Inside

The Intel Core i7-14700F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 delivers a very strong experience in Inside, a title that is far more forgiving on hardware than most modern releases. The combo ranks 2915th out of 3716 tested combinations, placing it in the 78th percentile of all systems in the database for this specific game. This is a solid position, indicating that the pairing is well above average for this title, though not at the absolute top tier where specialized high-end rigs reside. The data shows a system capable of smooth gameplay across virtually all settings, with the primary bottleneck shifting from the GPU at lower resolutions to the CPU only at the most demanding 4K presets.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 2915 out of 3716 combos (about the 78th percentile) is a strong indicator for a game as old as Inside. It suggests that the i7-14700F and RTX 2060 together provide a frame rate headroom that far exceeds the demands of the game’s puzzle-platformer gameplay. The percentileVsAllCpus field for the CPU is 91, and the percentileVsAllGpus for the GPU is 58, so the processor is doing much more heavy lifting in the overall ranking than the graphics card. The average benchmark score for the CPU is 53620, putting it just 0.6% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and 0.8% ahead of the AMD EPYC 7313P in synthetic tests, but the GPU sits at 15290, which is nearly identical to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 (0% delta) and only 0.8% behind the AMD Radeon RX 7600. This indicates that the CPU is a top-tier part, but the GPU is the limiting factor in this pairing, which the measured FPS data confirms.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is built on the 12 nm Turing architecture with a TU106 chip containing 10,800 million transistors. It operates at a base clock of 1365 MHz and boosts up to 1680 MHz. For memory, it has 6 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s. In the context of Inside, these specifications are more than adequate. The GPU’s 1920 shading units and 48 ROPs are capable of pushing very high frame rates, but the data shows a clear ceiling: at 1080p Ultra, the average FPS is 122, which is only slightly higher than the 4K High result of 58 FPS. This suggests that the GPU’s compute and pixel throughput are sufficient to saturate the display at lower resolutions, but the rendering load at 4K with higher settings begins to tax the hardware. The GPU’s average benchmark score is 15290, and its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580, scores 15283, a 0% delta, showing that the RTX 2060 is on par with a much older card in synthetic tests, but in a light game like Inside, the architecture’s efficiency allows for playable frame rates even at 4K.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and reveals the GPU as the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions. At Low settings, the average frame rate drops from 256 FPS at 1080p to 184 FPS at 1440p, and then to 116 FPS at 4K. This is a 55% reduction from 1080p to 4K. For Medium settings, the drop is from 205 FPS at 1080p to 147 FPS at 1440p (a 28% reduction), and then to 93 FPS at 4K (a 55% reduction from 1080p). The pattern is consistent: the scaling from 1440p to 4K is steeper than from 1080p to 1440p, which is typical for a GPU-limited scenario. At High settings, the drop is from 128 FPS at 1080p to 92 FPS at 1440p (a 28% drop), and then to 58 FPS at 4K (a 55% drop from 1080p). The Ultra preset shows the most strain: 122 FPS at 1080p, 88 FPS at 1440p, and 55 FPS at 4K. This scaling behavior indicates that the CPU is not a limiting factor at 1080p, as the frame rates are very high, but the GPU’s fill rate and memory bandwidth become the constraint as pixel count increases. The 6 GB VRAM is sufficient for this game, as the texture loads are modest, but the 336.0 GB/s bandwidth is the key metric that prevents higher frame rates at 4K.

Settings Recommendations

For the best balance of visual fidelity and performance, the Medium preset is the recommended choice across all tested resolutions. The data shows that Medium at 4K yields an average of 93 FPS with a minimum of 79 FPS and a maximum of 106 FPS, which is comfortably playable. At 1440p, Medium delivers 147 FPS (min 125, max 169), and at 1080p it hits 205 FPS (min 174, max 236). The Medium preset offers a significant performance boost over High, which at 4K drops to 58 FPS, and over Ultra, which drops to 55 FPS at 4K. The jump from Low to Medium is substantial (from 116 FPS to 93 FPS at 4K), but the visual quality improvement is likely worth the 23 FPS cost, especially since the Medium preset still maintains a frame rate well above 60 FPS at 4K. For players with 1440p or 1080p monitors, Medium provides headroom for smooth gameplay without sacrificing the game’s atmospheric lighting and shadow quality. The Ultra preset, while offering the highest fidelity, drops the minimum frame rate below 60 FPS at 4K, making it less suitable for a consistently smooth experience. The High preset is a middle ground, but the data shows it provides only marginal gains over Medium while costing 35 FPS at 4K, so Medium is the sweet spot.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system exhibits exceptional performance. With Low settings, the average FPS is 256, which is well beyond the refresh rate of most monitors. Medium settings yield an average of 205 FPS, with a minimum of 174 and a maximum of 236. High settings produce an average of 128 FPS, and Ultra settings drop slightly to 122 FPS. This shows that at 1080p, the system is entirely GPU-bound, as even the Ultra preset maintains a frame rate above 120 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 134 FPS, indicating that the CPU is never a limiting factor at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance remains very strong. Low settings average 184 FPS, Medium averages 147 FPS (min 125, max 169), High averages 92 FPS, and Ultra averages 88 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is noticeable, with a 28% drop in FPS for Medium settings and a 28% drop for High settings. The system still delivers playable frame rates at all presets, with even Ultra staying above 60 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the GPU’s limits become apparent. Low settings average 116 FPS, which is still very smooth. Medium settings average 93 FPS, with a minimum of 79 FPS and a maximum of 106 FPS, providing a comfortable experience. High settings drop to 58 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 55 FPS. The min FPS for High and Ultra are not reported, but the averages suggest that these presets are borderline for 60 FPS gameplay. The data shows a clear progression: the system can handle 4K with Medium settings easily, but pushing to High or Ultra brings the frame rate down to the 55-58 FPS range, which may be acceptable for a puzzle platformer but is not ideal for a high-refresh-rate display.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700F is a 20-core, 28-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.10 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. It has a 33 MB shared L3 cache and supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory. In Inside, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics calculations, which is a light workload for such a powerful processor. The benchmark results for the CPU confirm its strength: it scores 35122 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 4958 in single-core, which places it in the 91st percentile of all CPUs. The data shows that the CPU is not the bottleneck in this game, as the frame rates scale almost entirely with resolution and graphics settings, which points to the GPU as the limiting factor. The CPU’s nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X, which scores 53288 (0.6% behind), and the Intel Xeon 6505P, which scores 53701 (0.2% ahead). These synthetic scores are far beyond what Inside requires, so the CPU is effectively idle in terms of being a performance constraint. The single-thread performance is also exceptional, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4958, ensuring that the game’s logic thread runs without any hiccups. The 65 W TDP is modest, but the boost clock of 5.40 GHz ensures that even a single-threaded workload is handled with ease.

FAQ

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

A: The Ultra preset at 3840x2160 yields an average of 55 FPS. While this is playable, it falls below the 60 FPS threshold, and the Medium preset at 4K offers a much smoother 93 FPS average.

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for a 60 FPS experience?

A: For a locked 60 FPS, the Medium preset at 4K (93 FPS average) is the safest choice. At 1440p, even Ultra settings maintain 88 FPS, and at 1080p, all settings exceed 120 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 compare to its nearest rival, the GTX 580?

A: In synthetic benchmarks, the RTX 2060 scores 15290, while the GTX 580 scores 15283, a 0% delta. In Inside, the RTX 2060’s modern architecture ensures it can handle the game’s shaders efficiently, but the raw compute is similar.

Q: Is the Intel Core i7-14700F overkill for this game?

A: The CPU has a percentile rank of 91 and an average benchmark score of 53620, which is far more power than Inside requires. The data shows that the frame rates are limited by the GPU, not the CPU, so the i7-14700F provides no performance benefit in this title beyond ensuring there is no CPU bottleneck.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, Low settings average 256 FPS, while Ultra settings average 122 FPS. This is a 134 FPS difference, showing that the GPU can handle the higher preset but with a significant performance cost.

Q: Does the 6 GB VRAM cause issues at 4K?

A: The data shows no VRAM-related performance drops, as the game is not VRAM-intensive. The GPU’s 336.0 GB/s bandwidth is the more critical factor, and the system manages 4K Medium at 93 FPS without issues.