Inside

Inside is a 2016 puzzle platformer that places modest demands on modern hardware, and the measured data for the Intel Core i7-13700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 reflects that. The benchmark results show a system capable of very high frame rates across all tested settings, with the primary challenge being the GPU's 6 GB VRAM at higher resolutions. The data indicates that this combination delivers a smooth experience in nearly every configuration, with specific trade-offs at the top end of the settings scale.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows provide a clear picture of how each preset performs. For the best experience, the High preset is the recommended balance. At 1920x1080, High produces an average of 128 FPS, which is already well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. Moving to 2560x1440, High still holds at 92 FPS, and even at 3840x2160, it maintains 58 FPS. This means High is playable at all three resolutions without any settings changes.

Ultra settings offer diminishing returns. At 1920x1080, Ultra averages 122 FPS, which is only 6 FPS lower than High. The gap widens at higher resolutions: at 2560x1440, Ultra drops to 88 FPS (4 FPS less than High), and at 3840x2160, it falls to 55 FPS (3 FPS less than High). The data suggests that the visual upgrade from High to Ultra is not worth the frame rate loss, especially since High already provides a fluid experience.

Medium is a viable fallback for users who want extra headroom. At 3840x2160, Medium averages 93 FPS with a minimum of 79 FPS and a maximum of 106 FPS, making it the only preset at 4K that comfortably exceeds 60 FPS. At 2560x1440, Medium hits 147 FPS, and at 1920x1080, it reaches 205 FPS. Low settings are unnecessary for this game on this hardware, as even the most demanding preset maintains playable frame rates.

The choice comes down to resolution. For 1080p or 1440p displays, High is the optimal preset, providing high frame rates with minimal compromise. For 4K displays, Medium is the better option, as it is the only preset that consistently stays above 60 FPS, with a minimum of 79 FPS. Ultra is not recommended at any resolution due to the marginal visual benefit and measurable frame rate penalty.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is the limiting component in this pairing, and its specifications explain the performance pattern. The GPU has 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, yielding 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth. It features 1920 shading units, 120 texture mapping units, and 48 render output units, with a base clock of 1365 MHz and a boost clock of 1680 MHz. The architecture is Turing on a 12 nm process, with a TDP of 160 W.

In the context of Inside, the GPU's memory capacity is the most relevant factor. The game is not graphically intense, but the 6 GB VRAM becomes a constraint at 4K resolution. The data shows that at 3840x2160, the average FPS drops sharply when moving from Medium (93 FPS) to High (58 FPS) and Ultra (55 FPS). This drop suggests that the higher presets at 4K are exceeding the VRAM capacity, causing the GPU to struggle with memory allocation.

The GPU's compute capabilities are strong for its class. The FP32 performance is 6.451 TFLOPS, which is sufficient for a puzzle platformer. The pixel rate of 80.64 GPixel/s and texture rate of 201.6 GTexel/s are more than adequate for the game's simple geometry and effects. The RTX 2060 also includes 30 RT cores and 240 tensor cores, though Inside does not use ray tracing or DLSS, so these features have no impact on the measured results.

The GPU's benchmark scores place it in the 58th percentile of all GPUs. Its average benchmark score is 15290, which is nearly identical to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 (15283, 0% delta) and AMD Radeon 680M (15270, 0.1% delta). It is slightly ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM (15199, 0.6% delta) and AMD Radeon RX 7600 (15171, 0.8% delta). These close scores indicate that the RTX 2060 performs at a level consistent with its mid-range positioning, which is reflected in the measured FPS for this game.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals where the bottleneck lies. At High settings, the average FPS goes from 128 at 1920x1080 to 92 at 2560x1440 (a 28% drop) and then to 58 at 3840x2160 (a 37% drop from 1440p). This is a steep decline, with the 4K result being less than half of the 1080p result. The pattern is similar for Ultra settings: 122 FPS at 1080p, 88 FPS at 1440p (28% drop), and 55 FPS at 4K (37% drop from 1440p).

The Medium preset shows a more moderate scaling curve. It goes from 205 FPS at 1080p to 147 FPS at 1440p (28% drop) and then to 93 FPS at 4K (37% drop from 1440p). The Low preset also follows this trend: 256 FPS at 1080p, 184 FPS at 1440p (28% drop), and 116 FPS at 4K (37% drop from 1440p).

The consistent percentage drops across all settings indicate that the GPU is the limiting factor at higher resolutions. The CPU, with its 16 cores and 24 threads, is not being stressed by this game. The data shows that the frame rate scales inversely with pixel count, which is typical for a GPU-bound workload. The steeper drop from 1440p to 4K suggests that the GPU's memory bandwidth and VRAM capacity are being taxed more heavily at the highest resolution.

At 1080p, the CPU is likely the constraint for the Low preset, as the 256 FPS average is extremely high and may be limited by the game's engine or the CPU's single-thread performance. However, the 3DMark single-thread score of 1136 and the Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2116 indicate strong per-core performance, so this is not a practical concern.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides exact numbers for every combination of resolution and settings. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers the highest average at 256 FPS. Medium averages 205 FPS with a minimum of 174 FPS and a maximum of 236 FPS. High averages 128 FPS, and Ultra averages 122 FPS. All presets at 1080p are well above 60 FPS, with even the lowest average (Ultra at 122 FPS) being more than double the standard refresh rate.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 184 FPS. Medium averages 147 FPS with a minimum of 125 FPS and a maximum of 169 FPS. High averages 92 FPS, and Ultra averages 88 FPS. The 1440p results show a clear separation between the lower presets (Low and Medium) and the higher presets (High and Ultra), with the latter still maintaining smooth frame rates above 60 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 116 FPS. Medium averages 93 FPS with a minimum of 79 FPS and a maximum of 106 FPS. High averages 58 FPS, and Ultra averages 55 FPS. The 4K results are the most telling: only Low and Medium exceed 60 FPS, while High and Ultra fall just below the threshold. The minimum FPS for Medium at 4K is 79, which is still playable, but the average of 93 FPS for Medium is the only 4K preset with comfortable headroom.

The frame time consistency, as indicated by the min and max values for Medium, is good. At 1080p, the range is 174 to 236 FPS, which is a narrow band relative to the average. At 1440p, the range is 125 to 169 FPS, and at 4K, it is 79 to 106 FPS. This consistency suggests that the game does not have significant frame pacing issues on this hardware.

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset for 4K on this hardware?

A: The Medium preset is the recommended choice for 3840x2160, as it averages 93 FPS with a minimum of 79 FPS. High and Ultra both fall below 60 FPS at this resolution, with averages of 58 FPS and 55 FPS respectively.

Q: Can this combo run the game at 1440p with high refresh rates?

A: Yes. At 2560x1440, the High preset averages 92 FPS, which is suitable for a 90 Hz or 100 Hz display. The Medium preset averages 147 FPS, which can drive a 144 Hz monitor, and Low averages 184 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this game?

A: The GPU is the limiting component, especially at higher resolutions. The frame rate drops consistently by about 28% from 1080p to 1440p and another 37% from 1440p to 4K across all settings, indicating a GPU-bound workload. The CPU has ample headroom with 16 cores and 24 threads.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 2060 has an average benchmark score of 15290. It is essentially tied with the GTX 580 (15283, 0% delta) and AMD Radeon 680M (15270, 0.1% delta). It is slightly ahead of the RTX 3050 OEM (15199, 0.6% delta) and RX 7600 (15171, 0.8% delta).

Q: What is the frame rate difference between High and Ultra settings?

A: The difference is small. At 1080p, Ultra is 6 FPS slower than High (122 vs 128). At 1440p, the gap is 4 FPS (88 vs 92). At 4K, the gap is 3 FPS (55 vs 58). The visual improvement from Ultra is minimal, making High the more efficient choice.

Q: Is the 6 GB VRAM sufficient for this game?

A: At 1080p and 1440p, the 6 GB VRAM is sufficient, as all presets maintain high frame rates. At 4K, the VRAM appears to be a constraint, as the frame rate drops significantly on High and Ultra, suggesting the memory capacity is being exceeded.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K is a 16-core, 24-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture. It has a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, with a 30 MB shared L3 cache. The CPU supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration. Its synthetic benchmark scores are strong: Cinebench R23 multicore reaches 30745, single-core reaches 2116, and Geekbench multicore is 19429 with a single-core score of 2529.

In Inside, the CPU's role is minimal because the game is not processor-intensive. The data shows that the frame rate scales with resolution and settings in a way that is consistent with GPU limitations. At 1080p Low, the 256 FPS average is likely approaching the game's engine limit or the CPU's single-thread ceiling, but this is not a practical issue since no display would require such high frame rates.

The CPU's multi-threaded performance is far beyond what this game needs. The 3DMark max threads score of 12412 and Passmark multithread score of 45887 indicate that the CPU can handle far more demanding workloads. The single-thread performance, as measured by Passmark single thread at 4333, is sufficient to avoid bottlenecking the GPU at any resolution.

The CPU operates with a TDP of 125 W and uses the Intel Socket 1700. It is in the 89th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 46881. Its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks are the AMD Ryzen 9 5900 (46971, -0.2% delta), AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 375 (47022, -0.3% delta), AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX (46654, 0.5% delta), and Intel Xeon w3-2535 (46653, 0.5% delta). These scores show that the i7-13700K is competitively positioned in the high-end desktop segment.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations, the Intel Core i7-13700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 pairing ranks 2915 out of 3716 combos for Inside. This places it in the lower half of all tested configurations, which is expected given the GPU's age and positioning. The RTX 2060 is an end-of-life product with a percentile rank of 58 among all GPUs, while the CPU is in the 89th percentile among all CPUs.

The combo's rank is heavily influenced by the GPU, as the CPU is overqualified for this game. The measured FPS data confirms that the system performs well in absolute terms, with playable frame rates at all settings up to 1440p and at Medium for 4K. However, relative to other combos in the database, the RTX 2060's performance limits the overall ranking.

The gap between the CPU and GPU performance is significant. The i7-13700K's average benchmark score is 46881, while the RTX 2060's is 15290. This disparity means that the GPU is the primary factor in the combo's rank. In a game like Inside, which is not demanding, the CPU does not contribute to performance gains beyond a certain point, and the GPU's VRAM and compute capabilities determine the final frame rates.

The rank of 2915 out of 3716 indicates that there are many combos with more balanced or more powerful GPUs that achieve higher frame rates in this game. The data shows that this combo is capable of smooth gameplay, but it is not near the top of the performance charts. For users with this hardware, the recommended settings from this analysis provide the best experience, maximizing frame rates while avoiding the VRAM constraints at 4K.