Inside

# Inside — Intel Core i9-14900K + AMD Radeon RX 9070

The benchmark data for Inside with the Intel Core i9-14900K and AMD Radeon RX 9070 shows a puzzle platformer that scales dramatically across resolutions, revealing a GPU-bound workload at 4K and a largely CPU-limited scenario at 1080p. Measured results span from 93 FPS at 4K Ultra to 430 FPS at 1080p Low, with the combo ranking 759th out of 3716 tested combinations in this title.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings presets. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 217 FPS at 1920x1080 to 156 FPS at 2560x1440 — a reduction of 61 FPS — and then to 98 FPS at 3840x2160, another 58 FPS drop. This pattern indicates that the GPU becomes the primary limiting factor as pixel count increases, with the RX 9070's rendering throughput being taxed heavily by the higher resolutions.

Low settings exhibit the most dramatic scaling. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 430 FPS average, which drops to 311 FPS at 1440p (a 119 FPS decline) and further to 196 FPS at 4K (another 115 FPS decline). The near-linear relationship between resolution and frame rate at Low settings suggests that the workload is almost purely pixel-bound, with minimal CPU overhead interfering. At 4K Low, the system still delivers 196 FPS, which is more than sufficient for smooth gameplay, but the scaling factor from 1080p to 4K is roughly 2.2x, indicating the GPU is the dominant constraint.

Medium settings show a similar trend: 346 FPS at 1080p, 249 FPS at 1440p, and 157 FPS at 4K. The min FPS values recorded for Medium (294 at 1080p, 212 at 1440p, 133 at 4K) suggest that frame pacing remains stable even as the GPU load increases, with no sudden spikes or drops that would indicate memory bandwidth limitations.

Ultra settings provide the most demanding scenario, with 206 FPS at 1080p, 148 FPS at 1440p, and 93 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result represents the lowest performance point in the entire measured dataset, but at 93 FPS it still clears the 60 FPS threshold comfortably. The scaling from 1080p Ultra to 4K Ultra shows a 113 FPS drop, which is proportionally similar to High settings, reinforcing that the RX 9070's compute units and memory interface are the bottlenecks at higher resolutions, not the CPU.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i9-14900K brings substantial processing power to this pairing, with 24 cores and 32 threads across its Raptor Lake architecture. The base clock of 3.20 GHz and boost clock of 6.00 GHz provide the kind of single-thread performance that puzzle platformers like Inside can leverage, though the game's demands are modest relative to the CPU's capabilities.

Benchmark data shows the i9-14900K scoring 6103 in Cinebench R15 multicore, 20793 in R20 multicore, and 39399.5 in R23 multicore, with single-core scores of 324.5, 2935, and 2262.5 respectively. These results position the CPU in the 95th percentile of all processors, with an average benchmark score of 79097. The nearest rivals include the Intel Core i9-14900KF at 79371 (-0.3% delta), the Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus at 79574 (-0.6%), and the AMD EPYC 7413 at 80041 (-1.2%), while the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 trails at 77740 (+1.7% relative).

In Inside, the CPU's role becomes evident when examining the 1080p results. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 430 FPS average, which is likely approaching the engine's upper ceiling given the game's 2016 release date. The fact that 1080p High (217 FPS) and 1080p Ultra (206 FPS) show relatively small differences compared to the Low-to-Medium jump (430 to 346 FPS) suggests that at higher settings, the GPU load increases enough to keep the CPU from being the sole limiting factor.

The L3 cache of 36 MB shared and dual-channel memory support (DDR4, DDR5) contribute to the CPU's ability to feed the GPU without stalling. With an ECC memory option and PCIe Gen 5 with 16 lanes, the platform provides ample bandwidth for the RX 9070's PCIe 5.0 x16 interface. The data indicates that the i9-14900K is never the bottleneck in this game, as even the most demanding 4K Ultra scenario produces 93 FPS, and the scaling from 1080p to 4K follows GPU-bound patterns rather than CPU-limited ones.

FAQ

*Q: What is the maximum average frame rate achievable with this combo in Inside?*

A: The highest recorded average FPS is 430 at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The minimum average FPS is 93 at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested configurations in this game?

A: The Intel Core i9-14900K + AMD Radeon RX 9070 combination ranks 759th out of 3716 tested combos, placing it in the top 20% of all configurations for Inside.

Q: Does the RX 9070's 16 GB VRAM become a limiting factor at 4K?

A: The data shows no indication of VRAM limitations. At 4K Ultra, the combo still delivers 93 FPS average, and the Medium preset at 4K shows a minimum FPS of 133, suggesting the 16 GB GDDR6 memory with 644.6 GB/s bandwidth handles the game's requirements without stuttering.

Q: Which settings preset provides the highest frame rate at 1440p?

A: Low settings at 2560x1440 produce 311 FPS average, which is the highest at that resolution. Ultra settings at 1440p yield 148 FPS average.

Q: Is the i9-14900K's 24-core configuration necessary for this game?

A: Inside is not a heavily threaded title, and the data shows the CPU is rarely the limiting factor. The 24 cores and 32 threads provide headroom, but the game's performance is more influenced by GPU load, as evidenced by the resolution scaling patterns.

Q: How much does the frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the average FPS falls from 217 at 1080p to 98 at 4K, a reduction of 119 FPS (approximately 55% lower). This substantial drop indicates GPU-bound behavior at higher resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 759 out of 3716 tested configurations places it in the upper quintile of all hardware combinations tested in Inside. This ranking reflects the balanced nature of the pairing: the i9-14900K's strong single-thread performance and the RX 9070's raw rasterization power combine to deliver high frame rates across all tested settings.

Relative to the CPU's overall standing — 95th percentile among all processors — the combo's in-game rank is slightly lower, suggesting that the GPU (69th percentile among all GPUs) is the more limiting component in this title. The RX 9070's average benchmark score of 23877 places it near the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Z (23736, +0.6% delta), AMD Radeon RX 6800S (24063, -0.8%), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Mobile (23628, +1.1%), and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER (24170, -1.2%). These rivals are all older or lower-tier parts, yet the RX 9070's performance in Inside appears constrained by the game's relatively simple graphics, which may not fully utilize the GPU's modern features.

The ranking data suggests that for a 2016 puzzle platformer, the hardware combination is over-provisioned. The 759th position out of 3716 means many other configurations achieve similar or better performance, likely because the game's modest graphical demands allow even mid-range hardware to hit high frame rates. However, the combo's ability to maintain 93 FPS at 4K Ultra demonstrates that it handles the most demanding scenario without issue, which is a stronger result than many lower-ranked combos would achieve.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070, built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture with the Navi 48 chip, provides the graphical muscle for this pairing. With 3584 shading units, 224 texture mapping units, and 128 raster operation units, the GPU is well-equipped for the 2D-forward rendering style of Inside. The 56 ray tracing cores are present but largely irrelevant for this title, which does not utilize RT effects in its visual design.

The GPU's clocks — 1330 MHz base, 2070 MHz game clock, and 2520 MHz boost — work in conjunction with 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus to deliver 644.6 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration proves sufficient at 4K, as the measured results show no signs of bandwidth throttling. The pixel rate of 322.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 564.5 GTexel/s are the key specifications that drive performance in a game like Inside, which relies heavily on fill-rate-bound effects like lighting and shadows.

The RX 9070's benchmark scores provide context for its performance. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6290 and Geekbench Vulkan score of 58705 indicate solid compute capabilities, while the PassMark G3D score of 25381 and GPU compute score of 14737 reflect its rasterization strengths. The GPU's 69th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 23877, shows it sits above the median but is not a top-tier part by synthetic measures.

In Inside, the GPU's role is most apparent at 4K, where the frame rate drops to 93 FPS at Ultra settings. The difference between 4K Low (196 FPS) and 4K High (98 FPS) — a 98 FPS gap — demonstrates that the GPU's shading units and ROPs are the primary determinants of performance as settings increase. The 128 ROPs deliver a pixel rate that handles the game's rendering efficiently, but the higher preset levels increase the per-pixel workload enough to halve the frame rate.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest performance across all settings. Low settings produce 430 FPS average, Medium yields 346 FPS (with min 294 and max 398), High reaches 217 FPS, and Ultra achieves 206 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 84 FPS, while the gap between High and Ultra is only 11 FPS, indicating diminishing returns as settings increase.

At 2560x1440, the results show 311 FPS at Low, 249 FPS at Medium (min 212, max 287), 156 FPS at High, and 148 FPS at Ultra. The drop from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings is 119 FPS, while the drop at Ultra settings is 58 FPS. This suggests that at higher presets, the GPU's workload becomes more resolution-sensitive, whereas at Low settings, the frame rate ceiling is more dependent on the CPU.

At 3840x2160, the performance profile tightens: 196 FPS at Low, 157 FPS at Medium (min 133, max 180), 98 FPS at High, and 93 FPS at Ultra. The 4K results show the smallest relative differences between presets — from Low to Ultra is only a 103 FPS spread — indicating that the GPU is saturated at this resolution regardless of settings. The Medium preset's minimum FPS of 133 at 4K is higher than the High preset's average of 98, suggesting that the Medium preset offers a better balance of visual quality and performance headroom.

Settings Recommendations

For players targeting 60 FPS as a baseline, all measured settings presets across all resolutions exceed this threshold. The lowest recorded average is 93 FPS at 4K Ultra, which still provides a comfortable margin above 60 FPS. However, for higher refresh rate displays, the choice of preset depends on the target resolution.

At 1080p, the Medium preset (346 FPS average) offers the best balance between visual fidelity and performance, as the jump to High (217 FPS) costs 129 FPS for what is likely a modest visual improvement in a 2D puzzle platformer. The Ultra preset at 1080p (206 FPS) shows only 11 FPS more than High, suggesting that High-to-Ultra differences are marginal in this game.

At 1440p, the Medium preset delivers 249 FPS average with a minimum of 212 FPS, which is sufficient for 144 Hz displays. High (156 FPS) and Ultra (148 FPS) both remain above 144 FPS, but the gap between Medium and High is 93 FPS, making Medium the pragmatic choice unless visual quality is prioritized. The Low preset at 1440p (311 FPS) is overkill for most displays and sacrifices visual detail unnecessarily.

At 4K, the Medium preset (157 FPS average, 133 min) provides the best overall experience, as it maintains high frame rates while offering better visual quality than Low (196 FPS). The High preset (98 FPS) and Ultra preset (93 FPS) are still playable and exceed 60 FPS, but the 64 FPS difference between Medium and High at 4K makes Medium the recommended setting for smooth gameplay on high-refresh-rate 4K panels. For players with 60 Hz 4K displays, Ultra at 93 FPS offers the maximum visual quality without dropping below the refresh rate threshold.