Inside

The Intel Core i5-14400F pairs a 10-core, 16-thread Raptor Lake design with a 2.50 GHz base and 4.70 GHz boost clock. For a puzzle platformer like Inside, this is far more processing headroom than the game demands. The CPU’s 20 MB of shared L3 cache and 88th percentile ranking against all CPUs mean it is not the bottleneck in this pairing. The data confirms this: the Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 21914 and single-core score of 3093 place it in the top tier of desktop processors. Even at 1080p Low, where CPU load is highest relative to GPU, the system delivers 148.7 FPS, showing the i5-14400F is effectively idle waiting on the graphics card. Its nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i7-12800H and AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645, score within 0.2% in average benchmark scores, but those are mobile or prosumer parts; for desktop gaming, the i5-14400F’s 65W TDP and active production status make it a sensible modern foundation. The 10 cores split between performance and efficiency clusters handle background tasks without compromising frame pacing. In Inside, which is a side-scrolling title with minimal physics simulation, the CPU’s single-thread performance (PassMark single-thread score of 3723) is what keeps frame times consistent. The benchmark results show no scenario where the CPU limits average FPS; even the lowest observed average of 32.4 FPS at 4K Ultra is a GPU constraint, not a processor one.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 580 is the clear performance limiter in this configuration. This Polaris 20 chip, built on a 14 nm process, carries 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its boost clock of 1340 MHz and 2304 shading units produce 6.175 TFLOPS of FP32 compute. That is respectable for a 2017-era card, but the 53rd percentile ranking against all GPUs shows it sits in the middle of the pack. The benchmark scores tell a mixed story: the PassMark G3D score of 8813 is solid, but the DirectX 12 score of 43 is weak, suggesting this architecture (GCN 4.0) handles older APIs better than modern ones. Inside was released in 2016, so it targets DirectX 11-era hardware, which plays to the RX 580’s strengths. The card’s nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 and GTX 950, with average scores within 0.1% — that puts the RX 580 in the same performance class as a decade-old midrange card. For this game, the GPU’s 8 GB VRAM is ample; even at 4K Ultra, the memory footprint is unlikely to exceed what’s available. The practical impact is that the RX 580 dictates frame rates across all settings. At 1080p Low, it hits 148.7 FPS, but that drops by more than half at 4K High (35.9 FPS). The card’s 185W TDP and single 8-pin power connector are modest, but they are irrelevant to the in-game results. The data shows a GPU that can run Inside smoothly at lower resolutions and settings, but struggles to maintain 60 FPS at 4K on higher presets.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals how sharply performance degrades as resolution increases, and this pattern identifies the GPU as the limiting component. At 1080p Low, the system averages 148.7 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops that to 108.1 FPS — a 27% reduction. At 4K Low, it falls further to 68 FPS, which is a 37% drop from 1440p. This scaling is consistent with a GPU-bound scenario: doubling pixel count roughly halves frame rates, and the RX 580’s bandwidth (256.0 GB/s) becomes the constraint. The High preset shows an even steeper curve: 75.4 FPS at 1080p, 54.8 FPS at 1440p (a 27% drop), and 35.9 FPS at 4K (a 35% drop from 1440p). These percentages are nearly identical across presets, which indicates the game’s settings scale uniformly with resolution rather than introducing a sudden CPU bottleneck. If the i5-14400F were the limiting factor, we would expect the 1080p to 1440p gap to shrink at higher settings, but it remains proportional. The Ultra preset tells the same story: 73.7 FPS at 1080p, 48.3 FPS at 1440p, and 32.4 FPS at 4K. The consistent 35-40% drops per resolution step confirm that the RX 580 is saturated at all settings. For a 60 FPS target, 1080p Medium (118 FPS) and 1440p Low (108.1 FPS) are safe bets, but 4K requires dropping to Low (68 FPS) to stay playable.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows provide a clear hierarchy for the best experience on this hardware. The Medium preset at 1080p delivers 118 FPS on average, which is a sweet spot: it is 57% faster than High (75.4 FPS) and only 21% slower than Low (148.7 FPS), but with noticeably better visual quality. At 1440p, Medium lands at 87.1 FPS, which is smooth for a puzzle platformer and a 59% improvement over High (54.8 FPS). The data shows that dropping from High to Medium yields the largest relative FPS gain per visual quality loss — roughly 56% and 59% at 1080p and 1440p respectively. For 4K, Low is the only viable preset for 60 FPS, hitting 68 FPS, while Medium (53.3 FPS) is borderline and High (35.9 FPS) or Ultra (32.4 FPS) are not recommended for responsive play. The Ultra preset offers almost no benefit over High in terms of frame rate — 73.7 FPS vs 75.4 FPS at 1080p, a negligible 2% difference — so it is never worth the cost. The recommendation is simple: if you have a 1080p or 1440p display, set the game to Medium and enjoy frame rates well above 60 FPS. For 4K, accept Low settings or consider a GPU upgrade, because the RX 580 cannot sustain high preset details at that resolution. The High preset at 1440p (54.8 FPS) is the only other option that approaches 60 FPS, but it leaves no headroom for frame time spikes.

How This Combo Ranks

This combination of an Intel Core i5-14400F and AMD Radeon RX 580 ranks 1552 out of 1671 tested combos in Inside. That places it in the bottom 7% of all configurations, which makes sense given the GPU’s age. The rank is driven almost entirely by the RX 580, since the CPU is in the 88th percentile while the GPU is in the 53rd. The data shows that the GPU’s average benchmark score of 13559 is nearly identical to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 (13564, 0% delta) and the GTX 950 (13549, 0.1% delta). This means the RX 580 performs at the level of midrange GPUs from 2010-2015, which is why the combo rank is so low. In contrast, the CPU’s nearest rivals — the Intel Core i7-12800H and AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645 — score within 0.2%, but those are laptop or prosumer parts that would pair with much faster GPUs in most systems. The 1552nd rank out of 1671 combos indicates that the vast majority of tested setups outperform this one in Inside. The measured FPS data confirms this: even at 1080p Low, the system achieves 148.7 FPS, which is respectable, but the rank reflects that most other combos deliver higher averages or support higher settings at the same resolution. For a game as lightweight as Inside, this rank is a direct consequence of pairing a modern CPU with an end-of-life GPU. The combo’s position is not a verdict on the CPU, which is overqualified for this title, but rather a reflection that the RX 580 holds the entire system back.

FAQ

*Q: Can this combo run Inside at 60 FPS on a 1080p monitor?*

A: Yes. At 1080p Medium, the average FPS is 118, and at High it is 75.4. Even at 1080p Ultra, the average is 73.7 FPS, so 60 FPS is achievable on all presets at this resolution.

Q: What is the best settings preset for a 1440p display?

A: Medium is the best choice, delivering 87.1 FPS on average. Low runs at 108.1 FPS, but Medium offers better visuals with a comfortable margin above 60 FPS. High drops to 54.8 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target.

Q: Is 4K gaming viable with this hardware?

A: Only at Low settings, which averages 68 FPS. Medium averages 53.3 FPS, which is playable but not smooth, while High (35.9 FPS) and Ultra (32.4 FPS) are too slow for a responsive experience.

Q: Why is the combo rank so low (1552 out of 1671) when the CPU is high-end?

A: The rank is determined by the combined performance, and the AMD Radeon RX 580’s 53rd percentile ranking (average benchmark score of 13559) drags the combo down. The CPU’s 88th percentile ranking cannot compensate for a GPU that performs on par with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 and GTX 950.

Q: How does the i5-14400F compare to its nearest rivals in CPU benchmarks?

A: The i5-14400F has an average benchmark score of 32508. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-12800H, scores 32513 (0% delta), while the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645 scores 32446 (0.2% delta). These differences are negligible.

Q: Does the game’s age (2016 release) mean it runs better on older hardware?

A: The data shows the RX 580 handles Inside well at lower resolutions — 148.7 FPS at 1080p Low — but the GPU still becomes the bottleneck at 4K, dropping to 68 FPS on Low. The game’s DirectX 11-era design suits the GCN 4.0 architecture, but the GPU’s raw compute limits high-resolution performance.