Inside

Inside is a 2D puzzle-platformer from 2016, and the measured data for the Intel Core i7-12700K paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT shows performance that is decisively GPU-bound at higher settings, yet surprisingly CPU-sensitive at lower presets. The combination ranks 480th out of 1671 tested combos in this game, placing it in the top 29% of all configurations. The frame rates across all resolutions are exceptionally high, often exceeding the refresh rates of standard monitors, which shifts the analysis from "can it run" to "how do the settings shape the bottleneck."

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark data presents a clear hierarchy across the four tested presets, but the optimal choice depends heavily on the target resolution and display refresh rate. At 1080p, the Low preset yields an average of 366.6 FPS, which is 11.3% higher than the Medium preset's 329.4 FPS and a massive 77.9% higher than the High preset's 206 FPS. However, the jump from Low to Medium costs only 37.2 FPS, while the jump from Medium to High costs 123.4 FPS, indicating a steep scaling curve in the higher tiers.

For 1440p, the Medium preset at 235.9 FPS offers the best balance of visual fidelity and performance, sitting 60.2% above the High preset's 147.3 FPS. The Ultra preset at 143.9 FPS is only 2.3% slower than High, which suggests that the Ultra preset's additional effects are relatively cheap at this resolution. At 4K, the Medium preset again emerges as the sweet spot, delivering 150.2 FPS, which is 63.4% higher than the High preset's 91.8 FPS. The Low preset at 185.5 FPS is still playable, but the visual quality loss is substantial for only a 23.5% gain over Medium.

The data shows that the High and Ultra presets are nearly identical in performance at 1440p and 4K, with differences of only 3.4 FPS and 3.8 FPS respectively. This suggests that the Ultra preset is effectively a free upgrade over High in this game, making it the recommended choice for users with 144Hz or 165Hz displays who want maximum visual quality. For 60Hz displays at 4K, the Medium preset is the clear winner, as it provides 150.2 FPS, well above the 60 FPS threshold while leaving headroom for frame pacing. The Low preset should only be considered for competitive play at 1080p, where the 366.6 FPS average can fully utilize a 360Hz monitor.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT, built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with a Navi 32 chip, brings 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 624.1 GB/s. The GPU's boost clock of 2430 MHz and game clock of 2124 MHz are the primary drivers of its raw throughput, which is reflected in its Passmark G3D score of 24176. This places the GPU in the 76th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 32619, putting it 0.2% ahead of the AMD FirePro S9300 X2 and 0.7% behind the NVIDIA T600 Mobile.

In Inside, the GPU's role becomes most apparent at 4K resolution, where the frame rate drops significantly from lower resolutions. At 4K High, the average FPS of 91.8 is just 44.6% of the 1080p High score of 206, indicating that the GPU is the limiting factor at this resolution. The 16 GB VRAM is more than sufficient for this game, as even the 4K Ultra preset at 88 FPS does not show signs of memory capacity constraints. The GPU's FP32 compute of 37.32 TFLOPS and texture rate of 583.2 GTexel/s are more than adequate for the game's simple 2D rendering, which explains why the GPU only becomes a bottleneck at 4K with higher settings.

The DirectX 12 Ultimate support and Vulkan 1.4 API compatibility ensure that the GPU can handle the game's modern rendering paths, though the game's age means it likely uses simpler DirectX 11 paths. The pixel rate of 233.3 GPixel/s is particularly relevant for a 2D game, as the fill rate directly impacts how quickly the GPU can draw the game's sprites and effects. The data shows that the GPU is not the limiting factor at 1080p or 1440p, where CPU-bound behavior dominates, but it becomes the primary constraint at 4K Ultra.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of resolution scaling that identifies the system's bottleneck at each setting level. Moving from 1080p to 1440p at High settings, the frame rate drops from 206 FPS to 147.3 FPS, a 28.5% decrease. Continuing to 4K High, the frame rate falls to 91.8 FPS, another 37.7% drop from 1440p. This progressive decline indicates that the GPU is becoming increasingly stressed as pixel count rises, but the CPU is still able to feed it adequately at 1440p.

At Low settings, the scaling is more dramatic. The 1080p Low score of 366.6 FPS drops to 296.5 FPS at 1440p (a 19.1% decrease) and then plummets to 185.5 FPS at 4K (a 37.4% decrease from 1440p). The relatively small drop from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings, compared to the larger drop at High settings, suggests that the CPU is the limiting factor at 1080p Low, where the GPU has excess headroom. The 4K Low score of 185.5 FPS is still higher than the 4K High score of 91.8 FPS, indicating that the GPU's workload is heavily influenced by the settings preset.

The Medium preset shows the most linear scaling across resolutions: 329.4 FPS at 1080p, 235.9 FPS at 1440p, and 150.2 FPS at 4K. This represents a 28.4% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 36.3% drop from 1440p to 4K, which is consistent with a GPU-bound scenario. The Ultra preset mirrors the High preset's behavior, with scores of 197.5, 143.9, and 88 FPS across the three resolutions. The fact that the 4K Ultra score of 88 FPS is only 4.3% lower than the 4K High score of 91.8 FPS suggests that the game's Ultra settings add minimal GPU load over High.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system produces its highest frame rates. The Low preset achieves an average of 366.6 FPS, which is the fastest measured result in the entire dataset. Medium follows at 329.4 FPS, representing a 10.1% drop from Low. High delivers 206 FPS, a 37.5% drop from Medium, and Ultra produces 197.5 FPS, only 4.1% lower than High. The gap between Low and Medium (37.2 FPS) is significantly smaller than the gap between Medium and High (123.4 FPS), suggesting that the High preset introduces a substantial rendering cost.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show more separation between presets. Low achieves 296.5 FPS, which is 19.1% lower than the 1080p Low score. Medium delivers 235.9 FPS, a 20.4% drop from 1080p Medium. High produces 147.3 FPS, a 28.5% drop from 1080p High, and Ultra reaches 143.9 FPS, a 27.1% drop from 1080p Ultra. The percentage drops increase with higher presets, confirming that the GPU is becoming more involved at 1440p.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates drop significantly, but the system remains playable. Low delivers 185.5 FPS, which is 37.4% lower than 1440p Low. Medium achieves 150.2 FPS, a 36.3% drop from 1440p Medium. High produces 91.8 FPS, a 37.7% drop from 1440p High, and Ultra reaches 88 FPS, a 38.8% drop from 1440p Ultra. The 4K Ultra score of 88 FPS is the lowest measured result, but it still exceeds the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The data shows that the system can handle 4K at all settings, though the High and Ultra presets are best suited for 60Hz displays.

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset for a 144Hz monitor at 1440p?

A: The Medium preset at 235.9 FPS provides ample headroom above 144 FPS, while the High preset at 147.3 FPS is just barely above the refresh rate. Ultra at 143.9 FPS is slightly below 144 FPS, making Medium the safest choice for consistent frame delivery.

Q: Can this system run Inside at 4K with maximum settings?

A: Yes, the 4K Ultra preset produces an average of 88 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS standard for smooth play. The GPU's 16 GB VRAM is sufficient, and the 624.1 GB/s bandwidth handles the 4K texture loads without issue.

Q: How does the CPU affect performance at 1080p?

A: At 1080p Low, the system achieves 366.6 FPS, which is only 19.1% lower than the 1440p Low score of 296.5 FPS. This relatively small drop indicates that the Intel Core i7-12700K's 12 cores and 20 threads are sufficient to prevent a CPU bottleneck at lower resolutions.

Q: Is the Ultra preset worth the performance cost over High?

A: The data shows a negligible difference: at 1080p, Ultra is 4.1% slower than High; at 1440p, it is 2.3% slower; and at 4K, it is 4.1% slower. Given the minimal performance penalty, Ultra is effectively free and should be used for maximum visual quality.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Medium presets?

A: At 1080p, Low is 11.3% faster than Medium (366.6 vs 329.4 FPS). At 1440p, the difference is 25.7% (296.5 vs 235.9 FPS), and at 4K, it is 23.5% (185.5 vs 150.2 FPS). The gap widens at higher resolutions, indicating that Medium's additional effects stress the GPU more.

Q: How does this system rank against other configurations?

A: The combination ranks 480th out of 1671 tested combos, placing it in the top 28.7% of all systems tested for Inside. The GPU is in the 76th percentile of all GPUs, and the CPU is in the 89th percentile of all CPUs.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700K, based on the Alder Lake-S architecture, features 12 cores (8 performance and 4 efficiency) with 20 threads, running at a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. The CPU's 25 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB per-core L2 cache provide ample on-die storage for the game's assets. In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU achieves a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 29241 and a single-core score of 4128, with a Geekbench multicore score of 13892 and single-core score of 2561.

The CPU's role in Inside becomes evident when examining the frame rate scaling at 1080p. At the Low preset, the system produces 366.6 FPS, which is only 19.1% lower than the 1440p Low score of 296.5 FPS. This suggests that at 1080p Low, the CPU is the primary bottleneck, as the GPU has excess capacity that is not being utilized. The single-thread performance is particularly important for this game, as the Passmark single-thread score of 4013 and 3DMark single-thread score of 1043 indicate strong per-core performance that can drive high frame rates.

The CPU's 3DMark 16-thread score of 9276 and max-thread score of 9979 show that multi-threaded performance is robust, but Inside likely does not scale well beyond a few cores. The Passmark multithread score of 34404 and physics score of 1790 further confirm the CPU's capability, though the game's 2D nature means that the CPU's job is primarily physics and game logic rather than complex rendering. The data shows that the CPU is sufficient to avoid bottlenecking at 1440p and above, where the GPU becomes the limiting factor, but at 1080p Low, the CPU's 5.00 GHz boost clock is what allows the system to reach the 366.6 FPS ceiling.