Inside

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

The Intel Core i5-13400F is a 10-core, 16-thread processor built on Intel's Raptor Lake architecture, using a 10 nm process node. Its base clock is 2.50 GHz with a boost clock of 4.60 GHz, and it carries 20 MB of shared L3 cache alongside per-core L2 and L1 caches of 1.25 MB and 80 KB respectively. This chip sits in the 77th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 25292, placing it in the upper-middle tier of desktop processors.

In benchmark tests, the i5-13400F posts a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 22604 and a single-core score of 3191. Its Geekbench results show 11068 multi-core and 1996 single-core. The 3DMark thread scaling tests reveal a pattern: 2-thread score of 1880, 4-thread score of 3459, 8-thread score of 5591, and 16-thread score of 7314, with max-threads at 7307. This scaling curve demonstrates that the processor gains meaningful performance as more threads are utilized, though the gains flatten between 8 and 16 threads, indicating that the core configuration is well-balanced for workloads that use up to 16 threads.

Relative to its nearest rivals, the i5-13400F holds its ground with a 0% delta against the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS (25284 average score), while leading the Intel Core 5 120 and AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D by 0.3% (both at 25362 and 25365 respectively). It trails the AMD Ryzen 7 6800H by 0.4% (25201). These margins are tiny—under half a percent—meaning that for this game's workload, the CPU is essentially performance-equivalent to those competitors.

For a puzzle platformer like Inside, the CPU's role is less about raw multi-threaded throughput and more about maintaining consistent frame pacing. The measured FPS data in this benchmark configuration shows that even at 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves 333 FPS average. At 4K Ultra, it still hits 153 FPS. The CPU has ample headroom: its single-thread performance (Cinebench R15 single-core score of 321, PassMark single-thread of 3634) is strong enough that even the most demanding settings at high resolutions do not bottleneck the frame rate. The 65W TDP and dual-channel DDR4/DDR5 memory support are sufficient for this game's relatively light computational demands.

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

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is a Blackwell 2.0 architecture GPU built on TSMC's 5 nm process, featuring 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die. It operates at a base clock of 2017 MHz with a boost clock of 2407 MHz, and its GDDR7 memory runs at 1750 MHz with 28 Gbps effective speed. The card carries 32 GB of VRAM across a 512-bit bus, yielding 1.79 TB/s of memory bandwidth. This GPU sits in the 92nd percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 77712.

In synthetic benchmarks, the RTX 5090 D scores 14326 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, 310674 in Geekbench OpenCL, and 376915 in Geekbench Vulkan. PassMark results show 44065 in G3D and 28396 in GPU compute. The card's nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT (76904, 1.1% behind) and AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (78940, 1.6% ahead), as well as NVIDIA Tesla P100 variants (79396 and 79605, 2.1% and 2.4% ahead respectively). These deltas are small, suggesting the RTX 5090 D is competitive within its immediate performance class.

For Inside, the GPU's role is dominant at high resolutions and settings. The measured data shows that at 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 153, which is only 60% of the 255 FPS achieved at 4K Low. This 102 FPS gap between Low and Ultra at 4K demonstrates that the GPU is the primary scaling factor when settings increase. The 32 GB VRAM is far beyond what this game requires—Inside is a 2016 puzzle platformer with modest texture demands—so memory capacity is never a limiting factor. Instead, the GPU's shading units (21760), texture units (680), and render output units (176) determine the frame rate as resolution and quality settings rise.

The card's FP32 performance of 104.8 TFLOPS and texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s provide massive headroom for this game's visual effects. Even at 4K Medium, the system maintains 236 FPS average, which is well above typical display refresh rates. The GPU's pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s ensures that even the most pixel-dense scenes at 3840x2160 are processed quickly. The RTX 5090 D is effectively overkill for this title, but the data shows it still scales predictably with settings changes.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

The measured FPS data across three resolutions and four settings presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) reveals a clear pattern for the Intel Core i5-13400F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D combination. At 1080p, the Low preset delivers 333 FPS, Medium drops to 307 FPS, High to 256 FPS, and Ultra to 252 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 81 FPS, or roughly 24% of the Low value. At 1440p, the spread is 298 FPS (Low) to 226 FPS (Ultra), a 72 FPS difference. At 4K, the spread widens to 255 FPS (Low) versus 153 FPS (Ultra), a 102 FPS gap.

The Medium preset consistently provides the most balanced experience. At 1080p, Medium yields 307 FPS with a minimum of 261 FPS and maximum of 353 FPS. At 1440p, Medium hits 275 FPS average (234 min, 317 max). At 4K, Medium maintains 236 FPS average (200 min, 271 max). These numbers show that Medium preserves the vast majority of Low's performance while adding visual quality, and it outperforms High by 51 FPS at 1080p, 46 FPS at 1440p, and 76 FPS at 4K.

High and Ultra are nearly indistinguishable in frame rate at 1080p (256 vs 252 FPS) and 1440p (229 vs 226 FPS), but at 4K they diverge more noticeably at 160 vs 153 FPS. The data suggests that High is the better choice over Ultra when maximizing frame rate matters, since the difference at 1080p is only 4 FPS and at 1440p only 3 FPS. However, for a puzzle platformer where frame rates above 150 FPS are already far beyond smoothness thresholds, Ultra at 4K still delivers a playable 153 FPS.

For the best measured experience, Medium at 1440p or 4K offers the most compelling combination of frame rate stability and visual fidelity. The minimum FPS values for Medium (234 at 1440p, 200 at 4K) are well above any stutter threshold, and the averages are substantially higher than High or Ultra. If the display is 1080p, Medium's 307 FPS average with 261 FPS minimum ensures the experience is never frame-limited.

FAQ

Q: How does the RTX 5090 D compare to its nearest GPU rivals in average benchmark score?

A: The RTX 5090 D has an average benchmark score of 77712. It leads the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT (76904) by 1.1%, trails the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (78940) by 1.6%, and sits behind both the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB (79396) and 16 GB (79605) by 2.1% and 2.4% respectively.

Q: What is the biggest FPS drop when moving from 1080p to 4K at the same settings?

A: At Low settings, the drop is from 333 FPS at 1080p to 255 FPS at 4K, a reduction of 78 FPS. At Medium, it drops from 307 to 236 FPS (71 FPS less). At High, it falls from 256 to 160 FPS (96 FPS less). At Ultra, the drop is from 252 to 153 FPS, a 99 FPS reduction.

Q: Which settings preset provides the highest minimum FPS across all resolutions?

A: The Medium preset is the only one with recorded minimum FPS values in the data. At 1080p, the minimum is 261 FPS; at 1440p, it is 234 FPS; and at 4K, it is 200 FPS. No minimum values are listed for Low, High, or Ultra.

Q: How does the i5-13400F's multi-threaded performance compare to its single-threaded performance?

A: The Cinebench R23 multi-core score is 22604, while single-core is 3191, giving a multi-to-single ratio of roughly 7.1x. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 7314 is 3.9x the 2-thread score of 1880, indicating strong scaling but with diminishing returns beyond 8 threads.

Q: Is the RTX 5090 D's 32 GB VRAM ever a limiting factor in this game?

A: The data shows no indication of VRAM limitation. The 32 GB GDDR7 capacity with 1.79 TB/s bandwidth is vastly more than Inside's requirements. The FPS differences between settings are attributable to compute and memory bandwidth scaling, not capacity constraints, as even 4K Ultra maintains 153 FPS average.

Q: What percentile does the i5-13400F rank among all CPUs, and what does that mean for gaming?

A: The i5-13400F is in the 77th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 25292. This places it above the majority of processors, and for this game, its 10 cores and 16 threads are more than sufficient—the measured FPS at all resolutions and settings remains high, indicating no CPU bottleneck.

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

The measured data shows a clear inverse relationship between resolution and frame rate. At Low settings, the progression is 333 FPS (1080p) → 298 FPS (1440p) → 255 FPS (4K). This represents a 10.5% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 23.4% drop from 1440p to 4K. At Medium, the numbers are 307 → 275 → 236, reflecting 10.4% and 14.2% drops. At High, it is 256 → 229 → 160, with 10.5% and 30.1% drops. At Ultra, the values are 252 → 226 → 153, showing 10.3% and 32.3% drops.

The pattern reveals that the percentage drop from 1440p to 4K grows as settings increase. At Low, the 4K-to-1440p ratio is 255/298 = 0.856. At Medium, it is 236/275 = 0.858. At High, it falls to 160/229 = 0.699. At Ultra, it is 153/226 = 0.677. This means that higher settings place proportionally more load on the GPU as resolution increases, because the pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K (though the data shows the actual FPS drop is less than 75% at Low settings, indicating the GPU has headroom).

The limiting component shifts with resolution. At 1080p, the CPU's single-thread performance (PassMark single-thread score of 3634) is sufficient to drive 333 FPS at Low, but even at this resolution, the GPU's capabilities (104.8 TFLOPS FP32) are not fully taxed—the difference between Low (333 FPS) and Ultra (252 FPS) at the same resolution is 81 FPS, showing that the GPU's workload scales with settings. At 4K, the GPU becomes the dominant factor: the 102 FPS gap between Low (255) and Ultra (153) at 4K is larger than the 81 FPS gap at 1080p, confirming that pixel throughput is the bottleneck.

The data indicates that this system is GPU-limited at 4K for High and Ultra settings, where frame rates drop to 160 and 153 respectively—still high, but clearly scaling with resolution. At 1080p and 1440p, the system is likely CPU-limited in the sense that the GPU could produce even higher frame rates if the CPU could feed it faster, but the measured FPS values are already so high (above 226 FPS in all cases except 4K High/Ultra) that this limitation is academic for gameplay.

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

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Low: 333 FPS average (no min/max recorded)
• Medium: 307 FPS average, 261 FPS minimum, 353 FPS maximum
• High: 256 FPS average (no min/max recorded)
• Ultra: 252 FPS average (no min/max recorded)

At 1080p, the system delivers its highest frame rates. The spread from Low to Ultra is 81 FPS, with Medium providing the most stable window (261-353 FPS). The difference between High and Ultra is just 4 FPS, suggesting diminishing returns from the Ultra preset at this resolution.

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Low: 298 FPS average (no min/max recorded)
• Medium: 275 FPS average, 234 FPS minimum, 317 FPS maximum
• High: 229 FPS average (no min/max recorded)
• Ultra: 226 FPS average (no min/max recorded)

At 1440p, all settings remain above 226 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 72 FPS. Medium's minimum of 234 FPS ensures no frame rate dips below the refresh rate of most high-refresh monitors. High and Ultra are again close, separated by only 3 FPS.

3840x2160 (4K):

• Low: 255 FPS average (no min/max recorded)
• Medium: 236 FPS average, 200 FPS minimum, 271 FPS maximum
• High: 160 FPS average (no min/max recorded)
• Ultra: 153 FPS average (no min/max recorded)

At 4K, the impact of settings becomes pronounced. Low delivers 255 FPS, but High drops to 160 and Ultra to 153. The 102 FPS difference between Low and Ultra is the largest across all resolutions. Medium maintains a 200 FPS minimum, making it the only preset at 4K that stays above 200 FPS even in worst-case frames.

The combination's overall rank in this game is 296 out of 3716 tested combinations, placing it in the top 8% of all measured systems. This ranking reflects the strong performance of both components, with the RTX 5090 D's 92nd percentile GPU standing and the i5-13400F's 77th percentile CPU contributing to a system that handles Inside at high frame rates across all resolution and settings combinations. The data confirms that this pairing is more than sufficient for this title, with even the most demanding configuration (4K Ultra) exceeding 150 FPS average.