Inside

Inside is a 2016 puzzle platformer that, on this particular CPU/GPU pairing, turns out to be remarkably scalable, offering playable frame rates even at 4K while also capable of extreme refresh rates at 1080p. The benchmark data for the Intel Core i7-12700KF and AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT combination reveals a system that can be tuned for almost any display, but the optimal experience depends heavily on whether you prioritize visual fidelity or raw motion clarity.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows show a clear hierarchy of performance across the four quality presets, with the sweet spot for most users being the Medium preset. At 2560x1440, Medium delivers an average of 158 FPS, which is a massive jump from the 99 FPS at High and a 68% improvement over the 94 FPS at Ultra. The Medium preset also provides the only complete data set with a minimum frame rate of 134 FPS and a maximum of 182 FPS, indicating a stable frame pacing that is ideal for a game where precise platforming timing matters. While the Low preset pushes frame rates to 198 FPS at 1440p, the visual compromise is unnecessary given that Medium already exceeds the refresh rate of most high-end monitors.

For 3840x2160, the choice becomes more critical. At Ultra, the average drops to 59 FPS, which is technically playable but sits right on the edge of the 60 FPS standard. High at 4K is barely better at 62 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K, however, achieves a 99 FPS average with a minimum of 84 FPS, making it the only 4K setting that provides a comfortable margin above 60 FPS. This makes Medium the definitive recommendation for 4K displays, as it offers a 60% performance increase over High while still maintaining a level of detail that is sufficient for the game's atmospheric art style.

At 1920x1080, the story is about maximizing the hardware's potential. The Low preset hits 275 FPS, which is excellent for competitive play, but the Medium preset's 220 FPS average with a 187 FPS minimum is still far beyond what any standard 144Hz monitor can display. The High preset at 137 FPS is the minimum recommended for 1080p if you want to guarantee a smooth experience on a 120Hz or 144Hz panel, while Ultra at 131 FPS is nearly identical in performance. For 1080p, the data suggests that anything above Medium is a waste of GPU resources, as the differences between Medium, High, and Ultra are marginal compared to the massive frame rate headroom available.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT, with its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus providing 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, is the primary driver of performance differences between presets. The GPU's boost clock of 1905 MHz and game clock of 1755 MHz are the key factors in how it handles the increasing render loads of higher quality settings. The benchmark data shows a consistent pattern: moving from Low to Medium to High to Ultra produces a predictable step-down in average FPS, which is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario where the graphics card is the limiting factor.

The 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for this game at all tested settings and resolutions, as there is no evidence of memory-related stuttering or severe frame time spikes in the data. The minimum frame rates recorded for the Medium preset (84 FPS at 4K, 134 FPS at 1440p, and 187 FPS at 1080p) suggest that the GPU is handling memory allocation efficiently without hitting a capacity wall. The texture-to-frame-rate ratio indicates that the RX 5700 XT's memory subsystem is well-matched to the game's demands, even at 4K where higher resolution textures typically stress VRAM more heavily.

The GPU's raw compute capabilities, with a FP32 performance of 9.754 TFLOPS and a pixel rate of 121.9 GPixel/s, are more than adequate for a 2D side-scrolling puzzle platformer. The game does not utilize ray tracing or advanced DX12 features that would tax the RDNA 1.0 architecture's newer capabilities. Instead, the performance scaling is purely a function of the GPU's fill rate and shader throughput, which explains why the RX 5700 XT can achieve such high frame rates at lower resolutions. The 64 ROPs are particularly important for a game that relies heavily on pixel fill, and the data shows they are not a bottleneck at any tested setting.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate data reveals a very clear picture of how the system scales across resolutions, indicating a strong GPU dependency. At the Low preset, the average FPS drops from 275 at 1080p to 198 at 1440p (a 28% reduction) and then to 124 at 4K (a 55% reduction from 1080p). This scaling is less steep than what would be expected from a purely GPU-bound workload, suggesting that at Low settings, the CPU is starting to share some of the load, particularly at 1080p where the 275 FPS figure approaches the limits of what the Intel Core i7-12700KF can feed.

The Medium preset shows a more traditional GPU scaling pattern. From 220 FPS at 1080p to 158 FPS at 1440p (a 28% drop) and then to 99 FPS at 4K (a 55% drop from 1080p). The High preset follows a similar trajectory: 137 FPS at 1080p, 99 FPS at 1440p (a 28% drop), and 62 FPS at 4K (a 55% drop). The consistency of these percentage drops across Medium, High, and Ultra settings confirms that the GPU is the primary limiting factor at these quality levels.

However, the Ultra preset tells a slightly different story. The drop from 1080p (131 FPS) to 1440p (94 FPS) is 28%, matching the other presets, but the drop to 4K (59 FPS) is only 55%, which is nearly identical to the other presets. This uniformity in scaling percentages across all presets is a strong indicator that the RX 5700 XT is being utilized to its full potential at every resolution, with no single component creating a disproportionate bottleneck. The 4K results for High (62 FPS) and Ultra (59 FPS) are remarkably close, suggesting that the GPU is nearing its absolute limit at this resolution, where the pixel fill rate and shader throughput are saturated.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system demonstrates extreme performance capabilities. The Low preset achieves an average of 275 FPS, which is the highest measured result in the entire data set. Medium follows at 220 FPS with a minimum of 187 FPS and a maximum of 253 FPS. High drops to 137 FPS, while Ultra is nearly identical at 131 FPS. The proximity of High to Ultra at 1080p indicates that the visual differences between these two presets have diminishing returns on frame rate, making High the better choice if you want to reduce GPU load without sacrificing noticeable quality.

At 2560x1440, the performance remains exceptionally high. Low produces 198 FPS, Medium delivers 158 FPS with a minimum of 134 FPS and a maximum of 182 FPS. High settles at 99 FPS, and Ultra is at 94 FPS. The 1440p Medium result is particularly noteworthy because it offers a frame rate that is 60% higher than High while maintaining a minimum FPS that is still above the refresh rate of most 144Hz monitors. This resolution appears to be the sweet spot for this hardware, balancing visual detail with the ability to push high refresh rates.

At 3840x2160, the system transitions from high refresh rate territory to standard 60 FPS gaming. Low achieves 124 FPS, which is still very playable. Medium is the standout at 99 FPS with a minimum of 84 FPS and a maximum of 114 FPS, making it the only 4K preset that guarantees a smooth experience on a 60Hz display without any dips below 60. High drops to 62 FPS, which is right at the threshold. Ultra falls to 59 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS standard and would result in occasional dropped frames on a standard 60Hz monitor. For 4K, the data strongly suggests that Medium is the maximum usable setting, and anything above that is not worth the performance cost.

FAQ

Q: Is this system capable of 4K gaming in Inside?

A: Yes, but only at Medium settings. The benchmark data shows a 99 FPS average at 3840x2160 on Medium, with a minimum of 84 FPS. High and Ultra settings at 4K produce 62 FPS and 59 FPS respectively, which are too close to the 60 FPS threshold for consistent smoothness.

Q: What is the best preset for a 144Hz monitor?

A: At 2560x1440, the Medium preset is the best choice, delivering 158 FPS average with a 134 FPS minimum. At 1920x1080, even the High preset at 137 FPS exceeds 144Hz. The Low preset at 1440p (198 FPS) is unnecessary for 144Hz displays.

Q: How much of a performance difference is there between High and Ultra settings?

A: The difference is minimal. At 1080p, High averages 137 FPS while Ultra averages 131 FPS. At 1440p, High is 99 FPS and Ultra is 94 FPS. At 4K, High is 62 FPS and Ultra is 59 FPS. The gap is consistently around 4-6%, making Ultra a poor trade-off for the negligible visual gains.

Q: Does this system suffer from frame rate drops below 60 FPS?

A: The only preset that dips below 60 FPS is Ultra at 4K, which averages 59 FPS. All other settings and resolutions maintain averages above 60 FPS, with the minimum recorded frame rate being 84 FPS at 4K Medium.

Q: Is the 8 GB VRAM on the RX 5700 XT sufficient for this game?

A: Yes. The minimum frame rates recorded, particularly the 84 FPS minimum at 4K Medium, indicate that there are no memory-related stutters or capacity issues. The game does not appear to be VRAM-limited at any tested setting.

Q: How does this system compare to other hardware in terms of raw benchmark scores?

A: The CPU's average benchmark score of 35365 places it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs, with the nearest rival being the Intel Core i7-13700T at 35403 (a 0.1% difference). The GPU's average score of 16361 places it in the 59th percentile, with the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M being the closest rival at 16351.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700KF 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 exceptional, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 28838 and a single-core score of 4071, placing it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs. The nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-13700T, scores 35403 in average benchmark score, which is only 0.1% higher, indicating that the i7-12700KF is effectively performance-equivalent to a much newer chip.

In the context of Inside, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with enough frames to sustain the high frame rates observed at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the 275 FPS average suggests the CPU is capable of generating frames faster than the GPU can render them, but the CPU's 12 cores and 20 threads are more than sufficient for this workload. The single-thread performance, as evidenced by the 3DMark single-thread score of 1043 and Geekbench single-core score of 2255, is critical for a game that likely has a primary simulation thread.

The CPU's performance is not a bottleneck in this pairing. The fact that frame rates scale so consistently with GPU settings, and that the percentage drops from 1080p to 4K are uniform across presets, proves that the i7-12700KF is never holding back the RX 5700 XT. Even at 1080p Low, where the CPU could theoretically become the limiting factor, the 275 FPS result is far above what most displays can show. The processor's 25 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB per-core L2 cache provide ample low-latency memory access for game logic, while the support for DDR4 and DDR5 memory ensures the system has sufficient bandwidth to avoid any data starvation.

The CPU's 3DMark scores across different thread counts (2065 at 2 threads, 4011 at 4 threads, 7211 at 8 threads, and 9983 at max threads) show that performance scales well with thread utilization, but Inside is unlikely to use more than a few threads. The 20-thread capability is overkill for this game, but it ensures that background tasks and system overhead never interfere with game performance. In summary, the i7-12700KF provides a rock-solid foundation for the RX 5700 XT, allowing the GPU to be the sole determinant of frame rate across all resolutions and settings.