Inside

Inside is a puzzle platformer from 2016, and the measured data for the Intel Core i5-12600KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 shows a title that is remarkably easy to drive, yet the scaling patterns reveal a clear hierarchy between the CPU and GPU at different settings. The dataset includes average FPS values for 12 distinct combinations of resolution and quality preset, with only the Medium preset providing minimum and maximum frame rate figures.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is steep, but the shape of that curve depends heavily on the selected quality preset. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 333 FPS at 1920x1080 to 239 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 28.2%. Moving to 3840x2160 at Low yields 150 FPS, which is 55% lower than the 1080p result. This indicates that even at the lowest settings, the rendering load at 4K is substantial enough to cut performance by more than half, though the absolute numbers remain far above playable thresholds.

At Medium settings, the scaling is more linear. The average FPS drops from 266 at 1080p to 192 at 1440p (a 27.8% decrease), then to 120 at 4K (a 54.9% decrease from 1080p). This nearly identical percentage drop between Low and Medium suggests that the GPU is becoming the dominant limiting factor as resolution increases, regardless of how many visual effects are enabled. The High preset shows a slightly different pattern: 167 FPS at 1080p, 120 FPS at 1440p (down 28.1%), and 75 FPS at 4K (down 55.1%). Again, the relative scaling is consistent.

Ultra settings produce the lowest absolute numbers: 159 FPS at 1080p, 114 FPS at 1440p, and 72 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K is 54.7%, nearly identical to the other presets. This consistency across all four quality levels is telling. The ratio of 1080p to 4K performance is always roughly 2.2x to 2.3x, which is very close to the pixel count ratio of 4. The fact that performance does not halve exactly implies that there is some headroom left for the CPU at lower resolutions, but the GPU is still the primary constraint at 4K.

The Medium preset is the only one with min/max data. At 1920x1080, the range is 226-306 FPS, a spread of 80 FPS around a 266 average. At 2560x1440, the range narrows to 163-220 FPS, a spread of 57 FPS. At 3840x2160, the range is 102-138 FPS, a spread of 36 FPS. This tightening of the frame time distribution as resolution increases is a classic sign of the GPU becoming fully saturated; at lower resolutions, the CPU can occasionally push the frame rate higher, but at 4K, the GPU work dominates the frame time.

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. Its synthetic benchmark scores place it at the 79th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 27,799. In Cinebench R23, it scores 23,391 in multi-core and 3,302 in single-core, indicating strong single-threaded performance that is relevant for older games like Inside, which may not scale well across many cores.

The nearest CPU rivals in the database all have nearly identical average scores. The Intel Core i9-10900K scores 27,872 (0.3% higher), the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D scores 27,896 (0.3% higher), and the AMD Ryzen 7 6800U scores 27,887 (0.3% higher). Only the AMD Ryzen 5 8500GE scores lower at 27,712 (0.3% lower). This places the i5-12600KF in a very tight performance cluster, meaning that any CPU-bound behavior in Inside would likely be nearly identical to these rivals.

In the measured game data, the CPU role appears to be most evident at 1080p with Low settings, where the average FPS reaches 333. This is a very high frame rate, and it suggests that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU well beyond typical display refresh rates. However, the fact that the 1080p Low result is not higher than 333 FPS may indicate a mild CPU limitation, as the GPU is certainly capable of more at such low settings. The 10 cores and 16 threads are more than sufficient for a puzzle platformer from 2016, and the single-thread score of 3,302 in Cinebench R23 is robust.

The boost clock of 4.90 GHz is likely the more important factor here. Inside is not a heavily threaded title, and the performance at high frame rates will depend on how fast a single core can execute game logic. The 3DMark single-thread score of 1,016 and the PassMark single-thread score of 3,925 both point to strong per-core performance. At 1440p and 4K, the CPU role diminishes, as the GPU becomes the bottleneck, but at 1080p, especially with Low settings, the CPU is clearly capable of pushing frame rates into the hundreds.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides four quality presets at each resolution. Looking at the 1080p results, Low averages 333 FPS, Medium averages 266 FPS, High averages 167 FPS, and Ultra averages 159 FPS. The step from Low to Medium costs 67 FPS (20.1%), while the step from Medium to High costs 99 FPS (37.2%). The step from High to Ultra costs only 8 FPS (4.8%). This suggests that the visual difference between High and Ultra is small in terms of performance cost, while the jump from Medium to High is substantial.

At 1440p, the pattern is similar. Low averages 239 FPS, Medium averages 192 FPS, High averages 120 FPS, and Ultra averages 114 FPS. The Medium-to-High drop is 72 FPS (37.5%), while the High-to-Ultra drop is only 6 FPS (5.0%). At 4K, Low averages 150 FPS, Medium averages 120 FPS, High averages 75 FPS, and Ultra averages 72 FPS. The relative costs are consistent: High to Ultra is nearly free, while Medium to High is expensive.

Given these numbers, the High preset appears to be a poor value in terms of frame rate, as it is much closer to Ultra than to Medium. The Medium preset offers a better balance, with 266 FPS at 1080p, 192 FPS at 1440p, and 120 FPS at 4K. These are all far above the 60 FPS threshold, and the Medium preset is the only one with detailed frame time data, showing a minimum of 102 FPS at 4K, which is still smooth.

For users who want the highest visual quality, Ultra is only 4-8 FPS slower than High across all resolutions, so there is little reason to choose High over Ultra. The recommendation from the data is clear: either use Medium for a generous frame rate buffer, or skip High entirely and go to Ultra for the best image quality at a negligible performance cost. Low settings are only advisable for competitive or high-refresh-rate play, as 333 FPS at 1080p is well beyond what most displays can show.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-12600KF and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 achieves a combo rank of 1,863 out of 3,716 tested combinations in Inside. This places it in the 50th percentile of all combos, meaning that exactly half of the tested systems perform better and half perform worse. This is a remarkably average position for a mid-range 2023 GPU paired with a strong 2021 CPU.

The GPU's nearest rivals in the synthetic benchmark database are all older or integrated parts. The AMD Radeon HD 7790 scores 17,666 (0.2% higher), the AMD Radeon 780M scores 17,588 (0.3% lower), the AMD Radeon Pro 560 scores 17,551 (0.5% lower), and the AMD Radeon Pro 460 scores 17,509 (0.7% lower). This suggests that in raw compute terms, the RTX 4060 is comparable to a much older discrete GPU and a modern integrated graphics solution. The RTX 4060's percentile rank among all GPUs is 61, which is higher than the combo's 50th percentile rank, indicating that the CPU is slightly holding back the overall combo ranking.

The CPU's percentile rank of 79 is much higher than the GPU's 61, which further supports the idea that the GPU is the weaker link in this pairing for this particular game. However, because Inside is not a demanding title, the combo still produces very high frame rates. The average benchmark score for the CPU is 27,799, while the GPU's average is 17,639. The fact that the combo ranks in the exact middle of all tested systems, despite having a top-40% CPU and a top-40% GPU, suggests that many other combinations in the database are more balanced or simply have more powerful GPUs.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is based on the AD107 chip with 3,072 shading units, 96 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output units. It has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing 272.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The boost clock is 2460 MHz, and the memory runs at 2125 MHz (17 Gbps effective). The GPU's synthetic benchmark scores include a PassMark G3D score of 19,545 and a Geekbench OpenCL score of 95,057.

The GPU's percentile rank of 61 among all GPUs places it in the upper-middle tier, but its nearest rivals are much older. The AMD Radeon HD 7790, which is a GPU from 2013, scores nearly identically in the average benchmark. This indicates that the RTX 4060's raw compute performance is not exceptional, but its modern features and efficiency are not captured in those synthetic scores.

In Inside, the GPU role becomes dominant at higher resolutions and settings. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 72, which is just above the 60 FPS threshold. At 4K High, it is 75 FPS. These are the only two configurations that approach typical display refresh rates. The 8 GB of VRAM is not stressed by a game from 2016, as even the 4K Ultra preset does not show signs of memory capacity issues, given that the low preset at 4K still manages 150 FPS.

The memory bandwidth of 272.0 GB/s is more than sufficient for this title. The pixel rate of 118.1 GPixel/s and texture rate of 236.2 GTexel/s are also adequate, as evidenced by the 120 FPS average at 4K Medium. The GPU's FP32 performance of 15.11 TFLOPS is plenty for a puzzle platformer, and the data shows that the GPU is never the bottleneck at 1080p, where the CPU is likely the limiting factor at 333 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average frame rates are as follows: Low 333 FPS, Medium 266 FPS (minimum 226, maximum 306), High 167 FPS, and Ultra 159 FPS. The difference between Low and Medium is 67 FPS, while the difference between High and Ultra is only 8 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 226 FPS is higher than the average of the High preset, which shows that the step from Medium to High is substantial.

At 2560x1440, the averages are: Low 239 FPS, Medium 192 FPS (minimum 163, maximum 220), High 120 FPS, and Ultra 114 FPS. The percentage drop from 1080p to 1440p is consistent across all presets, ranging from 27.8% (Medium) to 28.3% (Low). The Medium preset's minimum of 163 FPS is still above the High preset's average of 120 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the averages are: Low 150 FPS, Medium 120 FPS (minimum 102, maximum 138), High 75 FPS, and Ultra 72 FPS. The drop from 1440p to 4K is larger in absolute terms, but the relative percentage is similar. The Medium preset at 4K, with an average of 120 FPS and a minimum of 102 FPS, is the sweet spot for smooth gameplay at this resolution. The High and Ultra presets both hover in the low 70s, which is playable but leaves less headroom.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for smooth 60 FPS gameplay?

A: All measured configurations exceed 60 FPS on average. The lowest average is 72 FPS at 4K Ultra, so even the most demanding preset at the highest resolution stays above 60 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K provides 120 FPS average with a minimum of 102 FPS.

Q: How much faster is the Low preset compared to Ultra at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 333 FPS, while Ultra averages 159 FPS. This means Low is 174 FPS (109.4%) faster than Ultra at the same resolution.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the main bottleneck in this game?

A: At 1080p with Low settings, the 333 FPS average suggests a possible CPU limitation, as the GPU is capable of higher frame rates at such low settings. At 4K, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck, as the frame rates drop proportionally to the pixel count increase.

Q: Does the Medium preset provide consistent frame times?

A: The Medium preset is the only one with minimum and maximum data. At 1080p, the range is 226-306 FPS; at 1440p, it is 163-220 FPS; and at 4K, it is 102-138 FPS. The spread narrows as resolution increases, indicating more consistent frame pacing at higher resolutions.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to all other tested combinations?

A: The combo ranks 1,863 out of 3,716 tested combinations, placing it at the 50th percentile. This is exactly average, despite the CPU ranking at the 79th percentile and the GPU at the 61st percentile among their respective categories.

Q: Is there a meaningful difference between the High and Ultra presets?

A: The difference is small. At 1080p, High averages 167 FPS and Ultra 159 FPS (a 4.8% difference). At 1440p, the difference is 5.0%, and at 4K it is 4.0%. The High preset is always within 8 FPS of Ultra, so the performance cost of Ultra is minimal.