Inside

# Inside — Intel Core i7-14700KF + NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070

The combination of Intel's Core i7-14700KF and NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 1070 delivers a playable Inside experience across all tested resolutions, though the character of that experience shifts dramatically depending on where the bottleneck sits. At 1080p, the pairing produces frame rates from 111.2 FPS at Ultra settings to 231.8 FPS at Low settings, indicating substantial headroom in the CPU-bound regime. At 4K, the picture changes: Ultra settings drop to 47.2 FPS, while Low settings still manage 103.8 FPS. The data shows a system that is consistently GPU-limited at higher resolutions, but the sheer compute strength of the 20-core processor keeps minimum playability intact even in the most demanding configuration.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of resolution-driven performance scaling. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 at High settings, average frame rate drops from 117.1 FPS to 80.4 FPS — a 31.4% reduction. The leap to 3840x2160 at High settings further reduces the average to 53.3 FPS, representing a 54.5% decline from the 1080p baseline. This scaling curve is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario: the GTX 1070's 256.3 GB/s memory bandwidth and 6.463 TFLOPS of FP32 compute become the limiting factors as pixel count grows.

The Low settings comparison is more revealing about the CPU's headroom. At Low settings, the system delivers 231.8 FPS at 1080p, 168 FPS at 1440p, and 103.8 FPS at 4K. The 4K-to-1080p ratio at Low settings is 0.448, meaning 4K retains just under 45% of the 1080p performance. At High settings, that same ratio is 0.455, nearly identical. This consistency across settings suggests that resolution scaling is governed by the GPU's fill rate and memory subsystem rather than by settings-specific effects. The GTX 1070's pixel rate of 107.7 GPixel/s and texture rate of 202.0 GTexel/s are the hard ceilings here.

Ultra settings at 4K yield 47.2 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold often considered ideal for smooth gameplay, but still fully playable for a puzzle platformer where frame timing is less critical than in competitive titles. The gap between Medium and High settings at 4K is notable: 84.2 FPS versus 53.3 FPS, a 58% difference. This suggests that High settings introduce a specific rendering feature that disproportionately taxes the GTX 1070's 8 GB of GDDR5 memory, possibly related to post-processing or shadow resolution.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700KF brings substantial compute resources to this pairing: 20 cores, 28 threads, a 3.40 GHz base clock, and a 5.60 GHz boost clock. Its Raptor Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process, delivers a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 44557 and a single-core score of 6290. These are top-tier results, placing the CPU in the 96th percentile among all tested processors. The nearest rival data confirms its position: the Core i7-14700K scores 70074 on average benchmark score, essentially identical to the 14700KF's 70104, with a 0% delta.

In the context of Inside, the CPU's role is primarily to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics updates. The game is not computationally demanding by modern standards — its 2016 release date and puzzle-platformer genre suggest modest thread utilization. The measured FPS at 1080p Low settings (231.8 FPS) indicates that even with minimal GPU workload, the CPU can sustain very high frame rates. However, the true test is whether the CPU can maintain frame pacing when the GPU is the bottleneck. The data shows it can: at 4K Ultra, the 47.2 FPS result is not a CPU limitation, as the 4K Low result of 103.8 FPS demonstrates the CPU can push well beyond that when the GPU workload is reduced.

The 33 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4/DDR5 memory support provide ample bandwidth for game assets. The CPU's Passmark multi-thread score of 52425 and single-thread score of 4480 further confirm its ability to handle both multi-threaded background tasks and the single-thread-heavy rendering pipeline typical of older game engines. Compared to its nearest rivals — the AMD EPYC 9115 (0.3% higher average score) and AMD Ryzen 9 9950X (0.4% lower) — the 14700KF sits in a performance cluster where differences are negligible, meaning the CPU is unlikely to be the differentiating factor in Inside's frame rates.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070, based on the GP104 chip and Pascal architecture, is the clear performance limiter in this configuration. Its 16 nm process node packs 7,200 million transistors into a 314 mm² die, with 1,920 shading units, 120 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The memory subsystem consists of 8 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 256.3 GB/s of bandwidth. Clock speeds are 1506 MHz base and 1683 MHz boost, with memory running at 2002 MHz (8 Gbps effective).

The GPU's benchmark profile shows a mixed picture. Its Passmark G3D score of 13498 places it in the 51st percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 12331. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Quadro K4200 (0.7% higher score), the GTX 880M (1.3% lower), the GTX 1650 SUPER (1.4% lower), and the Tesla K20Xm (1.7% lower). This cluster indicates the GTX 1070 is positioned in a performance band where small percentage differences separate it from contemporaries, but it is far from the top of the GPU hierarchy.

In Inside, the GPU's role becomes dominant as resolution increases. At 1080p, the GPU can deliver 231.8 FPS at Low settings, but this drops to 111.2 FPS at Ultra — a 52% reduction purely from settings changes. At 4K, the same settings change produces a drop from 103.8 FPS to 47.2 FPS, a 54.5% reduction. The consistency of these percentages across resolutions confirms that settings affect the GPU proportionally, regardless of resolution. The GTX 1070's DirectX 12 score in Passmark is notably low at 48, but Inside's engine likely uses DirectX 11, where the card scores 100. This suggests the game's rendering path is well-suited to the Pascal architecture's strengths.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play Inside with this CPU/GPU combo?

A: The data shows 1440p High settings deliver 80.4 FPS, while 1080p Ultra achieves 111.2 FPS. For a balance of visual fidelity and frame rate, 1440p Medium (132.5 FPS) or High (80.4 FPS) are both viable, with 4K only recommended at Low (103.8 FPS) or Medium (84.2 FPS) settings.

Q: Does the Core i7-14700KF bottleneck the GTX 1070 in this game?

A: No. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 231.8 FPS, and at 4K Low it achieves 103.8 FPS. These results indicate the CPU can sustain high frame rates even when GPU load is minimal, meaning the CPU is not the limiting factor in any tested configuration.

Q: How does the GTX 1070 compare to its immediate rivals in terms of average benchmark scores?

A: The GTX 1070's average benchmark score is 12331. It trails the NVIDIA Quadro K4200 by 0.7% (score 12241), and leads the GTX 880M by 1.3% (score 12490), the GTX 1650 SUPER by 1.4% (score 12504), and the Tesla K20Xm by 1.7% (score 12547). Note that lower rival scores indicate the 1070 performs slightly better.

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 4K Ultra settings?

A: The measured average is 47.2 FPS. This is below the 60 FPS target, but for a puzzle platformer it remains playable. Reducing to High settings at 4K improves this to 53.3 FPS, and Medium settings yield 84.2 FPS.

Q: Is the GTX 1070's 8 GB VRAM sufficient for Inside at 4K?

A: The data suggests yes. At 4K Ultra, the system achieves 47.2 FPS, and at 4K High it reaches 53.3 FPS. There is no indication of VRAM-related stuttering or performance collapse, as the frame rates scale predictably with settings changes.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested combinations for Inside?

A: It ranks 1398th out of 1671 tested combos, placing it in the 16th percentile. This reflects the GTX 1070's age and mid-range position rather than any CPU deficiency, as the 14700KF ranks in the 96th percentile among CPUs.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 1398 out of 1671 tested combinations places it in the lower 16% of all pairings for Inside. This position is primarily attributable to the GPU. The GTX 1070's 51st percentile ranking among all GPUs and its average benchmark score of 12331 position it as a mid-tier performer, while the CPU's 96th percentile ranking demonstrates the processor is not the constraint. The data reveals a significant mismatch: the CPU is capable of far higher frame rates than the GPU can deliver in this game.

The nearest rival GPU comparisons provide context. The GTX 1650 SUPER, with an average score just 1.4% lower, would likely produce nearly identical frame rates in Inside. The Quadro K4200, scoring 0.7% higher, would be marginally faster but not perceptibly so. This clustering indicates that the GTX 1070 sits in a dense performance band where many GPUs deliver similar results. The 16th percentile combo rank reflects that most tested pairings use more powerful GPUs, even if their CPUs are less capable than the 14700KF.

For a game like Inside, which is not graphically demanding by 2024 standards, this combo delivers playable performance at all tested settings. The 47.2 FPS minimum at 4K Ultra is the only configuration that dips below 50 FPS, and even that remains functional. The CPU's headroom suggests that upgrading the GPU would yield substantial improvements, as the 14700KF could easily drive a faster card to higher frame rates across all resolutions. As configured, this pairing offers a functional but GPU-limited experience, with the processor's potential largely untapped.