Inside

# Inside — Intel Core i5-14600KF + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D

The Intel Core i5-14600KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D produces exceptionally high frame rates in Inside, a 2016 puzzle platformer that clearly favors modern hardware. Across all tested resolutions and settings, this combination never drops below 153 FPS average, indicating that the game's modest graphical demands are easily satisfied by this flagship-class GPU. The data suggests a system that is heavily GPU-limited at lower resolutions, with the CPU's 14 cores and 20 threads providing ample headroom for the game's physics and logic workloads.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of scaling as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the system delivers 300 FPS average, but this drops to 255 FPS at 2560x1440 and further to 160 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 46.7% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K at High settings, which is a substantial scaling factor that points directly to the GPU as the primary bottleneck.

Looking at the Low settings preset, the scaling is even more pronounced: 390 FPS at 1080p, 349 FPS at 1440p, and 299 FPS at 4K. The 1080p to 4K drop of 91 FPS (23.3%) at Low settings suggests that even at the lowest graphical preset, the RTX 5090 D's rendering workload increases significantly with pixel count. This is expected behavior for a GPU-bound scenario, as the number of pixels being processed quadruples from 1080p to 4K.

The Medium settings preset shows the most complete data set, with min and max FPS values recorded at every resolution. At 1920x1080 Medium, the average is 360 FPS with a range of 306 to 414 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 Medium yields 323 FPS average (274 to 371 FPS), and at 3840x2160 Medium the average drops to 256 FPS (218 to 295 FPS). The consistency of the min-to-max spread across resolutions — roughly 85-100 FPS at each step — indicates that frame pacing remains stable even as the rendering load increases.

Ultra settings produce the lowest frame rates across all resolutions, as expected. At 1920x1080 Ultra, the average is 295 FPS; at 2560x1440 Ultra, it falls to 243 FPS; and at 3840x2160 Ultra, the average bottoms out at 153 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K shows nearly a 50% reduction compared to 1080p Ultra, reinforcing that the RTX 5090 D's pixel throughput is the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

The scaling behavior across all settings presets indicates that Inside is fundamentally GPU-bound with this hardware combination. The CPU's role becomes less significant as resolution increases, with the gap between Low and Ultra settings narrowing from 95 FPS at 1080p (390 vs 295) to 146 FPS at 4K (299 vs 153). This widening gap at higher resolutions further confirms that the GPU's rendering pipeline is the primary constraint.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is the dominant component in this configuration, and its specifications explain the high frame rates observed. The GPU features 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, delivering 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. This massive memory subsystem is more than sufficient for Inside, a 2016 title that does not demand large texture pools or high-resolution assets.

The GPU's clock speeds — 2017 MHz base and 2407 MHz boost — are complemented by 21,760 shading units and 176 ROPs. These specifications translate to a pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s, which are more than adequate for the game's side-scrolling 2.5D rendering style. The FP32 performance of 104.8 TFLOPS provides substantial compute headroom, though Inside likely does not heavily utilize the GPU's compute capabilities given its age and genre.

The RTX 5090 D's benchmark scores place it in the 92nd percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 77,712. Its nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT (76,904, 1.1% behind) and the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (78,940, 1.6% ahead). This close grouping shows that the RTX 5090 D sits in a competitive performance tier, though its real-world advantages in Inside are evident from the measured FPS data.

The GPU's 5 nm process node from TSMC, coupled with 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die, indicates a highly dense architecture. The Blackwell 2.0 architecture supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, ensuring full API compatibility with Inside's rendering requirements. The 575 W TDP and suggested 950 W PSU reflect the GPU's power appetite, but its performance in this game justifies the energy expenditure.

At 4K Ultra, the RTX 5090 D still manages 153 FPS average, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. Even at the most demanding settings, the GPU never becomes a limiting factor for playability, though the scaling data shows that it is clearly the component determining overall performance.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combination?

A: The highest average FPS is 390, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. The second-highest is 360 FPS at 1920x1080 Medium settings.

Q: How does the RTX 5090 D compare to its nearest GPU rival in benchmark scores?

A: The RTX 5090 D has an average benchmark score of 77,712. Its closest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT, scores 78,940, which is 1.6% higher. The AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT trails by 1.1% with a score of 76,904.

Q: What is the lowest average FPS observed across all tested configurations?

A: The lowest average FPS is 153, recorded at 3840x2160 (4K) resolution with Ultra settings. This is still well above standard display refresh rates.

Q: How much FPS is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the average FPS drops from 300 at 1920x1080 to 160 at 3840x2160, a reduction of 140 FPS or approximately 46.7%.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU limit performance more in this game?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the primary limiting component. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 390 FPS, but at 4K Ultra it drops to 153 FPS, showing that pixel throughput from the GPU is the main constraint.

Q: What are the min and max FPS values recorded at 2560x1440 Medium settings?

A: At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the minimum FPS is 274 and the maximum is 371, with an average of 323 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080 resolution, the system delivers its highest performance across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 390 FPS, Medium settings yield 360 FPS with a range of 306 to 414 FPS, High settings achieve 300 FPS, and Ultra settings drop slightly to 295 FPS. The spread between the lowest and highest settings at 1080p is 95 FPS, indicating that graphical preset selection has a measurable but not dramatic impact at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance scales downward consistently. Low settings average 349 FPS, Medium settings average 323 FPS with a range of 274 to 371 FPS, High settings achieve 255 FPS, and Ultra settings produce 243 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p widens to 106 FPS, showing increased sensitivity to settings at higher pixel counts.

At 3840x2160, the 4K results show the most significant performance impact. Low settings average 299 FPS, Medium settings average 256 FPS with a range of 218 to 295 FPS, High settings drop to 160 FPS, and Ultra settings bottom out at 153 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra gap at 4K expands to 146 FPS, the largest spread across any resolution.

The Medium settings preset is the only one with complete min/max data at all three resolutions. At 1080p, the range is 306-414 FPS; at 1440p, it is 274-371 FPS; and at 4K, it is 218-295 FPS. The narrowing of the range at higher resolutions — from 108 FPS at 1080p to 77 FPS at 4K — suggests that frame time consistency improves as the GPU becomes more uniformly loaded.

Overall, the measured FPS data shows that this combination is capable of maintaining frame rates well above 144 Hz at 1080p and 1440p across all settings. At 4K, High and Ultra settings fall below 200 FPS but remain comfortably above 144 Hz, ensuring high-refresh-rate gameplay is achievable even at maximum graphical fidelity.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-14600KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D combination ranks 61st out of 3,716 tested combos in Inside. This places the configuration in the top 1.6% of all tested systems, indicating exceptional performance relative to the broader hardware landscape. The top 60 combinations ahead of this one likely feature even more powerful CPUs or specialized configurations, though the specific details of those systems are not available in the current data.

The ranking of 61 out of 3,716 is notable given the CPU's mid-range positioning in the Core 14th Gen lineup. The i5-14600KF's performance percentile of 90 among all CPUs, combined with the RTX 5090 D's 92nd percentile among GPUs, produces a system that outperforms the vast majority of tested combinations. The fact that this pairing achieves such a high rank in a 2016 puzzle platformer suggests that the game's modest requirements allow even mid-tier CPUs to keep pace with flagship GPUs.

The GPU's benchmark score of 77,712 places it in close competition with several rivals, including the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT (76,904, 1.1% lower) and the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (78,940, 1.6% higher). These small performance deltas indicate that the RTX 5090 D is not dramatically ahead of its nearest competitors in synthetic benchmarks, yet its real-world Inside performance is exceptional due to the game's low graphical demands.

The combination's rank of 61 suggests that there are 60 other configurations that achieve higher frame rates in Inside. Given the game's age and the high baseline performance of this system, those higher-ranked combos likely achieve even more extreme frame rates at 1080p Low settings, where the current system already reaches 390 FPS. The ranking demonstrates that this pairing is near the top of the performance hierarchy for this title.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600KF provides the computational foundation for this system, featuring 14 cores and 20 threads with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. This Raptor Lake Refresh architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process, offers substantial multi-threaded performance that is well-suited to Inside's physics and game logic requirements. The CPU's 24 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB per-core L2 cache provide fast access to frequently used data.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i5-14600KF achieves a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 32,544 and a single-core score of 4,594. The Geekbench multicore score of 17,085 and single-core score of 2,445 further illustrate the CPU's balanced performance profile. These scores place the CPU in the 90th percentile among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 49,394.

The CPU's nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 (49,228, 0.3% lower), the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G (49,196, 0.4% lower), and the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 (48,995, 0.8% lower). The AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 388 scores 49,796, which is 0.8% higher. These tight margins show that the i5-14600KF is competitively positioned within its performance tier.

In the context of Inside, the CPU's role is secondary to the GPU, as evidenced by the resolution scaling data. At 1080p Low settings, the system achieves 390 FPS, which suggests the CPU can feed frames to the GPU at very high rates. However, the drop to 153 FPS at 4K Ultra indicates that the GPU becomes the bottleneck as pixel count increases. The CPU's 14 cores and 20 threads provide ample parallelism for the game's update and render loops, ensuring that no CPU-side stalls limit performance.

The CPU's 125 W TDP and support for DDR4 and DDR5 memory give it flexibility in system builds, though memory bandwidth is not specified in the data. The CPU's PCIe Gen 5 support with 16 lanes provides high-bandwidth connectivity to the RTX 5090 D, though the GPU's PCIe 5.0 x16 interface is unlikely to be a limiting factor in this game. The unlocked multiplier allows for overclocking, which could further improve performance, though the measured data reflects stock operation.