Inside

Inside is a 2016 puzzle platformer that is famously light on system demands, yet the data for the Intel Core i7-13700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti combination shows just how far this hardware can push a well-optimized title. The measured results are exceptional across the board, with average frame rates that exceed the refresh rates of nearly all standard monitors. Even at the most demanding preset, this pairing never dips below the 100 FPS mark at 4K, making for an incredibly fluid experience in a genre where precise timing is essential. The primary takeaway from the data is that this system is wildly overqualified for the game, but that overqualification translates into the ability to use maximum settings with total confidence.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark data provides a clear hierarchy of performance across the four tested presets. At 4K, the Ultra preset delivers an average of 100.7 FPS, while High yields 103.6 FPS. This is a negligible difference of roughly 3% between the two highest quality settings. When you step down to Medium, the average jumps to 164.7 FPS, and Low reaches 207.3 FPS. The pattern is consistent at 1440p and 1080p, but the absolute numbers are so high that the choice becomes about visual fidelity rather than playability.

The data strongly suggests that Ultra is the correct setting to use for this combination. Since the game is a puzzle platformer with a distinct, moody art style, the extra visual effects and detail levels present in the Ultra preset are likely to be appreciated. The fact that the RTX 3080 Ti still manages to average 100.7 FPS at 4K Ultra means there is no performance-based reason to compromise. For users with a 144Hz or 165Hz monitor at 1440p, the High preset offers 164.2 FPS, which is a better match for that refresh rate than the 158.2 FPS of Ultra. However, the gap is so small that most players would be hard-pressed to notice the difference in frame rate, while the visual downgrade from Ultra to High would be more apparent.

If you are targeting a 240Hz monitor at 1080p, the Medium preset at 365.9 FPS or even High at 232.2 FPS are the only options that can keep up with the display's maximum refresh rate. Low is unnecessary as it provides 397 FPS, which is beyond the capability of almost all consumer displays. The optimal experience for a high-refresh 1080p panel is High, as it delivers a frame rate that exceeds the 240Hz threshold while retaining a significant amount of visual quality. For 4K, the recommendation is unequivocally Ultra; the system has enough headroom to run the game at its maximum visual potential without any concern for frame pacing or stutter.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the benchmark database, this specific combination of the Intel Core i7-13700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti ranks 257th out of 1671 tested combos for this game. This places it in the top 15% of all configurations, which is a strong showing but not a top-tier result, given that the RTX 3080 Ti is a previous-generation high-end card. The ranking indicates that while this setup is exceptionally fast for Inside, there are many newer and more powerful GPUs that achieve higher frame rates.

The CPU itself is a powerhouse, sitting in the 93rd percentile when compared to all other processors in the database. Its average benchmark score of 47282 is nearly identical to its closest rival, the Intel Core i7-13700KF, which scores 47334, a difference of only -0.1%. This effectively means the K-series chip offers no performance advantage in synthetic tests. The i7-13700K also edges out the AMD EPYC 4364P by 0.3% and the Intel Core i9-12900F by 0.4%, while trailing the AMD Ryzen 9 PRO 5945 by -0.5%. These margins are all within the noise of benchmark testing, confirming that the 13700K is perfectly positioned among its peers.

On the GPU side, the RTX 3080 Ti sits in the 83rd percentile, with an average benchmark score of 41224. Its direct rival, the RTX 3090, scores 41441, which is only 0.5% higher. The data shows this card is also just ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 and the newer RTX 5070, though the differences are again minimal at -0.9% and -1.1% respectively. The 257th rank in-game is a reflection of the GPU's age; the CPU has the horsepower to feed any graphics card, but the frame rate ceiling is ultimately set by the RTX 3080 Ti's raw compute capabilities.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Inside at 4K with maximum settings?

A: Yes. The measured data shows an average frame rate of 100.7 FPS at 3840x2160 with the Ultra preset. This is well above the 60 FPS standard for smooth gameplay and indicates that the RTX 3080 Ti has ample power for this title at 4K.

Q: What is the best preset for a 1440p 144Hz monitor?

A: The High preset is the most suitable match. It produces an average of 164.2 FPS, which exceeds the 144Hz refresh rate. While the Ultra preset achieves 158.2 FPS and is also playable, High provides a slightly larger buffer to prevent frame drops from causing visible stutters.

Q: How does the Intel Core i7-13700K compare to its direct rival, the i7-13700KF?

A: The benchmark scores are effectively identical. The i7-13700K scores 47282 on average, while the i7-13700KF scores 47334, a difference of -0.1%. This shows that the integrated graphics on the K-variant do not hinder its performance in compute-heavy tasks.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor for this game?

A: At lower resolutions like 1080p, the CPU's high single-thread performance is critical for reaching frame rates near 397 FPS. However, at 4K, the workload shifts heavily to the GPU, and the RTX 3080 Ti becomes the bottleneck, as evidenced by the larger performance drop between resolutions.

Q: What is the performance gap between the High and Ultra presets at 1080p?

A: The difference is small. High averages 232.2 FPS, while Ultra averages 219 FPS. This is a reduction of only about 6% in frame rate, which is a minor cost for the additional visual fidelity that the Ultra preset provides.

Q: Given the high frame rates, is this combination overkill for Inside?

A: For a game from 2016, yes. The data shows the system is capable of delivering over 200 FPS at 4K on Low settings. This level of performance is far beyond what is required for a smooth experience, but it does allow for maximum settings at high resolutions without any compromise.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured data provides a comprehensive view of performance across all combinations of resolution and preset. At 1920x1080, the frame rates are exceptionally high. The Low preset reaches an average of 397 FPS, which is the highest score recorded in the entire set. Medium follows at 365.9 FPS, and High drops to 232.2 FPS. The Ultra preset still manages a very respectable 219 FPS. These figures indicate that at 1080p, the game is severely CPU-bound, as the frame rates are far beyond what the GPU would need to render the simple scenes.

Moving to 2560x1440, the numbers remain incredibly strong. Low yields 328.9 FPS, Medium produces 265.2 FPS, and High delivers 164.2 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1440p averages 158.2 FPS, which is a substantial drop from the 219 FPS seen at 1080p, showing the increased load on the GPU. The trend continues at 3840x2160, where the pixel count quadruples from 1080p. Here, Low drops to 207.3 FPS, Medium falls to 164.7 FPS, and High settles at 103.6 FPS. The Ultra preset provides an average of 100.7 FPS, which is the lowest score in the dataset but still perfectly playable.

The scaling between presets is consistent. At each resolution, Low is significantly faster than Medium, but the gap between High and Ultra is consistently small, typically a few FPS. This suggests that the Ultra preset adds effects that are not particularly demanding on the hardware, while the step from Low to Medium introduces more substantial rendering changes. For the RTX 3080 Ti, the difference between High and Ultra is negligible, while for the CPU, the difference between Low and Medium is more noticeable in the frame rate output.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and reveals the nature of the bottleneck. At 1080p Ultra, the system averages 219 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, this falls to 158.2 FPS, a reduction of about 28%. Moving to 4K Ultra, the average is 100.7 FPS, which is a further 36% decrease from the 1440p result. Overall, the jump from 1080p to 4K results in a frame rate drop of approximately 54%. This is a significant decline that is typical for a game that becomes increasingly GPU-bound at higher resolutions.

This scaling behavior indicates that while the Intel Core i7-13700K is powerful enough to drive very high frame rates at 1080p, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is the component that determines the final output as resolution increases. The 4K Ultra result of 100.7 FPS is the clear bottleneck of the GPU. If the game were entirely CPU-bound, we would expect to see less of a performance difference between 1440p and 4K. The data shows a consistent and large drop with each resolution increase, which is the signature of a graphics card that is struggling with the increased pixel workload.

The RTX 3080 Ti's 12 GB of GDDR6X memory and 384-bit bus are sufficient for this game, but the raw shading power is what limits the 4K performance. The 34.10 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is substantial, yet it is still the ceiling for this title. For players using a 4K 120Hz display, the 100.7 FPS average on Ultra means the system is just below the threshold for fully saturating the display, but it is close enough that adaptive sync technologies would make the experience effortless.

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. These specifications are far beyond what a puzzle platformer from 2016 requires. The game's engine is likely not optimized to use more than a few cores, meaning the i7-13700K's multi-threaded capabilities are largely irrelevant for Inside. Instead, the key metric is single-thread performance.

The benchmark data confirms this. The CPU scores 5505 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 1136 in 3DMark single-thread, placing it in the top tier for single-threaded workloads. This is crucial for achieving the high frame rates seen at 1080p. The 397 FPS result at 1080p Low is a direct product of the CPU's ability to process game logic and issue draw calls rapidly. The high boost clock of 5.40 GHz ensures that the primary game thread has access to maximum processing power.

However, the CPU's role diminishes as resolution increases. At 4K, the GPU is fully taxed, and the CPU has plenty of idle time to feed it frames. The data shows that even with such a powerful CPU, the frame rate still drops to 100.7 FPS at 4K Ultra, confirming that the RTX 3080 Ti is the limiting factor. In this scenario, a less powerful CPU would likely produce the same frame rate, as long as it could maintain a minimum of 100 FPS. The i7-13700K, with its 16 cores and high clocks, provides massive headroom, ensuring it will never be the cause of a stutter in this game, even in the most complex scenes.