Inside

The Intel Core i7-12700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER combination delivers overwhelming performance in Inside, a 2016 Puzzle Platformer, with measured frame rates that far exceed display refresh rates at every tested configuration. The benchmark data shows this pairing is severely overqualified for the title, with even the most demanding 4K Ultra preset producing an average of 123.9 FPS. This combo ranks 86th out of 1671 tested combinations, placing it in the top 5.1% of all systems, though the game's modest visual demands mean the ranking reflects raw hardware capability rather than a meaningful gameplay advantage in this specific title.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K reveals that the RTX 4080 SUPER remains the dominant performance factor throughout, but the scaling pattern indicates a shift from CPU-bound territory at lower resolutions to GPU-bound operation at 4K. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 367.7 FPS at 1920x1080 to 266.1 FPS at 3840x2160, a 27.6% reduction. This relatively modest decline suggests that at 1080p Low, the Core i7-12700K's 12 cores and 20 threads are partially limiting the GPU, as the RTX 4080 SUPER could theoretically push even higher frame rates if the CPU could feed it faster.

The scaling becomes more pronounced at higher settings. Moving from 1080p to 4K at Ultra settings, the average drops from 277.1 FPS to 123.9 FPS, a 55.3% reduction. This steeper decline at Ultra settings indicates that the increased pixel count and shading complexity are now taxing the GPU's 10240 shading units and 112 ROPs more heavily. At High settings, the same resolution transition shows a 52.5% drop from 280.5 FPS to 133.2 FPS, confirming that the RTX 4080 SUPER's 16 GB of GDDR6X memory and 736.3 GB/s bandwidth are being utilized progressively more as resolution increases.

The data shows that at 1080p and 1440p, the system is largely CPU-limited in Inside, particularly at Low and Medium presets where frame rates exceed 300 FPS. At 4K, the GPU becomes the primary constraint, but even then, the 123.9 FPS minimum at Ultra is far above the 60 FPS standard. This combination of a high-core-count Alder Lake CPU and a top-tier Ada Lovelace GPU means that Inside never approaches a playability threshold—the limiting component shifts only in terms of which part has more headroom remaining.

Settings Recommendations

For the best experience in Inside, the Ultra preset at 1920x1080 provides the optimal balance of visual fidelity and performance, delivering 277.1 FPS average. This is only 24.6% lower than the Low preset's 367.7 FPS, yet it offers the maximum visual quality the game can display. At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset still achieves 202.3 FPS, making it the recommended choice for high-refresh-rate monitors up to 200 Hz. The High preset at 1440p produces 207.8 FPS, which is statistically near-identical to Ultra and could be preferred if the user wants to reduce GPU load slightly.

At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset's 123.9 FPS average is still comfortably above 120 FPS, making it viable for 120 Hz 4K displays. However, the High preset at 133.2 FPS offers a 7.5% improvement while likely providing visually indistinguishable differences in a game with Inside's minimalist art style. The Medium preset at 4K delivers 208.5 FPS, which is excessive for any current display and suggests that users with 144 Hz 4K monitors should still choose High or Ultra. The Low preset, while producing 266.1 FPS at 4K, sacrifices too much visual quality for a frame rate advantage that no display can show—the data indicates the Ultra preset is the clear recommendation across all resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER's specifications explain its dominance in Inside. With 10240 shading units, 320 texture mapping units, and 112 ROPs, the GPU has enormous raw throughput that the game's simple geometry and lighting cannot fully stress. The 80 RT cores and 320 tensor cores are largely idle in this title, as Inside does not utilize ray tracing or DLSS. The GPU's boost clock of 2550 MHz and base clock of 2295 MHz provide the frequency headroom needed to maintain high frame rates even when pixel count increases.

The 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus delivers 736.3 GB/s bandwidth, which is more than sufficient for Inside's modest texture and buffer requirements. The measured data shows that the GPU is never the bottleneck at 1080p or 1440p—frame rates at Low settings (367.7 FPS and 330.7 FPS respectively) suggest the GPU could go higher if the CPU could keep up. At 4K Ultra, the GPU's pixel rate of 285.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 816.0 GTexel/s are finally being exercised, but the 123.9 FPS result still represents only a fraction of the GPU's theoretical capacity. The 45,900 million transistors on a 5 nm TSMC process provide the efficiency to sustain these frame rates without thermal throttling, though the 320 W TDP indicates significant power draw under load.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system produces 367.7 FPS on Low, 339 FPS on Medium, 280.5 FPS on High, and 277.1 FPS on Ultra. The gap between Low and Ultra is 24.6%, showing that even the highest settings only modestly reduce frame rates at this resolution. At 2560x1440, the results are 330.7 FPS (Low), 301.3 FPS (Medium), 207.8 FPS (High), and 202.3 FPS (Ultra). The 1440p Ultra figure is 27.0% lower than 1080p Ultra, reflecting the 78% increase in pixel count. At 3840x2160, the system delivers 266.1 FPS (Low), 208.5 FPS (Medium), 133.2 FPS (High), and 123.9 FPS (Ultra). The 4K Ultra result is 55.3% lower than 1080p Ultra, demonstrating the expected quadratic scaling of pixel workload.

The most significant performance cliff occurs between Medium and High at 1440p, where the average drops from 301.3 FPS to 207.8 FPS, a 31.0% reduction. This suggests the High preset introduces substantial additional shading or post-processing effects. At 4K, the same transition from Medium to High shows a 36.1% drop from 208.5 FPS to 133.2 FPS, confirming that High settings disproportionately tax the GPU at higher resolutions. The Low-to-Medium transitions are comparatively mild, with only 7.8% and 8.9% reductions at 1080p and 1440p respectively, but a 21.6% drop at 4K, indicating that medium-quality textures and lighting effects interact with resolution scaling.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i7-12700K and RTX 4080 SUPER combination ranks 86th out of 1671 tested systems in Inside, placing it in the 94.9th percentile. This ranking is primarily driven by the GPU's exceptional performance, as the RTX 4080 SUPER sits in the 88th percentile among all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 53610. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT, scores 53489 (0.2% lower), while the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M scores 53414 (0.4% lower). The RTX 4080 SUPER is 2.1% ahead of the RX 7700S and 2.9% ahead of the RTX 5070 Ti.

The CPU's contribution to this ranking is more modest. The Core i7-12700K ranks in the 89th percentile among all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 35684. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845, scores 35802 (0.3% higher), while the Intel Core i7-13700T scores 35468 (0.6% lower). The i5-14500HX scores 35940 (0.7% higher) and the i7-13800H scores 35416 (0.8% lower). These near-identical scores indicate that the 12700K is well-matched with its peers, but the combo's high ranking in Inside is attributable to the GPU's ability to maintain high frame rates even at 4K, where the CPU's 3.60 GHz base and 5.00 GHz boost clocks provide sufficient single-thread performance for the game's physics and logic.

FAQ

*Q: Can this system run Inside at 4K 120 FPS?*

A: Yes. The Ultra preset at 3840x2160 produces 123.9 FPS average, and the High preset produces 133.2 FPS, both exceeding 120 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1080p?

A: At 1080p Low, the system produces 367.7 FPS, which suggests the Core i7-12700K's 12 cores and 20 threads are the limiting factor, as the RTX 4080 SUPER could theoretically render faster.

Q: What is the best preset for 1440p gaming?

A: The Ultra preset at 2560x1440 delivers 202.3 FPS, making it suitable for 200 Hz monitors. The High preset at 207.8 FPS is statistically equivalent.

Q: How does the RTX 4080 SUPER compare to its nearest rival?

A: The RTX 4080 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 53610, which is 0.2% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT's 53489 and 0.4% higher than the Radeon Pro W6600M's 53414.

Q: Does the game benefit from the GPU's 16 GB VRAM?

A: The 16 GB of GDDR6X memory with 736.3 GB/s bandwidth exceeds Inside's requirements, as evidenced by the game's high frame rates even at 4K Ultra where memory bandwidth is most stressed.

Q: How does the Core i7-12700K perform relative to its rivals?

A: The 12700K's average benchmark score of 35684 is 0.3% lower than the Ryzen 7 PRO 5845's 35802 and 0.6% higher than the Core i7-13700T's 35468.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700K's 12 cores (8 performance and 4 efficiency) and 20 threads provide ample parallel processing capacity for Inside's puzzle logic and entity management. The 3.60 GHz base clock and 5.00 GHz boost clock deliver strong single-thread performance, which is critical for a game that relies on sequential physics calculations. The benchmark data shows the CPU's single-thread score of 1043 in 3DMark and 4128 in Cinebench R23, indicating sufficient IPC for the game's demands.

The CPU's 25 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB per-core L2 cache help maintain low latency for the game's frequently accessed data. The 125 W TDP and Intel Socket 1700 platform provide stable power delivery, while the DDR4 and DDR5 memory support mean the system can be configured with high-bandwidth RAM to further reduce any potential CPU bottleneck. The benchmark results show that at 1080p Low, the CPU limits the system to 367.7 FPS, but this is far above any display's refresh rate, making the CPU's role in Inside purely academic—it has more than enough headroom for the game's requirements. The 89th percentile CPU ranking and its near-identical scores to rivals (all within 0.8%) confirm that the 12700K is not the differentiator in this combo's 86th-place ranking; the GPU's overwhelming performance is the deciding factor.