Inside

The data for Inside on the Intel Core i5-14600KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 combination shows a title that is remarkably forgiving of hardware demands, delivering high frame rates across all tested configurations. The measured results provide a clear picture of how this specific pairing scales with resolution and settings, and where the performance boundaries lie.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS progression from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic GPU-bound scenario, though the frame rates are so high that the limiting factor shifts depending on the preset. At the Ultra setting, the transition from 1920x1080 (181.8 FPS) to 2560x1440 (128.5 FPS) represents a 29.3% drop, while moving from 1440p to 3840x2160 (82.5 FPS) results in a further 35.8% decline. This indicates that at the highest visual fidelity, the GeForce RTX 3070 is the primary bottleneck, with its 448.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 8 GB GDDR6 frame buffer being taxed heavily by the increase in pixel count.

The scaling pattern changes dramatically when examining the Low preset. Here, the frame rates are extraordinarily high, with 376 FPS at 1080p, 273.7 FPS at 1440p, and 169.2 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops between resolutions are 27.2% and 38.2% respectively, which is a more substantial relative decline than at Ultra. This suggests that even at Low settings, where the GPU is less stressed, the rendering workload still scales significantly with resolution, but the absolute numbers indicate the CPU has ample headroom. The Intel Core i5-14600KF, with its 14 cores and 20 threads, is clearly not the limiting factor here, as even the 4K Low result of 169.2 FPS is far above typical display refresh rates.

The Medium and High presets fall predictably between these extremes. At 1080p, Medium achieves 300.8 FPS while High reaches 186.9 FPS. The gap between these presets narrows at 4K, where Medium produces 134.4 FPS and High yields 87.2 FPS. This convergence indicates that as resolution increases, the absolute cost of each setting tier becomes more pronounced, but the overall performance envelope remains exceptionally smooth. The data shows that this combo never dips below 82.5 FPS in any tested configuration, which reflects the efficiency of the game engine and the capability of the hardware.

Settings Recommendations

Given the measured frame rates, the optimal preset for this combination depends entirely on the target display. For 1080p and 1440p displays, the Ultra preset is the clear recommendation, delivering 181.8 FPS and 128.5 FPS respectively. These numbers are well above the 60 FPS threshold and provide ample headroom for high refresh rate monitors. The jump from High to Ultra at 1080p costs only 5.1 FPS (from 186.9 to 181.8), which is a negligible penalty for the increased visual quality. Similarly, at 1440p, the drop from High (134.7 FPS) to Ultra (128.5 FPS) is a mere 4.6% sacrifice.

For 4K resolution, the choice becomes more nuanced. The Ultra preset delivers 82.5 FPS, which is still playable, but the High preset at 87.2 FPS offers a marginal 5.7% improvement. However, the most compelling option at 4K is the Medium preset, which achieves 134.4 FPS. This represents a 62.9% improvement over Ultra while likely providing a significant visual upgrade over Low. The Medium preset at 4K is the sweet spot for high refresh rate 4K panels, as it maintains a frame rate that exceeds most 120 Hz displays. The Low preset at 4K (169.2 FPS) is only useful for competitive play where maximum frame rate trumps all visual considerations, but the game's genre as a puzzle platformer does not demand such extremes.

The data shows that the High preset is the weakest recommendation across all resolutions. At 1080p it delivers 186.9 FPS, which is only 2.8% better than Ultra, while at 4K it provides 87.2 FPS, which is only 5.7% better than Ultra. The cost-benefit ratio clearly favors either stepping up to Ultra for maximum quality or down to Medium for substantially higher frame rates.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600KF is a 14-core processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. Its performance in synthetic benchmarks positions it in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 49367. The benchmark results show strong multi-threaded capabilities, with Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32889 and single-core score of 4643, while Geekbench multi-core and single-core scores are 15636 and 2778 respectively.

In the context of Inside, the CPU's role is minimal. The game is a puzzle platformer with relatively simple geometry and physics, and the frame rate data shows no evidence of CPU bottlenecking at any resolution or setting. Even at 1080p Low, where the GPU workload is smallest, the CPU maintains 376 FPS without issue. The processor's nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-14600K, scores 49166 in average benchmarks, a delta of 0.4%, indicating that the KF variant is essentially identical in performance, just without integrated graphics. The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X, with an average score of 49062, is 0.6% behind, while the AMD EPYC 4345P is 0.5% ahead with a score of 49595.

The high single-thread performance, evidenced by the Passmark single-thread score of 4273 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4643, ensures that the game's main thread is well-served. The 20 threads and 24 MB of shared L3 cache provide ample resources for any background tasks or system overhead. For this title, the CPU can be considered effectively transparent, allowing the GPU to dictate overall performance.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-14600KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 ranks 630th out of 1671 tested combos in Inside. This places it in the 62.3rd percentile of all tested hardware configurations, which is a solid mid-tier ranking. The ranking reflects the fact that while the RTX 3070 is a capable GPU, it is not a top-tier part in 2024, and the game's low system requirements mean that many modern high-end GPUs will achieve significantly higher frame rates.

The GPU itself ranks in the 72nd percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 28238. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT (27985, 0.9% behind), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti (27956, 1% behind), and the AMD FirePro S7150 (28409, 0.6% ahead). These comparisons show that the RTX 3070 sits in a competitive segment, but the measured FPS in Inside are high enough that the ranking is more about absolute performance than playability.

The combo's rank of 630 suggests that there are many faster configurations, but also that it outperforms a substantial portion of the tested hardware. For a game like Inside, which is not graphically demanding, this ranking is more than sufficient for an excellent experience. The high frame rates at all settings mean that the rank is somewhat academic; the user experience is dictated by the display's refresh rate rather than the combo's standing among other configurations.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is built on the Ampere architecture using Samsung's 8 nm process, with a die size of 392 mm² containing 17,400 million transistors. It features 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output units, along with 46 ray tracing cores and 184 tensor cores. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1500 MHz and a boost clock of 1725 MHz, with memory clocked at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) across a 256-bit bus, providing 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The 8 GB of GDDR6 memory is a defining characteristic, and in Inside, it proves sufficient even at 4K Ultra settings.

The GPU's synthetic benchmark scores include a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3162, a Geekbench OpenCL score of 123479, and a Passmark G3D score of 22214. These numbers place it in the 72nd percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 28238. The nearest rival, the AMD FirePro S7150, scores 28409, a delta of -0.6%, while the Radeon RX 6600 XT is 0.9% behind with 27985.

In Inside, the GPU's role is dominant. The measured FPS data shows clear scaling with resolution and settings, which is the hallmark of GPU-bound performance. The transition from 1080p to 4K at Ultra settings reduces frame rates by more than half, from 181.8 to 82.5 FPS, directly reflecting the increased pixel fill rate demand. The GPU's 165.6 GPixel/s pixel rate and 317.4 GTexel/s texture rate are the relevant metrics here, and the data indicates they are being fully utilized at higher resolutions. The 8 GB VRAM capacity is not a limiting factor in this game, as even at 4K Ultra, the frame rates remain playable, suggesting the memory footprint fits comfortably within the available capacity. The RTX 3070's position as a mid-range part in the current market is reflected in its performance, but for Inside, it delivers a thoroughly satisfying experience across all tested configurations.