Inside

The Intel Core i5-14600KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 delivers exceptional performance in Inside, a puzzle platformer that is far more forgiving on hardware than modern 3D titles. The measured frame rates are consistently high, with even the most demanding preset and resolution combination producing a playable average. This system is capable of running the game at maximum fidelity without compromise, and the primary decision for a user is whether to prioritize visual polish or sheer frame rate headroom.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark data reveals a clear hierarchy across the four available presets, with the gap between settings widening as resolution increases. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is substantial, but both are far beyond the threshold for smooth gameplay. The system moves from 335 FPS on Low to 157.2 FPS on Ultra at 1920x1080, a drop of more than half, yet the latter figure remains exceptionally high for a game of this genre. At 1440p, the trend continues, with Ultra producing 115 FPS while Low reaches 238.8 FPS. The most interesting divergence appears at 4K, where the Ultra preset yields 74.5 FPS and High produces 75.1 FPS, nearly identical results that suggest a performance ceiling is being approached.

For the best experience, the Ultra preset is the clear recommendation at 1080p and 1440p. The data shows that the GPU and CPU combination has ample headroom, with the 157.2 FPS and 115 FPS averages at these resolutions remaining well above the 60 FPS target. The visual enhancements from Ultra over High are likely worthwhile given the performance surplus. At 4K, however, the choice becomes more nuanced. The High preset at 75.1 FPS and Ultra at 74.5 FPS are statistically similar, indicating that the game's engine is likely hitting a bottleneck that is not alleviated by dropping from Ultra to High. The Medium preset at 4K provides a significant jump to 120.2 FPS, which would be the optimal choice for users with high-refresh-rate 4K displays, as it offers a 60% improvement over Ultra while presumably retaining most of the visual quality. Low at 4K hits 151.9 FPS, but this is likely unnecessary for a game like Inside where frame rate beyond 120 FPS offers diminishing returns on most displays.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600KF is a 14-core, 20-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. Its benchmark scores are formidable, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32889 and a single-core score of 4643. The processor ranks in the 93rd percentile among all CPUs, indicating it is a high-end part. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i5-14600K, which scores 49166 on average, a mere 0.4% difference, and the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X, which scores 49062, placing the 14600KF 0.6% ahead. This level of performance is far beyond what Inside requires.

In a puzzle platformer such as this, the CPU's role is primarily to maintain a stable frame rate floor, particularly in scenes with multiple dynamic objects or complex physics interactions. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the system reaches 335 FPS, which is likely close to the engine's internal limits or a CPU-bound scenario. The fact that 4K Ultra still produces 74.5 FPS, while 4K Low produces 151.9 FPS, indicates that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this game, even at lower resolutions where the GPU load is reduced. The 20 threads and high single-thread performance ensure that even the most demanding scripted sequences in Inside will not cause frame dips. The processor's substantial L3 cache of 24 MB (shared) contributes to its strong performance in physics and game logic, though the game's simple 2D side-scrolling nature means the CPU is often waiting on the GPU to deliver frames rather than being fully utilized. The data suggests that the 14600KF provides a massive performance buffer for this title, ensuring that any frame rate limitations will be purely GPU-driven.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process from TSMC. It features 3072 shading units, 24 RT cores, and 96 tensor cores, with a boost clock of 2460 MHz. The 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 272.0 GB/s. The GPU's benchmark scores are solid, with a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2302 and a Passmark G3D score of 19545. It ranks in the 66th percentile among all GPUs, with its nearest rival being the AMD Radeon RX 6600M, which scores 23321, a 0.6% difference. The Intel Arc B580 is 0.7% behind, while the AMD Radeon 760M is 0.8% behind.

For Inside, the GPU is the primary determinant of performance at higher resolutions, as the data clearly shows. At 1080p, the GPU achieves 166.5 FPS on High, 157.2 FPS on Ultra, and a massive 335 FPS on Low. The scaling from 1080p to 4K is steep: at High settings, the frame rate drops from 166.5 FPS to 75.1 FPS, a reduction of 55%. This is partially expected due to the increase in pixel count, but the 4K results suggest that the GPU is hitting a performance wall. The fact that 4K High (75.1 FPS) and 4K Ultra (74.5 FPS) are nearly identical implies that the game's most demanding settings are not the primary cost at this resolution; rather, the sheer fill rate and memory bandwidth requirements of 4K are the limiting factors. The 8 GB VRAM is sufficient for Inside, as the game is not texture-heavy, and the 272.0 GB/s bandwidth is ample for the game's 2D rendering. The GPU's 115 W TDP and 300 W suggested PSU make it a low-power option that runs efficiently, and the data shows it is well-matched to the CPU for this title, providing over 150 FPS at 1440p on the highest settings.

FAQ

*Q: What is the maximum frame rate achievable with this system in Inside?*

A: The highest measured average frame rate is 335 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with the Low preset. This suggests the system is not GPU-bound at this setting and is likely hitting engine or CPU limits.

*Q: Is the RTX 4060 sufficient for 4K gaming in Inside?*

A: Yes, the data shows the RTX 4060 can deliver 75.1 FPS at 4K High and 120.2 FPS at 4K Medium. For a smooth 60 FPS experience, even the Ultra preset at 74.5 FPS is sufficient, though Medium offers a much higher refresh rate.

Q: How does the Intel Core i5-14600KF compare to its closest rivals?

A: The 14600KF scores 49367 on average, which is 0.4% higher than the Intel Core i5-14600K, 0.6% higher than the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X, and 1.4% higher than the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H. It also outperforms the AMD EPYC 4345P by 0.5%.

Q: Does the game benefit more from the CPU or the GPU at 1440p?

A: At 1440p, the GPU is the primary limiter. The frame rate scales significantly with the preset, from 238.8 FPS on Low to 115 FPS on Ultra, while the CPU provides enough headroom to avoid being a bottleneck, as evidenced by the high Low-preset frame rate.

Q: What is the difference in performance between High and Ultra settings at 4K?

A: The difference is negligible. At 3840x2160, High produces an average of 75.1 FPS, while Ultra produces 74.5 FPS, a difference of just 0.6 FPS. This indicates that the Ultra preset's extra effects are not the main cost at 4K.

Q: What is the combined performance rank of this CPU and GPU in this game?

A: The combination ranks 857th out of 1671 tested combinations for Inside, placing it in the top half of all systems benchmarked for this game.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate data across resolutions provides a clear picture of where the performance bottleneck lies. At 1080p, the system is capable of extremely high frame rates, with the Low preset reaching 335 FPS. This is a strong indicator that the CPU and game engine are capable of feeding frames much faster than the GPU can render them at higher settings. Moving to 1440p, the Low preset drops to 238.8 FPS, a 29% reduction, while the Ultra preset drops from 157.2 FPS to 115 FPS, a 27% reduction. This proportional decrease suggests that the GPU is becoming the limiting factor, as the workload scales with the number of pixels.

The most telling data point is at 4K. At this resolution, the Low preset still manages 151.9 FPS, which is a 36% drop from the 1440p Low result. However, the High and Ultra presets show a much smaller drop, from 120.8 FPS to 75.1 FPS (38% drop) and from 115 FPS to 74.5 FPS (35% drop), respectively. The fact that the gap between Low and Ultra narrows from 177.8 FPS at 1080p to 77.4 FPS at 4K indicates that the GPU's raw pixel throughput is becoming the dominant constraint. The RTX 4060's 128-bit memory bus and 272.0 GB/s bandwidth are likely the limiting factors at 4K, as the game's rendering requirements exceed what the GPU can efficiently process, regardless of the settings preset. The near-identical results between High and Ultra at 4K (75.1 vs 74.5 FPS) reinforce this, as both presets are hitting the same GPU throughput ceiling, while Medium and Low see diminishing returns as they reduce the pixel shading load. The data suggests that for 4K gaming, users should opt for Medium settings to get 120.2 FPS, as the GPU cannot sustain much higher frame rates at this resolution without a significant reduction in visual quality.