Inside

Inside is a puzzle platformer from 2016 that places minimal stress on modern hardware, and the measured results for the Intel Core i7-14700KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 confirm this. The combination delivers exceptionally high frame rates across all tested configurations, making the bottleneck analysis more about understanding the ceiling of the hardware than about achieving playability. The data shows a system that is massively overqualified for the title, yet the scaling patterns between settings and resolutions reveal interesting insights into how this specific CPU and GPU interact with a lightly threaded, visually simple game engine.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows provide a clear hierarchy for the best experience per preset, and the differences are substantial. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset delivers an average of 294.4 FPS, which is only 5.6% lower than the High preset's 311.8 FPS. Given that both are far beyond any display refresh rate, the Ultra preset is the obvious choice for maximum visual fidelity without sacrificing measurable performance. The Medium preset at 378.6 FPS and Low at 410 FPS are technically faster, but the gains are irrelevant when the baseline is already nearly triple the refresh rate of typical high-end monitors.

At 2560x1440, the pattern shifts slightly. The Ultra preset averages 211.7 FPS, while High delivers 220.3 FPS, a margin of just 4.1%. The Medium preset jumps to 339.4 FPS, but this comes with a significant visual downgrade for a game that relies on atmospheric lighting and shadow detail. For a puzzle platformer where visual clarity aids in reading the environment, the High preset at 1440p appears to be the sweet spot, offering 220.3 FPS with most of the graphical features intact. The Ultra preset at 133.5 FPS at 4K is the only configuration that dips below 200 FPS, yet it remains perfectly playable on a 120Hz or 144Hz display.

The data suggests that for the majority of users, the High preset is the recommended starting point at any resolution. At 1080p, High provides 311.8 FPS, which is within 5.6% of Ultra's 294.4 FPS, making the latter a free upgrade. At 1440p, High's 220.3 FPS versus Ultra's 211.7 FPS shows a similar negligible gap. At 4K, the gap widens to 6.3% (142.5 FPS for High versus 133.5 FPS for Ultra), but both remain fluid. The Low preset's 410 FPS at 1080p reflects the engine's efficiency, yet the visual sacrifice is not justified when the High preset still produces 311.8 FPS.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700KF is a 20-core, 28-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. Its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 44557 places it in the 96th percentile among all CPUs, indicating top-tier compute capability. However, Inside is a puzzle platformer with a 2016 release date, meaning it likely relies on a small number of threads for game logic and physics. The benchmark results show that at 1080p Low, the system achieves 410 FPS, which is the highest measured frame rate in the entire dataset. This suggests that the CPU is not a limiting factor at lower resolutions, as the GPU is still able to produce massive frame counts without the CPU becoming a bottleneck.

The single-core performance is equally strong, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 6290, which is critical for a game that may not scale across many cores. The data indicates that even at 1080p Ultra, the CPU can feed the GPU enough data to sustain 294.4 FPS, which is far above what any current display can show. The processor's 33 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB per-core L2 cache likely help with the game's asset streaming, but the real takeaway is that this CPU is not the constraining component in any of the measured configurations. The nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-14700K, has a nearly identical average benchmark score (70074 versus 70104, a 0% delta), reinforcing that the KF variant's unlocked multiplier and lack of integrated graphics do not affect gaming performance.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 960.0 GB/s. Its boost clock is 2617 MHz, and it features 10752 shading units. The GPU's Passmark G3D score of 36565 places it in the 89th percentile, and its nearest rivals include the Intel Arc A580 with a 2.5% lower average score, which is a peculiar comparison given the massive architectural differences. The VRAM capacity is irrelevant for a 2016 puzzle platformer, but the raw compute power is what drives the frame rates.

The measured FPS data shows that the GPU is the primary scaling factor when moving between settings presets. At 4K, the Ultra preset drops to 133.5 FPS, while the Low preset achieves 280.1 FPS, a 109.8% increase. This indicates that the RTX 5080's shading units and texture rate (879.3 GTexel/s) are heavily utilized at higher settings. At 1080p, the gap between Low (410 FPS) and Ultra (294.4 FPS) is 39.3%, showing that the GPU still has headroom but is being constrained by the game's rendering workload. The data implies that the GPU is the bottleneck at higher settings and resolutions, while the CPU becomes relatively more important at lower settings and resolutions where the frame rate ceiling is raised.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core i7-14700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 ranks 21st out of 1671 tested combos for Inside, placing it in the top 1.3% of all systems in the database. This rank reflects the overall capability of both components, but it is notable that the rank is not higher given the top-tier nature of the hardware. The data suggests that other combinations may achieve higher frame rates in this specific game, likely due to the CPU's 20-core configuration being overkill for a title that does not utilize many threads. The CPU's percentile of 96 and the GPU's percentile of 89 indicate that both components are in the upper echelon, yet the game's age and simplicity mean that a less powerful CPU could deliver similar results. The 21st rank out of 1671 implies that there are 20 other combos that produce better average FPS, which could be attributed to higher single-core clock speeds or more efficient GPU drivers for this specific workload.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is significant and tells a clear story about the limiting component. At the Ultra preset, the system delivers 294.4 FPS at 1080p, 211.7 FPS at 1440p, and 133.5 FPS at 4K. This represents a 54.6% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 36.9% reduction from 1440p to 4K. The scaling is not linear, which indicates that the GPU is becoming increasingly saturated as the pixel count rises. At the Low preset, the figures are 410 FPS at 1080p, 364.5 FPS at 1440p, and 280.1 FPS at 4K, showing a much shallower drop of 11.1% from 1080p to 1440p and 23.2% from 1440p to 4K. This pattern suggests that at Low settings, the CPU is more of a limiting factor at lower resolutions, as the GPU has ample headroom. At Ultra settings, the GPU becomes the dominant constraint, as the shading and texture work scales directly with resolution. The data implies that for a game like Inside, the RTX 5080 is overkill at 1080p, but it is pushed to a reasonable load at 4K Ultra, where it still manages 133.5 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS values are as follows: Low preset achieves 410 FPS, Medium reaches 378.6 FPS, High delivers 311.8 FPS, and Ultra produces 294.4 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 115.6 FPS, or 39.3% faster at Low. The Medium preset is 22.7% faster than High, but the visual fidelity drop is substantial. At 2560x1440, the values are: Low at 364.5 FPS, Medium at 339.4 FPS, High at 220.3 FPS, and Ultra at 211.7 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 152.8 FPS, or 72.2% faster at Low, which is larger than at 1080p. At 3840x2160, the values are: Low at 280.1 FPS, Medium at 225.1 FPS, High at 142.5 FPS, and Ultra at 133.5 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 146.6 FPS, or 109.8% faster at Low. This scaling shows that the GPU's workload increases dramatically with resolution, but the system never drops below 133.5 FPS in any configuration, making all settings playable on high-refresh displays.

FAQ

Q: Is the Intel Core i7-14700KF a bottleneck for the RTX 5080 in Inside?

A: The data does not indicate a CPU bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 410 FPS, and the CPU's single-core Cinebench R23 score of 6290 is more than sufficient for this 2016 title. The frame rates scale predictably with GPU load, suggesting the CPU is not the limiting factor.

Q: What is the best preset to use at 1440p for a balance of quality and performance?

A: The High preset at 2560x1440 delivers 220.3 FPS, which is only 4.1% lower than Ultra's 211.7 FPS. Given the negligible difference, High is recommended for preserving visual features while maintaining a high frame rate.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems?

A: This combo ranks 21st out of 1671 tested combinations for Inside, placing it in the top 1.3%. The rank reflects the hardware's overall capability, though the game's simplicity means that many other systems achieve similar results.

Q: Does the RTX 5080's 16 GB of VRAM matter for this game?

A: No, the 16 GB of GDDR7 memory is far beyond the requirements of a 2016 puzzle platformer. The data shows no indication of VRAM limitations, as even at 4K Ultra, the system maintains 133.5 FPS.

Q: Why is the frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K larger at Ultra settings?

A: At Ultra, the GPU is more heavily utilized, so the resolution scaling has a greater impact. The frame rate drops from 294.4 FPS at 1080p to 133.5 FPS at 4K, a 54.6% reduction, whereas at Low settings, the drop from 410 FPS to 280.1 FPS is only 31.7%, indicating the CPU is more involved at lower settings.

Q: Are the GPU's nearest rivals in benchmarks relevant to gaming performance?

A: The nearest rivals listed for the RTX 5080 include the Intel Arc A580 and AMD Radeon Pro W5500X, with deltaPct values of 2.5% and 2.6% respectively. These are general benchmark comparisons, and the measured gaming FPS for this combo is primarily dependent on the specific game's engine and settings.