Inside

Inside is a puzzle platformer that is far more demanding on frame rates than its minimalist art style suggests, and the data for the Intel Core i5-14600KF paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 shows a combo that is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions but still delivers exceptional performance across the board. The benchmark results indicate that this pairing is overkill for 1080p gaming, where the CPU becomes the primary bottleneck, but it scales admirably into 4K, maintaining playable and often very high frame rates at every preset level. This analysis breaks down the resolution scaling, the specific roles of the CPU and GPU, how this combo ranks against others, and provides concrete settings recommendations based on the measured data.

Resolution Scaling

The most striking trend in the measured FPS data is the dramatic impact of resolution on performance, revealing a system that transitions from a CPU-limited state at 1080p to a GPU-limited state at 4K. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 390 FPS, which is an extraordinarily high figure that indicates the GPU is not the limiting factor; the CPU is working near its maximum capacity to feed frames to the graphics card. When moving to 1440p Low, the average drops to 311 FPS, a 20% reduction, and at 4K Low, it falls to 196 FPS, a 50% reduction from the 1080p figure. This scaling pattern, where FPS drops are roughly proportional to the increase in pixel count, is the classic signature of a GPU bottleneck emerging as resolution climbs.

The data shows that the gap between resolutions narrows significantly as settings are increased. At Ultra settings, the average FPS at 1080p is 206, which drops to 148 at 1440p (a 28% decrease) and then to 93 at 4K (a 55% decrease from 1080p). The fact that 4K Ultra still manages 93 FPS is notable, as it shows the Radeon RX 9070 has enough raw power to handle this game's highest visual fidelity at a resolution that typically halves performance compared to 1080p. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p at Ultra is less severe than from 1440p to 4K, which suggests that the GPU's memory bandwidth and compute resources are being taxed more heavily at the higher resolutions, but the overall frame rates remain well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

Looking at the Medium preset, which includes min and max FPS data, the trend continues. At 1080p, the average is 346 FPS with a minimum of 294 FPS, while at 1440p, the average is 249 FPS with a minimum of 212 FPS, and at 4K, the average is 157 FPS with a minimum of 133 FPS. The minimum frame rates are consistently about 15-20% lower than the averages, which indicates there are occasional dips, but the absolute values are so high that these dips are unlikely to be perceptible in a puzzle platformer. The data clearly shows that the limiting component changes based on resolution: at 1080p, the CPU is the bottleneck, as evidenced by the relatively small FPS difference between Low and Ultra (390 vs 206), while at 4K, the GPU is the bottleneck, as the difference between Low and Ultra is much larger (196 vs 93).

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070's specifications directly explain its performance in Inside, particularly its large memory pool and high bandwidth. With 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, the GPU has a bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s, which is more than sufficient for a game like Inside that has relatively simple textures but may still benefit from fast memory access at high resolutions. The card's boost clock of 2520 MHz and game clock of 2070 MHz indicate a high operating frequency that contributes to its ability to push high frame rates, especially at 1080p and 1440p where the GPU is not fully saturated. The 128 ROPs and 3584 shading units provide the pixel-pushing power needed to handle 4K resolution, and the data shows that even at Ultra settings, the card can maintain an average of 93 FPS.

The GPU's performance relative to its nearest rivals, based on average benchmark scores, is interesting because it shows the card is not an outlier but sits in a competitive position. The RX 9070 has an average benchmark score of 23877, which is 0.6% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Z (23736) and 1.1% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Mobile (23628). It is slightly behind the AMD Radeon RX 6800S (24063) by 0.8% and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER (24170) by 1.2%. These small percentage differences indicate that in synthetic benchmarks, the RX 9070 is on par with these GPUs, but in Inside specifically, the measured FPS data shows it performing exceptionally well, likely due to the game's optimization for AMD hardware or the card's specific architectural strengths in this workload.

The GPU's compute performance, as measured by Passmark G3D score of 25381, is substantial, but more relevant to gaming is its DirectX 12 score of 74 and DirectX 11 score of 281, which are metrics that can vary widely between cards. The card's support for DirectX 12 Ultimate and Vulkan 1.4 ensures compatibility with modern rendering techniques, even if Inside does not heavily utilize them. The data shows that at 1440p High, the GPU delivers 156 FPS, which is a 28% drop from the 217 FPS at 1080p High, and at 4K High, it delivers 98 FPS, a 55% drop from 1080p. This scaling is consistent with the GPU being the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions, and the 16 GB VRAM ensures there is no memory capacity issue that could cause stuttering or texture pop-in.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600KF is a 14-core, 20-thread processor with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, and its benchmark results show it is a high-performing CPU that can keep up with the RX 9070 in most scenarios. In Inside, the CPU's role is most evident at 1080p Low, where the average FPS of 390 is likely near the maximum the CPU can generate, given that the GPU is not fully utilized at such low settings. The CPU's single-core performance is strong, as indicated by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4594 and Geekbench single-core score of 2445, which are important for games that are not heavily multi-threaded. Inside is a puzzle platformer that likely does not use all 14 cores effectively, so the CPU's high single-core boost clock of 5.30 GHz is crucial for achieving high FPS.

The CPU's multi-core performance is also robust, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32544 and a Passmark multithread score of 38697, but this is less relevant for Inside, which is not a CPU-intensive game. The data shows that the CPU is not a bottleneck at 1440p and 4K, as the FPS scaling is consistent with GPU limitations. However, at 1080p, the CPU is the limiting factor, as evidenced by the fact that the FPS at Low (390) is only 1.8 times higher than at Ultra (206), which is a smaller ratio than the 2.1 times difference seen at 4K (196 vs 93). This indicates that at lower resolutions, the CPU cannot keep up with the GPU's frame generation capability, but at higher resolutions, the GPU becomes the constraint.

The CPU's percentile ranking of 90th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 49394, places it in the top tier of processors. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 7900, has a score of 49228, which is 0.3% lower, and the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 388 has a score of 49796, which is 0.8% higher. These tiny differences mean that in synthetic benchmarks, the i5-14600KF is essentially equivalent to these competitors, and in gaming, the choice between them would come down to other factors like platform features. For Inside, the CPU's performance is more than adequate, and the data shows that the combo's FPS is never limited by the CPU at 1440p and above, where the GPU takes over as the primary driver of performance.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo of the Intel Core i5-14600KF and AMD Radeon RX 9070 ranks 827th out of 3716 tested combinations for Inside, placing it in the top 22% of all configurations. This ranking is notable because it suggests that while this is a high-end combo, there are many other combos that can achieve higher FPS in this specific game, likely due to the fact that Inside is not a demanding title and even mid-range hardware can produce high frame rates. The ranking of 827 out of 3716 means that roughly 22% of tested combos perform better, which is a good result but not exceptional, given the powerful components involved.

The data shows that this combo is capable of achieving 390 FPS at 1080p Low, which is a frame rate that exceeds the refresh rate of most monitors, making the ranking somewhat misleading for real-world use. The combo's position in the ranking is likely influenced by the fact that at 1080p, the CPU becomes the bottleneck, and the i5-14600KF, while fast, is not the absolute fastest CPU available. If the combo were paired with a faster CPU, such as one with higher single-core performance, the ranking could improve, but the measured FPS values are already so high that the difference is academic for most users.

The ranking also reflects the GPU's performance, which is in the 69th percentile of all GPUs, indicating that it is a mid-to-high-end card but not a top-tier one. The RX 9070's nearest rivals, such as the RTX 2080 SUPER and RX 6800S, are similarly ranked, and the small percentage differences in benchmark scores suggest that the GPU's performance is competitive but not dominant. In Inside, the combo's ranking is a function of both components' capabilities, and the data shows that at 4K Ultra, the combo still achieves 93 FPS, which is a strong result for the highest settings. The fact that it ranks 827th out of 3716 combos, rather than higher, confirms the fact that many other CPUs and GPUs can also handle this game well, but it does not diminish the excellent performance this specific pairing delivers.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with High settings?

A: The average FPS is 217 at 1920x1080 with High settings, which is a very high frame rate that will easily take advantage of high-refresh-rate monitors.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS is 93, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, indicating the GPU can handle the game's maximum visual fidelity at 4K.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck at 1440p?

A: At 1440p, the GPU is the limiting component, as evidenced by the FPS scaling from Low (311 FPS) to Ultra (148 FPS), which shows a significant drop that is characteristic of GPU-bound scenarios.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded at 4K Medium settings?

A: The minimum FPS recorded at 4K Medium is 133, with an average of 157 FPS, showing that even in demanding scenes, the frame rate stays well above playable levels.

Q: How does the CPU's performance compare to its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 7900?

A: The Intel Core i5-14600KF has an average benchmark score of 49394, which is 0.3% higher than the AMD Ryzen 9 7900's score of 49228, indicating they are nearly identical in synthetic performance.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 827th out of 3716 tested combinations for Inside, placing it in the top 22% of all configurations tested.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend on the user's resolution and refresh rate priorities. For 1080p users with a 144Hz or 240Hz monitor, the High preset is the best choice, as it delivers an average of 217 FPS, which is more than enough to saturate a 144Hz display while providing better visual quality than Low. The Ultra preset at 1080p still offers 206 FPS, which is also excellent, but the visual difference between High and Ultra is often minimal in a game like Inside, so High is recommended for the best balance of performance and quality.

For 1440p users, the High preset is also the recommended choice, with an average of 156 FPS, which is ideal for high-refresh-rate gaming. The Medium preset at 1440p delivers 249 FPS, which is overkill for most monitors, but if a user has a 240Hz display, it could be worth using to maximize smoothness. The Ultra preset at 1440p, with an average of 148 FPS, is still a strong option, but High offers nearly identical performance with slightly better visuals, making it the sweet spot. At 4K, the Medium preset is the best choice for users who want a high frame rate, as it delivers an average of 157 FPS with a minimum of 133 FPS, which ensures smooth gameplay even in demanding scenes.

For 4K users with a 60Hz display, the Ultra preset is viable, with an average of 93 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold, but the High preset at 98 FPS is a better option for those who want a higher frame rate without sacrificing too much visual quality. The Low preset at 4K delivers 196 FPS, but the visual downgrade is significant, so it is only recommended for competitive play or if the user has a very high-refresh-rate 4K monitor. Overall, the data indicates that the High preset is the best all-around choice for 1080p and 1440p, while Medium is recommended for 4K to ensure consistently high frame rates. The Ultra preset is a viable option for all resolutions, but the performance gains from High are minimal, making High the most efficient setting for this combo.