Inside

The Intel Core i7-12700K paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT delivers a dramatically different experience in Inside depending on the resolution and quality preset chosen. At 1080p Low, the combo produces an average of 277.6 FPS, which collapses to 59.3 FPS at 4K Ultra—a reduction of roughly 79% that clearly identifies the GPU as the limiting factor at higher resolutions. The scaling pattern is consistent: moving from 1440p to 4K at High settings drops the average from 102.3 FPS to 65 FPS, a 36% hit that underscores how the Radeon RX 6600 XT's 8 GB GDDR6 memory and 128-bit bus become bottlenecks as pixel count rises. However, the CPU's influence is visible at lower resolutions—at 1080p Low, the frame rate reaches 277.6 FPS, which is high enough that the i7-12700K's 12 cores and 20 threads are still feeding the GPU effectively, but the single-thread performance (3DMark single-thread score of 1043) prevents even higher numbers. The data suggests a balanced pairing for 1440p gaming, where the combo stays above 98 FPS across all settings, but 4K Ultra is clearly beyond the GPU's comfortable range.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a steep performance cliff as resolution increases, typical of a GPU-bound title at higher pixel counts. At 1080p, the combo averages 277.6 FPS on Low, 225.2 FPS on Medium, 140.4 FPS on High, and 133.9 FPS on Ultra—all comfortably above 60 FPS, with the gap between Low and Ultra being 144 FPS. Moving to 1440p, the averages drop to 198.7 FPS (Low), 163.9 FPS (Medium), 102.3 FPS (High), and 98 FPS (Ultra), showing that the GPU begins to throttle performance more noticeably, though the CPU remains capable of pushing high frame rates. At 4K, the trend becomes severe: Low yields 129.8 FPS, Medium 98.3 FPS, High 65 FPS, and Ultra drops to 59.3 FPS—barely playable for a puzzle platformer, but a clear indication that the Radeon RX 6600 XT's 160 W TDP and 10.60 TFLOPS FP32 compute are insufficient for high-fidelity 4K rendering. The resolution scaling suggests that at 1080p, the i7-12700K's strong multi-threaded performance (Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 29241) and single-core speed (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4128) are the primary drivers, while at 4K, the GPU's shading units (2048) and texture rate (331.4 GTexel/s) become the bottleneck. For players targeting 4K, the data indicates that only Low settings (129.8 FPS) or Medium (98.3 FPS) offer acceptable performance, while High and Ultra fall below 65 FPS, making the GPU the clear limiting component at that resolution.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700K plays a crucial role in ensuring this combo doesn't become CPU-bound at lower resolutions, but its impact diminishes as resolution rises. With 12 cores and 20 threads, the Alder Lake architecture provides ample headroom for Inside's physics and logic, as evidenced by the PassMark multi-thread score of 34404 and Geekbench multi-core score of 13892. The boost clock of 5.00 GHz and base clock of 3.60 GHz allow for responsive single-threaded performance, reflected in the 3DMark single-thread score of 1043 and PassMark single-thread score of 4013. In benchmark results, the CPU's 89th percentile ranking among all processors means it outperforms the majority of CPUs, and its nearest rivals—the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 (deltaPct -0.3), Intel Core i7-13700T (deltaPct 0.6), Intel Core i5-14500HX (deltaPct -0.7), and Intel Core i7-13800H (deltaPct 0.8)—show that the i7-12700K sits within a tight performance band, with no rival exceeding it by more than 0.8%. At 1080p, the CPU's 25 MB of shared L3 cache and DDR4/DDR5 memory support help maintain high frame rates, but the data shows that the GPU begins to dominate performance at 1440p and above, where the average FPS drops from 277.6 (1080p Low) to 198.7 (1440p Low) and 129.8 (4K Low). The CPU's role is therefore to provide a stable foundation that never limits the GPU at standard gaming resolutions, but it cannot compensate for the RX 6600 XT's memory bandwidth limitations (256.0 GB/s) at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

In the broader benchmark database, this specific pairing of the Intel Core i7-12700K and AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT achieves a combo rank of 1164 out of 1671 tested combinations, placing it in the lower-middle tier of all systems. This ranking reflects the GPU's mid-range status—the RX 6600 XT sits in the 71st percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 27985, and its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti (deltaPct 0.1), AMD Radeon R9 M395X (deltaPct 0.4), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 (deltaPct -0.9), and AMD FirePro S7150 (deltaPct -1.5). The GPU's performance is nearly identical to the GTX 980 Ti, within 0.1%, but trails the RTX 3070 by 0.9%, indicating that the RX 6600 XT is a capable 1080p and 1440p card but not a high-end solution. The CPU's high ranking (89th percentile, average benchmark score 35684) helps boost the combo, but it cannot overcome the GPU's limitations in Inside's more demanding settings. The rank of 1164 out of 1671 suggests that while this combo is far from the worst, it is outperformed by many systems with more powerful GPUs, and the data shows that the bottleneck shifts from CPU to GPU as resolution increases, which is typical for a pairing where the CPU is significantly more powerful than the GPU.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across all resolution and settings combinations. At 1920x1080, the combo delivers: Low at 277.6 FPS, Medium at 225.2 FPS, High at 140.4 FPS, and Ultra at 133.9 FPS. This shows a steep drop from Low to High (137.2 FPS difference), but the system remains highly playable at all presets, with even Ultra exceeding 130 FPS. At 2560x1440, the averages are: Low at 198.7 FPS, Medium at 163.9 FPS, High at 102.3 FPS, and Ultra at 98 FPS—a more moderate scaling pattern where Low to Ultra still leaves a 100.7 FPS gap, but all settings remain above 95 FPS. At 3840x2160, the performance becomes more challenging: Low at 129.8 FPS, Medium at 98.3 FPS, High at 65 FPS, and Ultra at 59.3 FPS. The 4K data reveals a significant drop from Medium to High (33.3 FPS difference), indicating that the GPU's 8 GB memory and 2048 shading units are overwhelmed by the pixel count and texture detail at High and Ultra settings. Across all resolutions, the pattern is consistent: Low settings maximize frame rates by reducing the load on the GPU, while Ultra settings push the RX 6600 XT to its limits, particularly at 4K where the average falls below 60 FPS. The data also shows that the CPU's performance headroom is never fully taxed—even at 1080p Low, the 277.6 FPS average suggests the i7-12700K is not the limiting factor, as its 3DMark max-threads score of 9979 and PassMark integer math score of 114264 indicate substantial processing capability.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maintain 100+ FPS?

A: The data shows that 1440p is the sweet spot, with all settings (Low 198.7 FPS, Medium 163.9 FPS, High 102.3 FPS, Ultra 98 FPS) staying above 98 FPS, while 4K only exceeds 100 FPS at Low (129.8 FPS) and Medium (98.3 FPS) settings.

Q: How does the RX 6600 XT compare to its nearest GPU rival?

A: The Radeon RX 6600 XT has an average benchmark score of 27985, which is just 0.1% above the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti (27956) and 0.9% below the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 (28238), placing it in the 71st percentile of all GPUs.

Q: Is the i7-12700K CPU a bottleneck for this game?

A: Benchmark results indicate no, as the CPU's single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4128) and multi-thread capabilities (Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 29241) allow it to deliver 277.6 FPS at 1080p Low, suggesting the GPU is the limiting factor at all resolutions.

Q: What is the performance difference between 1080p and 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the average FPS drops from 140.4 at 1080p to 102.3 at 1440p and 65 at 4K, representing a 54% reduction from 1080p to 4K, which highlights the GPU's struggle with higher pixel counts.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested systems?

A: The Intel Core i7-12700K + AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT combination ranks 1164 out of 1671 tested combos, placing it in the lower-middle percentile of systems, despite the CPU's strong 89th percentile ranking.

*Q: What is the maximum FPS this combo achieves in Inside?*

A: The highest measured average FPS is 277.6 at 1080p with Low settings, while the lowest is 59.3 at 4K with Ultra settings, showing a wide performance envelope depending on resolution and quality choices.