Inside

The Intel Core i7-13700K and AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX combination delivers exceptional performance in Inside, a 2016 Puzzle Platformer. The measured frame rates across all resolutions and settings are extremely high, indicating that this hardware is far more powerful than the game's requirements demand. The data shows a system capable of maxing out the game’s visual preset at 4K while maintaining a playable frame rate, and at lower resolutions, the frame rates approach or exceed the refresh rates of most high-end monitors. This analysis breaks down the benchmark results, focusing on the roles of the CPU and GPU and what the scaling patterns reveal about system bottlenecks.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i7-13700K is a 16-core, 24-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture. Its base clock is 3.40 GHz and it can boost up to 5.40 GHz, which provides substantial single-thread performance that is critical for a game like Inside, which is a side-scrolling puzzle platformer with a relatively simple rendering load. The benchmark data shows the i7-13700K scores 5505 points in Cinebench R23 single-core and 39000 points in multi-core, placing it in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-13700KF, has an average score of 47334, which is a -0.1% deltaPct, making the performance of the two chips effectively identical for this workload.

The processor's high boost clock and strong single-thread performance are the key factors here. In Inside, the game logic and physics calculations are not heavily threaded, so the CPU's ability to execute instructions quickly on a single core is more important than its total core count. The 3dmark results reinforce this; the 3dmark_single_thread score is 1136, while the 3dmark_max_threads score is 12412. This indicates that the processor's performance scales well with more threads, but the single-thread result is the more relevant metric for a game of this genre. The 30 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB per-core L2 cache also help ensure that the game's data is readily available to the cores, minimizing delays.

Given the high frame rates observed, which reach up to 397.3 FPS at 1080p Low settings, the CPU is not a limiting factor. The data suggests that even at the highest settings, the i7-13700K has ample headroom to feed the GPU with draw calls and game state updates. The gap between the best and worst CPU benchmark scores in its nearest rivals is tiny (0.4% deltaPct difference), and the i7-13700K's position in the 93rd percentile confirms it is a top-tier processor that will not bottleneck the GPU in this title. The system's performance is therefore dictated almost entirely by the GPU's capabilities and the selected graphics settings.

FAQ — 4-6 Q&A pairs answerable from FACT PACK data

Q: What is the average frame rate at 4K with the High preset?

A: At 3840x2160 with the High preset, the system achieves an average of 121.5 FPS. This shows the GPU is powerful enough to run the game at 4K with high visual quality while still exceeding the 60 FPS standard for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the performance at 1080p Low compare to 4K Ultra?

A: The frame rate at 1920x1080 Low is 397.3 FPS, while at 3840x2160 Ultra it drops to 115.2 FPS. This represents a significant reduction of about 71% in frame rate, demonstrating that the resolution and preset have a massive impact on the rendering load.

Q: Is the frame rate difference between the High and Ultra presets large?

A: Yes, there is a consistent drop when moving from High to Ultra. At 2560x1440, the High preset averages 190.9 FPS, while Ultra averages 180.7 FPS, a decrease of 10.2 FPS. At 4K, the difference is slightly larger, with a 6.3 FPS drop from 121.5 FPS to 115.2 FPS.

Q: Which component is the primary driver of performance differences between settings?

A: The GPU is the primary driver. The CPU is a high-end model that shows strong benchmark scores, and the frame rates scale dramatically with resolution and settings, which are GPU-intensive variables. The CPU's performance headroom is sufficient to avoid bottlenecking the GPU.

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

A: The highest recorded average frame rate is 397.3 FPS, which occurs at 1920x1080 with the Low preset. This is the lightest workload measured and showcases the extreme performance ceiling of this hardware combination.

Q: How does this combination rank among all tested configurations for this game?

A: The data shows this combination ranks 110 out of 1671 tested combinations, placing it in the top 6.6% of all configurations, which is a very strong result given the game's age and the high performance of modern hardware.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The resolution scaling data reveals a clear and expected trend: as resolution increases, the average frame rate decreases. For the High preset, the average FPS drops from 263.4 at 1080p to 190.9 at 1440p, and finally to 121.5 at 4K. This represents a 54% decrease in performance from 1080p to 4K. The pattern is similar for the Low, Medium, and Ultra presets, with the most demanding 4K Ultra setting producing a 115.2 FPS average, a 71% drop from the 1080p Low result.

This scaling behavior is a classic indicator that the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX is the limiting component. The CPU's workload does not increase significantly with resolution, as it is still processing the same number of objects and game logic. The GPU, however, must render an increasing number of pixels, which directly impacts its fillrate and memory bandwidth usage. The fact that the frame rate drops so substantially when moving to higher resolutions shows that the GPU is struggling to keep up with the increasing pixel count, rather than the CPU being unable to provide enough data. The RX 7900 XTX has a 384-bit memory bus and 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is substantial, but the sheer pixel throughput of 4K is still a heavy load for any GPU.

Furthermore, the delta between 1080p and 1440p is smaller than the delta between 1440p and 4K. For the High preset, the drop from 1080p to 1440p is 72.5 FPS, while the drop from 1440p to 4K is 69.4 FPS. This is because 4K has over twice the pixels of 1440p, making the rendering more demanding. The data points to a system where the CPU is not a bottleneck; if it were, we would see similar frame rates across all resolutions, as the CPU would be the limiting factor. Instead, the steady decline in FPS with increased resolution confirms that the GPU is the component determining the final frame rate in this game.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across all twelve tested scenarios. At 1920x1080, the system is incredibly fast. The Low preset yields an average of 397.3 FPS, which is the highest score in the entire dataset. Moving to Medium, the average drops to 367 FPS. High is next at 263.4 FPS, and Ultra is the slowest at 1080p, with an average of 250.8 FPS. Even the slowest 1080p preset is still above 250 FPS, making any 1080p monitor's refresh rate easily achievable.

At 2560x1440, the performance remains excellent. The Low preset averages 356.9 FPS, and Medium is close behind at 305.1 FPS. High drops to 190.9 FPS, and Ultra is the lowest at this resolution, with an average of 180.7 FPS. These numbers are all well above 144 FPS, meaning that even with the Ultra preset, a 1440p 144Hz monitor can be fully utilized. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1440p shows a consistent reduction, with the most significant drop occurring between Medium and High, which is a 114.2 FPS difference.

At 3840x2160, the performance is still very high, though the impact of the higher resolution is apparent. The Low preset averages 237.7 FPS, and Medium drops to 189.5 FPS. High is next at 121.5 FPS, and Ultra is the lowest at 115.2 FPS. This is the only resolution where the average frame rate drops below 120 FPS, and it does so with the High and Ultra presets. The data shows that at 4K, the Low preset is still more than twice as fast as the Ultra preset, and the gap between Medium and High is 68 FPS, indicating a significant jump in rendering complexity. The system can handle 4K Ultra at 115.2 FPS, which is still a very playable experience, but the headroom for higher refresh rates at 4K is limited to the lower presets.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX is a flagship GPU with 24 GB of GDDR6 memory and a 384-bit memory bus, providing a bandwidth of 960.0 GB/s. Its base clock is 1929 MHz, with a boost clock of 2498 MHz. In the Passmark G3D benchmark, it scores 31238, placing it in the 85th percentile of all GPUs. The GPU's nearest rival, the AMD Radeon Pro 580, has an average score of 44195, which is a -0.4% deltaPct, indicating the performance of these two cards is very close in aggregate benchmarks. The RX 7900 XTX also has a Passmark GPU Compute score of 17689, reflecting its compute capabilities.

For Inside, the GPU's role is to handle the rasterization and pixel shading. The game's art style is minimalist, with a dark and atmospheric presentation, but it still requires significant fillrate, especially at 4K. The 24 GB of VRAM is more than sufficient for this game, which likely uses a small fraction of that capacity. The high memory bandwidth of 960.0 GB/s is also not a limiting factor, as the game's textures and frame buffers are relatively small, and the GPU can easily access them.

The benchmark results show that the GPU is the primary performance limiter at higher resolutions. This is evident from the frame rate scaling. The measured FPS at 1080p Low (397.3 FPS) is much higher than at 4K Ultra (115.2 FPS), which is a direct result of the GPU having to process 8.3 million pixels at 4K versus 2.1 million at 1080p. The GPU's clock speeds are high, and its compute power (61.39 TFLOPS FP32) is immense, but the fixed-function pixel processing pipelines are still the bottleneck. The data strongly suggests that the RX 7900 XTX is a very capable GPU for this game, offering a smooth experience at all tested settings, with only the most demanding 4K Ultra settings falling below the 120 FPS threshold.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

The measured data provides clear guidance for selecting the ideal settings for this hardware. At 1920x1080, all presets deliver an average frame rate above 250 FPS. The Ultra preset at 250.8 FPS is not significantly slower than the High preset at 263.4 FPS, so the Ultra preset is the clear recommendation for 1080p users. The visual quality increase from High to Ultra is worth the minor 12.6 FPS drop, as the system has more than enough performance to maintain a high refresh rate.

At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset averages 180.7 FPS, which is still excellent and far above the 144 FPS threshold for most high-refresh monitors. While the High preset is faster at 190.9 FPS, the difference is only 10.2 FPS. The Ultra preset is again the best choice here, as it provides the maximum visual fidelity without compromising the frame rate in any meaningful way for a smooth experience. The Medium preset is also viable at 305.1 FPS, but there is no reason to sacrifice visual quality when the Ultra preset is so performant.

At 3840x2160, the decision is more nuanced. The Ultra preset averages 115.2 FPS, which is still above 60 FPS and perfectly playable on a 4K 60Hz or 120Hz display. The High preset averages 121.5 FPS, a small improvement of 6.3 FPS. For users with a 4K 120Hz display, the High preset is a slightly better choice to ensure the frame rate stays consistently above the refresh rate. However, for those with a 60Hz display, the Ultra preset is the best option, as it offers the highest visual quality while still being well above the display's refresh rate. The Low and Medium presets at 4K, with averages of 237.7 FPS and 189.5 FPS respectively, are unnecessary unless the user is targeting an extremely high refresh rate (e.g., 240Hz), which is not a standard feature of 4K monitors. The data suggests that the High preset at 4K provides the optimal balance for most users, ensuring a frame rate that comfortably exceeds 120 FPS while retaining high visual fidelity.