Inside

Inside is a deliberately minimalist puzzle platformer, but that minimalism does not extend to its hardware demands. The measured data for the Intel Core i7-12700K and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti combination reveals a system that is profoundly limited by its graphics card, particularly as resolution climbs. This pairing, which ranks 1669th out of 1671 tested combos in this game, presents a case study in how a modern, high-core-count CPU can be completely neutralized by a legacy GPU. The benchmark results show a clear narrative: the GTX 1050 Ti is the bottleneck at nearly every turn, and the i7-12700K’s substantial processing headroom goes largely unused.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is stark and tells a clear story about where the performance ceiling lies. At 1080p with Ultra settings, the combo produces 48.4 FPS, but at 4K Ultra, that number plummets to 22 FPS—a reduction of 54.5%. This is a classic sign of a GPU-bound scenario. The GTX 1050 Ti’s 4 GB of GDDR5 memory and 112.1 GB/s bandwidth are simply overwhelmed by the pixel count at 3840x2160.

The scaling pattern is consistent across all settings. Moving from 1080p to 1440p on High settings drops the average from 53.9 FPS to 38.7 FPS, a 28.2% decrease. The subsequent jump from 1440p to 4K on the same High preset is even more punishing, falling from 38.7 FPS to 24.6 FPS, a further 36.4% decline. This indicates that the GPU's compute units and memory interface are saturated well before 4K, making each additional pixel increasingly costly.

Interestingly, the data suggests that the CPU is never the limiting factor in this title. The i7-12700K, with its 12 cores and 20 threads, is capable of far more than this game demands. Even at 1080p Low, where the GPU has the least work to do, the system only manages 107.2 FPS. While this is the highest result in the entire measured set, it is not an exceptional figure for a CPU with a 5.00 GHz boost clock. The fact that the frame rate scales so dramatically with resolution—dropping by more than half from 1080p Low to 4K Low (46.9 FPS)—proves that the GPU's rendering pipeline is the primary constraint.

Settings Recommendations

For this specific combination, the choice of settings is a trade-off between visual fidelity and playable frame rates. The data shows that the “Medium” preset offers the most balanced experience without pushing the system to its breaking point. At 1080p Medium, the combo achieves 86.6 FPS, which is a smooth and responsive result for a puzzle platformer. This is a significant improvement over the 53.9 FPS at High and only slightly less than the 107.2 FPS at Low.

At 1440p, the Medium preset yields 59.5 FPS, which is still within a playable range for most users. However, pushing to High at this resolution drops the average to 38.7 FPS, which may feel less fluid in a game that relies on precise timing and atmospheric tension. The Ultra preset is not recommended at any resolution above 1080p, as it produces 37.6 FPS at 1440p and a barely functional 22 FPS at 4K. Even at 1080p, the Ultra preset’s 48.4 FPS is not a significant visual upgrade over Medium to justify the 44% performance hit. The measured rows clearly indicate that “Medium” is the sweet spot for this hardware pairing, providing a stable frame rate while maintaining a reasonable level of graphical detail.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Inside at 4K resolution?

A: Technically yes, but the experience is poor. At 4K with High settings, the average FPS is 24.6, and with Ultra settings, it drops to 22 FPS. Only the Low preset at 4K achieves a somewhat playable 46.9 FPS.

Q: What is the best preset to use at 1080p with this hardware?

A: The Medium preset provides the best balance, delivering an average of 86.6 FPS. This is far smoother than the High preset’s 53.9 FPS and only slightly below the Low preset’s 107.2 FPS, while offering better visuals.

Q: Is the Intel Core i7-12700K bottlenecking the GTX 1050 Ti in this game?

A: No. The data indicates the opposite. The frame rates scale heavily with resolution and settings, which is a characteristic of a GPU bottleneck. The CPU’s high core count and clock speeds are not being fully utilized, as evidenced by the fact that even at low settings and low resolution, the system does not achieve exceptionally high frame rates.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems?

A: This combination ranks 1669th out of 1671 tested combos in Inside. This places it in the bottom 0.1% of all tested configurations, highlighting its significant performance limitations in this title.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between High and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: The difference is minimal. High settings yield 38.7 FPS, while Ultra yields 37.6 FPS. The performance cost of the Ultra preset is negligible, but the frame rate is still too low for a consistently smooth experience.

Q: Is the GTX 1050 Ti's 4 GB of VRAM sufficient for this game?

A: The benchmark results suggest that the VRAM capacity and bandwidth are a limiting factor at higher resolutions. The dramatic FPS drops when moving from 1440p to 4K indicate that the 112.1 GB/s memory bandwidth is insufficient for the higher pixel throughput demands.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of this combo's performance across all settings and resolutions.

At 1920x1080, the system performs best. The Low preset achieves an average of 107.2 FPS, making it the only configuration to break the 100 FPS mark. The Medium preset follows with 86.6 FPS, offering a good balance. High settings drop to 53.9 FPS, and Ultra is the lowest at 48.4 FPS.

At 2560x1440, performance degrades noticeably. Low settings still produce a respectable 78.8 FPS. Medium drops to 59.5 FPS, which is right at the edge of smoothness. High and Ultra presets fall to 38.7 FPS and 37.6 FPS, respectively, showing that the GPU struggles to maintain fluid motion at this resolution with higher detail levels.

At 3840x2160, the GTX 1050 Ti is clearly overmatched. Low settings are the only viable option, yielding 46.9 FPS. Medium drops to 40.3 FPS. High and Ultra settings produce 24.6 FPS and 22 FPS, respectively, which are effectively unplayable for a game that benefits from smooth, uninterrupted motion.

How This Combo Ranks

The ranking of this specific combo is a sobering statistic. With a rank of 1669 out of 1671 tested combos, this pairing of i7-12700K and GTX 1050 Ti is positioned at the very bottom of the performance spectrum for Inside. This is not a statement about the CPU, which is a high-end processor, but rather a reflection of the GPU’s age and limitations.

The GTX 1050 Ti’s percentile ranking of 30 vs all GPUs places it firmly in the lower third of graphics cards. Its average benchmark score of 5316 is only marginally different from its nearest rivals, such as the NVIDIA GeForce 940M (5297) and the AMD Radeon R7 240 (5280). This indicates that the GPU is a performance outlier for its generation, and when paired with a modern CPU, the bottleneck is extreme. The combo rank effectively confirms that this system is not built for modern gaming at high resolutions, and in a title like Inside, the measured frame rates reflect that reality.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700K is an extremely capable processor, but its role in this game's performance is largely passive. With 12 cores, 20 threads, and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, it possesses ample processing power for a puzzle platformer. The CPU’s benchmark scores, such as a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 29241 and a single-core score of 4128, are indicative of a high-performance part.

However, the measured FPS data shows that the CPU is not the limiting factor. The frame rates are almost entirely dictated by the GPU's ability to render frames. The fact that the system only achieves 107.2 FPS at 1080p Low, despite having a CPU that can handle far more, suggests that the game's engine is not heavily threaded and that the GPU is still the primary constraint even in the least demanding scenario. The CPU’s 25 MB of shared L3 cache and support for DDR4/DDR5 memory are irrelevant when the graphics card can only process a limited number of pixels per second. In this case, the i7-12700K is essentially waiting for the GTX 1050 Ti to catch up.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti is the definitive bottleneck in this system. Its role is to render the game, and its age and specifications directly dictate the performance ceiling. The GPU has a base clock of 1291 MHz and a boost clock of 1392 MHz, with 768 shading units. Its 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 112.1 GB/s of bandwidth, which is a significant limitation at higher resolutions.

The benchmark results show that the GPU is overwhelmed as resolution increases. The drop from 53.9 FPS at 1080p High to 24.6 FPS at 4K High is a direct result of the GPU’s inability to handle the increased pixel fill rate. The FP32 performance of 2.138 TFLOPS and pixel rate of 44.54 GPixel/s are simply insufficient for 4K rendering. The GPU’s percentile ranking of 30 vs all GPUs and its proximity to mobile-oriented rivals like the GeForce 940M highlight its status as a low-end desktop part. This data confirms that the GTX 1050 Ti, while once a popular entry-level card, is now a major liability for any modern game, including one as visually understated as Inside.