Inside

The Intel Core i7-14700F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 delivers exceptional performance in Inside, a puzzle platformer that is far more demanding on the CPU than most titles in its genre. The benchmark data shows this combination ranks 344th out of 1671 tested combos, placing it in the top 21% of all systems. This is a remarkable result for a game with modest visual complexity, suggesting that the 20-core, 28-thread processor is doing heavy lifting to maintain such high frame rates. The combination of the 14700F's strong single-thread performance and the RTX 3080's raw throughput creates a system that can push well beyond the 200 FPS threshold at 1080p, with only the most extreme settings and resolutions causing any significant slowdown.

Resolution Scaling

The scaling behavior from 1080p to 4K reveals a system that is primarily CPU-limited at lower resolutions but gradually shifts toward GPU limitation as pixel count increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 389.1 FPS, which drops to 315.4 FPS at 1440p and then to 199.7 FPS at 4K. This represents a 48.7% reduction from 1080p Low to 4K Low, indicating that the GPU is becoming a more significant factor at higher resolutions, though the CPU still maintains extremely high output.

The gap between Low and Ultra settings widens considerably as resolution increases, which is a classic sign of GPU-bound behavior. At 1080p, the difference between Low (389.1 FPS) and Ultra (209.3 FPS) is 179.8 FPS, while at 4K the same comparison shows only a 101.5 FPS gap (199.7 vs 98.2 FPS). This compression at 4K suggests that the RTX 3080's 10 GB of GDDR6X memory and 760.3 GB/s bandwidth are being taxed more heavily, though the game still runs at near-100 FPS even under the most demanding configuration.

Interestingly, the High and Ultra settings produce nearly identical results at each resolution. At 4K, High delivers 98 FPS while Ultra achieves 98.2 FPS, a difference of just 0.2 FPS. The same pattern appears at 1440p (155.9 vs 150.6 FPS) and 1080p (221.1 vs 209.3 FPS). This suggests that the Ultra preset introduces minimal additional graphical effects over High for this particular title, or that the system is hitting a performance ceiling that prevents the extra settings from having a measurable impact.

The data indicates that even at 4K Ultra, this combo never drops below the 60 FPS threshold, maintaining an average of 98.2 FPS. This is particularly impressive given that the CPU has a base clock of 2.10 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, with the boost being critical for maintaining high frame rates in CPU-bound scenarios. The 33 MB of shared L3 cache and DDR5 memory support likely contribute to the processor's ability to feed the GPU efficiently at all resolutions.

FAQ

*Q: What is the maximum average FPS this combo achieves in Inside?*

A: The highest recorded average FPS is 389.1, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This drops to 315.4 FPS at 2560x1440 and 199.7 FPS at 3840x2160 with the same settings.

Q: How does the High preset compare to Ultra at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, High settings produce an average of 98 FPS while Ultra produces 98.2 FPS. The 0.2 FPS difference is negligible, suggesting the Ultra preset adds little visual overhead over High for this game.

Q: Is the system CPU-bound or GPU-bound at 1080p?

A: The data suggests CPU-bound behavior at 1080p. The i7-14700F's single-core score of 5003 in Cinebench R23 and multi-core score of 35443 indicate strong processing power, yet the 179.8 FPS gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p (389.1 vs 209.3) points to the CPU limiting maximum frame rates even as GPU load increases.

Q: What is the combo's overall ranking among tested systems?

A: The combo ranks 344th out of 1671 tested combinations, placing it in the top 20.6% of all systems tested for this game. This is a strong result given the game's release date of 2016.

Q: Does the RTX 3080's 10 GB VRAM cause any issues at 4K?

A: No data suggests VRAM limitations. The 4K Ultra average of 98.2 FPS indicates the 10 GB GDDR6X memory is sufficient for this title, though the 760.3 GB/s bandwidth is likely being utilized heavily at higher resolutions.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the average FPS drops from 221.1 at 1080p to 155.9 at 1440p and 98 at 4K. This represents a 55.7% reduction from 1080p to 4K, highlighting the significant GPU load increase at higher resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 344 out of 1671 places it in the upper echelon of tested systems for Inside. This positioning is particularly noteworthy when considering the CPU's percentile ranking of 94 among all processors, while the GPU sits at the 80th percentile among all GPUs. The gap between these percentiles suggests that the processor is the stronger component in this pairing, which aligns with the resolution scaling data showing CPU limitation at lower resolutions.

Looking at the CPU's nearest rivals provides context for its performance. The i7-14700F scores an average of 54097 in benchmarks, which is only 0.6% behind the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and 1.1% behind the Ryzen 9 9900X3D. It also outperforms the Intel Xeon Phi 7290 by 1.2% and the AMD EPYC 7313P by 1.7%. This close grouping suggests that the processor is performing at the expected level for its class, with no anomalies in the benchmark data.

For the GPU, the RTX 3080's average benchmark score of 35787 places it within 0.2% of the AMD Radeon Pro Duo and 0.9% of the AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE. It also edges out the AMD Radeon 880M by 0.4% and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Mobile by 1%. These narrow margins indicate that the GPU is performing consistently with its direct competitors, though the 80th percentile ranking shows it is not among the absolute fastest cards available.

The combination of a top-6% CPU and top-20% GPU results in a top-21% system ranking, which is actually better than what the individual percentiles might suggest. This indicates that the CPU's strength compensates for the GPU's relatively lower position, particularly in a game like Inside where the 20-core, 28-thread processor can leverage its 5.40 GHz boost clock to maintain high frame rates even when the GPU is not fully utilized.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data covers three resolutions and four settings levels, providing a comprehensive picture of performance. At 1920x1080, the combo delivers 389.1 FPS on Low, 353.3 FPS on Medium, 221.1 FPS on High, and 209.3 FPS on Ultra. The progression from Low to Medium shows a modest 35.8 FPS drop, while the jump to High causes a substantial 132.2 FPS reduction. This suggests that High settings introduce significant graphical effects that impact the GPU more heavily than the step from Low to Medium.

At 2560x1440, the same pattern emerges with lower absolute numbers. Low settings produce 315.4 FPS, Medium drops to 253.7 FPS, High comes in at 155.9 FPS, and Ultra achieves 150.6 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium here is 61.7 FPS, while the gap between Medium and High is 97.8 FPS. This widening difference as settings increase indicates that the GPU's 320 W TDP and 29.77 TFLOPS of FP32 performance are being taxed more heavily at higher settings.

The 3840x2160 results show the most pronounced GPU limitation. Low settings yield 199.7 FPS, which is still extremely high for 4K gaming. Medium drops to 161.6 FPS, High falls to 98 FPS, and Ultra hits 98.2 FPS. Interestingly, the High and Ultra results are nearly identical at this resolution, differing by only 0.2 FPS. This convergence suggests that the RTX 3080 reaches its effective limit around 98 FPS at 4K regardless of whether High or Ultra is selected.

Across all resolutions, the pattern shows that Low and Medium settings maintain frame rates well above 150 FPS, while High and Ultra consistently produce results in the 98-221 FPS range depending on resolution. The 760.3 GB/s memory bandwidth and 10 GB VRAM are sufficient to handle the game's requirements at all tested configurations, with no signs of memory-related stuttering or frame drops indicated in the average FPS data.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 plays a crucial role in this combo, particularly at higher resolutions and settings. Its 10 GB of GDDR6X memory running at 19 Gbps effective provides 760.3 GB/s of bandwidth, which is essential for maintaining smooth frame rates at 4K. The GPU's 8704 shading units and 272 texture mapping units work together to handle the visual effects that cause the FPS drops observed when moving from Low to High settings.

The GPU's clocks are set at a base of 1440 MHz with a boost of 1710 MHz, and the benchmark results show these are sufficient to reach 389.1 FPS at 1080p Low. The 68 ray tracing cores and 272 tensor cores are present on the chip, though the game's age and genre mean these features are unlikely to be heavily utilized. The 96 ROPs deliver a pixel rate of 164.2 GPixel/s, which helps explain the strong 4K performance even at Ultra settings.

The RTX 3080's benchmark scores place it at the 80th percentile among all GPUs, with a PassMark G3D score of 25086 and a Geekbench OpenCL score of 167014. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 4407 and Vulkan score of 145176 indicate solid DirectX 12 and Vulkan performance, which is relevant for a game like Inside that may use modern graphics APIs. The GPU's 29.77 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is more than adequate for this title, as evidenced by the 98.2 FPS average at 4K Ultra.

The data shows that the GPU becomes the limiting factor at 4K High and Ultra settings, where the FPS stabilizes around 98-98.2. This plateau suggests that the RTX 3080's computational resources are fully utilized at this resolution, and additional graphical fidelity from Ultra over High does not further impact performance. In contrast, at 1080p, the CPU is more likely the bottleneck, as evidenced by the 179.8 FPS gap between Low and Ultra settings, which indicates the GPU has headroom that the processor cannot fully feed.