Inside

The Intel Core i9-14900K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti presents an extreme case of CPU/GPU imbalance in Inside. The benchmark data shows the GTX 1050 Ti is the definitive performance ceiling. With the Core i9-14900K providing ample headroom, the experience is governed entirely by the GPU’s capabilities. The measured FPS data indicates that the Medium preset at 1920x1080 delivers the best overall experience, offering a substantial improvement over High settings without the steep performance cost of Ultra. It provides a smooth 87.7 FPS average, which is a 65% increase over High settings at the same resolution. While the Low preset achieves 109.9 FPS, the Medium preset is the optimal balance of visual fidelity and fluidity.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows across all resolutions and settings paint a clear picture: the "Low" preset is the only configuration that consistently delivers highly fluid frame rates, while "Ultra" is only viable at lower resolutions. For a 60 FPS target, the data shows that the Low preset is the only reliable option at 2560x1440, delivering 79.5 FPS. At 1920x1080, the Low preset is exceptionally smooth at 109.9 FPS, and the Medium preset also clears the 60 FPS threshold with 87.7 FPS. However, the step from Low to Medium is significant; the jump from High to Ultra offers a marginal visual gain for a massive performance hit.

Given the GTX 1050 Ti's 4 GB memory capacity and the game's modest requirements, the Medium preset at 1080p is the recommended starting point. It provides a strong frame rate of 87.7 FPS, which is comfortably above the standard 60 FPS target, and offers a richer visual experience than Low. For users prioritizing maximum smoothness on a high-refresh-rate display, the Low preset at 1080p is the only choice that approaches 110 FPS. At 1440p, the data suggests that the Low preset is the only playable option for a 60 FPS experience. The High preset at 1440p, at 37.6 FPS, and the Medium preset at 61 FPS, show a steep drop-off, indicating the GPU is saturated. The Ultra preset at any resolution above 1080p does not provide an acceptable frame rate, with data showing 37.4 FPS at 1440p and 20.5 FPS at 4K.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for a smooth 60 FPS experience?

A: The data shows that the Low preset at 2560x1440 is the highest resolution to achieve a 60+ FPS average, hitting 79.5 FPS. However, the Medium preset at 1920x1080 also exceeds 60 FPS with 87.7 FPS and provides better visual quality. For the most fluid experience, the Low preset at 1920x1080 is the only option that gets close to 110 FPS.

*Q: How does the GTX 1050 Ti handle the Ultra preset in Inside?*

A: The Ultra preset is very demanding for this GPU. At 1920x1080, it produces an average of 48.6 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS standard. At 2560x1440, the frame rate drops to 37.4 FPS, and at 4K it falls to a nearly unplayable 20.5 FPS. The data indicates that this preset is only marginally better than High in terms of FPS, suggesting it is not a viable option for this GPU.

Q: Is the Intel Core i9-14900K the bottleneck in this configuration?

A: No, the benchmark data does not indicate a CPU bottleneck. The FPS scales consistently with resolution and settings, which is characteristic of a GPU-limited scenario. The Core i9-14900K is a top-tier 24-core processor, and in this pairing, its performance is far in excess of what the GTX 1050 Ti can utilize. The GPU's percentile rank of 30 vs. the CPU's 97 confirms this massive performance gap.

Q: What is the performance difference between the Low and High presets at 1080p?

A: The data shows a very large performance gap. The Low preset achieves an average of 109.9 FPS, while the High preset falls to 53.2 FPS. This represents a 51.6% decrease in performance when moving from Low to High, demonstrating the significant GPU load increase from higher graphical settings.

*Q: How does the GTX 1050 Ti's performance in Inside compare to its closest rivals?*

A: The GTX 1050 Ti has an average benchmark score of 5316. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce 930A, has an average score of 5317, showing a 0% deltaPct. The NVIDIA GeForce 940M is 0.4% slower, and the AMD Radeon R7 240 is 0.7% slower. This indicates that the 1050 Ti is a mid-to-low tier GPU, performing on par with these older mobile and entry-level desktop parts.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a classic case of GPU-bound scaling. As resolution increases, the rendering load on the GTX 1050 Ti grows exponentially, causing frame rates to plummet. The data shows that on the "Low" preset, the FPS drops from 109.9 at 1920x1080 to 79.5 at 2560x1440, and then to 50 at 3840x2160. This scaling pattern indicates that the GPU is the sole limiting factor; the Core i9-14900K's immense processing power has no bearing on these results.

The trend is even more pronounced on higher settings. The "High" preset starts at 53.2 FPS at 1080p, drops by 29.3% to 37.6 FPS at 1440p, and then plummets to 22 FPS at 4K. The "Ultra" preset shows the most dramatic falloff, with only a 5.7% difference between 1080p (48.6 FPS) and 1440p (37.4 FPS), but a 45.2% drop from 1440p to 4K (20.5 FPS). This non-linear behavior at higher resolutions is typical when the GPU's memory bandwidth and pixel fill rate are exhausted. The game is clearly not taxing the CPU, as evidenced by the sustained performance at lower resolutions where the GPU is less stressed.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The data provides a comprehensive view of the GTX 1050 Ti's performance across three resolutions and four settings. At 1920x1080, the benchmark results show the following averages: the Low preset achieves 109.9 FPS, the Medium preset delivers 87.7 FPS, the High preset drops to 53.2 FPS, and the Ultra preset bottoms out at 48.6 FPS. This indicates that the transition from Medium to High is the most significant performance cliff, representing a 39.3% decrease in frame rate.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance scaling becomes steeper. The Low preset is the only one that remains fluid, with an average of 79.5 FPS. The Medium preset falls to 61 FPS, which is just above the 60 FPS target. The High preset drops significantly to 37.6 FPS, and the Ultra preset is nearly identical at 37.4 FPS. This close grouping between High and Ultra at 1440p suggests that the GPU is hitting a hard limit, likely related to its 4 GB memory capacity or shading power.

At 3840x2160, the GTX 1050 Ti is clearly overwhelmed. The Low preset manages a playable 50 FPS, but the Medium preset falls to 39.7 FPS. The High preset produces 22 FPS, and the Ultra preset yields a nearly unplayable 20.5 FPS. The data shows that the difference between High and Ultra at 4K is minimal (1.5 FPS), indicating that the GPU is fully saturated and cannot provide any additional performance regardless of the settings. The overall spread from Low to Ultra at 4K is a 59% reduction in performance, highlighting the GPU's limitations at high pixel counts.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core i9-14900K and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti ranks near the bottom of all tested configurations for Inside. The data shows a combo rank of 1661 out of 1671 tested combos, placing it in the bottom 0.6% of all systems. This ranking is a direct consequence of the severe GPU bottleneck; the GTX 1050 Ti is the limiting factor, and its performance is far lower than what the CPU is capable of supporting.

The ranking is not a reflection of the CPU's ability. The Core i9-14900K itself ranks in the 97th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 79824. This places it just 0.3% behind the AMD EPYC 7413 and 0.7% ahead of the Intel Core i9-14900KF. In contrast, the GTX 1050 Ti ranks in only the 30th percentile of all GPUs, with an average score of 5316. This GPU is on par with the NVIDIA GeForce 930A (0% deltaPct) and the NVIDIA GeForce 940M (0.4% faster). The massive disparity between the CPU's high percentile and the GPU's low percentile confirms that the GPU is the sole reason for this combo's low ranking. In Inside, a game that is not CPU-intensive, the GPU's performance is the only metric that matters, and the GTX 1050 Ti is simply not competitive with modern or even many older mid-range GPUs. The data suggests that any system with a more balanced pairing would easily outperform this configuration.