Inside

Inside is a 2016 puzzle platformer that, on paper, should not stress modern hardware. Yet, the benchmark data for the Intel Core i7-13700K paired with the Intel Arc B390 tells a more complicated story. This is not a combination that dominates the charts; instead, it reveals a significant bottleneck in the graphics subsystem, where even a strong CPU cannot compensate for the GPU's limitations at higher resolutions and settings. The measured frames per second across the board show that this integrated graphics solution is the primary constraint, making the experience highly dependent on resolution and preset selection.

Resolution Scaling

The data shows a steep and predictable performance drop as resolution increases, confirming that the Intel Arc B390 is the limiting component in this pairing. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 156 FPS, which is a very playable and fluid experience for a puzzle platformer. However, moving to 1440p drops that average to 112 FPS, a 28% decrease, and at 4K, the average falls to 70 FPS, which is a 55% reduction from the 1080p baseline. This scaling pattern is a classic sign of a GPU that is running out of pixel-pushing capability.

The trend continues across all presets, but the relative drop becomes more severe at higher quality levels. For instance, at High settings, the average FPS goes from 78 at 1080p to 56 at 1440p and then to 35 at 4K. The drop from 1440p to 4K at High settings is a 37.5% reduction, while the drop from 1080p to 1440p is 28%. This indicates that the GPU's rendering workload is scaling super-linearly with resolution, which is typical for a chip with limited memory bandwidth and raw compute. The 4K Ultra setting is particularly punishing, with an average of just 34 FPS, making the game feel stuttery and unresponsive.

The data suggests that 1080p is the only resolution where this combo can consistently deliver high refresh rate experiences. Even at 1080p Ultra, the average FPS is 74, which is acceptable but not stellar. At 1440p, the experience degrades to a "playable but not ideal" zone, with the Low preset hitting 112 FPS but High and Ultra dipping to 56 and 53 FPS respectively. At 4K, the results are mostly below the 60 FPS threshold, with only the Low preset managing an average of 70 FPS. This clearly positions the Arc B390 as a 1080p-centric solution for this game, with 1440p being a stretch and 4K being largely impractical for smooth gameplay.

Settings Recommendations

Given the measured data, the optimal settings strategy for this combo is to prioritize resolution over visual fidelity. The benchmark results indicate that the Arc B390's compute and memory resources are so limited that increasing the preset from Low to Medium costs a significant amount of performance. At 1080p, the jump from Low to Medium reduces the average FPS from 156 to 125, a 20% drop. The jump from Medium to High further reduces it to 78 FPS, another 37.6% drop, which is a substantial loss for what is often a modest visual upgrade in a 2D side-scroller.

For a smooth 60 FPS experience at 1440p, the data shows that only the Low preset is viable, achieving 112 FPS. The Medium preset at 1440p averages 90 FPS, which is still smooth, but the High preset at 56 FPS is borderline. The Ultra preset at 1440p, at 53 FPS, is not recommended for consistent frame pacing. At 4K, the situation is dire; the Low preset is the only one that clears 60 FPS, with an average of 70 FPS. All other presets at 4K fall below 60 FPS, with Medium at 56 FPS and High and Ultra in the mid-30s.

The most balanced approach for this hardware is to run at 1080p with High settings, which yields 78 FPS. This provides a significant visual improvement over Low while staying well above the 60 FPS threshold. If the user has a 144Hz monitor, the Medium preset at 1080p, with an average of 125 FPS and a minimum of 106 FPS, is the better choice for competitive or high-refresh-rate play, as it guarantees a frame rate that can take advantage of such a display. For 1440p users, the Medium preset at 90 FPS is the sweet spot, offering a good balance between visual quality and smoothness, but the Low preset is the safest bet for guaranteeing a locked 60 FPS experience.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is the clear performance bottleneck in this configuration. Its benchmark data shows a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of just 1482, placing it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs. This is an extremely low score, indicating that the chip is not designed for demanding 3D rendering. The nearest rivals in the GPU benchmark data are all ancient, low-end NVIDIA parts like the GeForce GT 520MX and the GeForce GT 710, with the B390 performing only 1.3% to 2.7% better than them. This context is crucial; the Arc B390 is not a discrete gaming GPU but an integrated graphics processor (IGP) with a 80 W TDP.

The specifications support this conclusion. The GPU has a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2500 MHz, but its memory is "System Shared," meaning it uses a portion of the system's main memory rather than dedicated VRAM. The memory bandwidth is also listed as "System Dependent," which means its performance is tied to the speed of the system's DDR4 or DDR5 memory. This shared memory architecture is a major reason for the performance drop at higher resolutions, as the GPU must compete with the CPU for memory bandwidth. The pixel rate is 60.00 GPixel/s and the texture rate is 120.0 GTexel/s, which are modest figures that align with its low benchmark score.

The GPU's performance in Inside is consistent with its hardware profile. The fact that it can hit 156 FPS at 1080p Low suggests that the game is not heavily reliant on advanced GPU features. However, the steep performance cliff at higher presets and resolutions shows that the chip lacks the raw shader throughput and memory bandwidth to handle the increased pixel count and texture detail. The FP32 performance of 7.680 TFLOPS is not a large number for a modern GPU, and the 1536 shading units are simply not enough to brute-force higher workloads. In essence, the GPU is the reason why this combo ranks so low, and no amount of CPU power can fix that.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Inside at 4K 60 FPS?

A: No. The measured data shows that at 4K, only the Low preset achieves an average of 70 FPS. All other presets (Medium, High, Ultra) fall below 60 FPS, with averages of 56, 35, and 34 FPS respectively.

Q: Is the Intel Core i7-13700K the reason for the low frame rates?

A: The data indicates the opposite. The CPU is very powerful, with an average benchmark score of 46881 and a 89th percentile ranking. The bottleneck is the Intel Arc B390, which has a low 9th percentile GPU ranking and a 3DMark score of 1482. The CPU is not the limiting factor in this game.

Q: What is the best setting to use for a high refresh rate monitor?

A: For a 144Hz monitor, the Medium preset at 1080p is the best choice, as it delivers an average of 125 FPS with a minimum of 106 FPS. This ensures the frame rate stays high enough to benefit from the monitor's refresh rate without dipping too low.

Q: How does the Arc B390 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The Arc B390 has an average benchmark score of 1482. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (1463), GeForce 800M (1460), GeForce GT 625 OEM (1446), and GeForce GT 710 (1443). The B390 is only 1.3% to 2.7% faster than these older, low-end parts.

Q: Is the game playable at 1440p with this hardware?

A: Yes, but with compromises. The Low preset at 1440p averages 112 FPS, which is very smooth. The Medium preset averages 90 FPS, which is also good. The High and Ultra presets average 56 and 53 FPS, respectively, which are playable but may not feel as fluid.

Q: What does the 3DMark Steel Nomad score tell us about the GPU?

A: The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482 is a very low result, placing the Arc B390 in the 9th percentile of all GPUs. This score indicates that the GPU has very limited 3D rendering capabilities, which is consistent with its integrated graphics design and system-shared memory.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K is a formidable processor that is not the cause of the performance issues seen in Inside. The data shows it has a 16-core, 24-thread configuration based on the Raptor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. Its benchmark scores are robust, including a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 30745 and a single-core score of 2116. In a game like Inside, which is a 2D puzzle platformer, the CPU's role is typically to handle game logic, physics, and draw calls, which are not heavily threaded. The i7-13700K's high single-thread performance (Geekbench single-core score of 2529) is more than sufficient for these tasks.

The CPU's average benchmark score of 46881 places it in the 89th percentile of all CPUs, and its nearest rivals are all high-end parts. For example, it is only 0.2% behind the AMD Ryzen 9 5900 and 0.3% behind the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 375, while being 0.5% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX and the Intel Xeon w3-2535. This indicates that the CPU is performing at the expected level for a top-tier desktop processor. The massive L3 cache (30 MB shared) and high thread count (24 threads) are overkill for a game of this era, meaning the CPU will never be the source of a frame rate bottleneck.

Given the measured FPS data, the CPU is likely idling in most scenarios. For instance, at 1080p Low, the 156 FPS average is likely a limit imposed by the GPU, not the CPU. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see similar frame rates across different resolutions, as the CPU workload would remain constant while the GPU workload changes. However, the data shows a clear resolution scaling, with FPS dropping significantly as resolution increases. This pattern is definitive proof that the GPU is the limiting component, and the CPU has ample headroom to handle even the highest settings without breaking a sweat.

How This Combo Ranks

In the grand scheme of all tested hardware combinations, this pairing of the Intel Core i7-13700K and Intel Arc B390 ranks very poorly. The data shows it holds the 2547th position out of 2887 total combos in this game. This places it in the bottom 12% of all configurations, which is a direct reflection of the GPU's weak performance. The CPU is a top-tier part, but the combo is dragged down by the integrated graphics solution.

This ranking is unsurprising when considering the individual component benchmar. The CPU's average score of 46881 is in the 89th percentile, while the GPU's average score of 1482 is in the 9th percentile. The massive disparity between these two components creates an extreme bottleneck. The system is effectively a high-end CPU with entry-level graphics, and the benchmark results in Inside reflect this lopsided pairing. The combo's rank is a clear warning that the Arc B390 is not suitable for gaming beyond very light, low-resolution titles.

The practical takeaway is that this specific combination is poorly balanced for gaming. While the CPU can handle anything thrown at it, the GPU limits the entire system to 1080p gaming at best. The rank of 2547 out of 2887 is a statistical representation of this imbalance. It shows that users who invest in a CPU like the i7-13700K would see drastically better results with a dedicated graphics card, as the CPU's potential is entirely wasted when paired with the Arc B390 in a game like Inside. The data makes it clear that the GPU is the primary factor in this combo's low ranking, and upgrading that component would yield far greater performance gains than any CPU change.