Inside

The combination of the Intel Core i9-14900K and AMD Radeon RX 580 produces a peculiar pairing in Inside, where the 14th-gen flagship CPU is heavily bottlenecked by a GPU from the Polaris era. The data indicates this combo ranks 3386th out of 3716 tested configurations, placing it in the bottom 9% of all tested combos for this title. This is a stark illustration of how a powerful modern processor cannot compensate for an aging graphics card in a GPU-bound scenario, though the results vary dramatically depending on resolution and settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The comboRankInGame of 3386 out of 3716 places this pairing firmly in the lower percentile of all tested systems for Inside. This is a surprisingly low position given the CPU's capabilities, but it makes sense when examining the performance distribution. The Intel Core i9-14900K sits in the 95th percentile of all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 79097, yet it is paired with a GPU that rests in the 53rd percentile of all GPUs. This massive gap between CPU and GPU capability creates a system where the processor's potential is largely untapped.

The CPU itself benchmarks within 0.3% of the Intel Core i9-14900KF (which scores 79371) and trails the Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus by 0.6% and the AMD EPYC 7413 by 1.2%. Against the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395, the i9-14900K leads by 1.7%. These margins are negligible in real-world gaming, meaning the CPU is not the limiting factor in Inside. Meanwhile, the RX 580's average benchmark score of 12928 places it just 0.1% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile (12940) and 0.4% behind the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER (12986). It leads the AMD Radeon 740M by 0.5% and the AMD FirePro W5100 by 0.6%.

The low overall rank stems from the fact that Inside is not a demanding title for modern CPUs. The game's release date of 2016-07-06 means it was designed around hardware from that era, and the RX 580 (released 2017-04-17) is already several generations old. The i9-14900K's 24 cores and 32 threads provide no advantage in a game that likely uses only a fraction of that compute power. The benchmark results confirm this: at 1080p Low, the system hits 150 FPS, but at 4K Ultra, it drops to 32 FPS. This scaling pattern indicates the GPU is the bottleneck across all settings, with the CPU idling well below its potential.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 580 plays the dominant role in determining this combo's performance in Inside. The GPU is built on the Polaris 20 chip using the GCN 4.0 architecture, manufactured on a 14nm process at GlobalFoundries. It contains 5,700 million transistors on a 232 mm² die, with a transistor density of 24.6M per mm². The card operates at a base clock of 1257 MHz and a boost clock of 1340 MHz, with memory running at 2000 MHz (8 Gbps effective). It has 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

The GPU's shading power comes from 2304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 32 raster output units. This configuration yields a pixel rate of 42.88 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 193.0 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance of 6.175 TFLOPS. The card supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3, which covers Inside's requirements. The RX 580 draws 185W TDP and requires a 450W power supply, connected via a single 8-pin connector.

In Inside's measured results, the GPU's VRAM and clock speeds are sufficient for the game's graphical demands. The 8 GB frame buffer does not appear to be a limiting factor at any resolution, as the performance drops are consistent with raw compute limitations rather than memory capacity issues. The boost clock of 1340 MHz is modest by modern standards, and the GCN 4.0 architecture lacks the efficiency of newer designs. This is evident in the 4K results, where the card struggles to maintain playable framerates even at Medium settings.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance on optimal settings for this combo. At 1080p, the system achieves 150 FPS on Low, 120 FPS on Medium, 75 FPS on High, and 71 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset offers the best balance, delivering 120 FPS average with a minimum of 102 FPS and maximum of 138 FPS. This provides smooth gameplay well above the 60 FPS threshold while maintaining visual quality.

For 1440p, the Medium preset again proves optimal with 86 FPS average (73 min, 99 max). The Low preset reaches 108 FPS, while High drops to 54 FPS and Ultra falls to 51 FPS. The Medium settings at 1440p provide a comfortable margin above 60 FPS, making it the recommended choice for this resolution. At 4K, the situation changes dramatically. The Low preset manages 68 FPS, but Medium drops to 54 FPS (46 min, 62 max), High falls to 34 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 32 FPS.

For the best experience, the data suggests using Medium settings at 1080p or 1440p. The jump from Medium to High costs 45 FPS at 1080p (120 to 75) and 32 FPS at 1440p (86 to 54), while the visual improvement in a puzzle platformer like Inside is likely minimal. At 4K, players would need to accept Low settings for playable framerates, as anything above Medium results in sub-60 FPS performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system shows its strongest performance. The Low preset yields 150 FPS average, which represents the ceiling for this combo at this resolution. Medium delivers 120 FPS with a minimum of 102 FPS and maximum of 138 FPS, providing consistent frame times. High settings produce 75 FPS, while Ultra achieves 71 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 30 FPS, while the difference between High and Ultra is only 4 FPS, suggesting diminishing returns at the highest settings.

Moving to 2560x1440, performance scales predictably. Low settings hit 108 FPS, Medium reaches 86 FPS (73 min, 99 max), High drops to 54 FPS, and Ultra manages 51 FPS. The 1440p results show a 22 FPS drop from Low to Medium, then a 32 FPS drop from Medium to High. This pattern indicates that Medium is the last playable tier before performance falls below 60 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's limitations become severe. Low settings produce 68 FPS, which is the only preset above 60 FPS. Medium falls to 54 FPS (46 min, 62 max), High drops to 34 FPS, and Ultra reaches just 32 FPS. The 4K results show a 14 FPS drop from Low to Medium, then a 20 FPS drop from Medium to High. The minimum FPS of 46 at Medium 4K indicates potential stuttering in demanding scenes.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals the GPU-bound nature of this combo. At Low settings, performance drops from 150 FPS at 1080p to 108 FPS at 1440p (a 28% reduction) and then to 68 FPS at 4K (a 55% reduction from 1440p). This scaling is steeper than the pixel count increase would suggest, indicating that the RX 580's compute resources are saturated at higher resolutions.

At Medium settings, the scaling is 120 FPS at 1080p, 86 FPS at 1440p (28% drop), and 54 FPS at 4K (37% drop from 1440p). The High preset shows 75 FPS at 1080p, 54 FPS at 1440p (28% drop), and 34 FPS at 4K (37% drop). Ultra follows a similar pattern: 71 FPS, 51 FPS (28% drop), and 32 FPS (37% drop).

The consistent 28% drop from 1080p to 1440p across all settings suggests the GPU's fill rate and shading units are the limiting factor. The transition from 1440p to 4K shows a more variable drop (37-55%), with Low settings suffering the most. This indicates that at higher resolutions, the GPU's memory bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s becomes strained, particularly at Low settings where the fill rate demands are different. The CPU shows no signs of bottlenecking, as the i9-14900K's single-core performance (2262.5 in Cinebench R23 single-core) far exceeds what Inside requires.

FAQ

*Q: Is this combo capable of running Inside at 4K?*

A: The data shows playable framerates at 4K only on Low settings, which achieves 68 FPS. Medium settings drop to 54 FPS (46 min, 62 max), while High and Ultra fall to 34 FPS and 32 FPS respectively.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1080p gaming?

A: Medium settings at 1080p deliver 120 FPS average with a minimum of 102 FPS and maximum of 138 FPS. This provides the best combination of smoothness and visual quality, as High and Ultra both drop below 80 FPS.

Q: How does the RX 580 compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RX 580's average benchmark score of 12928 is 0.1% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile (12940) and 0.4% behind the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER (12986). It leads the AMD Radeon 740M by 0.5% and the AMD FirePro W5100 by 0.6%.

Q: Is the i9-14900K bottlenecking the RX 580 in this game?

A: No. The CPU ranks in the 95th percentile of all CPUs, while the GPU sits in the 53rd percentile. The consistent FPS drops across resolutions and settings indicate the GPU is the limiting component, not the processor.

Q: What framerate can I expect at 1440p with Medium settings?

A: The measured results show 86 FPS average with a minimum of 73 FPS and maximum of 99 FPS at 2560x1440 on Medium settings. This provides smooth gameplay above the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the i9-14900K's performance compare to the i9-14900KF?

A: The i9-14900K's average benchmark score is 79097, which is 0.3% lower than the i9-14900KF's 79371. This difference is negligible and would not affect in-game performance in Inside.