Inside

Inside is a 2016 puzzle platformer with modest visual demands, yet the measured frame rates for the Intel Core i5-12400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 reveal a fascinating dynamic where a powerful modern GPU meets a game engine from a different era. The data shows that this combination produces exceptionally high frame rates across all tested settings, but the scaling patterns between presets and resolutions tell a clear story about which component is doing the heavy lifting. The analysis below interprets these results, focusing on the CPU's six-core architecture, the GPU's Blackwell design, and how their interaction shifts between 1080p and 4K.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i5-12400F is a six-core, twelve-thread processor from the Alder Lake generation, featuring a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. Its performance profile in synthetic benchmarks shows a strong single-thread capability, with a 3dmark single-thread score of 909 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2332. This matters for Inside because puzzle platformers typically rely heavily on a few primary threads for game logic, physics updates, and rendering commands. The CPU’s 18 MB of shared L3 cache also supports keeping frequently accessed game data close to the cores, which can reduce latency in frame-time delivery.

Looking at the measured FPS at 1080p, the CPU appears to be a limiting factor at the lowest settings. At 1920x1080 Low, the combo achieves 320.5 FPS, which is the highest frame rate recorded across all configurations. This number drops to 293 FPS at Medium, 247.4 FPS at High, and 239 FPS at Ultra. The gap between Low and Medium is 27.5 FPS, while the gap between High and Ultra is only 8.4 FPS. This pattern suggests that the GPU is not being fully utilized at Low settings; instead, the CPU’s ability to issue draw calls and process game state becomes the bottleneck. The 3dmark 16-thread score of 5895 and the max-thread score of 5912 indicate that the CPU has sufficient multi-threaded headroom, but Inside’s engine likely does not scale perfectly across all twelve threads, leaving single-thread performance as the critical factor.

At 4K, the CPU’s role shifts. The measured FPS at 3840x2160 Low is 246.8, which is significantly lower than the 1080p Low result. This drop of 73.7 FPS when moving from 1080p to 4K at Low settings shows that even with minimal graphical load, the GPU’s pixel throughput becomes more demanding, but the CPU is still capable of feeding it. The CPU’s 77th percentile ranking among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 19221, places it close to the Intel Core i7-8700K (0.1% difference) and the AMD Ryzen 5 7533HS (-0.7% difference). These rivals show that the i5-12400F is a mid-range performer, but for Inside’s relatively simple physics and logic, its six cores at up to 4.40 GHz are more than adequate.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 is a Blackwell 2.0 architecture GPU with 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its base clock is 2295 MHz with a boost clock of 2617 MHz, and it features 10752 shading units. For a game like Inside, which uses a monochromatic art style and limited texture detail, the GPU’s raw compute power is far beyond what is necessary. The RTX 5080’s passmark g3d score of 36565 and its 89th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 59188, place it in the upper echelon, but its nearest rivals include the Intel Arc A570M (1.6% higher) and the Intel Arc A580 (2.5% lower), which are not typically considered high-end desktop parts.

The GPU’s role becomes more apparent when examining the FPS differences between settings at a fixed resolution. At 1440p, the difference between High (218.3 FPS) and Ultra (215.8 FPS) is only 2.5 FPS, suggesting that the GPU handles the extra visual effects in Ultra with minimal effort. The larger gap between Low (285.3 FPS) and Medium (266.9 FPS) is 18.4 FPS, which indicates that Medium settings introduce enough additional pixel work to slightly reduce throughput, but the GPU is never challenged. At 4K, the RTX 5080’s 16 GB VRAM is more than sufficient for Inside’s textures, and the memory bandwidth of 960.0 GB/s ensures that data transfer is not a constraint. The measured FPS at 4K Ultra is 136.9, which is still well above 60 FPS, demonstrating that the GPU has substantial headroom.

However, the data shows an interesting anomaly when comparing the RTX 5080’s synthetic scores to its in-game performance. The GPU’s 3dmark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 8637 is strong, but Inside is a DirectX 11-era title (released in 2016), and the GPU’s passmark DirectX 11 score of 324 is lower than its DirectX 10 score of 208 or DirectX 9 score of 389. This suggests that the RTX 5080’s architecture is optimized for modern APIs, and its performance in older engines like Inside’s may be limited by driver overhead or API translation, rather than raw hardware capability.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS across resolutions provides a clear picture of the system’s bottleneck. At Ultra settings, the frame rate drops from 239 FPS at 1080p to 215.8 FPS at 1440p, a reduction of 23.2 FPS, and then to 136.9 FPS at 4K, a further reduction of 78.9 FPS. This scaling is relatively linear with the increase in pixel count (1080p to 1440p is a 78% increase in pixels, while 1440p to 4K is a 125% increase), but the drop from 1440p to 4K is more severe in absolute terms. This indicates that at Ultra settings, the GPU becomes the primary limiting factor at 4K, as the CPU has sufficient headroom to maintain high frame rates.

At Low settings, the scaling pattern is different. The frame rate drops from 320.5 FPS at 1080p to 285.3 FPS at 1440p (a 35.2 FPS drop) and then to 246.8 FPS at 4K (a 38.5 FPS drop). The percentage drop from 1080p to 1440p is 11%, while from 1440p to 4K it is 13.5%, which is less pronounced than the Ultra setting’s 33% drop from 1440p to 4K. This suggests that at Low settings, the CPU is the limiting factor at all resolutions, because the GPU is never fully utilized. The fact that 4K Low (246.8 FPS) is still higher than 1080p Ultra (239 FPS) confirms that the CPU can sustain high frame rates even at higher resolutions when the GPU load is minimal.

The Medium settings show a middle ground. At 1080p Medium, the FPS is 293, which drops to 266.9 at 1440p (a 26.1 FPS drop) and then to 223.7 at 4K (a 43.2 FPS drop). The scaling here is more balanced, suggesting that both the CPU and GPU contribute to the frame rate limits. The data implies that for Inside, the i5-12400F is the bottleneck at low resolutions and low settings, while the RTX 5080 becomes the bottleneck at high resolutions and high settings. This is a classic example of a system where the CPU’s single-thread performance (3dmark single-thread score of 909) is adequate for the game’s logic, but the GPU’s pixel fill rate (293.1 GPixel/s) is overkill even at 4K.

FAQ

Q: Why does the frame rate at 1080p Low (320.5 FPS) not scale proportionally to 4K Low (246.8 FPS)?

A: The 29.7% drop in FPS from 1080p to 4K at Low settings is smaller than the 307% increase in pixel count, indicating that the CPU (Intel Core i5-12400F) is the limiting factor at Low settings. The GPU (NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080) has enough headroom to handle the increased resolution without much impact, but the CPU’s frame issue rate caps the performance.

Q: Is the RTX 5080 overkill for Inside?

A: Benchmark results indicate that the RTX 5080’s 16 GB VRAM and 960.0 GB/s bandwidth are far beyond what Inside requires. The GPU’s 89th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with a passmark g3d score of 36565, shows it is a high-end part, yet even at 4K Ultra it only achieves 136.9 FPS, which is limited by the game’s engine and CPU rather than GPU capability.

Q: How does the i5-12400F compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The i5-12400F has an average benchmark score of 19221, which is 0.1% higher than the Intel Core i7-8700K (19210) and 0.3% higher than the Intel Core i5-1335U (19167). It is 0.7% lower than the AMD Ryzen 5 7533HS (19364), placing it in a tight performance band with these processors.

Q: What does the FPS difference between High and Ultra settings tell us?

A: At 1440p, the difference between High (218.3 FPS) and Ultra (215.8 FPS) is only 2.5 FPS, and at 1080p it is 8.4 FPS (247.4 vs 239). This small gap suggests that Ultra settings add minimal graphical complexity that the RTX 5080 can handle easily, but the CPU’s frame rate ceiling becomes more apparent at higher settings.

Q: Why is the 4K Ultra FPS (136.9) lower than 1080p High (247.4) by a large margin?

A: The 45% reduction in FPS from 1080p High to 4K Ultra is primarily due to the GPU’s pixel processing load. The RTX 5080’s pixel rate of 293.1 GPixel/s is sufficient, but the game’s rendering pipeline at Ultra settings combined with 4K resolution creates a workload where the GPU becomes the limiting component.

Q: Does the CPU’s 12-thread count help in Inside?

A: The CPU’s 3dmark 16-thread score of 5895 and max-thread score of 5912 show good multi-threaded performance, but Inside’s 2016 engine likely uses fewer threads. The single-thread score of 909 in 3dmark is more indicative of in-game performance, as evidenced by the CPU being the bottleneck at Low settings across all resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS values are as follows: Low settings produce 320.5 FPS, Medium settings produce 293 FPS, High settings produce 247.4 FPS, and Ultra settings produce 239 FPS. The spread between the lowest and highest settings is 81.5 FPS, with Low being 27.5 FPS faster than Medium, 73.1 FPS faster than High, and 81.5 FPS faster than Ultra. This indicates that the CPU is the primary performer at 1080p, as the GPU can easily handle the pixel load.

At 2560x1440, the FPS values are 285.3 for Low, 266.9 for Medium, 218.3 for High, and 215.8 for Ultra. The difference between Low and Medium is 18.4 FPS, while the difference between High and Ultra is only 2.5 FPS. Compared to 1080p, the FPS drops are 35.2 (Low), 26.1 (Medium), 29.1 (High), and 23.2 (Ultra). The smaller absolute drops at High and Ultra suggest that the GPU is starting to become a factor, but the CPU still has significant headroom.

At 3840x2160, the FPS values are 246.8 for Low, 223.7 for Medium, 139.5 for High, and 136.9 for Ultra. The drop from 1440p to 4K is 38.5 FPS for Low, 43.2 FPS for Medium, 78.8 FPS for High, and 78.9 FPS for Ultra. The much larger drop at High and Ultra settings (over 78 FPS) compared to Low and Medium (under 44 FPS) clearly demonstrates that the GPU becomes the limiting factor at 4K with higher settings, while the CPU remains the bottleneck at lower settings.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend on the target resolution and desired frame rate headroom. At 1080p, all settings produce frame rates above 239 FPS, which is far beyond any display refresh rate. The difference between High (247.4 FPS) and Ultra (239 FPS) is only 8.4 FPS, so Ultra is recommended for the best visual quality without a meaningful performance penalty.

At 1440p, the story is similar. High settings produce 218.3 FPS, while Ultra produces 215.8 FPS, a negligible difference of 2.5 FPS. Again, Ultra is the preferred choice because the GPU has ample headroom, and the CPU is not yet the limiting factor. The jump to Medium (266.9 FPS) or Low (285.3 FPS) provides higher frame rates, but these are unnecessary for typical 1440p displays (144Hz or 165Hz), so Ultra offers the best balance.

At 4K, the recommendation changes. Ultra settings produce 136.9 FPS, which is still above 120 FPS and suitable for high-refresh displays, but the drop to High (139.5 FPS) is only 2.6 FPS, making Ultra the clear choice for visual fidelity. However, if the goal is to maximize frame rate for a 240Hz 4K display, Medium settings (223.7 FPS) provide a substantial 86.8 FPS improvement over Ultra, while Low (246.8 FPS) offers an additional 23.1 FPS over Medium. Given that the CPU is the bottleneck at Low and Medium settings (as shown by the smaller FPS drops from 1440p to 4K), the data suggests that Medium is the sweet spot for 4K if high refresh rates are prioritized, as it provides a 63% FPS increase over Ultra with only a moderate visual quality reduction.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-12400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 ranks 179th out of 1671 tested combos in Inside, placing it in the top 10.7% of all configurations. This high ranking is primarily driven by the RTX 5080’s exceptional performance, as the CPU’s 77th percentile ranking among all processors is less impressive. The GPU’s 89th percentile ranking, with an average benchmark score of 59188, is the main contributor to this combo’s strong position.

However, the ranking reveals an interesting inefficiency. The RTX 5080’s nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the Intel Arc A570M (1.6% higher score) and the AMD Radeon Pro W5500X (2.6% higher score), but these are not gaming-focused GPUs. In Inside, the RTX 5080’s performance is limited by the CPU at lower settings, as evidenced by the 1080p Low result of 320.5 FPS being only 30% higher than the 4K Low result of 246.8 FPS. This suggests that the combo’s rank could be even higher if paired with a stronger CPU, but for a 2016 puzzle platformer, the i5-12400F provides sufficient single-thread performance.

The data also shows that this combo outperforms the vast majority of tested systems (1492 out of 1671), but the rank of 179 indicates that there are 178 configurations with higher average FPS. These likely feature newer or higher-end CPUs that can better feed the RTX 5080 in Inside’s engine. Despite this, the measured frame rates across all settings and resolutions are exceptionally high, with the lowest recorded value (136.9 FPS at 4K Ultra) still being more than double the 60 FPS standard. The combo’s rank reflects a balanced system where the GPU’s power is slightly wasted by the CPU’s mid-range standing, but the end result is a smooth gaming experience for Inside.