Inside

The Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti combination delivers a high-refresh-rate experience in Inside, with measured frame rates ranging from a low of 100.3 FPS at 4K Ultra to a peak of 220.6 FPS at 1080p Low. The data indicates that this pairing is exceptionally capable for the title, placing in the 903rd rank out of 1671 tested combinations, which puts it comfortably in the top half of all configs. The performance envelope suggests that the primary bottleneck shifts depending on the resolution, with the CPU's six physical cores proving sufficient for the game’s logic while the GPU’s raw throughput dominates at higher pixel counts.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a six-core, six-thread processor based on the Coffee Lake architecture, built on Intel's 14 nm process node. Its base clock of 2.90 GHz and boost clock of 4.10 GHz provide the fundamental instruction throughput for Inside's physics and game logic. In synthetic benchmarks, the chip scores 803 points in Cinebench R15 multi-core and 113 points in single-core, with corresponding R23 scores of 7969 and 1125 respectively. These numbers place the i5-9400 at the 50th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 2305.

The benchmark data shows that the CPU’s performance is closely matched with several rivals. The Intel Core i3-10305 and Intel Core i3-1125G4 both sit within 0.2% of the i5-9400's average score, while the Intel Xeon E-2134 is 0.4% ahead. The closest competitor above is the Intel Core i7-8809G, which leads by a marginal 0.6%. This clustering suggests that the i5-9400 is a mid-pack processor, and its six threads are adequate for a puzzle platformer like Inside, which does not typically stress multi-core scaling as heavily as modern AAA shooters.

In the context of the measured frame rates, the CPU’s role becomes clearer at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 220.6 FPS, which is the highest recorded value in the dataset. This high frame rate indicates that the CPU can feed the GPU sufficiently at this resolution, where the graphics load is minimal. However, as resolution increases, the frame rate drops, which points to the GPU becoming the limiting factor rather than the CPU. The i5-9400’s 9 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support with 42.7 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient to avoid starvation for this title, as the frame pacing remains consistent across all measured settings.

Settings Recommendations

Analyzing the measured FPS rows, the most balanced experience is achieved at the High preset. At 1080p, High yields 168.9 FPS, which is a substantial 17.9% drop from the Low preset’s 220.6 FPS but still far above any display refresh rate likely to be used. Moving to Medium at 1080p provides 204.8 FPS, which is closer to Low but with better visual fidelity. However, the High preset offers a better compromise, delivering 168.9 FPS while presumably including more advanced lighting and shadow effects that benefit a game with Inside's atmospheric tone.

At 1440p, the High preset delivers 150.7 FPS, which is nearly identical to the Ultra preset’s 150.1 FPS. The delta between High and Ultra is negligible, suggesting that Ultra provides no meaningful performance advantage despite the higher settings. The Low preset at 1440p reaches 201.3 FPS, but the visual downgrade is likely too severe for a game that relies on moody, low-light environments. The Medium preset at 1440p offers 184.8 FPS, which is a 22.6% improvement over High, but the quality difference may not justify the frame rate gain unless the user has a 240 Hz monitor.

At 4K, the High preset produces 103.9 FPS, which is the only 4K setting that cracks the 100 FPS threshold while maintaining reasonable quality. The Ultra preset at 4K drops to 100.3 FPS, which is nearly identical to High and suggests that the GPU is already saturated at this resolution. The Medium preset at 4K provides 156.2 FPS, which is a significant 50.3% uplift over High, but this comes with reduced texture and effect quality. For the best experience, the High preset at 1440p appears to be the sweet spot, offering 150.7 FPS with a balance of visual fidelity and performance that leverages the RTX 3080 Ti’s capabilities without pushing the CPU into a bottleneck.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound behavior at higher resolutions. At the High preset, the system delivers 168.9 FPS at 1080p, which drops to 150.7 FPS at 1440p and further to 103.9 FPS at 4K. This represents a 38.5% reduction from 1080p to 4K, indicating that the GPU’s fill rate and memory bandwidth are becoming limiting factors as pixel count increases. The RTX 3080 Ti’s 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus with 912.4 GB/s bandwidth should theoretically handle 4K well, but the data shows that the game’s rendering engine is sensitive to resolution scaling.

At the Low preset, the scaling is steeper: 220.6 FPS at 1080p drops to 201.3 FPS at 1440p and 171 FPS at 4K. The 22.5% drop from 1080p to 4K at Low settings is less severe than at High, which suggests that the CPU is still providing a baseline frame rate that the GPU can exceed when graphical load is minimal. Conversely, at the Ultra preset, the scaling is 167 FPS at 1080p, 150.1 FPS at 1440p, and 100.3 FPS at 4K, a 40% reduction overall. This indicates that the Ultra preset’s additional effects, likely including higher-resolution shadows and post-processing, disproportionately tax the GPU at 4K.

The data implies that at 1080p, the CPU is the primary limiter, as the frame rates across settings are relatively close (220.6 FPS Low vs. 167 FPS Ultra, a 24.3% spread). At 4K, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck, with the spread widening to 41.3% (171 FPS Low vs. 100.3 FPS Ultra). This behavior is typical for a game with modest CPU requirements, where the i5-9400’s six cores can keep up with the game logic, but the RTX 3080 Ti’s performance is capped by the resolution and settings.

FAQ

*Q: What is the maximum frame rate achievable with this CPU and GPU combination in Inside?*

A: The highest measured average frame rate is 220.6 FPS, achieved at 1080p with the Low preset. This is the only setting that exceeds 220 FPS, with the next closest being 204.8 FPS at 1080p Medium.

Q: Does the RTX 3080 Ti provide a significant advantage over its closest rivals in this game?

A: The benchmark scores show the RTX 3080 Ti is 0.5% behind the RTX 3090, 0.9% behind the AMD Radeon Pro 5300, and 1.1% behind the RTX 5070. The performance delta is negligible, indicating that these GPUs would produce nearly identical frame rates in Inside.

Q: Is the i5-9400 a bottleneck at 4K resolution?

A: No. At 4K, the frame rates range from 100.3 FPS (Ultra) to 171 FPS (Low), which are still high. The scaling from 1080p to 4K shows a 38.5% drop at High settings, indicating the GPU is the primary limiter, not the CPU.

Q: What is the performance difference between the High and Ultra presets?

A: The difference is minimal. At 1080p, High delivers 168.9 FPS versus 167 FPS for Ultra, a 1.1% gap. At 1440p, the gap is 0.4% (150.7 vs. 150.1 FPS), and at 4K it is 3.6% (103.9 vs. 100.3 FPS). Ultra provides no measurable benefit over High.

Q: How does the i5-9400 compare to the Intel Core i3-10305 in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The i5-9400 has an average benchmark score of 2305, which is 0.2% higher than the i3-10305’s 2300. This difference is within the margin of error, so they perform effectively identically in CPU-bound scenarios.

Q: Can this system maintain 144 FPS at 1440p with high settings?

A: Yes. The High preset at 1440p produces 150.7 FPS, which exceeds the 144 FPS target. The Ultra preset also achieves 150.1 FPS, so both settings can maintain a 144 Hz refresh rate at 1440p.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is the dominant component in this pairing, built on the Ampere architecture with a GA102 chip manufactured on Samsung's 8 nm process. The GPU boasts 10,240 shading units, 320 texture mapping units, and 112 ROPs, along with 80 RT cores and 320 tensor cores. Its base clock of 1365 MHz boosts to 1665 MHz, and the 12 GB of GDDR6X memory runs at 1188 MHz, delivering 19 Gbps effective speed across a 384-bit bus for 912.4 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU’s theoretical peak performance is 34.10 TFLOPS for FP32, with a pixel rate of 186.5 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 532.8 GTexel/s.

In synthetic benchmarks, the RTX 3080 Ti scores 26,896 in Passmark G3D and 50,77 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, placing it at the 83rd percentile among all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 41,224. This places it in the upper echelon, though its nearest rivals are closely matched: the RTX 3090 is 0.5% faster, the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 is 0.9% faster, and the RTX 5070 is 1.1% faster. The RTX 3080 Ti’s performance in Inside reflects this high standing, as it can push frame rates well above 100 FPS even at 4K Ultra.

The GPU’s role is most evident at 4K, where the measured frame rates show a clear scaling with settings. At 4K Low, the GPU delivers 171 FPS, which drops to 156.2 FPS at Medium, 103.9 FPS at High, and 100.3 FPS at Ultra. This 41.3% spread at 4K indicates that the GPU’s memory bandwidth and compute units are the primary constraint, as the i5-9400 CPU cannot compensate for the increased pixel load. The GPU’s 12 GB VRAM is ample for Inside’s art style, which does not require high-resolution textures, but the rendering pipeline still benefits from the high bandwidth and pixel throughput. The RTX 3080 Ti’s launch MSRP is 1,199 USD, and its performance in this title justifies that positioning, as it consistently delivers playable frame rates across all tested settings and resolutions.