Inside

Settings Recommendations

The measured data for Inside with the Intel Core i9-14900K and AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT reveals a clear hierarchy across the four presets tested. At 1080p, the Low preset delivers an average of 339.1 FPS, while Medium drops to 271.1 FPS, High to 170.6 FPS, and Ultra to 159.1 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is substantial, more than halving the frame rate, yet even Ultra remains far above the refresh rates of typical displays, so the choice hinges on visual fidelity versus raw headroom.

For the best experience, the Medium preset at 1080p offers the most balanced compromise. It retains 271.1 FPS, which is 60% higher than the High preset’s 170.6 FPS, while presumably adding meaningful graphical improvements over Low. The data suggests diminishing returns from High to Ultra: the difference is only 11.5 FPS, which is a 6.7% penalty for the highest settings. At 1440p, Medium again stands out with 193.4 FPS versus High’s 121.4 FPS, a 59% advantage that justifies the lower preset. Even at 4K, Medium’s 123.8 FPS comfortably exceeds the 78.2 FPS of High and the 72.9 FPS of Ultra, making it the sweet spot across all resolutions.

Ultra appears to be a luxury option for this combination, only viable when absolute visual quality trumps performance, but even then, the 159.1 FPS at 1080p is playable. Low, despite its 339.1 FPS ceiling, is likely unnecessary unless targeting extremely high refresh rates or minimizing input latency. The benchmark results indicate that Medium is the recommended preset for most users, as it consistently provides a 50-60% performance uplift over High while keeping frame rates well above 120 FPS at 1440p and above 60 FPS at 4K.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals how this combo’s workload shifts. At Low settings, the drop is steep: 339.1 FPS at 1080p falls to 242.9 FPS at 1440p (a 28.4% reduction), then to 151.3 FPS at 4K (a 55.4% reduction from 1080p). This pattern suggests that even at Low, the GPU becomes increasingly stressed as pixel count rises, but the CPU still has ample headroom, the i9-14900K’s 24 cores and 32 threads are not the limiting factor here.

At Medium settings, the scaling is similar but slightly less severe: 271.1 FPS at 1080p drops to 193.4 FPS at 1440p (28.7% down) and to 123.8 FPS at 4K (54.3% down). High settings show a comparable trend: 170.6 FPS at 1080p, 121.4 FPS at 1440p (28.8% down), and 78.2 FPS at 4K (54.2% down). Ultra follows suit with 159.1 FPS, 114.1 FPS, and 72.9 FPS, respectively.

The consistency of these percentage drops across all settings, roughly 28-29% from 1080p to 1440p and another 35-37% from 1440p to 4K, indicates that the Radeon RX 6700 XT is the primary bottleneck as resolution increases. The GPU’s 12 GB of GDDR6 memory and 384.0 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for these loads, but the raw compute throughput, 13.21 TFLOPS FP32, caps performance at higher pixel counts. The CPU’s role appears minimal in this scaling, as the frame rates at 1080p (even 339.1 FPS on Low) do not suggest a CPU limit; rather, the GPU’s rendering pipeline is the constraining factor once resolution climbs.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific configuration, Intel Core i9-14900K paired with AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT, ranks 826 out of 1671 tested combos for Inside. This places it in the 49.4th percentile, meaning it outperforms roughly half of all tested system pairings for this game. Given the CPU’s exceptionally high benchmark scores (its 97th percentile placement among all CPUs) and the GPU’s more modest 77th percentile ranking, the combo’s mid-pack position reflects the GPU as the performance limiter.

The CPU’s nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the AMD EPYC 7413 (scoring 80041, a mere 0.3% above), the Intel Core i9-14900KF (79245, 0.7% below), and the Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF (79240, 0.7% below). These tiny deltas, all within 1%, show that the i9-14900K is at the top of its class, but this strength does not translate to a high game-specific rank because Inside’s demands are GPU-bound. Meanwhile, the GPU’s nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon RX 6800 (33493, 0.7% above), the AMD Radeon HD 7950 (34050, 1.0% above), and the AMD Radeon RX 480 (34059, 1.0% above). The RX 6700 XT’s average benchmark score of 33721 is tightly clustered with these cards, yet the HD 7950 and RX 480, both much older architectures, score slightly higher in synthetic tests, which is curious.

The rank of 826 out of 1671 suggests that while this combo is not a top performer for Inside, it is far from inadequate. The data implies that swapping the GPU for a higher-tier card would dramatically improve the rank, whereas upgrading the CPU would yield negligible gains in this specific title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view across all three resolutions and four settings. At 1920x1080, the averages are: Low at 339.1 FPS, Medium at 271.1 FPS, High at 170.6 FPS, and Ultra at 159.1 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 180 FPS, a 53% reduction that shows how much headroom the Low preset offers.

At 2560x1440, the averages drop to: Low at 242.9 FPS, Medium at 193.4 FPS, High at 121.4 FPS, and Ultra at 114.1 FPS. Here, the Low-to-Ultra spread narrows to 128.8 FPS, a 47% reduction. The Medium preset still delivers 193.4 FPS, which is 59% higher than High, reinforcing that Medium is the performance-per-quality winner.

At 3840x2160, the averages are: Low at 151.3 FPS, Medium at 123.8 FPS, High at 78.2 FPS, and Ultra at 72.9 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra shrinks further to 78.4 FPS, a 52% reduction. Notably, even at 4K, Medium maintains 123.8 FPS, which is above 120 FPS, a threshold many users target for smooth gameplay. High and Ultra dip below 80 FPS, which is still playable but less fluid.

Across all resolutions, the step from High to Ultra is consistently the smallest increment: 11.5 FPS at 1080p, 7.3 FPS at 1440p, and 5.3 FPS at 4K. This suggests Ultra offers marginal returns over High, making it the least efficient preset in terms of performance cost.

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset for 1440p gaming on this combo?

A: The Medium preset delivers 193.4 FPS at 2560x1440, which is 59% higher than High’s 121.4 FPS. This provides a smooth experience well above 120 FPS, making Medium the optimal choice for 1440p.

Q: How does this combo perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS is 72.9. This is playable but below the 120 FPS threshold, indicating that Ultra at 4K is a demanding scenario for the Radeon RX 6700 XT.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in Inside?

A: The data shows consistent FPS drops of roughly 28% from 1080p to 1440p and another 35-37% to 4K across all settings. This scaling pattern points to the GPU as the bottleneck, while the CPU’s high benchmark scores suggest it has ample headroom.

Q: How does the RX 6700 XT compare to its nearest rival, the RX 6800?

A: In synthetic benchmarks, the RX 6800 scores 33493, which is 0.7% higher than the RX 6700 XT’s 33721. This negligible difference indicates near-identical performance in general compute tasks.

Q: What rank does this combo hold among all tested systems?

A: It ranks 826 out of 1671 combos for Inside, placing it in the 49.4th percentile. This mid-pack position reflects the GPU’s moderate performance relative to other tested graphics cards.

Q: Does the Low preset provide any benefit over Medium?

A: At 1080p, Low offers 339.1 FPS versus Medium’s 271.1 FPS, a 68 FPS advantage. However, Medium’s frame rate is already so high that the extra headroom from Low may only matter for extreme refresh-rate displays or competitive play.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i9-14900K is a 24-core, 32-thread processor based on Raptor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.20 GHz and a boost clock of 6.00 GHz. Its 36 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB per-core L2 cache provide substantial memory for game logic and physics calculations. In synthetic benchmarks, this CPU scores exceptionally well: Cinebench R23 multi-core reaches 49872, single-core 7040, and Geekbench multi-core hits 20370. Its 97th percentile ranking among all CPUs underscores its top-tier status.

For Inside, a puzzle platformer, the CPU’s role is largely about maintaining high frame rates without bottlenecking the GPU. The measured data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 339.1 FPS, which is far above typical display refresh rates. This suggests the i9-14900K can easily feed the RX 6700 XT, even at lower resolutions where frame rates are highest. The CPU’s nearest rival, the AMD EPYC 7413, scores 80041 in average benchmarks, just 0.3% higher, while the i9-14900KF trails by 0.7%. These tight margins indicate that the i9-14900K is at the performance ceiling for its class, and any gains from a different CPU would be marginal in this game.

The processor’s 125 W TDP and support for DDR4 and DDR5 memory add flexibility, but these specs do not directly impact Inside’s frame rates. Instead, the data implies that the CPU’s high single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core of 7040) ensures smooth frame pacing, even when the GPU is pushed to its limits at 4K. Benchmark results show that the CPU is never the limiting factor in this combination.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with the Navi 22 chip, featuring 2560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. Its base clock is 2321 MHz, with a boost clock of 2581 MHz and a game clock of 2424 MHz. The GPU has 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, delivering 384.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its 13.21 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 165.2 GPixel/s pixel rate define its rendering capabilities.

In Inside, the GPU is the primary determinant of frame rates at higher settings and resolutions. The measured FPS data shows that at 4K Ultra, the average drops to 72.9 FPS, while at 1080p Low, it reaches 339.1 FPS, a clear indication of the GPU’s workload scaling with pixel count. The RX 6700 XT’s 77th percentile ranking among GPUs is modest, and its nearest rivals include the RX 6800 (0.7% higher in synthetic benchmarks) and the older HD 7950 and RX 480 (both 1.0% higher). This clustering suggests that the RX 6700 XT is not a standout performer, which aligns with its mid-pack combo rank.

The GPU’s 12 GB VRAM is sufficient for Inside’s demands, as no data suggests memory capacity is a bottleneck. The 40 RT cores support ray tracing, but this game’s puzzle platformer nature likely does not heavily utilize them. The GPU’s 230 W TDP and dual-slot design are typical for this class. Benchmark results indicate that the RX 6700 XT delivers solid 1080p and 1440p performance but struggles to maintain high frame rates at 4K with demanding presets, confirming it as the combo’s limiting component.