Inside

# Inside — Intel Core i9-14900K + AMD Radeon RX 570

The Intel Core i9-14900K paired with the AMD Radeon RX 570 produces a peculiar performance profile in Inside, a 2016 puzzle platformer. The data shows a system where the CPU is dramatically overqualified for the task while the GPU becomes the decisive bottleneck, particularly at higher resolutions and settings. With 24 cores and 32 threads on the CPU side and a 4 GB GDDR5 GPU featuring 2048 shading units, this combination delivers playable but uneven results that depend heavily on how the user configures the graphical presets.

Settings Recommendations

The measured frame rates across the four presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) reveal a clear hierarchy, and the optimal choice depends on the target resolution. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 135 avg FPS, which is smooth but visually sparse for a game with atmospheric lighting and shadow work. The Medium preset at 1080p produces 108 avg FPS with a minimum of 92 FPS, which remains comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold while offering noticeably better visual fidelity. The High preset at 1080p drops to 68 avg FPS, still playable but with less headroom for demanding scenes. Ultra at 1080p yields 64 avg FPS, which is technically above 60 but leaves little margin.

For 2560x1440, the situation tightens. Low preset gives 97 avg FPS, while Medium produces 78 avg FPS with a minimum of 66 FPS. High drops to 49 avg FPS, which falls below the 60 FPS standard. Ultra at 1440p is 46 avg FPS, making it a poor choice. At 3840x2160, only the Low preset (61 avg FPS) and Medium (49 avg FPS) are remotely viable; High (31 FPS) and Ultra (29 FPS) are effectively unplayable for smooth gameplay.

The best overall experience, balancing visual quality and frame rate stability, is the Medium preset at 1920x1080. At 1080p, Medium provides 108 avg FPS with a 92 FPS minimum, which ensures consistent performance. For 1440p users wanting high fidelity, Medium at 78 avg FPS is the pragmatic ceiling. At 4K, Low at 61 FPS is the only preset that maintains a playable average, though users should expect occasional dips. The data suggests that the Medium preset is the sweet spot across all resolutions, offering the best compromise between the 135 FPS of Low and the sub-50 FPS results of High and Ultra at higher resolutions.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 570 is the limiting component in this configuration. With a base clock of 1168 MHz and boost clock of 1244 MHz, the GPU's Polaris 20 chip on a 14 nm process delivers 5.095 TFLOPS of FP32 compute. The 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is adequate for a 2016 puzzle platformer but becomes strained as resolution increases. The GPU's 32 ROPs and 128 TMUs handle pixel and texture throughput at 39.81 GPixel/s and 159.2 GTexel/s, respectively.

The measured frame rates show a steep penalty as settings climb. At 1080p, Ultra (64 FPS) is nearly half of Low (135 FPS), indicating that the GPU's shading units are overwhelmed by the higher-detail shaders and post-processing effects in Inside. The drop from Medium (108 FPS) to High (68 FPS) at 1080p is a 37% reduction, which is disproportionate for a single preset step and points to specific rendering features (likely volumetric lighting or ambient occlusion) that tax the Polaris architecture heavily.

At 4K, the GPU's memory bandwidth becomes a critical factor. The 224.0 GB/s bandwidth is insufficient for the pixel throughput required at 3840x2160, resulting in 31 FPS at High and 29 FPS at Ultra. Even the Medium preset at 4K only achieves 49 FPS, with a minimum of 42 FPS, indicating frame time spikes that could cause perceptible stutter. The GPU's 74th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 28766, places it in the mid-range tier, but Inside's rendering demands at high settings push it beyond its comfortable envelope. Notably, the GPU's nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6800M, scores only 0.4% higher on average, yet the RX 570's real-world performance in this game is constrained by its 4 GB frame buffer at 4K.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i9-14900K is vastly overprovisioned for Inside. With 24 cores, 32 threads, and a boost clock of 6.00 GHz, the CPU's compute capacity is orders of magnitude beyond what a 2D side-scrolling puzzle platformer requires. The CPU's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 39399.5 and single-core score of 2262.5 demonstrate its dominance, but these capabilities remain largely idle in this title. The 36 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB per-core L2 cache provide ample headroom for any game logic or physics calculations that Inside might employ.

The data shows that the CPU is not the bottleneck in any measured configuration. The frame rate drops from 1080p to 4K track the GPU's rendering load rather than CPU limitations. For instance, at Medium settings, the FPS drops from 108 at 1080p to 78 at 1440p to 49 at 4K — a pattern consistent with GPU-bound performance. The CPU's 95th percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 79097, means it sits in the top 5% of processors, yet its nearest rival, the Intel Core i9-14900KF, scores only 0.3% lower, confirming that the CPU's exact model has no practical impact on this game's frame rates.

The CPU's 125 W TDP and Intel Socket 1700 platform are irrelevant to the gaming results here, as the bottleneck is unequivocally the GPU. However, the CPU's high single-thread performance (4697 in Passmark single-thread) ensures that any CPU-side tasks, such as level streaming or entity updates, are handled with minimal latency. In a game like Inside with its sparse, puzzle-oriented gameplay, the CPU's role is reduced to maintaining a stable frame pacing floor, which it does effortlessly given its 6.00 GHz boost capability.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination — Intel Core i9-14900K with AMD Radeon RX 570 — ranks 3523 out of 3716 tested combos in Inside. That places it in the bottom 5% of all tested configurations, which is striking given the CPU's top-tier status. The ranking reflects the GPU's mid-range performance being paired with a CPU that offers no gaming benefit in this title. The 193-combo gap from the bottom (3716 - 3523 = 193) shows that there are still slower configurations, but the vast majority of tested combos outperform this pairing.

The ranking is almost entirely attributable to the GPU. The RX 570's 74th percentile ranking among all GPUs (meaning 26% of GPUs are slower) would suggest it should perform better than the bottom 5% of combos, but the way combo rankings aggregate CPU and GPU performance, the i9-14900K's high benchmarks do not compensate for the GPU's limitations in a GPU-bound scenario. In games where the CPU matters more, this combo would rank much higher, but Inside's rendering load is predominantly on the GPU.

The deltaPct values from the GPU's nearest rivals are instructive. The RX 6800M scores 0.4% higher on average, yet in practice, the RX 570's 4 GB memory capacity is insufficient at 4K Ultra, where the 29 FPS result is only 9% higher than the 31 FPS at High — barely a difference. The combo ranking of 3523 out of 3716 means that users with this pairing are in the bottom 5.2% of all tested configurations, which is a poor outcome for a system built around a flagship CPU. The data suggests that the CPU is effectively wasted in this game, as even a significantly weaker CPU paired with a stronger GPU would likely rank higher.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution to play Inside with this hardware?*

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 is the only resolution where all presets maintain playable frame rates. At Medium settings, 1080p delivers 108 avg FPS with a 92 FPS minimum, making it the most consistent experience. At 1440p, only Low (97 FPS) and Medium (78 FPS) exceed 60 FPS, while at 4K, only Low (61 FPS) reaches playable levels.

Q: Why does the Ultra preset perform so poorly compared to High?

A: At 1080p, Ultra (64 FPS) is only 6% slower than High (68 FPS), but at 1440p, the gap widens to 6% (46 vs 49 FPS) and at 4K, Ultra (29 FPS) is 6% slower than High (31 FPS). The minimal difference between High and Ultra suggests that the Ultra preset adds features that are not well-optimized for the RX 570's GCN 4.0 architecture, but the frame rate is primarily constrained by the GPU's memory bandwidth at higher resolutions.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The data clearly indicates the GPU is the bottleneck. The frame rates scale with resolution (135 FPS at 1080p Low, 97 FPS at 1440p Low, 61 FPS at 4K Low), which is a classic GPU-bound pattern. The i9-14900K's 24 cores and 6.00 GHz boost clock are never stressed, as evidenced by the consistent frame rates across CPU-heavy and GPU-heavy scenes.

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 4K?

A: Only with the Low preset, which achieves 61 avg FPS. The Medium preset at 4K drops to 49 FPS with a minimum of 42 FPS, while High (31 FPS) and Ultra (29 FPS) fall well below the 60 FPS target. Users wanting 4K at higher settings would need a more capable GPU.

Q: How does this combo compare to other i9-14900K pairings?

A: The combo rank of 3523 out of 3716 places it in the bottom 5% of all tested combinations. This is almost entirely due to the RX 570's performance ceiling, since the CPU's 95th percentile ranking means it outperforms 95% of all CPUs, but that advantage is not realized in a GPU-bound game like Inside.

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 1440p Medium?

A: The measured data shows 78 avg FPS with a minimum of 66 FPS and a maximum of 89 FPS. This is a playable experience with occasional dips below the 60 FPS threshold, but the average remains well above the standard for smooth gameplay.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the frame rates are as follows: Low preset delivers 135 avg FPS, Medium delivers 108 avg FPS (with a minimum of 92 and maximum of 124), High delivers 68 avg FPS, and Ultra delivers 64 avg FPS. The progression from Low to Medium is a 20% reduction, while the jump from Medium to High is a 37% reduction, and High to Ultra is only a 6% reduction. This indicates that the Medium-to-High transition involves the most demanding rendering features.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset yields 97 avg FPS, Medium yields 78 avg FPS (minimum 66, maximum 89), High yields 49 avg FPS, and Ultra yields 46 avg FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p at each preset is roughly 28% for Low, 28% for Medium, 28% for High, and 28% for Ultra, showing a consistent resolution scaling penalty across all settings.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset manages 61 avg FPS, Medium drops to 49 avg FPS (minimum 42, maximum 56), High falls to 31 avg FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 29 avg FPS. The 4K results are dramatic: Low is the only setting above 60 FPS, and the gap between Low and Medium is 20%, while Medium to High is a 37% drop. The High and Ultra results at 4K are nearly identical (31 vs 29 FPS), suggesting that the GPU hits a hard memory bandwidth wall.

The data shows that the Medium preset consistently provides the best balance: at 1080p it offers 108 FPS with a 92 FPS minimum, at 1440p it offers 78 FPS with a 66 FPS minimum, and at 4K it offers 49 FPS with a 42 FPS minimum. The minimum FPS values for Medium (92, 66, 42) indicate that the GPU maintains reasonably stable frame pacing, whereas the High and Ultra presets likely suffer from more severe frame time spikes given the lack of reported minimums.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is consistent across all settings, but the absolute values reveal the GPU's limitations. At Low settings, the frame rate falls from 135 FPS at 1080p to 97 FPS at 1440p (a 28% drop) to 61 FPS at 4K (a 55% drop from 1080p). At Medium, the progression is 108 FPS to 78 FPS (28% drop) to 49 FPS (55% drop from 1080p). At High, it goes from 68 FPS to 49 FPS (28% drop) to 31 FPS (54% drop from 1080p). At Ultra, it goes from 64 FPS to 46 FPS (28% drop) to 29 FPS (55% drop from 1080p).

The uniformity of these percentage drops — 28% from 1080p to 1440p and 55% from 1080p to 4K — across all four presets is a strong indicator that the scaling is purely resolution-driven rather than settings-driven. A GPU-bound scenario should show exactly this pattern: the pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K, and the frame rate drops by roughly half (55% reduction is slightly less than the theoretical 75% reduction, suggesting some headroom in the GPU's pixel throughput).

This scaling behavior confirms that the RX 570's 224.0 GB/s memory bandwidth is the primary constraint at 4K. The GPU's 32 ROPs deliver a pixel rate of 39.81 GPixel/s, which at 4K (8.3 million pixels) theoretically allows 4.8 Gpixels per frame, but the memory bandwidth limits practical throughput. The 55% FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is less than the 75% pixel count increase, indicating that the GPU is not purely pixel-bound — likely some cache efficiency at lower resolutions helps, but at 4K the 4 GB frame buffer forces more frequent memory accesses.

The consistent 28% drop from 1080p to 1440p aligns with the 78% pixel count increase (from 2.1M to 3.7M pixels), showing that the GPU handles this resolution with reasonable efficiency. However, the fact that Low and Ultra show nearly identical percentage drops (55% vs 55% at 4K) suggests that the GPU's memory subsystem is saturated regardless of the shading workload at that resolution. The CPU's role in this scaling is negligible, as the i9-14900K's 6.00 GHz boost clock ensures that no CPU-side bottleneck emerges even at 1080p Low where the GPU is pushing 135 FPS.