Inside

The Intel Core i5-14400F and Intel Arc B580 pairing delivers a remarkably smooth experience in Inside, a game whose minimalist visuals mask a demanding rendering engine. The measured data shows this combo is capable of handling the title with ease at nearly every resolution and setting combination, with performance scaling that clearly identifies the GPU as the primary bottleneck in most scenarios.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and tells a clear story about where the workload sits. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces an average of 271 FPS. Moving to 1440p at the same settings, the average falls to 195 FPS — a 28% reduction. At 4K Low, the average drops to 123 FPS, which is 55% below the 1080p figure. This sharp decline is a classic sign of a GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions, where the pixel filling rate and memory bandwidth become the limiting factors.

The pattern holds across all settings presets. At High settings, the average FPS goes from 136 at 1080p to 98 at 1440p (a 28% drop), then to 61 at 4K (a 55% drop). The scaling is nearly identical to the Low setting results, which suggests that the rendering load scales uniformly with resolution rather than being complicated by variable effects. With Medium settings, the figures are 217 FPS at 1080p, 156 FPS at 1440p, and 98 FPS at 4K — again, a consistent halving of performance from 1080p to 4K.

At Ultra settings, the story changes slightly. The average is 129 FPS at 1080p, 93 FPS at 1440p, and 58 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is the only measured point below 60 FPS, and it lands at 58 FPS average. This indicates that while the GPU is clearly the bottleneck at higher resolutions, the CPU still has enough headroom to push high frame rates at 1080p. The data shows that the 4K Ultra preset is the only configuration in the entire test matrix where this combo fails to maintain a comfortable frame rate, and it is just barely under the 60 FPS threshold.

The fact that the frame rate halves from 1080p to 4K at every settings level points to the Intel Arc B580's 456.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 192-bit bus being the constraining factor. The GPU's pixel rate of 213.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 427.2 GTexel/s are sufficient for 1080p and even 1440p, but the 4K resolution demands more from the memory subsystem than the card can deliver at the highest quality presets.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 2764 out of 3716 tested combinations in Inside, placing it in the 74th percentile of all tested systems. This is a mid-table result that reflects the pairing of a strong mid-range CPU with a capable but not top-tier GPU. The rank is determined by the measured FPS across the entire test matrix, and the data shows that this combo is held back more by the GPU than the CPU.

Looking at the GPU's nearest rivals, the Intel Arc B580 sits in a peculiar position. Its average benchmark score of 23021 is within 0.7% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 (23172) and within 0.6% of the RTX 2080 (22895). The AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP scores 23061, a 0.2% difference, and the NVIDIA P106-100 scores 23249, a 1% difference. This clustering of scores is remarkable — the B580 performs at a level comparable to cards from entirely different generations and price brackets, yet its 68th percentile ranking among all GPUs shows it is not an outlier.

The CPU's ranking is more straightforward. The Core i5-14400F has a percentile of 83 against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 32279. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840U (32233, 0.1% slower), the Intel Core i9-11900 (32226, 0.2% slower), the AMD Ryzen 7 6800HS (32354, 0.2% faster), and the Intel Core i7-12800H (32121, 0.5% slower). This places the i5-14400F squarely in the upper mid-range of CPU performance, with enough multi-threaded and single-threaded capability to avoid bottlenecking the GPU in most gaming scenarios.

The combo's rank of 2764 out of 3716 indicates that the majority of tested systems outperform it in this specific game. However, given that Inside is a puzzle platformer with relatively modest demands, the rank is more a reflection of the GPU's mid-pack standing than any meaningful deficiency in the pairing. The data shows that the combo is balanced, with the GPU being the more limiting component in the vast majority of tested configurations.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B580 is built on the Xe2-HPG architecture with the BMG-G21 chip, manufactured on TSMC's 5 nm process. It packs 19,600 million transistors on a 272 mm² die, giving it a transistor density of 72.1M per mm². The card operates at a fixed clock speed of 2670 MHz for both base and boost, with memory running at 2375 MHz (19 Gbps effective). The 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus provides 456.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

The GPU's benchmark scores reveal its strengths and weaknesses. In PassMark, the G3D score is 15748, but the DirectX 11 score is 128, DirectX 12 is 76, and DirectX 9 is 183. These low DirectX scores are misleading — they are likely from older, synthetic tests that do not reflect modern gaming performance. The Geekbench scores are more informative: OpenCL at 92821 and Vulkan at 109672. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3068 provides a modern cross-vendor comparison point.

In Inside, the GPU's behavior follows a predictable pattern. The measured FPS at 1080p Low is 271, which drops to 123 at 4K Low. This 2.2x reduction in frame rate from a 4x increase in pixel count suggests that the game is not purely pixel-bound at Low settings — some other factor, likely draw call processing or geometry, contributes to the scaling. At Medium settings, the 1080p result is 217 FPS, dropping to 98 at 4K, a 2.2x reduction. High settings show 136 FPS at 1080p and 61 at 4K, a 2.2x reduction. Ultra settings show 129 FPS at 1080p and 58 at 4K, a 2.2x reduction.

The consistency of this scaling factor across all settings presets is notable. It indicates that the GPU's memory bandwidth is the primary constraint at 4K, regardless of the quality settings. The 456.0 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K resolution requires more data to be pushed through the same bus, resulting in the observed performance drop. The GPU's 80 ROPs and 160 TMUs are adequate for the game's rendering demands, but the memory subsystem is the limiting factor at high resolutions.

FAQ

*Q: Can this combo run Inside at 4K with playable frame rates?*

A: Yes, but with caveats. At 4K High, the average FPS is 61, and at 4K Ultra, it drops to 58. Medium settings at 4K yield 98 FPS, and Low settings produce 123 FPS. For a smooth experience, Medium or Low settings are recommended at 4K.

Q: What is the best resolution to use with this hardware?

A: The data shows excellent performance at 1440p across all settings. At 1440p Ultra, the average is 93 FPS, which is well above the smoothness threshold. 1080p is also excellent, with all settings producing averages above 129 FPS.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B580 compare to other GPUs in this game?

A: The GPU's average benchmark score of 23021 places it within 0.7% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 (23172) and within 0.6% of the RTX 2080 (22895). This suggests the B580 delivers performance comparable to these older high-end cards in the game's rendering workload.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this pairing?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the primary bottleneck at 4K, where frame rates scale consistently with resolution changes. At 1080p, the CPU has enough headroom to push frame rates above 200 FPS on lower settings, so the GPU is also the limiting factor at lower resolutions.

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 1080p with Ultra settings?

A: The measured average is 129 FPS at 1080p Ultra. This is well above the threshold for smooth gameplay and leaves headroom for future driver improvements or additional background tasks.

Q: Does the game benefit from the GPU's 12 GB of VRAM?

A: The 12 GB of GDDR6 memory is more than sufficient for Inside at any tested resolution or setting. The game likely uses a small fraction of this capacity, so VRAM is not a constraint in any of the measured scenarios.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F is a 10-core, 16-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 10 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 20 MB of shared L3. It supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory in dual-channel configuration, with ECC support and PCIe Gen 5 with 16 lanes from the CPU.

The CPU's benchmark results show a balanced profile. In Cinebench R23, it scores 21645 in multi-core and 3055 in single-core. Geekbench scores are 11268 in multi-core and 2058 in single-core. PassMark results are 25470 in multithread and 3701 in single-thread. These numbers place the CPU in the 83rd percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 32279.

In Inside, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics calculations. The game is not CPU-intensive by modern standards, as evidenced by the high frame rates at 1080p. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 271 FPS, and at 1080p Medium, it produces 217 FPS. These frame rates are high enough that the CPU is clearly not the limiting factor at these settings.

The CPU's nearest rivals in benchmark scores — the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840U (32233), Intel Core i9-11900 (32226), AMD Ryzen 7 6800HS (32354), and Intel Core i7-12800H (32121) — all fall within 0.5% of the i5-14400F's score. This suggests that any of these CPUs would produce nearly identical performance in Inside when paired with the same GPU, as the game's CPU demands are well below what any of these processors can deliver.

The 10 cores and 16 threads provide ample parallelism for the game's physics and logic threads. The 4.70 GHz boost clock ensures strong single-thread performance for the main game loop. The 20 MB of L3 cache is shared across all cores, which helps with data locality in multi-threaded workloads. For a puzzle platformer like Inside, the CPU is more than sufficient, and the data confirms that it does not bottleneck the GPU at any resolution or settings combination.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance on the best settings for different priorities. At 1080p, every settings preset delivers an average above 129 FPS, so the choice is purely visual preference. Ultra settings at 1080p produce 129 FPS, which is smooth and visually rich. For players who prioritize maximum frame rates, Low settings at 1080p yield 271 FPS, but this is likely unnecessary for a puzzle platformer where reaction time is not critical.

At 1440p, the situation is similar. Ultra settings produce 93 FPS, which is smooth and visually excellent. Medium settings produce 156 FPS, and High produces 98 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1440p is the recommended choice for most players, as it offers the best visual quality while maintaining a frame rate well above the smoothness threshold.

For 4K, the recommendations change. Ultra settings produce 58 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target and may result in perceptible stutter. High settings produce 61 FPS, which is just at the threshold but may dip below during intense scenes. The Medium preset at 4K produces 98 FPS, which is a significant improvement and offers a comfortable margin. Low settings at 4K produce 123 FPS, which is excellent but sacrifices visual quality.

The best balance between visual quality and performance across all resolutions is the Medium preset. At 4K Medium, the average FPS is 98, with minimums of 83 and maximums of 113. This provides a smooth experience with good visual fidelity. At 1440p Medium, the average is 156 FPS, and at 1080p Medium, it is 217 FPS. The Medium preset appears to be the sweet spot for this hardware, offering a substantial visual upgrade over Low settings while maintaining high frame rates at every resolution.

For players with 4K displays, the High preset at 61 FPS is borderline. The data shows that the minimum FPS is not recorded for this configuration, so it is unclear how much it dips below 60 during demanding scenes. The Medium preset at 4K, with its recorded minimum of 83 FPS, is the safer choice for consistent smoothness. Players with 1440p or 1080p displays can confidently use Ultra settings, as the frame rates remain well above 90 FPS in all cases.