Inside

The Intel Core i9-14900K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER delivers a solid, if not spectacular, experience in Inside. This is a puzzle platformer with modest demands, and the data confirms that the GTX 1660 SUPER is the primary bottleneck at higher settings, while the i9-14900K’s substantial single-threaded power keeps frame rates high when the load is lighter. The measured results show a clear hierarchy: Low settings produce triple-digit averages at every resolution, while Ultra settings can dip below the 60 FPS threshold at 4K.

FAQ

*Q: Can this PC run Inside at 4K with a smooth 60 FPS experience?*

A: Only at Low settings. The data shows a 4K Low average of 96.1 FPS. Moving to Medium drops the average to 76.1 FPS, while High and Ultra averages of 48.3 FPS and 46.3 FPS, respectively, fall below the 60 FPS target.

Q: What is the best resolution for a high-refresh-rate monitor?

A: At 1080p, every settings preset exceeds 100 FPS. The Low preset reaches 218.9 FPS, Medium hits 174.7 FPS, and even Ultra stays above 100 FPS at 100.8 FPS. This makes 1080p the only resolution where Ultra settings can fully utilize a 144Hz display.

Q: How much of a performance difference does the settings preset make?

A: The gap is significant. At 1440p, the jump from Low (156 FPS) to Ultra (76.5 FPS) represents a 51% reduction in average frame rate. The largest single drop occurs between Low and Medium at 1080p, where the average falls by 44.2 FPS.

Q: Is the GTX 1660 SUPER the limiting factor in this build?

A: Yes, the benchmark data strongly indicates the GPU is the primary constraint. The i9-14900K has a boost clock of 6.00 GHz and scores 7040 in Cinebench R23 single-core, making it more than capable of feeding frames. The GPU’s 6 GB of VRAM and 336.0 GB/s bandwidth are the likely limits at higher resolutions and settings.

Q: What is the performance difference between High and Ultra settings?

A: The difference is minimal, which is unusual. At 4K, High averages 48.3 FPS and Ultra averages 46.3 FPS, a delta of just 2.0 FPS. At 1440p, High and Ultra are nearly identical at 76.0 FPS and 76.5 FPS, respectively. At 1080p, the gap is slightly larger, with High at 106.3 FPS and Ultra at 100.8 FPS.

*Q: How does this system rank against other hardware combinations for Inside?*

A: This specific combo ranks 1491 out of 1671 tested configurations. This places it in the lower 11% of all combinations, reflecting the age and lower performance tier of the GTX 1660 SUPER relative to modern hardware.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER is built on the 12 nm Turing architecture and features 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s. Its core clocks are set at 1530 MHz base and 1785 MHz boost. In the context of Inside, this GPU’s capabilities are the decisive factor in the measured FPS. The game’s visual style appears to scale heavily with GPU load, as evidenced by the massive FPS swings between presets.

The GPU’s 48 ROPs and 1408 shading units are tasked with rendering the game’s atmospheric lighting and shadow effects. At 4K Ultra, the GPU is clearly overburdened, producing an average of 46.3 FPS. However, the data shows that the GPU is not entirely without headroom; at 1080p Low, it achieves an average of 218.9 FPS. This suggests that the GTX 1660 SUPER has the raw capability to run the game at high frame rates, but its 6 GB VRAM buffer and memory bandwidth become a bottleneck as resolution and texture quality increase. The average benchmark score of 14286 for this GPU, which places it in the 55th percentile of all GPUs, supports its classification as a mid-range performer that is being pushed to its limits by 4K Ultra settings.

Settings Recommendations

For players targeting a smooth 60 FPS experience, the Medium preset is the highest quality option that meets that goal at 4K, with an average of 76.1 FPS. However, to maximize visual fidelity while maintaining a high refresh rate, the data suggests a different approach. At 1440p, the High and Ultra presets are nearly identical in performance (76.0 FPS vs 76.5 FPS), meaning there is no penalty for selecting Ultra. The same logic applies at 4K, where the difference between High and Ultra is only 2.0 FPS, making Ultra the better choice for image quality.

For high-refresh-rate displays, 1080p is the only viable resolution. The Medium preset at 1080p yields a 174.7 FPS average, which is sufficient for most 144Hz monitors. The Low preset pushes this higher to 218.9 FPS, which is useful for 240Hz panels. The Ultra preset at 1080p still delivers a respectable 100.8 FPS, making it playable on standard 60Hz and 100Hz displays. The optimal balance of performance and quality appears to be 1440p Ultra, which provides a stable average above 75 FPS while offering the highest visual settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the GTX 1660 SUPER demonstrates its strengths. The Low preset produces an average of 218.9 FPS, ensuring a fluid experience even on the fastest monitors. Medium settings reduce the average to 174.7 FPS, still an excellent result. High settings bring the average down to 106.3 FPS, and Ultra settings settle at 100.8 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1080p shows a total reduction of 118.1 FPS, indicating strong GPU dependency.

At 2560x1440, the performance impact of the increased pixel count is clear. The Low preset averages 156 FPS, which is a 62.9 FPS drop from the 1080p Low result. Medium settings average 122.1 FPS, while High and Ultra presets deliver nearly identical results at 76.0 FPS and 76.5 FPS, respectively. This convergence suggests that the GPU is becoming limited by memory bandwidth or fill rate at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the GPU struggles to maintain high frame rates. Low settings are the only preset that stays comfortably above 60 FPS, averaging 96.1 FPS. Medium settings drop to 76.1 FPS, and High settings fall to 48.3 FPS. Ultra settings are the most demanding, averaging just 46.3 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra at 4K is a mere 2.0 FPS, indicating that the GPU has hit a hard performance ceiling.

Resolution Scaling

The performance degradation from 1080p to 4K is steep and reveals the limiting component. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 218.9 at 1080p to 156 at 1440p (a 28.7% decrease) and then to 96.1 at 4K (a further 38.4% decrease from 1440p). This scaling shows a consistent, large impact from increasing pixel count.

At Ultra settings, the drop is less severe in percentage terms but still significant. The average goes from 100.8 FPS at 1080p to 76.5 FPS at 1440p (a 24.1% decrease) and then to 46.3 FPS at 4K (a 39.5% decrease from 1440p). The fact that the FPS does not halve when going from 1080p to 4K (which has four times the pixels) indicates that the game is not purely fill-rate limited. Instead, the data suggests a combination of VRAM capacity and bandwidth constraints on the GTX 1660 SUPER. The CPU’s role is minimal here; the i9-14900K’s 24 cores and 32 threads, along with its 6.00 GHz boost clock, are hardly stressed by a game like Inside, which is not known for heavy multi-threaded workloads. The GPU is unequivocally the bottleneck.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i9-14900K is an extreme overkill processor for this game, but it ensures that it is never the cause of a frame rate drop. With 24 cores (8 performance and 16 efficient) and 32 threads, it offers massive multi-threading capabilities. Its base clock of 3.20 GHz and boost clock of 6.00 GHz provide exceptional single-threaded performance, which is critical for game logic and physics. The Cinebench R23 single-core score of 7040 places it in the top tier of processors, and its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 49872 shows it can handle any background tasks without impacting gaming performance.

The data supports the conclusion that the CPU is not a limiting factor. The FPS differences between settings presets are entirely attributable to GPU load. For instance, the 44.2 FPS drop from Low to Medium at 1080p is a direct result of increased GPU workload, not CPU processing. The i9-14900K’s performance is so far beyond what Inside requires that it effectively eliminates CPU bottlenecks. Its 36 MB of shared L3 cache also helps ensure that game assets are quickly accessible, though the GPU’s 6 GB VRAM is the more likely constraint for texture-heavy scenes. In this pairing, the i9-14900K is a safety net that guarantees the GTX 1660 SUPER is the sole performance limiter.