Inside

Inside is a puzzle platformer from 2016, and the measured data for this Intel Core i7-14700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combination shows remarkable headroom at every resolution. The pairing sits at rank 14 out of 1,671 tested combos, placing it firmly in the top 1% of all configurations in the database. The game itself is not new, but the hardware is modern, and the benchmark results reveal a system that is never truly stressed by this title, even at 4K with the highest settings. The data indicates a GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions, while lower resolutions expose the raw capability of both the processor and the graphics card, with frame rates reaching well beyond the refresh rates of most displays.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a predictable but steep decline as resolution increases, which points directly to the GPU becoming the primary limiting factor. At 1080p with Low settings, the combination produces 407.4 FPS, but moving to 1440p drops that to 366.2 FPS, and at 4K it falls further to 292.7 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p represents a roughly 10% reduction in frame rate, while the jump from 1440p to 4K costs about 20% more performance. This pattern suggests that at 1080p, the CPU and GPU are both contributing, but the RTX 4090 has enough headroom that the processor’s 20 cores and 28 threads can feed it adequately.

Looking at the High preset, the scaling is more pronounced. The 1080p result of 314.4 FPS drops to 232.4 FPS at 1440p, a 26% decrease, and then to 148.2 FPS at 4K, another 36% reduction. The Ultra preset shows similar behavior: 312 FPS at 1080p, 224.3 FPS at 1440p, and 137.6 FPS at 4K. The fact that High and Ultra produce nearly identical scores at 1080p (314.4 versus 312) but diverge at 4K (148.2 versus 137.6) suggests that the higher preset adds shading or post-processing effects that scale with pixel count, putting additional strain on the GPU’s 16,384 shading units and 512 texture mapping units.

What is most telling is the Low preset’s 4K result of 292.7 FPS, which is still higher than the High preset’s 1080p score of 314.4 FPS only by a small margin. This indicates that even at 4K, the RTX 4090 is not fully utilized when settings are lowered, and the bottleneck shifts toward the CPU’s ability to issue draw calls. The i7-14700KF’s boost clock of 5.60 GHz and 33 MB of shared L3 cache likely keep the frame pipeline full, but the data shows diminishing returns as resolution rises, confirming that the GPU’s 24 GB of GDDR6X memory and 384-bit bus are handling the increased pixel workload without becoming a constraint.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700KF is a 20-core, 28-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, built on Intel’s 10 nm process. Its base clock of 3.40 GHz and boost clock of 5.60 GHz, combined with 33 MB of shared L3 cache, make it a formidable partner for this game. In the measured data, the CPU’s influence is most visible at 1080p, where frame rates exceed 300 FPS across all settings. The Low preset at 1080p hits 407.4 FPS, which is nearly 100 FPS higher than the 4K Low result, suggesting that the processor is capable of sustaining far more frames than the GPU can render at higher resolutions.

Benchmark scores for this CPU confirm its high-end positioning. It achieves 44,557 points in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 6,290 in single-core, placing it in the 96th percentile against all CPUs. Its average benchmark score of 70,104 is nearly identical to the Intel Core i7-14700K, which scores 70,074 with a 0% delta, and slightly ahead of the AMD EPYC 9115 at 69,887 with a 0.3% delta. The Ryzen 9 9950X scores 70,420, which is 0.4% higher, and the Xeon Platinum 8270 leads at 71,056, 1.3% ahead. These close margins indicate that the i7-14700KF is not a bottleneck in any meaningful way for Inside, as even the fastest rival CPU would produce similar frame rates.

The CPU’s memory support for DDR4 and DDR5 with a dual-channel bus, along with PCIe Gen 5 with 16 lanes, ensures that data transfer to the GPU is not a limiting factor. For a game like Inside, which is a side-scrolling puzzle platformer, the physics and logic are likely single-threaded or lightly threaded, and the i7-14700KF’s single-core performance, reflected in its 6,290 Cinebench R23 single-core score, is more than sufficient. The data shows that at 1440p Medium, the system delivers 336.5 FPS, and at 4K Medium, 237.8 FPS, which are high enough that the CPU’s role is mostly to keep up with the GPU’s output at lower resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the flagship of the GeForce 40-series, built on the Ada Lovelace architecture using TSMC’s 5 nm process. It features 16,384 shading units, 512 texture mapping units, and 176 raster output units, along with 128 ray tracing cores and 512 tensor cores. Its 24 GB of GDDR6X memory operates across a 384-bit bus, delivering 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. The base clock is 2,235 MHz with a boost of 2,520 MHz, and the memory runs at 1,313 MHz, effective 21 Gbps. These specifications translate to a pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 1,290.2 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance of 82.58 TFLOPS.

In the measured data, the GPU’s dominance is clear. At 4K Ultra, the system still produces 137.6 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS target most gamers seek. The drop from Medium to Ultra at 4K (237.8 to 137.6 FPS) represents a 42% reduction, indicating that the Ultra preset includes heavy effects that tax the GPU’s shading units and memory bandwidth. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is much smaller: 407.4 FPS versus 312 FPS, a 23% reduction. This suggests that at lower resolutions, the GPU is not fully saturated, and the CPU or memory subsystem becomes the limiting factor.

The RTX 4090’s benchmark scores place it in the 91st percentile among all GPUs, with an average score of 66,473. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Tesla T4 at 66,733 (0.4% faster), the Tesla P40 at 66,127 (0.5% slower), the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 at 67,097 (0.9% faster), and the NVIDIA Quadro P6000 at 67,320 (1.3% faster). These rivals are workstation or data center cards, not gaming GPUs, which highlights the RTX 4090’s position as a top-tier consumer part. For Inside, the GPU’s 24 GB VRAM is likely underutilized, as the game’s art style and resolution demands do not require such a large frame buffer, but the memory bandwidth and raw compute ensure that even 4K Ultra runs at over 130 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-14700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 14th out of 1,671 tested combos in Inside. This puts it in the top 0.8% of all configurations, which is an exceptional result for a game that is not particularly demanding by modern standards. The rank reflects the system’s ability to maintain high frame rates across all resolutions and settings, with the lowest measured score being 137.6 FPS at 4K Ultra. The fact that this combo is ranked 14th, rather than 1st, suggests that there are 13 other combinations that achieve marginally higher average frame rates, likely due to slightly faster CPUs or GPUs, but the differences are probably within a few percent.

The CPU’s benchmark rivals, such as the Ryzen 9 9950X, score within 0.4% of the i7-14700KF, and the GPU’s rivals, like the Tesla T4, are within 0.4% as well. This means that swapping to a marginally faster CPU or GPU could shift the rank slightly, but the overall experience would be identical. For a puzzle platformer like Inside, which runs at over 100 FPS at 4K Ultra, the rank is more of a theoretical curiosity than a practical indicator of performance. The data shows that this combo is overkill for the game, but it does ensure that no matter what settings or resolution a player chooses, the frame rate will never drop below 137 FPS.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the best experience depends on the display’s refresh rate. At 4K, the Ultra preset delivers 137.6 FPS, which is sufficient for a 120 Hz or 144 Hz display, but the High preset at 148.2 FPS provides a small improvement with likely little visual difference. The Medium preset at 237.8 FPS is excessive for any current display, and the Low preset at 292.7 FPS offers no additional benefit unless the player has a 240 Hz or higher monitor. For most users, the High preset at 4K is the sweet spot, as it balances visual quality with a frame rate that exceeds the refresh rate of most high-end displays.

At 1440p, the Ultra preset produces 224.3 FPS, which is well above the 144 Hz or 165 Hz refresh rates common at this resolution. The High preset at 232.4 FPS is nearly identical, and the Medium preset at 336.5 FPS is only useful for 240 Hz monitors. The Low preset at 366.2 FPS is unnecessary. For 1080p, all settings produce frame rates above 312 FPS, which only 360 Hz or higher refresh rate displays can fully utilize. The Ultra preset at 312 FPS is the recommended choice, as it provides the best visual quality without a meaningful performance penalty compared to High at 314.4 FPS. The data suggests that players should prioritize the Ultra preset at 1080p and 1440p, and the High preset at 4K, to maximize visual fidelity while keeping frame rates well above 140 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data covers three resolutions and four settings, providing a comprehensive view of performance. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves 407.4 FPS, Medium reaches 378.9 FPS, High delivers 314.4 FPS, and Ultra produces 312 FPS. At 2560x1440, the scores are 366.2 FPS for Low, 336.5 FPS for Medium, 232.4 FPS for High, and 224.3 FPS for Ultra. At 3840x2160, the Low preset hits 292.7 FPS, Medium reaches 237.8 FPS, High delivers 148.2 FPS, and Ultra produces 137.6 FPS.

These numbers show a consistent pattern: the gap between Low and Medium is relatively small at each resolution, but the jump from Medium to High is significant, especially at higher resolutions. At 4K, the difference between Medium and High is 89.6 FPS (237.8 to 148.2), while the difference between High and Ultra is only 10.6 FPS (148.2 to 137.6). This suggests that the High preset is the point of diminishing returns, where further increasing settings has a minimal impact on visual quality but a measurable impact on performance. The data also shows that the CPU’s influence diminishes as resolution increases, with the 1080p Low score of 407.4 FPS being 39% higher than the 4K Low score of 292.7 FPS, indicating that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at 4K.

FAQ

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

A: The highest measured average FPS is 407.4, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low preset.

Q: Does the combo maintain 60 FPS at 4K with Ultra settings?

A: Yes, the measured average FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings is 137.6, which is more than double the 60 FPS target.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rival in benchmark scores?

A: The Intel Core i7-14700KF has an average benchmark score of 70,104, which is 0% different from the Intel Core i7-14700K at 70,074, and 0.3% ahead of the AMD EPYC 9115 at 69,887.

Q: What is the GPU’s percentile ranking among all tested GPUs?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is in the 91st percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 66,473.

Q: Which resolution and settings combination yields the lowest frame rate?

A: The lowest measured frame rate is 137.6 FPS, which occurs at 3840x2160 resolution with the Ultra preset.

Q: How does the 4K High preset compare to the 1440p Ultra preset?

A: The 4K High preset achieves 148.2 FPS, while the 1440p Ultra preset achieves 224.3 FPS, making the latter 51% faster despite using a higher settings preset at a lower resolution.