Inside

The Intel Core i5-12600KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti delivers an exceptional experience in Inside, a 2016 Puzzle Platformer, with frame rates that far exceed display refresh rate requirements across all tested configurations. At 4K Ultra, the combo still produces 117.6 FPS average, indicating massive headroom. The data places this pairing at rank 142 out of 1671 tested combos, placing it in the top 8.5% of all systems, a position driven by the GPU's raw throughput and the CPU's strong single-thread performance.

FAQ

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

A: The measured average FPS at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings is 255.1 FPS.

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

A: It ranks 142nd out of 1671 total tested combos, placing it in the top percentile of systems.

Q: What is the largest performance gap between settings at the same resolution?

A: At 4K, the gap between Low (245.9 FPS) and Ultra (117.6 FPS) is 128.3 FPS, showing a significant scaling range.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The data suggests the GPU is the limiting factor even at 1080p, as the frame rate drops from 357.6 FPS (Low) to 255.1 FPS (Ultra), a difference attributable to GPU load.

Q: What is the GPU's memory bandwidth?

A: The RTX 4070 Ti features a 504.2 GB/s bandwidth via a 192-bit bus with 12 GB of GDDR6X memory.

Q: What is the CPU's boost clock speed?

A: The Intel Core i5-12600KF has a boost clock of 4.90 GHz across its 10 cores (16 threads).

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-12600KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti secures the 142nd position out of 1671 tested configurations for Inside. This ranking places it comfortably within the top 10% of all systems tested, a remarkable feat for a game with modest graphical demands. The percentile standing for the GPU alone is 85th among all GPUs, while the CPU sits at the 84th percentile among all CPUs. When paired, their combined efficiency yields a system that outperforms the vast majority of alternatives.

Benchmark results show that this pairing is not merely adequate but decisively high-end. The GPU's nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile, scores only 0.6% higher in average benchmark scores, yet the RTX 4070 Ti in this desktop configuration delivers frame rates that are already beyond the threshold of smoothness for any display. The CPU, meanwhile, sits within 0.1% of the Intel Core i5-12600K's average score and 0.4% ahead of the Intel Core i7-13700H, indicating that the 12600KF is not a weak link in this duo. The ranking reflects a balanced system where neither component significantly drags down the other, a conclusion supported by the consistently high FPS across all resolution and settings combinations.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals how the system scales from 1080p to 4K, showing a predictable decline as pixel count increases. At Low settings, the average frame rate drops from 357.6 FPS at 1920x1080 to 245.9 FPS at 3840x2160, a reduction of 111.7 FPS (approximately 31%). This scaling indicates that even at the lowest settings, the GPU is still the primary bottleneck; the CPU's single-thread score of 3309 in Cinebench R23 is more than sufficient to feed the GPU at these rates.

Moving to Ultra settings, the drop is more pronounced: from 255.1 FPS at 1080p to 117.6 FPS at 4K, a decrease of 137.5 FPS (about 54%). The steeper decline at higher settings underscores that the RTX 4070 Ti's shading units (7680) and texture rate (626.4 GTexel/s) are being taxed more heavily as resolution and visual complexity rise. However, even at 4K Ultra, the frame rate remains well above 60 FPS, meaning the limiting component—the GPU—still has ample headroom. The data suggests that for competitive play at 1080p, the system is never constrained by the CPU, as even the lowest FPS at that resolution (255.1 on Ultra) exceeds the CPU's maximum threaded throughput in most games. The scaling pattern confirms a GPU-bound system across all tested points.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system posts staggering numbers: 357.6 FPS on Low, 330.9 FPS on Medium, 266.7 FPS on High, and 255.1 FPS on Ultra. The delta between Low and Ultra is 102.5 FPS, showing that the GPU's 40.09 TFLOPS FP32 performance is the decisive factor. These figures indicate that any modern high-refresh monitor (240Hz or above) will be fully utilized at this resolution, regardless of settings.

At 2560x1440, the averages remain exceptional: 324.1 FPS (Low), 296.5 FPS (Medium), 194.7 FPS (High), and 184.6 FPS (Ultra). The drop from Medium to High is 101.8 FPS, a larger jump than from Low to Medium (27.6 FPS), suggesting that High settings introduce a significant increase in shader complexity or texture memory usage. The 12 GB VRAM buffer is more than adequate here, as the game’s 2016 origins likely cap out well below that capacity.

At 3840x2160, the performance is still superb: 245.9 FPS (Low), 195.6 FPS (Medium), 119.8 FPS (High), and 117.6 FPS (Ultra). The gap between Low and Medium is 50.3 FPS, while High and Ultra are nearly identical (a 2.2 FPS difference). This clustering suggests that at 4K, the GPU's memory bandwidth (504.2 GB/s) becomes a factor, as the higher resolution demands more data throughput for effects, but the raw compute power remains sufficient to maintain high frame rates.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti is the dominant component in this pairing, with its specifications directly explaining the observed FPS. The GPU features 7680 shading units, 240 TMUs, and 80 ROPs, with a boost clock of 2610 MHz. This configuration yields a pixel rate of 208.8 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 626.4 GTexel/s, which are ample for a side-scrolling puzzle platformer. The FP32 performance of 40.09 TFLOPS ensures that even the most complex particle effects or lighting scenarios in Inside are trivial to render.

The 12 GB of GDDR6X memory across a 192-bit bus provides 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. For a game released in 2016, this is vastly more than necessary; the memory bandwidth becomes a non-issue even at 4K Ultra, where the system still averages 117.6 FPS. The GPU's 85th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 44900, places it ahead of rivals like the AMD Radeon Pro 580 (which scores 1.6% lower). The measured data confirms that the GPU is never the limiting factor, as even the lowest FPS recorded (117.6) is far above the threshold for smooth gameplay. The Ada Lovelace architecture's efficiency, built on a 5 nm process with 35,800 million transistors, allows this performance within a 285 W TDP, though power consumption is not a variable in the measured FPS.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS, the optimal settings for this combo depend on the display's refresh rate and resolution. At 1080p, the difference between High (266.7 FPS) and Ultra (255.1 FPS) is only 11.6 FPS, making Ultra the clear choice for maximum visual fidelity without sacrificing performance. The gap to Low (357.6 FPS) is substantial, but the visual downgrade is not worth the extra 91 FPS, as even Ultra exceeds the refresh rate of most 240Hz monitors.

At 1440p, the data shows that Medium (296.5 FPS) offers a 101.9 FPS advantage over High (194.7 FPS), but High still provides a flawless experience for 144Hz displays. Ultra (184.6 FPS) is only 10.1 FPS slower than High, so players with 165Hz panels should opt for Ultra. For 4K, the choice is between High (119.8 FPS) and Ultra (117.6 FPS), which are virtually identical. The 2.2 FPS difference means Ultra is the best choice for 4K, as it delivers nearly the same frame rate with enhanced visual quality. Across all resolutions, Low settings are only recommended for players targeting extreme frame rates beyond 300 FPS, which is unnecessary given that even Ultra at 4K remains well above 100 FPS.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12600KF features 10 cores (16 threads) with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz. Its architecture, Alder Lake-S, uses a 10 nm process and supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory. In Cinebench R23, it scores 23444 multi-core and 3309 single-core, with a 3DMark single-thread score of 1016. These numbers indicate strong single-thread performance, which is critical for a game like Inside that likely relies on a primary game thread.

The CPU's percentile ranking is 84th among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 27827. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i9-10900K, scores 27829 (a 0% delta), while the i5-12600K scores 27851 (-0.1%), showing that the 12600KF is essentially tied with its direct sibling. The measured FPS data shows no evidence of CPU bottlenecking: at 1080p Low, the system reaches 357.6 FPS, which is near the practical limit for most game engines. The CPU's 20 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel memory bus provide sufficient bandwidth for the GPU to operate at full capacity. In this context, the CPU's role is to ensure that the RTX 4070 Ti is never starved of data, and the benchmark results confirm that it succeeds, as the frame rates scale uniformly with GPU settings rather than showing CPU-imposed plateaus.