Inside

Inside is a puzzle-platformer built on 2.5D side-scrolling visuals, and the benchmark data for the Intel Core i7-13700K paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT shows a combination that is heavily skewed toward CPU performance. The measurements across three resolutions and four presets reveal a system that can deliver high frame rates but exhibits scaling behavior that indicates the graphics card becomes the limiting factor only at the highest settings and resolutions. This analysis examines the measured FPS data, the role of each component, and how this specific pairing ranks against other tested configurations.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K for this combo is substantial, but the pattern is not uniform across presets. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 281 FPS at 1920x1080 to 127 FPS at 3840x2160, a reduction of 154 FPS. This represents a significant 54.8% decrease, yet the absolute numbers remain high enough to suggest the CPU is still doing most of the heavy lifting at lower graphical loads. The scaling is steeper in relative terms from 1440p to 4K, where the Low preset drops from 202 FPS to 127 FPS, a 37.1% reduction, compared to the 28.0% drop seen when moving from 1080p to 1440p.

At Medium settings, the pattern shifts. The average FPS drops from 225 at 1080p to 161 at 1440p, and then further to 101 at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 1440p is 28.4%, while the drop from 1440p to 4K is 37.3%. This indicates that as the resolution increases, the graphics card begins to take on a more prominent role, but the CPU still provides enough headroom to keep the frame rates playable. The High preset shows a similar trend, with averages of 140 FPS at 1080p, 101 FPS at 1440p, and 63 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 27.9%, and the drop from 1440p to 4K is 37.6%.

The Ultra preset is where the GPU bottleneck becomes most apparent. The average FPS at 1080p is 134, which drops to 96 at 1440p and then plummets to 60 at 4K. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is a 28.4% reduction, but the move from 1440p to 4K incurs a 37.5% loss. The 4K Ultra result of 60 FPS is exactly half the 1080p Ultra result, showing that the doubling of pixel count from 1440p to 4K has a nearly linear impact on performance when the graphics card is fully stressed. This data suggests that at 1080p and 1440p, the i7-13700K is capable of feeding the RX 6600 XT well beyond its limits, but at 4K, especially with Ultra settings, the GPU becomes the primary limiter.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K is a 16-core, 24-thread processor based on Raptor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. Its benchmark results place it in the 89th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 46881. This is a very strong showing, and its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 9 5900 and the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 375, both of which score within 0.3% of the i7-13700K. The data shows that this CPU is not a bottleneck in Inside, as evidenced by the high frame rates in the measured rows. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 281 FPS, which is well beyond the refresh rate of most monitors.

The CPU's single-thread performance is particularly relevant for a game like Inside, which relies on a single main game thread for logic. The 3DMark single-thread score of 1136 and the Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2116 indicate strong per-core performance. The multi-threaded scores are also impressive, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 30745 and a Geekbench multicore score of 19429, but a 2.5D platformer rarely utilizes all 16 cores effectively. The data suggests that the i7-13700K's high clock speeds and strong IPC are the primary reasons why the frame rates are so high at lower resolutions, as the CPU can process the game's instructions faster than the GPU can render frames. The 30 MB of shared L3 cache also helps with data locality, reducing the need to access slower system memory.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the Medium preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance for this combo. At 1080p, Medium delivers an average of 225 FPS with a minimum of 191 FPS and a maximum of 258 FPS. This is a very smooth experience, and the minimum frame rate is still well above the 144 Hz refresh rate many gamers target. At 1440p, Medium provides 161 FPS on average, with a minimum of 137 FPS, which remains highly playable. Even at 4K, Medium achieves 101 FPS on average, with a minimum of 86 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS standard for console-like smoothness.

The High preset is also a viable option, but it shows a significant drop in performance. At 1080p, High averages 140 FPS, and at 1440p it averages 101 FPS, which is exactly the same as Medium at 4K. The Ultra preset, while visually the most demanding, only yields 134 FPS at 1080p and 60 FPS at 4K. The performance difference between High and Ultra is small in terms of average FPS (6 FPS at 1080p), but the visual difference is often minimal in a game with a muted color palette like Inside. The Low preset, while producing 281 FPS at 1080p, sacrifices too much visual fidelity for a game that relies on atmosphere and lighting. Therefore, the data indicates that Medium is the sweet spot, providing a high frame rate ceiling and a solid minimum frame rate across all tested resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-13700K and the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT ranks 2594 out of 3716 tested combos in Inside. This places it in the 30th percentile of all tested systems, which is a surprising result given the high frame rates measured. This ranking suggests that many other combinations of CPUs and GPUs are able to achieve even higher frame rates, likely due to the game's relatively low graphical demands and the fact that it can be run on a wide range of hardware. The data implies that while this specific combo is far from the top, it is not at the bottom either, and its performance is more than adequate for the game's intended experience.

The ranking is likely influenced by the fact that Inside is a 2016 release with modest hardware requirements, and many users with high-end systems can push frame rates into the hundreds. The i7-13700K's percentile rank of 89 and the RX 6600 XT's percentile rank of 70 show that both components are above average, but the combo's overall rank of 2594 indicates that the pairing is not optimized for this specific title. The data shows that the GPU is the weaker link, as its performance is only in the 70th percentile, and in a game that is CPU-bound at lower resolutions, the GPU's mid-range standing becomes more apparent at higher settings. This ranking is a reminder that a strong CPU cannot fully compensate for a mid-range GPU in all scenarios, even in a simple platformer.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with a Navi 23 chip, featuring 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus. Its memory bandwidth is 256.0 GB/s, and it has a boost clock of 2589 MHz. The GPU's benchmark results place it in the 70th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 24442. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1630 and the Intel Arc A350M, which are generally considered lower-tier cards, but the data shows the RX 6600 XT is only 0.7% ahead of the GTX 1630. This is a close margin, suggesting that the RX 6600 XT's position is competitive but not dominant.

In this game, the GPU's role becomes critical at higher resolutions and settings. The 4K Ultra result of 60 FPS is exactly the GPU's limit, and the 4K High result of 63 FPS is only slightly better. The 8 GB of VRAM is likely sufficient for Inside, as the game does not have high-resolution textures, but the 128-bit memory bus and 256.0 GB/s bandwidth could be a limiting factor at 4K. The GPU's FP32 performance of 10.60 TFLOPS is adequate for a puzzle platformer, but the data shows that the card struggles to maintain high frame rates at 4K when the pixel shader load increases. The 32 RT cores are irrelevant for this game, as Inside does not use ray tracing. The GPU's performance scaling from 1080p to 4K is more linear than the CPU's, confirming that the RX 6600 XT is the primary constraint at higher resolutions.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 4K with Medium settings for this combo?

A: The measured average FPS at 3840x2160 with Medium settings is 101 FPS, with a minimum of 86 FPS and a maximum of 117 FPS.

Q: How does the i7-13700K perform in multi-threaded benchmarks?

A: The i7-13700K scores 30745 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 12412 in 3DMark max threads, placing it in the 89th percentile of all CPUs.

Q: Is the RX 6600 XT a bottleneck at 1080p?

A: No, at 1080p Low the combo achieves 281 FPS, and at 1080p Ultra it achieves 134 FPS, indicating the CPU is the limiting factor at this resolution.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested systems in Inside?

A: The combo ranks 2594 out of 3716 tested combos, placing it in the 30th percentile.

Q: What is the GPU's memory configuration?

A: The RX 6600 XT has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, with a bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s.

Q: Which preset provides the highest minimum FPS at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the minimum FPS is 137, which is the highest minimum recorded for any preset at that resolution.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 281 FPS, while Medium drops to 225 FPS with a minimum of 191 FPS and a maximum of 258 FPS. High settings produce 140 FPS on average, and Ultra yields 134 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra is 147 FPS, showing that the CPU is the dominant factor at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, Low averages 202 FPS, Medium averages 161 FPS with a minimum of 137 FPS and a maximum of 186 FPS, High averages 101 FPS, and Ultra averages 96 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra is only 5 FPS, indicating a diminishing return on visual settings.

At 3840x2160, Low averages 127 FPS, Medium averages 101 FPS with a minimum of 86 FPS and a maximum of 117 FPS, High averages 63 FPS, and Ultra averages 60 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra narrows to just 3 FPS, while the gap between Low and Ultra is 67 FPS, highlighting the GPU's increasing workload at 4K.

The data across all resolutions shows that the Medium preset consistently offers the best combination of high average FPS and a respectable minimum FPS, while the Ultra preset provides the lowest gains in performance relative to its visual demands. The measured FPS values confirm that this combo is capable of running Inside smoothly at all tested settings, but the optimal experience is found at Medium settings, particularly for users with high refresh rate displays.