Inside

The pairing of an Intel Core i5-9400 with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 produces a remarkably playable experience in Inside, though the data reveals a profound imbalance. Across all tested settings and resolutions, the system never dips below 129.6 FPS, indicating that the game is easily handled by this combination. The benchmark results show that the RTX 5090, which sits in the 94th percentile of all GPUs, is the dominant force here, while the six-core i5-9400, positioned at the 50th percentile of all CPUs, keeps pace sufficiently to avoid severe frame rate collapse. However, the performance scaling curve suggests that the aging processor is the primary limiter at lower resolutions, preventing the full potential of the flagship graphics card from being realized.

FAQ

*Q: What is the highest average frame rate recorded for this combo in Inside?*

A: The highest average frame rate recorded is 221.5 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: How does the i5-9400 compare to its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Intel Core i5-9400 has an average benchmark score of 2305, which is 0.2% higher than the Intel Core i3-10305 and 0.4% higher than the Intel Xeon E-2134. It trails the Intel Core i7-8809G by 0.6%.

Q: What is the performance gap between the RTX 5090 and its closest competitor?

A: The RTX 5090 has an average benchmark score of 84306. It is 0.1% faster than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D and 1.3% faster than the AMD Radeon PRO W6600. It is 1.6% slower than the NVIDIA CMP 40HX.

Q: Does the game run better at 1440p with High settings than at 4K with Medium settings?

A: Yes. At 2560x1440 with High settings, the average FPS is 155.6, which is slightly lower than the 157.4 FPS recorded at 3840x2160 with Medium settings. The difference is minimal, showing that resolution scaling is modest in this title.

*Q: What is the total number of combinations this setup is ranked against in Inside?*

A: The combo is ranked 817 out of 1671 tested combinations, placing it in the upper half of all systems tested for this game.

Q: What is the RTX 5090's memory configuration?

A: The RTX 5090 features 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is the undisputed workhorse in this configuration. Its specifications are formidable: a 5 nm Blackwell 2.0 chip with 92,200 million transistors and a die size of 750 mm². The card operates at a base clock of 2017 MHz and a boost clock of 2407 MHz. More critical for gaming performance is its memory subsystem, which consists of 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus. This yields a staggering bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s, which is more than sufficient to feed the 21760 shading units at 4K resolutions.

In Inside, the GPU's influence is evident in the high frame rates across all settings. Even at the most demanding preset, 3840x2160 Ultra, the system maintains an average of 131.1 FPS. The GPU's 94th percentile ranking among all GPUs suggests that it is operating near the top of its class. The data indicates that the RTX 5090 is never the bottleneck in this game, as the frame rates scale predictably with resolution changes. The gap between Low and Ultra settings at 4K is 39.3 FPS (170.4 vs 131.1), showing that the GPU has ample headroom to handle increased graphical loads without dropping below playable thresholds.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 presents a different story. This Coffee Lake processor is a 6-core, 6-thread part with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. It has a 9 MB shared L3 cache and supports DDR4 memory on a dual-channel bus, yielding a memory bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s. The processor's synthetic benchmark scores are modest, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 7969 and a single-core score of 1125. Its average benchmark score of 2305 places it at the 50th percentile of all CPUs, indicating a mid-range standing.

In Inside, the CPU's role is more subtle but measurable. At 1080p, the frame rates range from 169.6 FPS on Ultra to 221.5 FPS on Low. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 51.9 FPS, which is larger than the difference at 4K (39.3 FPS). This pattern suggests that at lower resolutions, the CPU becomes more of a limiting factor, as the GPU is able to render frames faster than the processor can feed it data. The 6-thread design is sufficient for this puzzle platformer, but the data shows that the i5-9400 prevents the system from achieving the extreme frame rates that the RTX 5090 alone could theoretically produce.

How This Combo Ranks

The combined system is ranked 817 out of 1671 tested combinations for Inside. This places it in the 49th percentile of all tested systems, which is a solid mid-pack result. The ranking is somewhat paradoxical given the GPU's high percentile, but it reflects the overall system balance. The RTX 5090 is a top-tier component, but the i5-9400's mid-range standing pulls the overall combo ranking down.

Benchmark results indicate that the combo outperforms the majority of systems tested, but it does not reach the top echelon. The 817th rank out of 1671 suggests that there are many systems with more balanced pairings that achieve better overall results in this specific title. The high frame rates recorded in the measured data show that this combo is more than capable of delivering a smooth experience, but the ranking indicates that the CPU is holding the system back from achieving its full potential relative to other configurations.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear picture of how different settings affect performance. For players seeking the smoothest experience, Low settings at 1080p yield the highest average frame rate at 221.5 FPS. However, the game is a puzzle platformer, and the visual fidelity may matter more than raw frame rates. At 1440p, High settings produce an average of 155.6 FPS, which is more than sufficient for a smooth experience on most displays.

The most balanced recommendation based on the data is Medium settings at 1440p, which provides an average of 180.5 FPS. This setting offers a compromise between visual quality and performance, maintaining a high frame rate that exceeds the refresh rate of most monitors. At 4K, High settings at 129.6 FPS is the best choice for those with 4K displays, as it provides a solid experience without the performance cost of Ultra settings, which only marginally improve visuals while dropping the frame rate to 131.1 FPS. The data shows that the jump from High to Ultra at any resolution costs roughly 20-30 FPS, making High the recommended preset for a balance of quality and speed.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its best performance. Low settings produce an average of 221.5 FPS, Medium 203.9 FPS, High 171.2 FPS, and Ultra 169.6 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra is a 51.9 FPS drop, which is the largest percentage drop across all resolutions, indicating CPU limitations at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but decrease. Low settings average 201.5 FPS, Medium 180.5 FPS, High 155.6 FPS, and Ultra 150.9 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra is 50.6 FPS, showing a similar pattern to 1080p but with slightly lower absolute numbers.

At 3840x2160, the GPU begins to show its strength. Low settings average 170.4 FPS, Medium 157.4 FPS, High 129.6 FPS, and Ultra 131.1 FPS. Interestingly, the Ultra setting performs slightly better than High by 1.5 FPS, which could be due to measurement variance. The drop from Low to Ultra is 39.3 FPS, which is smaller than at lower resolutions, confirming that the GPU is the primary driver at 4K.

Resolution Scaling

The data shows a clear trend in resolution scaling. From 1080p to 1440p, the average frame rate across all settings drops by approximately 20%, while from 1440p to 4K, the drop is more significant at around 30%. For example, at High settings, the frame rate drops from 171.2 FPS at 1080p to 155.6 FPS at 1440p, a 9.1% decrease. From 1440p to 4K, it drops from 155.6 FPS to 129.6 FPS, a 16.7% decrease.

This pattern reveals the limiting component. At 1080p, the CPU is the constraint, as the frame rates do not increase as much as the GPU's potential would suggest. The fact that the drop from Low to Ultra at 1080p is larger than at 4K indicates that the CPU bottleneck is more pronounced at lower resolutions. At 4K, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, as the frame rates scale more predictably with the GPU's workload. The RTX 5090's 1.79 TB/s memory bandwidth and 32 GB of VRAM ensure that it can handle the increased pixel count, but the i5-9400's 6 threads struggle to keep up at lower resolutions, capping performance below what the GPU could theoretically deliver.