Inside

Inside is a puzzle platformer that leans far more on atmosphere and timing than on raw GPU muscle, and the measured data for the Intel Core i5-12600KF with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti reflects that. This pairing is heavily bottlenecked by the graphics card in most scenarios, but the CPU’s strength ensures that frame pacing remains consistent. The benchmark results show a clear hierarchy: lower settings and lower resolutions unlock playable frame rates, while higher presets push the GTX 1050 Ti past its comfort zone. The data indicates that this combo is capable of delivering a smooth experience, but only if you respect the GPU’s limits.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Inside at 4K resolution?

A: Yes, but only at Low settings, which produce an average of 48.5 FPS. High settings drop to 27 FPS, Medium to 40.2 FPS, and Ultra falls to 21.2 FPS, making the latter two presets uncomfortable for action sequences.

Q: What is the best resolution for a consistent 60 FPS experience?

A: 1920x1080 with Low settings is the only preset that clears 60 FPS comfortably, hitting an average of 105.7 FPS. The Medium preset at 1080p also stays above 60 FPS at 83.6 FPS, which is a viable alternative.

Q: How does the GTX 1050 Ti compare to its closest rivals in raw performance?

A: The GPU’s average benchmark score of 5316 is effectively tied with the NVIDIA GeForce 930A, which scores 5317 with a 0% delta. It is 0.4% ahead of the GeForce 940M and 0.7% ahead of the AMD Radeon R7 240, but 0.8% behind the Radeon R7 M445.

Q: Is the CPU holding back the GPU in this game?

A: No. The i5-12600KF ranks in the 84th percentile among all CPUs, and its multi-threaded scores (like 23444 in Cinebench R23) are far beyond what a puzzle platformer needs. The data shows the GPU is the limiting factor at every resolution above 1080p Low.

Q: Does the Ultra preset offer any benefit over High at 1080p?

A: No measurable benefit. Both High and Ultra presets produce an identical average of 51.5 FPS at 1920x1080. The extra graphical fidelity comes at no additional performance cost, but neither preset reaches a smooth 60 FPS.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Medium and Low at 1440p?

A: Medium averages 64.2 FPS while Low averages 76.7 FPS, a difference of 12.5 FPS. This makes Low the safer choice for maintaining higher frame rates, though Medium remains playable.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti is the definitive bottleneck in this pairing. Its 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 112.1 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient for the modest textures of Inside, but the card’s raw compute power is limited. The GPU has 768 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs, with a base clock of 1291 MHz and a boost clock of 1392 MHz. The data shows that these specs translate to a 30th percentile ranking among all GPUs, placing it in the lower tier of performance.

The benchmark results illustrate how this GPU scales with settings. At 1920x1080, the jump from Low to Medium costs 22.1 FPS (from 105.7 to 83.6), but the jump from Medium to High costs 32.1 FPS (down to 51.5). This indicates that the card’s memory bandwidth and pixel fill rate become saturated quickly. The pixel rate is 44.54 GPixel/s and the texture rate is 66.82 GTexel/s, which are figures that struggle with higher-quality shaders and post-processing effects. The FP32 performance of 2.138 TFLOPS is the ceiling for this GPU, and the measured FPS drops reflect that ceiling being hit at higher presets.

The GTX 1050 Ti’s DirectX 12 support (12_1) is present, but benchmark scores for DirectX 12 (26 in Passmark) are lower than DirectX 11 (45), suggesting the card is better optimized for older APIs. For a game like Inside, which has a stylized art style rather than photorealistic rendering, the GPU can push acceptable frame rates at lower settings. However, the data clearly shows that the card’s 4 GB VRAM is not the issue — the compute units are. The 30th percentile ranking and the measured FPS drops at High and Ultra presets confirm that this GPU is best suited for 1080p Low or Medium gaming.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data points to a clear winner for this combo: the Low preset at 1920x1080, which delivers an average of 105.7 FPS. This is the only configuration that provides a substantial headroom above 60 FPS, allowing for smooth gameplay even during the game’s more intense chase sequences. The Medium preset at 1080p, averaging 83.6 FPS, is also a strong choice if you want slightly better visuals without sacrificing playability.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 76.7 FPS, which is still above the 60 FPS threshold. This makes 1440p Low a viable option for users with higher-resolution monitors. The Medium preset at 1440p dips to 64.2 FPS, which is borderline but acceptable for a puzzle platformer where precise timing is more important than frame rate consistency. The High preset at 1440p drops to 39.3 FPS, which is too low for comfortable play.

For 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 48.5 FPS, which is playable but not ideal. The Medium preset at 4K averages 40.2 FPS, and the High preset falls to 27 FPS. The Ultra preset is effectively unplayable at 21.2 FPS. The data recommends avoiding 4K unless you are willing to accept sub-50 FPS performance. The best balance of visual quality and performance is 1080p Medium, which offers a 83.6 FPS average while still engaging more advanced rendering features than Low.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core i5-12600KF and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti ranks 1660 out of 1671 tested combos for Inside. This places it in the bottom 0.7% of all configurations in the database, which is a direct reflection of the GPU’s limitations rather than the CPU’s capabilities. The rank of 1660 indicates that the vast majority of other pairings deliver higher average frame rates in this game.

The CPU’s performance percentile of 84 suggests that the i5-12600KF is not the cause of this low ranking. In fact, the CPU’s nearest rivals — the Intel Core i9-10900K, the Intel Core i5-12600K, and the Intel Core Ultra 5 125H — all have nearly identical average benchmark scores (27829, 27851, and 27872 respectively), with deltas of 0%, -0.1%, and -0.2%. This means the processor is performing exactly as expected. The bottleneck is entirely on the GPU side, which ranks in the 30th percentile and has an average benchmark score of 5316.

The data shows that this combo is not optimized for Inside. The rank of 1660 out of 1671 is a clear signal that users with this hardware should expect to compromise heavily on settings to achieve playable frame rates. The CPU has enough headroom to handle any future GPU upgrade, but as configured, this pairing is near the bottom of the performance charts for this specific game.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12600KF is a 10-core, 16-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz. This is a desktop-class CPU with a 125 W TDP, and it supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory on the Intel Socket 1700 platform. The data shows that this CPU is massively overqualified for Inside, which is a title that rarely stresses more than a few cores.

The CPU’s benchmark results confirm its strength. It scores 23444 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 3309 in single-core, with a Geekbench multi-core score of 12373 and a single-core score of 2529. The Passmark multi-thread score is 27575, and the single-thread score is 3925. These numbers place the CPU in the 84th percentile of all processors, with an average benchmark score of 27827. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i9-10900K, scores 27829, a 0% delta, meaning the i5-12600KF is statistically identical in performance.

For Inside, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and handle game logic. The measured FPS data shows that the CPU is never the limiting factor. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 105.7 FPS, which is far above the GPU’s typical capabilities. Even at 4K Ultra, where the GPU drops to 21.2 FPS, the CPU is not the cause. The processor’s 20 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB per-core L2 cache provide ample bandwidth for the game’s data. The 10 cores and 16 threads are more than sufficient for a puzzle platformer, and the boost clock of 4.90 GHz ensures that any single-threaded tasks are handled promptly. The data indicates that this CPU will not hold back the GPU in Inside, regardless of resolution or settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for this combo provides a comprehensive view of its performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 105.7 FPS, which is the highest score recorded for this pairing. Medium drops to 83.6 FPS, and High and Ultra both average 51.5 FPS. This shows a significant cliff between Medium and High, likely due to the GPU’s shader and pixel processing limits.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 76.7 FPS, Medium averages 64.2 FPS, High averages 39.3 FPS, and Ultra averages 37.9 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra at this resolution is minimal, indicating that the GPU is already saturated. The jump from Low to Medium costs 12.5 FPS, but the jump from Medium to High costs 24.9 FPS, highlighting the cost of enabling higher-quality effects.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 48.5 FPS, Medium averages 40.2 FPS, High averages 27 FPS, and Ultra averages 21.2 FPS. The 4K resolution exposes the GPU’s memory bandwidth limitations, as the 112.1 GB/s bandwidth is insufficient to maintain high frame rates at this pixel count. The data shows a clear pattern: the combo is playable at 1080p Low/Medium, acceptable at 1440p Low, and marginal at 4K Low. The Ultra preset should be avoided entirely, as it never exceeds 51.5 FPS at any resolution. The measured rows confirm that this pairing is best suited for 1080p gaming with modest settings.