Inside

# Inside — Intel Core i5-12400F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D

The pairing of Intel's 6-core/12-thread Core i5-12400F with NVIDIA's flagship GeForce RTX 5090 D produces an extraordinarily high frame rate profile in Inside, a 2D puzzle platformer from 2016. Across all tested resolutions and settings, this combo never drops below 153 FPS average, with the highest observed average reaching 320 FPS at 1080p Low. The benchmark results place this configuration at rank 279 out of 2,887 total tested combos, putting it in the top 10% of all system pairings for this title. The data reveals a system where the GPU is almost entirely unchallenged, and the CPU's single-thread performance becomes the primary limiter at lower resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K demonstrates how lightly this game stresses the RTX 5090 D. At High settings, the transition from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 reduces average FPS from 246 to 220, a drop of 26 FPS or roughly 10.6%. Moving from 1440p to 3840x2160 at High brings the average down to 160 FPS, representing a further 27.3% decrease. This pattern — relatively modest absolute drops despite a 4x increase in pixel count from 1080p to 4K — indicates the GPU has substantial headroom even at the highest resolution tested.

The Low settings row shows similar scaling behavior. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 320 FPS average. At 1440p Low, this falls to 286 FPS, and at 4K Low it reaches 245 FPS. The delta between 1080p and 1440p is 34 FPS, while the delta between 1440p and 4K is 41 FPS. These diminishing returns in percentage terms (from 89.4% retention at 1440p to 85.7% retention at 4K relative to 1080p) suggest that even at 4K, the GPU is not the binding constraint. A truly GPU-limited scenario would show a much steeper drop-off when pixel count quadruples.

Medium settings provide the only complete minimum/maximum frame data in the measured set. At 1080p Medium, the average is 295 FPS with a minimum of 251 and maximum of 339. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 264 FPS with min/max of 225/304. At 4K Medium, the average is 226 FPS with min/max of 192/260. The minimum frame rates scale proportionally with averages, suggesting consistent frame pacing without sudden hitches. The spread between min and max (88 FPS at 1080p, 79 at 1440p, 68 at 4K) narrows as resolution increases, which is consistent with the CPU becoming relatively less dominant at higher pixel counts.

Ultra settings show the lowest frame rates across all resolutions. The 1080p Ultra average of 242 FPS is nearly identical to the 1080p High result of 246 FPS, differing by only 4 FPS. Similarly, 1440p Ultra (217 FPS) trails 1440p High (220 FPS) by just 3 FPS, and 4K Ultra (153 FPS) is 7 FPS behind 4K High (160 FPS). This tight clustering between High and Ultra suggests the visual quality uplift from Ultra settings does not meaningfully tax the GPU in this title.

The overall resolution scaling pattern indicates that the RTX 5090 D's 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth are vastly overprovisioned for Inside's requirements. The game's art style and 2D rendering pipeline do not exploit the GPU's 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 compute capability. Instead, the frame rate ceiling appears tied to the CPU's ability to feed draw calls and update game logic, which is why 1080p and 1440p results are so close together.

FAQ

*Q: What is the highest average frame rate this combo achieves in Inside?*

A: The highest measured average FPS is 320, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next highest is 295 FPS at 1080p Medium, followed by 286 FPS at 1440p Low.

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

A: The Intel Core i5-12400F + RTX 5090 D combination ranks 279th out of 2,887 tested combos, placing it in approximately the 90.3rd percentile of all system pairings benchmarked in Inside.

Q: Is the RTX 5090 D the performance bottleneck at 4K resolution?

A: No. At 4K High, the combo delivers 160 FPS average, and at 4K Ultra it delivers 153 FPS. These results show only modest degradation from 1440p, indicating the GPU has ample headroom. The bottleneck shifts to CPU-side processing, especially at lower resolutions.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between High and Ultra settings at each resolution?

A: At 1080p, High averages 246 FPS while Ultra averages 242 FPS (4 FPS difference). At 1440p, High averages 220 FPS and Ultra averages 217 FPS (3 FPS difference). At 4K, High averages 160 FPS and Ultra averages 153 FPS (7 FPS difference).

Q: Does the combo maintain playable frame rates at all tested settings?

A: Yes. The lowest average frame rate recorded is 153 FPS at 4K Ultra. Even the lowest minimum frame rate observed (192 FPS at 4K Medium) remains well above typical display refresh rates. Every tested configuration exceeds 150 FPS average.

Q: How does the CPU's benchmark performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Core i5-12400F has an average benchmark score of 19,039, placing it at the 73rd percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS, scores 19,047 (0% delta). The Intel Core 3 201E scores 19,056 (-0.1%), and the Intel Core i5-1335U scores 18,982 (+0.3%).

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is an extreme overmatch for Inside's rendering demands. With 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus delivering 1.79 TB/s bandwidth, the memory subsystem alone exceeds what this 2D puzzle platformer could conceivably require. The GPU's 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die at TSMC's 5 nm process provide 21,760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, and 176 ROPs. The boost clock of 2407 MHz (base 2017 MHz) drives a pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s.

In practical terms for Inside, the GPU is never the limiting factor. The measured frame rates are constrained by CPU-bound game logic and draw call submission rather than GPU fill rate or shader throughput. The evidence appears in the resolution scaling: if the GPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see 4K performance roughly 25% of 1080p performance (due to 4x pixel count). Instead, 4K High retains 65% of the 1080p High frame rate, and 4K Ultra retains 63.2% of 1080p Ultra. This indicates the GPU has 1.5-2x more headroom than the game can utilize.

The RTX 5090 D's 92nd percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 77,712, places it far above the performance tier needed for Inside. Its nearest rivals in aggregate benchmarks include the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT (76,904, +1.1% delta), the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (78,940, -1.6%), and the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB (79,396, -2.1%). Notably, these rivals are mobile or datacenter parts, underscoring the desktop flagship positioning of the 5090 D.

The GPU's DirectX 12 Ultimate support and Vulkan 1.4 API compatibility are largely irrelevant for a 2016 title that predates these modern rendering APIs. The game's release date of 2016-07-06 means it was designed for an era of much less powerful hardware. The RTX 5090 D's 680 tensor cores and 170 RT cores have no workload in this game, as Inside does not employ ray tracing or AI-enhanced rendering. The GPU's role here is essentially to render simple 2D sprites and parallax layers at extremely high frame rates without breaking a sweat.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its peak performance. Low settings produce a 320 FPS average, Medium settings yield 295 FPS (minimum 251, maximum 339), High settings reach 246 FPS, and Ultra settings hit 242 FPS. The progression from Low to Medium costs 25 FPS, from Medium to High costs 49 FPS, and from High to Ultra costs only 4 FPS. This suggests the Medium to High transition carries most of the visual quality overhead, while Ultra adds negligible cost.

At 2560x1440, frame rates remain exceptionally high. Low settings average 286 FPS, Medium averages 264 FPS (minimum 225, maximum 304), High averages 220 FPS, and Ultra averages 217 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p results in frame rate retention of 89.4% for Low, 89.5% for Medium, 89.4% for High, and 89.7% for Ultra settings. The consistency of this ~89-90% retention across all settings indicates a uniform resolution scaling factor independent of graphics options.

At 3840x2160, the combo still maintains triple-digit frame rates across all settings. Low averages 245 FPS, Medium averages 226 FPS (minimum 192, maximum 260), High averages 160 FPS, and Ultra averages 153 FPS. The retention from 1440p to 4K is 85.7% for Low, 85.6% for Medium, 72.7% for High, and 70.5% for Ultra. The larger drop for High and Ultra settings at 4K suggests these presets introduce some additional GPU workload that becomes more significant at higher pixel counts, though still far from making the GPU the primary bottleneck.

The minimum frame rate data, available only for Medium settings, shows 251 FPS at 1080p, 225 FPS at 1440p, and 192 FPS at 4K. The ratio of minimum to average FPS is 85.1% at 1080p, 85.2% at 1440p, and 85.0% at 4K. This remarkable consistency indicates stable frame delivery without thermal throttling or driver-level hitches, regardless of resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-12400F + RTX 5090 D combination achieves rank 279 out of 2,887 tested combos in Inside. This places the configuration in the 90th percentile of all system pairings benchmarked for this game. Given that the RTX 5090 D is the second-fastest GPU in its family (predecessor GeForce 40, successor GeForce 60), it is expected that GPU-heavy combos rank highly. However, the ranking of 279 suggests that 278 other configurations achieve higher frame rates, likely due to CPUs with stronger single-thread performance or more favorable platform-level optimizations.

The CPU's percentile ranking of 73 among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 19,039, indicates it is a mid-to-upper tier part. Its nearest rivals — the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS (19,047, 0% delta), Intel Core 3 201E (19,056, -0.1%), Intel Core i5-1335U (18,982, +0.3%), and AMD EPYC 7773X (18,979, +0.3%) — are all within 0.3% of its aggregate score. This tight clustering suggests the i5-12400F is well-positioned among its peers, but not exceptional in raw compute terms.

In the context of Inside, the combo's rank is likely constrained by the CPU's 6-core/12-thread configuration. The game is not heavily multithreaded, so the i5-12400F's 3DMark single-thread score of 909 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1,680 become relevant. The CPU's boost clock of 4.40 GHz (base 2.50 GHz) provides adequate single-thread performance, but higher-clocked parts with better IPC would likely achieve higher frame rates in this title. The 279th rank out of 2,887 combos is still an excellent result, placing the system in the top 10% of all configurations tested.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Alder Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 10 nm process with a die size of 163 mm². Its base clock of 2.50 GHz boosts to 4.40 GHz, and it carries 18 MB of shared L3 cache alongside 1.25 MB L2 per core and 80 KB L1 per core. The CPU supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory in dual-channel configuration and connects via PCIe Gen 5 with 20 lanes. Its 65 W TDP makes it a modest power draw for a desktop part.

In Inside, the CPU's role is to update game logic, handle physics calculations, and issue draw calls for the 2D rendering pipeline. The game's puzzle platformer genre typically involves simple collision detection and entity management, which are not heavily multithreaded workloads. The i5-12400F's 3DMark scores reflect this: 2-thread score of 1,699, 4-thread of 3,067, 8-thread of 4,779, and max-thread of 5,912. The scaling from 2 to 4 threads is 80.5%, from 4 to 8 is 55.8%, and from 8 to max is 23.7%. This diminishing scaling suggests the CPU has limited headroom for highly threaded workloads, but that is unlikely to matter for Inside.

Single-thread performance is more relevant for this game. The 3DMark single-thread score of 909 and Geekbench single-core score of 1,964 indicate solid but not class-leading performance. The Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1,680 places the i5-12400F in a competitive position, but CPUs with higher boost clocks or better IPC would likely push frame rates higher in CPU-bound sections. The PassMark single-thread score of 3,481 confirms this assessment.

The CPU's performance relative to its nearest rivals shows a balanced profile. The AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS matches its aggregate score exactly (0% delta), while the Intel Core 3 201E is 0.1% slower and the Intel Core i5-1335U is 0.3% faster. These micro-differences suggest that any of these CPUs would produce nearly identical frame rates in Inside, assuming similar memory configurations. The i5-12400F's dual-channel memory bus and 18 MB L3 cache provide adequate bandwidth for the game's modest data requirements.

Settings Recommendations

For players using this combo, the measured data provides clear guidance on settings selection. At every resolution, the frame rate differences between High and Ultra are negligible (3-7 FPS), making Ultra the sensible choice for maximum visual quality without meaningful performance cost. The gap between Medium and High is more substantial (49 FPS at 1080p, 44 FPS at 1440p, 66 FPS at 4K), which may justify Medium if a player targets a specific refresh rate ceiling.

At 1080p, all settings exceed 240 FPS average, so the choice depends on display refresh rate. For a 240 Hz display, High or Ultra settings provide 246 and 242 FPS respectively, both above the refresh ceiling. For a 360 Hz display, Low at 320 FPS or Medium at 295 FPS would be required to approach the display's maximum. The minimum frame rate at Medium (251 FPS) ensures no drops below a 240 Hz refresh.

At 1440p, High and Ultra both average above 217 FPS, making them suitable for 240 Hz displays. Medium at 264 FPS offers a buffer for 280-300 Hz displays, while Low at 286 FPS approaches 300 FPS territory. The 4K Ultra average of 153 FPS is suitable for 144 Hz displays, while 4K High at 160 FPS adds a small margin. For 4K 240 Hz displays, only Low (245 FPS) and Medium (226 FPS) come close, though neither fully saturates a 240 Hz panel.

The optimal experience per the measured rows is Ultra settings at any resolution where the display refresh rate is 144 Hz or lower, since the visual quality increase over High is essentially free. For higher refresh rate displays, Medium settings provide the best balance of frame rate headroom and visual fidelity, with minimum FPS never dropping below 192 even at 4K. Low settings should only be considered for extreme refresh rate displays (300+ Hz) where the additional 25-34 FPS over Medium justifies the visual compromise.