Inside

Inside is a 2D puzzle-platformer that, on paper, should not stress a high-end desktop configuration. Yet, the measured frame rates for the Intel Core i7-12700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 reveal a complex scaling pattern that shifts the bottleneck between the CPU and GPU depending on the resolution and preset. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS data to determine exactly where the limits lie for this specific combo.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 4K on this system shows a classic, though steep, GPU-bound scaling curve, but with a crucial caveat at the lower settings. At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 220 FPS at 1920x1080 to 158 FPS at 2560x1440, and finally to 99 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 55% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K, which is a substantial hit that clearly indicates the rendering workload is scaling with pixel count and putting increasing pressure on the RTX 3080.

The picture changes dramatically when looking at the Low preset. Here, the average FPS at 1080p is 367, which is remarkably high. At 1440p, it still maintains 317 FPS, but at 4K, it drops to 199 FPS. The scaling from 1440p to 4K at Low settings is a 37% drop, which is less severe than the High preset's 37% drop from 1440p to 4K (158 to 99 FPS). This suggests that at lower resolutions and settings, the system is hitting a performance ceiling that is not purely the GPU's pixel throughput. The data indicates that at 1080p Low, the frame rate is likely limited by the CPU's ability to issue draw calls and process game logic, rather than the GPU's shading capacity.

The Medium preset provides the most granular data, with min and max FPS values recorded. At 4K Medium, the average is 159 FPS with a min of 135 and max of 183. At 1440p Medium, the average jumps to 253 FPS (min 215, max 291), and at 1080p Medium, it reaches 339 FPS (min 288, max 389). The scaling here is linear with resolution, suggesting a balanced load where the GPU is still the primary constraint, but the CPU has enough headroom to maintain consistent frame pacing, as evidenced by the relatively narrow min-max range.

The Ultra preset shows the most demanding scenario, with the average FPS dropping to 95 at 4K, 151 at 1440p, and 210 at 1080p. The performance difference between High and Ultra is small (99 vs 95 FPS at 4K), indicating that the Ultra preset's additional graphical features are not the primary bottleneck at this resolution. Instead, the resolution itself is the dominant factor. The data suggests that for this game, the RTX 3080 is the limiting component at 4K across all presets, but at 1080p with Low or Medium settings, the i7-12700K becomes the limiting factor, preventing the GPU from reaching its full potential.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700K is a 12-core, 20-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. Its benchmark scores are substantial, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 19784 and a single-core score of 1850.5. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 9276 and max-thread score of 9979 indicate strong multi-threaded performance, while the single-thread score of 1043 shows capable single-core speed. The processor's percentile ranking of 84th among all CPUs suggests it is a high-end part, but its nearest rivals in average benchmark score are all within a 0.4% delta, showing that its computational power is predictable and consistent.

In the context of Inside, the CPU's role is primarily to maintain a high frame rate ceiling, especially at lower resolutions. The measured data supports this: at 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves 367 FPS, which is a very high number. However, this is also where the CPU's limit becomes apparent. Given the game's 2D nature, the physics and logic are likely single-threaded, meaning the i7-12700K's strong single-core performance (Cinebench R20 single-core score of 1726) is what allows it to push frame rates past 300 FPS. The boost clock of 5.00 GHz is critical here, as it provides the raw speed needed to process game logic at such high frame rates.

The data shows that the CPU is not a bottleneck at 4K, where the GPU is clearly the limiting factor. However, at 1080p, the CPU is the reason the frame rate does not go even higher. For example, at 1080p Medium, the average is 339 FPS, but at 1440p Medium, it is 253 FPS. This 25% drop is roughly proportional to the pixel increase, but the gap between 1080p Low (367 FPS) and 1080p Medium (339 FPS) is only 8%, indicating that the CPU is holding the frame rate back as the GPU load increases. The processor's 3DMark 2-thread score of 2065 and 4-thread score of 4011 suggest that it has ample headroom for the game's threading model, but the frame rate ceiling at 1080p is ultimately set by the CPU's single-core speed, not its multi-core capability.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average frame rate achievable with this combo in Inside?

A: The highest measured average frame rate is 367 FPS, which occurs at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low settings preset.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the combo produces an average frame rate of 95 FPS, which is the lowest average recorded across all tested configurations.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the primary bottleneck at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the scaling from High (158 FPS) to Low (317 FPS) shows a 100% performance increase, indicating the GPU is the primary bottleneck as lowering settings has a massive impact on frame rate.

Q: What is the frame time consistency at 1080p Medium?

A: At 1920x1080 with Medium settings, the measured minimum FPS is 288 and the maximum is 389, resulting in an average of 339 FPS, showing a relatively stable frame rate with a 101 FPS range.

Q: Does the Ultra preset provide a significant performance difference compared to High?

A: The data shows a minimal difference. At 4K, High averages 99 FPS while Ultra averages 95 FPS, a difference of only 4 FPS, suggesting the Ultra preset adds little visual cost at this resolution.

Q: How much faster is Low settings compared to High at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, the Low preset achieves an average of 199 FPS, which is exactly double the 99 FPS average of the High preset, indicating a significant performance headroom from reducing graphical fidelity.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following table details the exact measured frame rates for the Intel Core i7-12700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 combination across all tested resolutions and settings.

| Resolution | Settings | Avg FPS | Min FPS | Max FPS |

|---|---|---|---|---|

| 3840x2160 | High | 99 | - | - |

| 3840x2160 | Low | 199 | - | - |

| 3840x2160 | Medium | 159 | 135 | 183 |

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 95 | - | - |

| 2560x1440 | High | 158 | - | - |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 317 | - | - |

| 2560x1440 | Medium | 253 | 215 | 291 |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 151 | - | - |

| 1920x1080 | High | 220 | - | - |

| 1920x1080 | Low | 367 | - | - |

| 1920x1080 | Medium | 339 | 288 | 389 |

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 210 | - | - |

At 1080p, the Ultra preset averages 210 FPS, which is slightly lower than High's 220 FPS, showing a 10 FPS penalty for the highest settings. The Medium preset at 1080p is the most consistent, with a min-max range of 101 FPS (288 to 389). At 1440p, the gap between Low (317 FPS) and Ultra (151 FPS) is substantial, at 166 FPS, showing the GPU's workload scales heavily with settings at this resolution. The 4K results show a clear hierarchy: Low (199 FPS) > Medium (159 FPS) > High (99 FPS) > Ultra (95 FPS), with the jump from Medium to High being the most significant drop of 60 FPS, which is a 38% reduction. This suggests that the High preset introduces a rendering feature that is disproportionately expensive at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i7-12700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 combo ranks 827th out of 3716 tested combinations for Inside. This places it in the top 22% of all tested systems, indicating that it is a high-performing configuration for this specific title. The combo's percentile ranking for the CPU is 84th, and for the GPU it is 68th, which means the processor is relatively stronger than the graphics card when compared against other components in the database. This ranking suggests that while the RTX 3080 is a capable card, it is the CPU's strong performance that helps this combo achieve its position.

The high ranking is likely due to the game's low graphical requirements, which allows the i7-12700K's powerful single-core performance to shine. The ranking of 827 out of 3716 means that 2889 other combos perform worse, while 826 perform better. This is a strong result, particularly for a game released in 2016, as it confirms that this modern hardware is more than sufficient to run the game at maximum settings with high frame rates. The data shows that the combo is not bottlenecked by either component at standard resolutions, but rather that the GPU becomes the limiting factor only at 4K with the highest presets.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend on the target resolution and desired frame rate. For players with a 60 Hz or 144 Hz display, the Ultra preset is viable at all resolutions, as it maintains an average of 210 FPS at 1080p, 151 FPS at 1440p, and 95 FPS at 4K. However, the data shows that the High preset offers a better frame rate-to-visual quality ratio, with only a 10 FPS difference at 1080p (220 vs 210 FPS) but a 4 FPS difference at 4K (99 vs 95 FPS), making High the more efficient choice.

For competitive play or high refresh rate monitors (240 Hz or higher), the Medium preset is recommended. At 1080p, it delivers 339 FPS, which is sufficient to drive most high-refresh displays, and it has the most stable frame times (min 288, max 389) of any preset at that resolution. At 1440p, Medium still provides 253 FPS, which is excellent for a 240 Hz panel. The Low preset is only recommended for extreme frame rate chasing, as it reaches 367 FPS at 1080p and 317 FPS at 1440p, but the visual fidelity reduction is significant given the game's artistic style.

The data suggests that the Medium preset is the sweet spot for this combo, as it offers a balanced load between CPU and GPU, resulting in the most consistent frame pacing. The Ultra preset, while playable, offers diminishing returns over High, and the performance drop from Medium to High at 4K (159 to 99 FPS) is too steep to justify the visual upgrade. Therefore, for the best experience, use Medium for high refresh rate displays and High for standard 60-144 Hz displays.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 is an Ampere architecture GPU based on the GA102 chip, manufactured on Samsung's 8 nm process. It features 8704 shading units, 272 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output units, with a boost clock of 1710 MHz. The card has 10 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 320-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 760.3 GB/s. Its compute capabilities are substantial, with an FP32 performance of 29.77 TFLOPS and a pixel rate of 164.2 GPixel/s. The GPU's benchmark scores include a PassMark G3D score of 25086 and a Geekbench OpenCL score of 152423, placing it in the 68th percentile among all GPUs.

In Inside, the GPU's role is to handle the rendering of the game's visual effects, including lighting, shadows, and post-processing. The measured data shows that the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck at 4K resolution, where the pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth are crucial. The 10 GB VRAM is more than sufficient for this game, as it does not require large texture sets. The RTX 3080's performance scaling from 1080p to 4K at High settings (220 to 99 FPS) shows that the GPU's workload is heavily dependent on resolution, which is typical for a 2D game with complex shaders.

The GPU's nearest rivals in average benchmark score include the NVIDIA P106-100 and AMD Radeon RX 6600M, with deltas of -0.3% and -0.4%, respectively. This indicates that the RTX 3080's raw compute power is consistent with its class, but its specific advantage in Inside comes from its high memory bandwidth (760.3 GB/s) and pixel rate, which allow it to maintain high frame rates even at 4K. The data shows that the GPU is not a limiting factor at 1080p or 1440p, where the CPU can push frame rates above 300 FPS, but it is the sole limiter at 4K, where the average frame rate drops below 100 FPS on the High and Ultra presets.