Inside

The Intel Core i7-12700K is a 12-core, 20-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, featuring 25 MB of shared L3 cache. For a puzzle platformer like Inside, this level of multi-threading is far beyond what the game engine requires. The game's measured frame rates, which reach as high as 368.9 FPS at 1080p Low, suggest that the CPU is not a limiting factor. The data shows that even at lower resolutions where CPU overhead is more prominent, the processor's single-thread performance—evidenced by a 3DMark single-thread score of 1043 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4128—ensures that the game remains fluid. The processor's performance percentile of 89 versus all CPUs indicates it sits comfortably in the upper tier of available hardware, meaning the 12th-gen chip has ample headroom for this title's modest demands.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The i7-12700K's hybrid architecture combines performance and efficiency cores, though the specific core layout is not detailed here. What matters for Inside is that the game is not heavily threaded. The benchmark data shows that the CPU's multi-core might is largely untapped; the 3DMark 16-thread score of 9276 and max-thread score of 9979 are impressive for productivity tasks, but they do not translate into proportional gains in this game. Instead, the processor's boost clock of 5.00 GHz is the relevant specification. At 1080p with Low settings, the average FPS is 368.9, which is a clear indicator that the CPU can feed frames to the GPU faster than the GPU can render them at that resolution. The Cinebench R20 single-core score of 1733 further reinforces that the chip's per-core strength is sufficient to avoid bottlenecks. When compared to its nearest rivals, the i7-12700K posts an average benchmark score of 35684, which is 0.3% lower than the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 and 0.6% higher than the Intel Core i7-13700T. These negligible deltas confirm that the CPU's performance tier is stable, but the game's results are dictated more by the graphics card than by these small CPU differences.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB is the dominant component in this pairing. Its AD106 chip on the 5 nm process includes 4352 shading units and 136 tensor cores, with a boost clock of 2535 MHz. The 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s. For Inside, which is visually simple by modern standards, the GPU's raw throughput is more than adequate. The measured FPS scaling across settings shows that the GPU is the primary driver of performance. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 80.8, while at 4K Low it jumps to 177.1—a massive swing that is purely GPU-bound. The RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB sits at the 17th percentile versus all GPUs, which might seem low, but within the context of this game, the scores are high. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB, scores 0.2% higher in the 3DMark Steel Nomad test, while the GeForce GT 555M matches the 8 GB model's score of 2913 exactly. This indicates that the 8 GB VRAM capacity is not a constraint in Inside, as the game's textures are far below the 8 GB threshold. The GPU's FP32 performance of 22.06 TFLOPS and texture rate of 344.8 GTexel/s are more than sufficient to handle the game's lighting and particle effects without issue.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The resolution scaling data reveals a classic GPU-bound scenario. Moving from 1080p to 4K at High settings, the average FPS falls from 193.6 to 88, a reduction of 105.6 FPS or roughly 54.5%. This steep decline is consistent with a GPU that is being pushed harder as pixel count increases. At Low settings, the drop is even more pronounced in absolute terms: from 368.9 FPS at 1080p to 177.1 FPS at 4K, a decrease of 191.8 FPS. This suggests that at 1080p Low, the GPU is not the bottleneck—the frame rate is so high that the CPU or game engine's frame pacing might be the ceiling. However, at 4K, the GPU's workload becomes the limiting factor, as evidenced by the 4K Ultra score of 80.8 FPS, which is less than half of the 1080p Ultra score of 185.5 FPS. The 1440p results sit in between, with High settings producing 138.7 FPS and Ultra producing 129.6 FPS. The pattern is clear: the RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB scales predictably with resolution, and the i7-12700K's role becomes less important as resolution increases. At 4K, the GPU is doing the heavy lifting, and the CPU's 12 cores are largely idle, waiting for the next frame to be submitted.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Based on the measured FPS rows, the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience for this combination. At 1080p Medium, the average FPS is 307.8, which is only 16.6% lower than the Low preset's 368.9 FPS but provides a meaningful visual upgrade over Low. At 1440p Medium, the average FPS is 219.7, which is still well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, and it offers a 41.1% improvement over the High preset's 138.7 FPS at the same resolution. At 4K Medium, the average FPS is 138.8, which is 36.5% higher than the High preset's 88 FPS and 58.2% higher than the Ultra preset's 80.8 FPS. The Ultra preset, while visually richer, brings the 4K average down to 80.8 FPS, which is playable but leaves less headroom for demanding scenes. The Low preset, while delivering the highest frame rates, sacrifices too much visual fidelity for a game that is atmospheric and relies on lighting and shadow. Therefore, Medium is the recommended preset, as it maintains high frame rates across all resolutions while preserving the game's intended art style. The data shows that the jump from Medium to High costs more performance than the visual gain justifies, particularly at 4K where the drop is from 138.8 to 88 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

This specific combination of the Intel Core i7-12700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB ranks 594th out of 1671 tested combos in Inside. This places it in the 64.5th percentile of all tested systems, meaning it outperforms a majority of the combinations in the database but is not in the top tier. The rank is likely influenced by the GPU's 17th percentile standing among all GPUs, which drags the combo down despite the CPU's stronger 89th percentile ranking. The combo's average FPS across all settings and resolutions is not explicitly listed, but the measured rows show a wide range from 80.8 FPS at 4K Ultra to 368.9 FPS at 1080p Low, indicating that the system is versatile. The rank of 594 suggests that many other combos, likely those with higher-end GPUs, achieve higher frame rates in this game. However, given that Inside is a puzzle platformer, the 80.8 FPS minimum at 4K Ultra is still well above the playable threshold, so the rank reflects raw performance rather than playability. The combo's position in the middle of the pack is consistent with the RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB being an entry-level 40-series card, while the CPU provides a strong foundation that prevents it from falling further down the list.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of performance. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 368.9 FPS, which is the highest score in the entire dataset. The Medium preset follows at 307.8 FPS, then High at 193.6 FPS, and Ultra at 185.5 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 61.1 FPS, while the gap between High and Ultra is only 8.1 FPS, indicating diminishing returns at the upper end of the settings scale. At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 277.3 FPS, Medium drops to 219.7 FPS, High to 138.7 FPS, and Ultra to 129.6 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p at Low is 91.6 FPS, which is a 24.8% reduction. At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 177.1 FPS, Medium averages 138.8 FPS, High averages 88 FPS, and Ultra averages 80.8 FPS. The 4K results show a stark contrast between Low and Ultra, with a difference of 96.3 FPS. The data also reveals that the scaling from 1440p to 4K is more severe than from 1080p to 1440p. For example, at High settings, the 1440p to 4K drop is 50.7 FPS (from 138.7 to 88), whereas the 1080p to 1440p drop is 54.9 FPS (from 193.6 to 138.7). This suggests that the GPU's fill rate is being challenged more at 4K, which is expected given the 8 GB memory and 128-bit bus. Overall, the RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB provides playable frame rates at all settings, but the Ultra preset at 4K is the only configuration that dips below 100 FPS, making it the most demanding scenario in the dataset.