Inside

Inside is a 2016 puzzle platformer that, on paper, should not challenge a modern flagship desktop configuration. The measured data for the Intel Core i7-12700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D confirms that expectation, but the specific frame rate curves reveal a nuanced story about where the bottleneck lies at different resolutions and presets. This analysis examines the measured FPS rows to determine how the game scales, what settings are optimal, and the respective roles of the CPU and GPU in this specific combo.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate data shows a clear and expected pattern of degradation as resolution increases, but the magnitude of the drop is heavily influenced by the graphics preset. At the Low preset, the average FPS declines from 367 at 1920x1080 to 329 at 2560x1440, a reduction of roughly 10%. Moving to 3840x2160, the average drops further to 281, which is another 15% decline from the 1440p figure. This relatively modest scaling across resolutions indicates that at Low settings, the system is not purely GPU-bound; the CPU is capable of maintaining high throughput, and the GPU has enough headroom to handle the increased pixel count without a catastrophic frame rate collapse.

The Medium preset tells a similar story but with slightly steeper drops. The average FPS at 1080p is 339, which falls to 303 at 1440p (an 11% reduction) and then to 256 at 4K (a 16% reduction from 1440p). The measured minimum FPS at Medium settings also shows the scaling: 288 at 1080p, 258 at 1440p, and 218 at 4K. This consistent decline suggests that while the GPU is becoming more of a limiting factor, the game's engine and the CPU's single-thread performance are still keeping the frame rate relatively high even at 4K.

The High preset reveals a more significant performance cliff between 1440p and 4K. At 1080p, the average is 282 FPS; at 1440p, it is 253 FPS (a 10% drop). However, moving from 1440p to 4K results in an average of 160 FPS, a massive 37% reduction. This indicates that at High settings, the 4K resolution is finally pushing the GPU to its limits, and the rendering load becomes the dominant constraint. The gap between the Low preset (281 FPS) and High preset (160 FPS) at 4K is substantial, showing that the GPU's workload scales significantly with the visual fidelity.

The Ultra preset exhibits the most severe scaling. The average FPS is 277 at 1080p, 243 at 1440p, and 153 at 4K. The drop from 1440p to 4K is again around 37%, similar to the High preset. Interestingly, the difference between High and Ultra at 4K is only 7 FPS (160 vs. 153), while at 1080p, the difference is just 5 FPS (282 vs. 277). This suggests that the Ultra preset's additional visual effects have a diminishing impact on performance at lower resolutions, but at 4K, the GPU is so heavily loaded that the extra settings cost nearly the same absolute frame rate.

The data strongly suggests that the limiting component shifts depending on the scenario. At 1080p and 1440p, particularly with Low or Medium presets, the Intel Core i7-12700K is likely the primary limiter, preventing the RTX 5090 D from achieving even higher frame rates. The fact that the 1080p Low average is 367 FPS, while the 4K Low average is 281 FPS, shows that even a demanding GPU like the RTX 5090 D can be held back by the CPU at lower resolutions. Conversely, at 4K with High or Ultra presets, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck, as evidenced by the significant frame rate drop.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the optimal preset depends heavily on the target resolution and refresh rate. For users with a 1080p or 1440p display, the Ultra preset is the clear choice for the best experience. At 1080p, it delivers an average of 277 FPS, which is only 5 FPS lower than High and 62 FPS lower than Low, but it provides the maximum visual quality. At 1440p, Ultra still manages 243 FPS, which is excellent for high-refresh-rate monitors. The performance cost of Ultra over High is minimal at these resolutions, making it the best value in terms of visual fidelity per frame.

For 4K users, the recommendation is more nuanced. The High preset at 4K yields an average of 160 FPS, which is a solid result. The Ultra preset at 4K drops to 153 FPS, a negligible 7 FPS difference. Given this tiny margin, the Ultra preset is still recommended for 4K owners who want the absolute best image quality, as the performance penalty is almost imperceptible. However, the Medium preset at 4K offers a significant jump to 256 FPS, which is a 60% improvement over High. If a user prioritizes extremely high frame rates (e.g., for a 240Hz 4K display) over maximum graphical detail, Medium is the sweet spot.

The Low preset is not recommended for any resolution unless the user is targeting the absolute maximum frame rate possible. At 1080p, it achieves 367 FPS, but the visual downgrade is likely too severe for a game like Inside, which relies on atmospheric lighting and shadows. The data shows that the step from Low to Medium is significant (367 to 339 at 1080p, a 28 FPS difference), but the visual improvement is typically worth it. The Medium preset also provides the only measured minimum FPS data, with values of 288, 258, and 218 at 1080p, 1440p, and 4K respectively. These minimums are all well above 60 FPS, indicating that Medium offers a stable experience.

The best "experience per the measured rows" is a balance between frame rate and visual fidelity. For most users, the Ultra preset is the best choice at all resolutions due to its high average FPS (277 at 1080p, 243 at 1440p, 153 at 4K) and minimal cost over High. For 4K users with very high refresh rate displays, Medium is a superior choice, offering 256 FPS on average, which is 96 FPS more than Ultra. The data does not support using Low, as the frame rate gains are marginal (e.g., 367 vs. 339 at 1080p) compared to the likely visual compromise.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate recorded for this combo?

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

Q: How much slower is the Ultra preset compared to Low at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 281 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 153 FPS. This represents a performance reduction of 128 FPS, or approximately 46%.

Q: Does the RTX 5090 D show a significant frame rate drop between 1440p and 4K?

A: The drop is significant at higher presets. With High settings, the average falls from 253 FPS at 2560x1440 to 160 FPS at 3840x2160, a 37% decrease. At Low settings, the drop is from 329 FPS to 281 FPS, which is a smaller 15% decrease.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded in the data?

A: The lowest minimum FPS recorded is 218 FPS, which occurs at 3840x2160 resolution with the Medium settings preset.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the main bottleneck at 1080p with Low settings?

A: Given that the average FPS is 367 at 1080p Low, which is extremely high, it is likely that the Intel Core i7-12700K is the limiting factor. The GPU has enough headroom to render frames faster, but the CPU cannot issue draw calls quickly enough to push the frame rate higher.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the High preset averages 253 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 243 FPS. The difference is only 10 FPS, making Ultra a highly recommended choice for its minimal performance cost.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured data provides a complete matrix of resolution and settings combinations. All figures are average FPS unless otherwise specified.

At 1920x1080, the performance is consistently high across all presets. The Low preset leads with an average of 367 FPS. The Medium preset follows with 339 FPS, and its measured minimum and maximum are 288 and 389 FPS respectively. The High preset averages 282 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 277 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra is 90 FPS, but all presets deliver over 275 FPS, making this resolution entirely CPU-bound.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain very strong. The Low preset averages 329 FPS, while the Medium preset averages 303 FPS, with a minimum of 258 FPS and a maximum of 349 FPS. The High preset averages 253 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 243 FPS. The performance difference between Low and Ultra is 86 FPS, which is similar to the 1080p spread. The data shows that even at 1440p, the CPU still plays a significant role in limiting performance, as the GPU is not yet fully saturated.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates reveal a clear GPU bottleneck, especially at higher presets. The Low preset averages 281 FPS, which is still very high. The Medium preset averages 256 FPS, with a minimum of 218 FPS and a maximum of 295 FPS. The High preset drops to 160 FPS, a substantial decrease from the Medium preset. The Ultra preset averages 153 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 128 FPS, which is significantly larger than the spread at lower resolutions, confirming that the GPU is now the primary limiting component.

The data shows a consistent pattern: the Medium preset is the only one with recorded minimum and maximum FPS values, suggesting it may have been the focus of more detailed testing. The minimum FPS values (288 at 1080p, 258 at 1440p, 218 at 4K) all indicate that the game remains playable with no stutters, even under load. The maximum FPS values (389 at 1080p, 349 at 1440p, 295 at 4K) show the upper bounds of performance, which are all above 290 FPS.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is a flagship GPU with 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s. Its boost clock is rated at 2407 MHz. In the context of Inside, a game from 2016, this GPU is massively over-provisioned. The measured FPS data shows that the GPU can handle the game's rendering demands with ease at lower resolutions.

The GPU's role becomes more apparent at 4K resolution. The significant drop in average FPS from Medium (256) to High (160) at 3840x2160 indicates that the GPU's shading units and texture units are being pushed harder by the increased visual fidelity. The RTX 5090 D has 21,760 shading units and 680 texture mapping units, which are more than sufficient for this game, but the pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s is what likely limits the 4K performance with higher presets. The pixel fill rate is a key factor in 4K rendering, and the data suggests that the GPU is hitting its limits with Ultra settings, averaging 153 FPS.

The 32 GB of VRAM is far beyond what Inside requires. The game's textures and geometry are not demanding by modern standards, so the GPU's memory capacity plays no practical role in limiting performance. The memory bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s is also excessive for this title, ensuring that texture streaming is never a bottleneck. The GPU's compute capabilities, as measured by its 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 performance, are also irrelevant for this game, which does not utilize heavy compute shaders.

The GPU's benchmark scores place it in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 77,712. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT, has a score of 76,904, which is 1.1% lower. This indicates that the RTX 5090 D is a top-tier performer, but its raw power is not fully utilized in this game. The data shows that the GPU is the bottleneck only at 4K with High or Ultra presets, where the frame rate drops to around 160 FPS. In all other scenarios, the CPU is the limiting factor.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700K is a 12-core, 20-thread processor with a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. Its architecture is Alder Lake, and it has a 25 MB shared L3 cache. In the context of Inside, which is a puzzle platformer, the game's engine is likely optimized for single-thread performance rather than multi-threaded scaling. The CPU's single-thread benchmark scores, such as 1,850.5 in Cinebench R23 and 2,308 in Geekbench, are strong, but the game's frame rate limits at lower resolutions point to the CPU's per-core performance being the limiting factor.

The measured FPS data shows that at 1080p and 1440p, the frame rates are extremely high, often exceeding 250 FPS. However, the fact that the 1080p Low preset (367 FPS) is not significantly higher than the 1440p Low preset (329 FPS) suggests that the CPU is hitting a performance ceiling. The game's draw calls and game logic are likely serialized on a few threads, and the i7-12700K's single-thread speed of 5.00 GHz is the primary driver. The 3DMark single-thread score of 1,043 and the Passmark single-thread score of 4,013 confirm that the CPU has strong single-core performance, but it is not unlimited.

The CPU's multi-core capabilities, while impressive (e.g., 19,784 in Cinebench R23 multi-core), are not fully utilized by Inside. The game is not multi-threaded in a way that would benefit from the 12 cores and 20 threads. The nearest CPU rivals, such as the Intel Core i5-13600T and the Intel Core i7-12700KF, have average benchmark scores that are within 0.4% of the i7-12700K, indicating that the CPU's performance is typical for its class. The CPU's percentile rank of 84th among all CPUs shows it is a high-end part, but its role in this game is to provide a high single-thread frame rate ceiling, which it does admirably.

The CPU's cache hierarchy, with 80 KB of L1 and 1.25 MB of L2 per core, is sufficient for the game's data. The CPU is not a bottleneck at 4K with High or Ultra presets, as the GPU is clearly the limiting factor there. However, at 1080p and 1440p, the CPU's frame rate limit is the reason why the RTX 5090 D does not push beyond 367 FPS. The data indicates that the CPU's clock speed is the most critical factor for this game, and the i7-12700K's boost clock of 5.00 GHz is what enables the high frame rates seen across all presets.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i7-12700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D combination ranks 91st out of 2,887 tested combos in Inside. This rank of 91 places it in the top 3.2% of all configurations, which is an excellent result. The high rank is a direct consequence of the exceptional performance of both components, but it is particularly notable because the game is older and not designed to utilize the full power of the RTX 5090 D.

The rank suggests that there are 90 other combos that perform better in this game. Given that the RTX 5090 D is one of the fastest GPUs available, the combos that rank higher likely feature even faster CPUs, possibly with higher single-thread clock speeds. The CPU's role in limiting performance at lower resolutions means that a CPU with a higher boost clock could push the frame rate higher, thereby improving the combo's rank. For example, a CPU like the Intel Core i7-13700T, which has a similar average benchmark score (35,403 vs. 35,287) but potentially different clock behavior, might perform slightly better in this specific game.

The combo's rank of 91 confirms the i7-12700K's strong single-thread performance, as the GPU is not the limiting factor in most scenarios. The data shows that the combo is capable of delivering over 150 FPS at 4K Ultra and over 240 FPS at 1440p Ultra, which are outstanding results for any game. The rank also highlights that for a game like Inside, the CPU choice is more important than the GPU choice for achieving the highest possible frame rates. The fact that this combo is in the top 100 out of nearly 3,000 combinations underscores its high-end status, even though the game is not particularly demanding. The measured data is definitive: this is a top-tier configuration for Inside, capable of maxing out any display's refresh rate at any resolution.