Inside

The Intel Core i7-12700KF and AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT combination delivers exceptional performance in Inside, a title that is far more demanding on the GPU than the CPU. The processor, with its 12 cores (20 threads) based on the Alder Lake architecture, operates at a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. This configuration is massively overqualified for a puzzle platformer from 2016, as the game's logic and physics simply cannot utilize such a high thread count. The benchmark data supports this; at 1080p with Low settings, the combination achieves 364 FPS, a figure that is entirely constrained by the graphics card's ability to render frames, not the CPU's capacity to feed it data.

The CPU's benchmark scores are in the 85th percentile compared to all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 35365. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-13700T, scores 35403, a negligible delta of -0.1%. This places the i7-12700KF in a performance tier where it is essentially interchangeable with its closest competitors for this workload. In the context of Inside, the processor's role is to provide a massive headroom cushion. Even the most demanding scene in the game will not cause a bottleneck, meaning the FPS is dictated almost exclusively by the GPU and the chosen settings. The L3 cache of 25 MB (shared) is more than ample for the game's modest data footprint, ensuring that the CPU never stalls waiting for information from memory. In short, the CPU is a silent partner in this pairing, providing a stable platform that allows the GPU to perform at its absolute peak without any frame pacing issues.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides a clear hierarchy for optimizing the experience in Inside. The most balanced experience is achieved at Medium settings. At 1080p, Medium settings deliver an average of 336 FPS with a minimum of 286 FPS and a maximum of 387 FPS. This preset offers a significant jump from the High preset's 214 FPS, while maintaining a frame rate that far exceeds the refresh rate of any high-end monitor. The minimum FPS of 286 is particularly notable, as it indicates that even in the most complex scenes, there is never a perceptible stutter or drop below the threshold of smoothness.

For users with 1440p displays, the Medium preset again proves to be the sweet spot, delivering an average of 246 FPS with a minimum of 209 FPS. This is over 90 FPS faster than the High preset at the same resolution. While the Low preset at 1440p offers an even higher average of 307 FPS, the visual degradation in a game as atmospheric as Inside is not worth the performance gain, given that Medium already provides an overwhelmingly fluid experience. The step from Medium to High is the largest performance penalty, costing roughly 122 FPS at 1080p and 92 FPS at 1440p, suggesting that the High preset introduces graphical effects that are disproportionately expensive relative to their visual impact on this GPU.

At 4K, the Medium preset is also the recommended choice, producing an average of 154 FPS and a minimum of 131 FPS. This is the only 4K preset with a recorded min FPS, and the value is still high enough for a perfectly smooth experience. The Ultra preset, conversely, is the least efficient option. At 4K, Ultra yields a 92 FPS average, which is only 5 FPS higher than the High preset's 97 FPS but comes with a massive drop from Medium. The data strongly suggests that the Medium preset offers the best "experience per measured row" by providing a frame rate that is approximately 60% higher than High settings at 1080p and 1440p, while still retaining the visual fidelity necessary for the game's artistic design.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic GPU-bound scenario, but with some interesting nuances specific to this title. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 214 at 1080p to 154 at 1440p, a reduction of 28%. Moving from 1440p to 4K (3840x2160) brings the average down to 97 FPS, a further 37% reduction. This steep decline indicates that the rendering resolution is the primary factor limiting performance, and the GPU is working at its maximum capacity to fill those pixels.

However, the scaling is not perfectly linear, which suggests a slight CPU influence at the lowest resolutions. At Low settings, the FPS jumps from 307 at 1440p to 364 at 1080p, but the jump from 193 at 4K to 307 at 1440p is a massive 59% increase. This larger-than-expected jump at lower resolutions indicates that the CPU, while not a bottleneck in an absolute sense, is starting to approach the limits of its single-threaded performance for this specific game engine at extremely high frame rates. The 3dmark_single_thread score of 1043 and the 3dmark_2_threads score of 2065 show that while the CPU is very fast, it cannot scale infinitely to feed the GPU at 364 FPS without some frame time overhead.

The trend becomes even clearer when looking at the Medium preset. The FPS drops from 336 at 1080p to 246 at 1440p (a 27% drop), then to 154 at 4K (a 37% drop from 1440p). This pattern confirms that the limiting component is the GPU, as the pixel throughput demand increases exponentially with resolution. The GPU's 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus with 512.0 GB/s bandwidth provides ample headroom for the game's textures, even at 4K, so the bottleneck is purely in the shader and rasterization pipeline. In summary, the data shows a GPU-limited system where the CPU provides a solid foundation, but the GPU's rendering capabilities dictate the final FPS figures.

How This Combo Ranks

The Core i7-12700KF and RX 6800 XT combination holds the 912th position out of 3716 tested combos in this database for Inside. This places it in the top 25% of all systems tested, which is an impressive feat for a hardware pairing from different generations. The rank is primarily driven by the GPU's high percentile ranking (85th), as the CPU's performance is largely irrelevant in this title. The RX 6800 XT's average benchmark score of 48477 is competitive with its nearest rivals, such as the NVIDIA RTX A1000 Mobile (47743, a delta of 1.5%) and the Intel Arc A550M (49737, a delta of -2.5%).

The combo rank of 912 might initially seem modest for such high-end components, but it is important to contextualize this within the game's age. Inside was released in 2016, and the benchmark data shows that many combinations of newer, more powerful GPUs will inevitably rank higher. However, the absolute performance is staggering; the system achieves 364 FPS at 1080p Low, which is far beyond the playable threshold. The rank of 912 indicates that while there are many faster systems, this particular pairing is still in the top quartile, and for a game that requires no ray tracing or high-end physics, the performance is effectively overkill. The deltaPct values for the GPU show that it is within a 3% performance envelope of its nearest competitors, meaning that the rank could easily shift by a few dozen positions with driver updates or system configuration changes, but the overall tier of performance remains consistent.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT is the undisputed workhorse in this pairing for Inside. Based on the RDNA 2.0 architecture and built on a 7 nm TSMC process, this GPU features 4608 shading units, 288 TMUs, and 128 ROPs. Its performance is characterized by high clock speeds, with a base clock of 1825 MHz and a boost clock of 2250 MHz. These raw specifications are the primary drivers of the game's high frame rates, as Inside is a title that heavily utilizes pixel shading and fill rate. The GPU's pixel rate of 288.0 GPixel/s and texture rate of 648.0 GTexel/s are particularly relevant, as the game's monochromatic art style and lighting effects place a significant load on these specific units.

The 16 GB of GDDR6 memory is more than sufficient for the game, even at 4K Ultra settings. The memory bandwidth of 512.0 GB/s ensures that texture streaming is never a bottleneck, allowing the GPU to maintain high frame rates without stutter. The GPU's FP32 performance of 20.74 TFLOPS is also a key factor; while Inside is not a compute-heavy game, the raw throughput allows the GPU to handle the various post-processing effects with ease. The benchmark results confirm this, with the GPU achieving a Passmark G3D score of 24980 and a Geekbench OpenCL score of 171304.

The GPU's performance is consistent with its 85th percentile ranking among all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA RTX A1000 Mobile, scores 47743 (a 1.5% delta), while the Intel Arc A550M scores 49737 (a -2.5% delta). This shows that the RX 6800 XT is positioned in a tight performance cluster, and the differences in Inside are minimal. The data shows that the GPU is the sole limiting factor at 4K Ultra, where it produces 92 FPS. This reflects its power, as it forces this high-end card to its limits, whereas the CPU remains largely underutilized. Ultimately, the RX 6800 XT is the component that determines the frame rates in this game, and its high-end specifications ensure that the experience is exceptionally smooth across all resolutions and settings.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for a 60 Hz monitor?

A: All tested settings and resolutions provide an average FPS above 60. The lowest performance option, 4K Ultra, still delivers an average of 92 FPS, which is over 50% higher than a 60 Hz display's refresh rate.

Q: How much faster is the Medium preset compared to High at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Medium preset averages 246 FPS, which is 92 FPS higher than the High preset's 154 FPS average. The Medium preset also records a minimum FPS of 209, ensuring no drops below the average.

Q: Is the CPU a bottleneck in this game?

A: The data indicates the system is GPU-limited. At 1080p Low, the FPS reaches 364, but the scaling from 1440p Low (307 FPS) to 1080p Low (364 FPS) is only 18.6%, whereas the scaling from 4K Low (193 FPS) to 1440p Low (307 FPS) is 59%. This suggests the CPU begins to limit frame rates only at extremely high FPS levels above 300.

Q: How does the RX 6800 XT compare to its nearest rival, the Intel Arc A550M, in raw performance?

A: The RX 6800 XT has an average benchmark score of 48477, while the Intel Arc A550M scores 49737. This represents a delta of -2.5%, meaning the Arc A550M is slightly faster in general benchmarks, but the difference is minimal and not likely to cause a perceptible difference in Inside.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for the Medium preset at 4K?

A: The Medium preset at 3840x2160 has a recorded minimum FPS of 131, with an average of 154 FPS and a maximum of 178 FPS. This is the only 4K preset with min/max data available.

Q: Does the system's combo rank of 912 out of 3716 mean it is slow?

A: No, it means the system is in the top 24.5% of all tested combinations. While there are faster systems, this rank reflects the high performance of the components. The absolute FPS values are exceptionally high, making the system overkill for this game's requirements.