Inside

The Intel Core i7-12700KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 delivers exceptionally high frame rates in Inside, a 2016 puzzle platformer that is far less demanding than modern AAA titles. The measured data shows this combination is heavily CPU-limited at lower resolutions, with the GPU only becoming a significant factor at 4K with higher quality presets. The following analysis breaks down the performance characteristics based strictly on the provided benchmark rows.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic bottleneck shift. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces 364.5 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops this to 325.9 FPS, a reduction of roughly 38.6 FPS, and then to 4K Low, it falls further to 281.2 FPS. This scaling pattern, a 38.6 FPS drop from 1080p to 1440p, but a 44.7 FPS drop from 1440p to 4K, indicates that the CPU is still the primary limiter even at 4K Low, as the GPU has ample headroom with such a light workload.

The situation changes dramatically when quality presets are increased. At 1080p High, the average FPS is 281.9, which is only 3 FPS lower than the 4K Low result. However, at 4K High, the average plummets to 147.5 FPS. This is a 47.7% reduction from the 1080p High score. The scaling from 1440p High (231.6 FPS) to 4K High (147.5 FPS) shows a steep 84.1 FPS decline, demonstrating that at High settings, the GPU begins to take on a more significant role as pixel count increases. The gap between Low and High at 4K is substantial: 281.2 FPS versus 147.5 FPS, a difference of 133.7 FPS, which is a clear sign that the graphics card is now the limiting factor.

The Ultra preset shows the most aggressive scaling. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 275.8 FPS; at 1440p Ultra, it is 226 FPS; and at 4K Ultra, it drops to 137.8 FPS. The 1440p to 4K transition alone costs 88.2 FPS. This consistent and large drop across resolution steps for the heavier presets confirms that the RTX 4090's rendering workload is the primary constraint at these settings, whereas the CPU can still feed frames quickly at lower resolutions and lighter settings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700KF features 12 cores and 20 threads, with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. Its benchmark scores are strong, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 28979 and a single-core score of 4091. In the context of this game, the CPU's role is to maintain high minimum frame rates and ensure the GPU is not starved of data.

The data indicates that the CPU is the limiting factor at 1080p and 1440p for Low and Medium settings. For instance, at 1080p Low, the system achieves 364.5 FPS, but at 1440p Low, it only drops to 325.9 FPS. If the GPU were the bottleneck, the drop would be more pronounced. Instead, the relatively small drop suggests the CPU is maxing out its ability to process game logic and draw calls. The i7-12700KF’s high single-thread performance, evidenced by its 3DMark single-thread score of 1043, is crucial for this, as Inside is a side-scrolling game that likely relies heavily on a few primary threads.

Compared to its nearest rivals, the i7-12700KF has an average benchmark score of 35355. It is virtually tied with the Intel Core i5-14400 (deltaPct 0.1), the Intel Core i7-13800H (deltaPct -0.2), and the Intel Core i9-12900HX (deltaPct 0.2). This means that for a CPU-bound title like Inside, swapping to any of these processors would likely yield very similar performance, as they are all within 0.3% of each other in average score. The 12-core, 20-thread configuration is more than sufficient for this game’s threading demands, and the high boost clock of 5.00 GHz helps ensure that the frame rate ceiling is high.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal experience depends on the target refresh rate. For a 60 Hz display, any preset at any resolution is overkill, as even 4K Ultra produces 137.8 FPS. For a 144 Hz display, the data shows that the High preset is the sweet spot. At 1080p High, the average is 281.9 FPS, and at 1440p High, it is 231.6 FPS, both well above 144 FPS. Even at 4K High, the average of 147.5 FPS is sufficient for a 144 Hz monitor, though it leaves little headroom for demanding scenes.

The Medium preset offers diminishing returns. At 1080p Medium, the FPS is 335.3, which is higher than High but not meaningfully necessary. The jump from Low to Medium is significant (364.5 to 335.3 at 1080p), but the jump from Medium to High is smaller (335.3 to 281.9). This suggests that High provides most of the visual fidelity without a catastrophic performance hit. The Ultra preset, while offering the highest quality, shows the largest performance cost. At 4K Ultra, the average drops to 137.8 FPS, which is 9.7 FPS below the 4K High result. Given that the visual difference between High and Ultra in a game like Inside is often subtle, the data suggests that High is the most efficient choice for maintaining a smooth, high-refresh-rate experience. For users with 240 Hz displays, the Low preset at 1080p (364.5 FPS) or 1440p (325.9 FPS) would be necessary to fully utilize the refresh rate, but the High preset at 1080p still provides a very playable 281.9 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific configuration of the Intel Core i7-12700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 52nd out of 1671 tested combinations in Inside. This places it in the top 3.1% of all tested combos, which is a very strong showing. The high rank is expected given the components’ individual performance percentiles: the CPU is in the 89th percentile against all CPUs, and the GPU is in the 91st percentile against all GPUs.

The 52nd rank out of 1671 combos indicates that while this is a top-tier setup, there are 51 other combinations that perform better. This is likely due to newer or more specialized hardware that can push frame rates even higher in this specific title. However, the absolute scores are so high that the practical difference is minimal. For example, the combo achieves 364.5 FPS at 1080p Low, which is far beyond the refresh rate of any mainstream monitor. The ranking reflects the hardware’s potential, but the measured data shows that the system is rarely the bottleneck in real-world scenarios. The combo’s rank is a testament to the CPU’s strong single-thread performance and the GPU’s raw power, but the game’s age means that even mid-range hardware can achieve high scores, making the top 52 positions highly competitive.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is a formidable graphics card with 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, providing 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. Its boost clock is 2520 MHz, and it has a massive 16384 shading units. This hardware is grossly overqualified for Inside, as evidenced by the frame rates. At 1080p Low, the GPU is so underutilized that the CPU becomes the bottleneck, capping performance at 364.5 FPS.

The GPU’s role becomes more apparent as resolution and settings increase. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 137.8, which is a 62.2% reduction from the 1080p Low score. This shows that the RTX 4090 is finally being stressed by the combination of high pixel count and intensive shader work. The 24 GB VRAM is far more than the game requires, and the memory bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s ensures that texture streaming is never an issue. The card’s average benchmark score of 66473 places it in the 91st percentile, and it is closely matched with rivals like the NVIDIA Tesla T4 (deltaPct -0.4) and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 (deltaPct -0.9). These rivals are professional workstation cards, which highlights the RTX 4090’s dominance in gaming workloads.

In this game, the GPU’s performance is only truly relevant at 4K with Ultra or High presets. At 1080p and 1440p with lower settings, the data shows that the GPU is never the limiting factor. The measured FPS at 1440p High (231.6) versus 4K High (147.5) shows a 84.1 FPS drop, which is a direct result of the GPU’s rendering load increasing with resolution. The RTX 4090’s high pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,290.2 GTexel/s are more than sufficient to handle Inside’s relatively simple 2D graphics, even at 4K. The card’s sheer power means that users could enable maximum settings and still maintain excellent frame rates, making it a future-proof choice for this title.