Inside

FAQ

Q: How does the Intel Core i5-14600K + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D combo rank in Inside?

A: This combination ranks 47th out of 2,887 tested combos for this game, placing it in the top 1.6% of all configurations. The data confirms it as a top-tier pairing for Inside, with the CPU holding the 90th percentile among all processors and the GPU at the 92nd percentile among all graphics cards.

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achievable in Inside with this hardware?

A: The highest measured average is 391 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The Low preset at 2560x1440 delivers 350 FPS, and even at 4K (3840x2160) the Low preset maintains 300 FPS average, showing the extreme headroom this hardware provides for a 2016 puzzle platformer.

Q: How large is the performance gap between the Low and Ultra presets at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 300 FPS while Ultra drops to 153 FPS — a 147 FPS difference, meaning Ultra delivers roughly half the frame rate of Low. This indicates the Ultra preset imposes nearly double the GPU workload compared to Low at this resolution.

Q: What is the frame time consistency like on the Medium preset?

A: The Medium preset is the only one with reported minimum and maximum FPS values. At 1080p, it ranges from 307 to 415 FPS (361 average); at 1440p, from 275 to 372 FPS (323 average); and at 4K, from 218 to 295 FPS (256 average). These ranges show consistent frame pacing with no severe dips.

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 77,712, placing it 1.1% above the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT (76,904) and 1.6% below the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (78,940). It trails the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB by 2.1% and the 16 GB version by 2.4%.

Q: What is the CPU's single-threaded performance profile relative to its multi-threaded results?

A: The i5-14600K scores 2,064 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 24,491 in multi-core, representing a 1:11.9 ratio. Its PassMark single-thread score is 4,270, while multi-thread reaches 38,682 — a 1:9.1 ratio, indicating strong scaling across its 14 cores and 20 threads.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with the GB202 chip manufactured on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It carries 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, yielding 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. The memory clock runs at 1750 MHz with 28 Gbps effective transfer, while the base GPU clock sits at 2017 MHz and boosts to 2407 MHz.

For Inside, a game released in 2016, this GPU's specifications are dramatically over-provisioned. The 32 GB VRAM allocation is far beyond what this puzzle platformer requires, and the 1.79 TB/s bandwidth ensures that even the highest texture loads present no bottleneck. The shading units number 21,760, with 680 TMUs and 176 ROPs, delivering a pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s.

The GPU's FP32 throughput of 104.8 TFLOPS (with FP16 at 104.8 TFLOPS at a 1:1 ratio) means the card can process geometry and lighting effects far faster than Inside's rendering engine can request them. With 170 RT cores and 680 tensor cores, ray tracing and AI-enhanced features are available but largely irrelevant to this title's 2D side-scrolling presentation.

The benchmark data shows the GPU's raw capability: a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 14,326, Geekbench OpenCL of 310,674, and Vulkan of 376,915. PassMark G3D scores 44,065, with GPU compute at 28,396. The 92nd percentile ranking among all GPUs confirms this is near the top of the hierarchy, yet in Inside it is paired with a CPU that also sits at the 90th percentile, creating a balanced high-end platform.

The RTX 5090 D's nearest rivals in average benchmark score — the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT at +1.1%, the RX 6850M XT at -1.6%, and two NVIDIA Tesla P100 variants at -2.1% and -2.4% — are all within a narrow band. This suggests that at the extreme high end, benchmark scores cluster closely, but in actual Inside frame rates, the 5090 D's architecture and driver optimization push it to deliver 300+ FPS at 4K Low.

Resolution Scaling

The measured data reveals how frame rates scale from 1080p to 4K across all four settings presets. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 391 at 1920x1080 to 350 at 2560x1440 (a 10.5% reduction), then to 300 at 3840x2160 (another 14.3% reduction from 1440p). The total drop from 1080p to 4K at Low is 23.3%.

At Medium settings, the progression is 361 FPS at 1080p, 323 FPS at 1440p, and 256 FPS at 4K. The 1080p-to-1440p drop is 10.5%, and the 1440p-to-4K drop is 20.7%, for a total reduction of 29.1%. The Medium preset's minimum FPS also scales: 307 at 1080p, 275 at 1440p, and 218 at 4K, with maximums of 415, 372, and 295 respectively.

High settings show 301 FPS at 1080p, 255 FPS at 1440p (a 15.3% drop), and 160 FPS at 4K (a 37.3% drop from 1440p). The total 1080p-to-4K reduction is 46.8%. Ultra settings begin at 296 FPS at 1080p, fall to 243 FPS at 1440p (a 17.9% drop), and reach 153 FPS at 4K (a 37.0% drop from 1440p). Total Ultra reduction is 48.3%.

These scaling patterns indicate the limiting component shifts with resolution. At 1080p, even the Low preset hitting 391 FPS suggests the CPU is approaching its frame-delivery ceiling — the i5-14600K's single-thread score of 2,064 in Cinebench R23 and PassMark single-thread of 4,270 cap how many draw calls can be issued per second. As resolution increases, the GPU becomes more dominant in limiting performance, evidenced by the steeper drops at High and Ultra where pixel fill requirements grow.

The fact that Low settings at 4K (300 FPS) nearly match High settings at 1080p (301 FPS) is telling. It shows that at 4K Low, the GPU workload is roughly equivalent to 1080p High, meaning the rendering engine's per-pixel cost at Low settings is about one-quarter of High's cost when scaled across four times the pixel count.

Settings Recommendations

For the best experience in Inside, the Medium preset at 2560x1440 offers the optimal balance in the measured data. It delivers 323 FPS average with a minimum of 275 and maximum of 372 FPS, providing a 47 FPS headroom above the minimum. This combination of smoothness and visual quality outperforms High at the same resolution by 68 FPS while maintaining the same resolution fidelity.

At 4K, the Medium preset at 256 FPS average (218 minimum, 295 maximum) is the recommended choice for users with high-refresh-rate 4K displays. The 218 FPS minimum still exceeds 144 Hz refresh rates, ensuring no frame drops below typical high-refresh thresholds. High at 4K drops to 160 FPS average, while Ultra falls to 153 FPS — both below the 218 FPS minimum of Medium.

For competitive or maximum fluidity play, Low at 1080p delivers 391 FPS, which is the highest measured value in the entire dataset. However, the visual compromise is substantial. Medium at 1080p offers 361 FPS (307 minimum, 415 maximum) — only 30 FPS slower than Low but with better visual fidelity.

Ultra settings provide minimal benefit in Inside relative to their cost. At every resolution, Ultra averages less than Medium: 296 vs 361 at 1080p, 243 vs 323 at 1440p, and 153 vs 256 at 4K. The performance penalty ranges from 18% at 1080p to 40% at 4K. Given that Inside is a puzzle platformer where visual clarity matters more than cinematic effects, Medium represents the sweet spot in the measured data.

The 4K Ultra result of 153 FPS remains playable on 144 Hz displays, but the 103 FPS gap between Medium and Ultra at 4K suggests diminishing returns. Users prioritizing frame rate consistency should choose Medium; those wanting maximum visual quality can opt for Ultra, but the data shows no measured scenario where Ultra's visual uplift justifies its frame rate cost.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 391 FPS. Medium averages 361 FPS with a minimum of 307 and maximum of 415 FPS. High averages 301 FPS, and Ultra averages 296 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra at 1080p is 95 FPS, with the largest single-step drop occurring from Medium to High at 60 FPS.

At 2560x1440, Low delivers 350 FPS average. Medium averages 323 FPS with a range of 275 to 372 FPS. High averages 255 FPS, and Ultra averages 243 FPS. The total spread narrows to 107 FPS, with the Medium-to-High drop again being the steepest at 68 FPS. The minimum FPS on Medium at 1440p (275) exceeds the average FPS of High (255) by 20 FPS.

At 3840x2160, Low produces 300 FPS average. Medium averages 256 FPS with a minimum of 218 and maximum of 295 FPS. High averages 160 FPS, and Ultra averages 153 FPS. The 4K spread expands to 147 FPS, with the Medium-to-High drop of 96 FPS being the largest single-step decline in the entire dataset.

Comparing across resolutions, the Low preset maintains 300+ FPS at all three resolutions — the only preset with that distinction. Medium stays above 256 FPS everywhere, while High drops below 300 FPS at 1440p and below 200 FPS at 4K. Ultra never exceeds 296 FPS and falls to 153 FPS at 4K.

The Medium preset's min/max data provides the only frame time variability measurements. At 1080p, the 307-415 range represents a 35.2% spread from minimum to maximum. At 1440p, 275-372 is a 35.3% spread. At 4K, 218-295 is also a 35.3% spread. This consistency suggests the game engine maintains similar frame pacing characteristics regardless of resolution on this hardware.

The 4K Medium minimum of 218 FPS is notable — it exceeds the 1080p High average of 301 FPS by only 83 FPS, yet the 4K Medium maximum of 295 FPS nearly matches the 1080p High average. This indicates that Medium at 4K delivers frame rates comparable to High at 1080p, reinforcing the recommendation for Medium settings at higher resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600K is a 14-core, 20-thread processor from the Core 14th Gen series, built on Raptor Lake architecture with a 10 nm process. It runs at a 3.50 GHz base clock and boosts to 5.30 GHz. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 24 MB of shared L3 cache. This desktop chip supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory in dual-channel configuration, with ECC memory support enabled.

In Inside, the CPU's role is primarily about single-thread performance, as puzzle platformers typically rely on one or two threads for game logic and physics. The i5-14600K's Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2,064 and Geekbench single-core of 2,491 provide ample headroom for the game's simulation. The CPU's PassMark single-thread score of 4,270 ranks it in the 90th percentile of all CPUs, confirming strong per-core capability.

The multi-threaded results — Cinebench R23 multi-core of 24,491, Geekbench multi-core of 16,673, and PassMark multi-thread of 38,682 — show the CPU can handle background tasks without interfering with game performance. The PassMark integer math score of 125,737, floating point of 92,794, and extended instructions of 28,546 indicate robust general-purpose compute that can handle asset streaming and decompression.

The CPU's nearest rivals in average benchmark score are clustered tightly: the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H at 48,698 (-0.2%), AMD EPYC 4345P at 48,470 (+0.3%), Intel Core Ultra 5 245HX at 48,287 (+0.7%), and Intel Core Ultra 5 245 at 48,995 (-0.8%). The i5-14600K's average benchmark score of 48,618 places it in the middle of this group, yet its boost clock of 5.30 GHz is the key advantage for Inside's frame generation.

The measured FPS data shows that even at 1080p Low (391 FPS), the frame rate remains below the theoretical CPU limit. The fact that 4K Low (300 FPS) is only 23.3% lower than 1080p Low, while 4K Ultra (153 FPS) is 48.3% lower than 1080p Ultra, indicates the CPU is not the limiting factor in most scenarios. Only at 1080p Low, where the GPU workload is minimal, does the CPU's single-thread throughput potentially constrain the frame rate.

The CPU's 125 W TDP and unlocked multiplier suggest it can sustain high clocks under sustained load, which matters for maintaining consistent frame times in Inside's more complex scenes. With 20 threads available, the game can dedicate one or two threads to rendering while others handle OS overhead, contributing to the stable frame pacing observed in the Medium preset's min/max data.