Inside

# Inside — Intel Core i5-9400 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070

The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 delivers overwhelmingly strong performance in Inside, a 2016 puzzle platformer that is far more demanding at high resolutions than its minimalist art style suggests. Across all tested settings and resolutions, this combo never dips below 82 FPS average, meaning it clears 60 FPS by a wide margin even at 4K Ultra. The data indicates this is a GPU-bound scenario at 4K, but at 1080p the CPU becomes the limiting factor, capping frame rates well below what the RTX 3070 alone could produce. The combo ranks 959th out of 1671 tested combinations, placing it in the upper-middle tier of the database, which is a modest ranking given the outright frame rates — a reflection of the i5-9400's age rather than the RTX 3070's capability.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic shift in bottleneck behavior. At 1080p Low, the combo averages 221.6 FPS, but at 4K Low it falls to 169.3 FPS — a reduction of roughly 24%. That relatively modest decline at Low settings suggests the CPU is holding back performance at lower resolutions, since the GPU has plenty of headroom. Moving to High settings, the 1080p average of 172 FPS drops to 134.9 FPS at 1440p and then to 83.4 FPS at 4K — a 52% reduction from 1080p to 4K. This steeper falloff at higher settings indicates the GPU is now the primary constraint, as the RTX 3070's 8 GB GDDR6 memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth are being pushed harder by the increased pixel count and shading work.

The Ultra preset tells the clearest story. At 1080p Ultra, the combo achieves 167.3 FPS, at 1440p Ultra it drops to 129.4 FPS, and at 4K Ultra it falls to 82 FPS. That 4K Ultra result is the single lowest measured frame rate in the entire dataset, yet it still exceeds 60 FPS comfortably. The scaling pattern — a 23% drop from 1080p to 1440p, then a 37% drop from 1440p to 4K — is consistent with a GPU that has ample compute (20.31 TFLOPS FP32) but is beginning to feel the strain of 4K rendering. Notably, the gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is a massive 87.3 FPS (169.3 vs 82), whereas at 1080p that same gap is only 54.3 FPS (221.6 vs 167.3). This widening delta confirms that resolution scaling amplifies the GPU's workload far more than the settings preset does.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 959th out of 1671 tested combinations in Inside, placing it in the 57th percentile of all tested systems. This is a surprisingly low rank given the frame rates, but it reflects the fact that Inside is an older title where many modern CPUs and GPUs — even mid-range ones — can hit very high frame rates. The RTX 3070 itself sits at the 72nd percentile among all GPUs in the database, with an average benchmark score of 28238. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT (27985, 0.9% slower), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti (27956, 1% slower), and the AMD FirePro S7150 (28409, 0.6% faster). The i5-9400, by contrast, sits at exactly the 50th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 2305. Its nearest rivals are the Intel Core i3-10305 (2300, 0.2% faster), the Intel Core i3-1125G4 (2299, 0.2% faster), and the Intel Xeon E-2134 (2295, 0.4% faster).

The performance data shows that this combo is capable of 4K Ultra at 82 FPS, which is a result that only a minority of the 1671 tested combinations could match. The rank disparity — 959th despite top-tier frame rates — suggests that many other combos in the database achieve similar or higher FPS in this game, likely due to stronger single-threaded CPU performance or newer GPU architectures that handle this engine more efficiently. The i5-9400's 6 cores and 6 threads, with a 2.90 GHz base and 4.10 GHz boost clock, are adequate but not exceptional for a game that favors higher IPC. The RTX 3070, meanwhile, is clearly the stronger component in this pairing, as evidenced by its 72nd percentile GPU rank versus the CPU's 50th percentile.

Settings Recommendations

For 4K displays, the Medium preset at 136 FPS is the optimal choice. It delivers a 64% improvement over High (83.4 FPS) and a 66% improvement over Ultra (82 FPS), while remaining 33 FPS below the Low preset's 169.3 FPS. The visual difference between Medium and High in a puzzle platformer like Inside is minimal given the game's monochromatic art style and simple geometry, so the frame rate headroom is worth trading for any minor quality loss. At 1440p, High at 134.9 FPS is the sweet spot, as it stays above 120 FPS while providing better visual fidelity than Medium's 181 FPS would suggest is necessary — though Medium at 181 FPS is also excellent if you have a 165 Hz or higher refresh monitor. For 1080p, Ultra at 167.3 FPS is the clear recommendation, as it maintains a very high frame rate while maximizing quality. Low settings are never advisable on this hardware, as even 4K Low (169.3 FPS) provides no meaningful advantage over Medium at the same resolution (136 FPS) for the visual cost.

FAQ

*Q: Can this combo run Inside at 60 FPS in 4K?*

A: Yes, comfortably. The lowest measured result is 4K Ultra at 82 FPS, which is 37% above the 60 FPS threshold. Even the most demanding settings combination clears 60 FPS with room to spare.

Q: What is the best resolution-to-settings match for a 144 Hz monitor?

A: At 1080p, all presets exceed 144 FPS, with Ultra at 167.3 FPS being the highest quality option. At 1440p, only Low (200.9 FPS) and Medium (181 FPS) break 144 FPS, while High falls slightly short at 134.9 FPS. At 4K, no preset reaches 144 FPS; the closest is Low at 169.3 FPS, but that still exceeds 60 FPS by a wide margin.

Q: How does the RTX 3070 compare to the RX 6600 XT in this context?

A: The RTX 3070 has an average benchmark score of 28238, which is 0.9% higher than the RX 6600 XT's 27985. In Inside, the RTX 3070's 8 GB GDDR6 memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth are more than sufficient for the game's modest texture requirements.

Q: Is the i5-9400 a bottleneck for the RTX 3070 in this game?

A: Yes, at lower resolutions and settings. The 1080p Low result of 221.6 FPS versus the 4K Low result of 169.3 FPS indicates the CPU limits frame rates when GPU load is low. The i5-9400's 6 cores and 6 threads with a 4.10 GHz boost are sufficient for 100+ FPS, but not for the RTX 3070's full potential at 1080p.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra at 4K?

A: At 4K, Low averages 169.3 FPS while Ultra averages 82 FPS, a difference of 87.3 FPS. This 51% reduction from Low to Ultra is the largest settings impact seen across all resolutions.

Q: Should I use Medium or High at 1440p?

A: Medium at 181 FPS is 46.1 FPS faster than High at 134.9 FPS. Given the game's simple visual style, Medium is the better choice if you prioritize high refresh rates, while High is acceptable for 120 Hz displays.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications align well with the measured results. Built on the Ampere architecture with a GA104 chip on Samsung's 8 nm process, the GPU packs 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 96 ROPs. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus delivers 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is ample for Inside's relatively simple textures but becomes relevant at 4K where the pixel fill rate demand grows. The pixel rate of 165.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 317.4 GTexel/s explain why 4K Ultra still manages 82 FPS — the GPU has enough raw throughput to handle the resolution without dropping below 60 FPS.

The RTX 3070's boost clock of 1725 MHz (base 1500 MHz) and 20.31 TFLOPS FP32 compute provide substantial headroom for a 2016 game, even at 4K. The GPU's 72nd percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 28238, places it above the RX 6600 XT (27985) and GTX 980 Ti (27956), but slightly below the FirePro S7150 (28409). The fact that this GPU can push 4K High to 83.4 FPS in a game that is not heavily optimized for modern hardware speaks to its efficiency. The 220 W TDP and dual-slot design are typical for this performance class, and the 12-pin power connector (with a 550 W suggested PSU) is worth noting for system builders, though the game itself is not power-hungry. The memory clock of 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) alongside the 256-bit bus creates enough bandwidth for the game's streaming requirements, as evidenced by the consistent frame rates across all settings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 plays a supporting role in this combo, and the data shows it becomes a limiting factor only at the lowest resolutions and settings. With 6 cores and 6 threads on the Coffee Lake architecture, the CPU offers a 2.90 GHz base clock and a 4.10 GHz boost clock. Its 9 MB of shared L3 cache and 64 KB L1 / 256 KB L2 per core are modest by modern standards, but sufficient for a puzzle platformer with limited physics and AI demands. The CPU's memory bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s over dual-channel DDR4 is not a bottleneck in this title, as the game's data footprint is small.

The i5-9400 sits at the 50th percentile among all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 2305, placing it nearly identical to the i3-10305 (2300, 0.2% faster) and i3-1125G4 (2299, 0.2% faster), while being 0.6% slower than the i7-8809G (2319). In Cinebench R23, it scores 7969 multi-core and 1125 single-core, which explains why the 1080p Low result of 221.6 FPS is not higher — the single-core performance caps the frame rate when the GPU is underutilized. At 4K Ultra, however, the CPU's role diminishes, as the GPU becomes the bottleneck. This is evident from the 4K Ultra result of 82 FPS, which is identical in pattern to the 1440p Ultra result of 129.4 FPS — the CPU is no longer the constraint. The i5-9400's 14 nm process and 65 W TDP make it an efficient, if aging, partner for the RTX 3070, but the data clearly shows that any future upgrade to a higher-core or higher-IPC CPU would unlock more performance at 1080p.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p, the combo delivers its highest frame rates across all presets. Low averages 221.6 FPS, Medium 208.1 FPS, High 172 FPS, and Ultra 167.3 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 54.3 FPS, with Medium providing a 36.1 FPS advantage over High. At 1440p, Low averages 200.9 FPS, Medium 181 FPS, High 134.9 FPS, and Ultra 129.4 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p ranges from 18.1 FPS (High) to 20.7 FPS (Low), showing a consistent 9-12% reduction across presets. At 4K, the performance more than halves compared to 1080p for the higher presets: Low averages 169.3 FPS, Medium 136 FPS, High 83.4 FPS, and Ultra 82 FPS. The 4K results show the largest spread between Low and Ultra (87.3 FPS), while the 1080p results show the smallest spread (54.3 FPS). Across all resolutions, the Ultra preset is always within 5 FPS of High, suggesting the extra settings in Ultra have minimal impact on this game's rendering load. Conversely, the jump from Low to Medium provides substantial gains — at 4K, the difference is 33.3 FPS — indicating that Medium is the most efficient preset for balancing visual quality with performance.