4K, High averages 145 FPS, which is still highly playable. The Ultra preset at 4K drops to 137.8 FPS, a reduction of about 5% from High, making it a less attractive option for a marginal visual gain. Since the game is from 2016 and the hardware is so powerful, the Medium and Low presets are generally unnecessary sacrifices except for those chasing the absolute maximum frame rates on a 360Hz or higher monitor. For most users, High is the sweet spot, offering the best visual quality without a meaningful performance penalty.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the frame rates are exceptionally high across the board. The Low preset yields an average of 316.7 FPS, which is the highest of any configuration tested. Medium averages 293.1 FPS, High averages 242.6 FPS, and Ultra averages 238.7 FPS. The performance scaling here is interesting; the gap between Low and Medium is 23.6 FPS, while the gap between High and Ultra is only 3.9 FPS, suggesting diminishing returns on the highest settings.

Moving to 2560x1440, the results remain impressive. Low settings produce an average of 287.7 FPS, Medium produces 266.7 FPS, High produces 220 FPS, and Ultra produces 216.4 FPS. The relative ordering is consistent with the 1080p results, but the overall numbers are lower, confirming that resolution scaling is a factor. The gap between Low and Ultra here is 71.3 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's workload increases significantly. The Low preset still manages a very strong 242.5 FPS. Medium drops to 226.8 FPS, High to 145 FPS, and Ultra to 137.8 FPS. The most dramatic performance cliff is between Medium and High, a drop of 81.8 FPS. This suggests that the High preset introduces a particular rendering feature or effect that is disproportionately demanding at 4K. The data shows that the 4K Low result (242.5 FPS) is nearly identical to the 1080p High result (242.6 FPS), highlighting a potential CPU bottleneck at lower resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture. It has a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. Its benchmark scores are solid for a mid-range part, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 16518 and a single-core score of 2332. The data from Inside suggests the CPU is a significant partner in achieving these high frame rates. The near-identical FPS figures between 1080p High (242.6) and 4K Low (242.5) strongly suggest a hard limit imposed by the CPU's single-thread performance at that level.

The game, being a 2D puzzle platformer, is likely not heavily multi-threaded. This means the i5-12400F's strong single-core performance, evidenced by its 3DMark single-thread score of 909, is crucial. The 3DMark 2-thread score of 1699 also indicates that even with two threads, the processor is quite capable. The fact that the FPS does not scale much between 1080p and 1440p at High settings (242.6 vs 220 FPS) suggests that the CPU is still able to keep up with the GPU's demands at 1440p, but the bottleneck becomes more apparent as the GPU load increases at 4K. Compared to its nearest rivals, the i5-12400F is nearly identical in average benchmark score to the Intel Core i7-8700K, with a delta of only 0.1%, making it a modern equivalent to that older flagship.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database for Inside, this specific combination of the Intel Core i5-12400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 achieves a rank of 178 out of 1671 tested combos. This places it in the top 10.7% of all systems, which is a strong showing. However, given the immense power of the RTX 4090, one might expect a higher rank. The data indicates that the CPU is holding the combo back from the very top tier.

The combo's rank is likely dragged down by the mid-range nature of the i5-12400F. While the GPU is capable of pushing frame rates much higher, the CPU's limits at lower resolutions cap the average FPS. The percentile ranking of the CPU itself is 77, meaning it performs better than 77% of all CPUs. The GPU ranks in the 91st percentile. The combination of a high-percentile GPU with a lower-percentile CPU results in a system that is powerful but not perfectly balanced for a game like Inside. The 178th rank suggests that many combos with higher-end CPUs, even with less powerful GPUs, can achieve similar or better frame rates in this specific title due to the reduced GPU load. The data shows that the bottleneck is the processor, not the graphics card.