Inside

The Intel Core i9-14900K and AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT combination delivers a highly capable, often overkill, experience for Inside, a Puzzle Platformer. The data shows that at 1080p, the system can push frame rates well beyond the refresh rates of most monitors, while at 4K Ultra, it still maintains playable performance. The primary bottleneck in this pairing is the GPU, though the CPU's immense power ensures that frame pacing remains consistent across all settings.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i9-14900K is a 24-core, 32-thread processor with a base clock of 3.20 GHz and a boost clock of 6.00 GHz. This is a desktop-class Raptor Lake-R architecture part with a 125 W TDP and 36 MB of shared L3 cache. For a game like Inside, which is not a demanding multi-threaded title, this CPU is overwhelmingly powerful. Its single-core performance is exceptional, as evidenced by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 7040 and a Geekbench single-core score of 3064. These scores place the chip in the 97th percentile of all CPUs, indicating it is among the fastest available.

In this specific game, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with enough data to maintain high frame rates. The benchmark results show that at 1080p Low, the system achieves 281.2 FPS. This is a scenario where the CPU's high boost clock is critical, as it prevents the processor from becoming a limiting factor even at such high frame rates. The data suggests that the i9-14900K is not a bottleneck at any resolution or setting for this title. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 49872 and Passmark multi-thread score of 58674 are far beyond what Inside requires, but they ensure that any background tasks or future, more demanding games will not cause stutters. The processor's performance is so high that it effectively removes the CPU from the performance equation, leaving the GPU as the sole arbiter of frame rate.

FAQ — 4-6 Q&A pairs answerable from FACT PACK data

Q: Can this system run Inside at 4K Ultra smoothly?

A: Yes, it can. The measured average FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings is 59.7 FPS. While this is just below the 60 FPS threshold, it is still a playable and consistent experience.

Q: What is the best resolution to use to guarantee a high refresh rate experience?

A: The data shows that at 2560x1440 with High settings, the system achieves 99.1 FPS. For a higher refresh rate, dropping to 1920x1080 on Medium or High yields 222 FPS and 139.9 FPS respectively, which are ideal for 144Hz or higher monitors.

Q: How much faster is the i9-14900K compared to its nearest rival?

A: The i9-14900K has an average benchmark score of 79824. Its closest rival, the AMD EPYC 7413, has an average score of 80041, which is 0.3% higher. Another rival, the Intel Core i9-14900KF, scores 79245, which is 0.7% lower.

Q: Is the RX 6600 XT a strong GPU relative to its competition?

A: The RX 6600 XT sits in the 71st percentile of all GPUs. Its average benchmark score is 27985. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti is its closest rival with a score of 27956, a mere 0.1% difference, indicating they are essentially performance equals.

Q: What is the difference in performance between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset produces 281.2 FPS, while the Ultra preset produces 131.6 FPS. This represents a significant 149.6 FPS difference, showing that Ultra settings impose a substantial load on the GPU.

Q: Does the CPU have an integrated GPU that is relevant here?

A: The i9-14900K includes UHD Graphics 770. However, since the system is paired with the discrete AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT, the integrated graphics are not used for rendering the game.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

The optimal settings depend on the user's display refresh rate. For a standard 60 Hz display, the High preset at 4K (3840x2160) provides an average of 62.9 FPS, which is a perfect match. However, for users with high-refresh-rate monitors, the 1440p resolution is the sweet spot. At 2560x1440, the Medium preset delivers 162.1 FPS, which is excellent for 144Hz panels, while the High preset at 99.1 FPS is still very smooth. Pushing to 1080p with the Low preset yields 281.2 FPS, which is only beneficial for 240Hz or faster displays. The Ultra preset, while visually demanding, shows a steep performance cost. At 4K Ultra, the frame rate drops to 59.7 FPS, and at 1080p Ultra it is 131.6 FPS. Given the minimal visual difference in a game with this art style, the High or Medium presets offer the best balance of visual quality and performance headroom. The data indicates that the Medium preset at 1440p is the most versatile recommendation, offering a high frame rate that will remain fluid on most monitors.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

This specific combination of the Intel Core i9-14900K and AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT ranks 1226 out of 1671 tested combos for Inside. This places it in the lower-middle portion of the ranking. While the CPU is top-tier, the GPU's performance holds the combo back in the overall ranking. The RX 6600 XT's average benchmark score of 27985 is modest compared to the i9-14900K's 79824. This pairing creates a significant imbalance, where the CPU is vastly more capable than the GPU. The ranking suggests that many other combos, likely those with more powerful GPUs, will achieve higher frame rates in this game. However, the rank also indicates that the system is not at the bottom, and it is more than capable of running the game well. The rank of 1226 out of 1671 is a direct result of the GPU being the limiting factor, as a stronger GPU paired with this same CPU would likely rank much higher.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K clearly identifies the GPU as the primary bottleneck. At High settings, the system averages 139.9 FPS at 1920x1080. This drops to 99.1 FPS at 2560x1440, a decrease of 40.8 FPS. Moving to 3840x2160, the frame rate falls to 62.9 FPS, another 36.2 FPS drop. This pattern is consistent across all settings. The scaling is almost linear with the number of pixels, which is a classic sign of a GPU-bound scenario. If the CPU were the limiting factor, the frame rate would remain relatively flat as resolution increases, because the CPU would be unable to feed the GPU faster. In this case, the CPU is providing frames so quickly that the GPU is overwhelmed by the increasing pixel count. The fact that the 1080p Low preset reaches 281.2 FPS, while the 4K Ultra preset only manages 59.7 FPS, quantifies this effect. The frame rate drops by 221.5 FPS when resolution and settings are both maxed out, confirming that the graphics card is working at its limit.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of performance across all configurations. Starting at 1920x1080, the system delivers 281.2 FPS on Low, 222 FPS on Medium, 139.9 FPS on High, and 131.6 FPS on Ultra. Moving to 2560x1440, the scores are 200.3 FPS on Low, 162.1 FPS on Medium, 99.1 FPS on High, and 94.2 FPS on Ultra. At the highest resolution, 3840x2160, the system produces 127.1 FPS on Low, 99.6 FPS on Medium, 62.9 FPS on High, and 59.7 FPS on Ultra. These numbers show a consistent performance hierarchy. The Low preset is always the fastest, followed by Medium, then High, with Ultra being the slowest. The gap between Low and Ultra is substantial. At 1080p, the difference is 149.6 FPS, and at 4K, it is 67.4 FPS. The data also shows that the drop from Medium to High is often more significant than from High to Ultra, suggesting that the High preset offers a better balance. The minimum FPS field is null for all entries, so only average frame rates are available for analysis.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT is a RDNA 2.0 architecture GPU with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s. It has a base clock of 1968 MHz and a boost clock of 2589 MHz. With 2048 shading units and 64 ROPs, the GPU is capable of a pixel rate of 165.7 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 331.4 GTexel/s. The 8 GB of VRAM is sufficient for Inside, as the game's art style does not require massive texture assets. The GPU's performance is the key constraint in this system. Its Passmark G3D score of 16461 places it in the 71st percentile of all GPUs. The data shows that the RX 6600 XT is a capable mid-range card that can handle 1080p and 1440p gaming with ease, but it struggles to maintain high frame rates at 4K with maximum settings. The 4K Ultra result of 59.7 FPS highlights this limitation. The GPU's 160 W TDP and 1x 8-pin power connector are modest, but the benchmark results show that this power budget is enough to deliver strong performance at lower resolutions.