Inside

The pairing of an Intel Core i9-14900K with a GeForce GTX 1660 Ti presents a stark contrast in raw capability, and the benchmark data for Inside reflects this imbalance clearly. The processor is a top-tier desktop part, while the graphics card, now end-of-life, anchors the system's gaming performance. The measured FPS across resolutions shows a component that scales predictably with workload, but the ceiling of this combination is defined by the GPU's Turing-based architecture and 6 GB of VRAM.

Resolution Scaling

The most revealing metric for this combo is the performance delta between 1080p and 4K. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system produces an average of 220.1 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 Low drops that figure to 157.1 FPS, a reduction of 63 FPS. At 3840x2160 Low, the average falls to 98.5 FPS. This trajectory—a roughly 55% decrease from 1080p to 4K at Low settings—indicates that the rendering load is scaling directly with pixel count, placing the burden squarely on the GPU.

The pattern persists across all quality presets. At High settings, the frame rate goes from 106.5 FPS at 1080p to 76.3 FPS at 1440p, then down to 49.6 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1440p to 4K is a 26.7 FPS loss, which is proportionally large and suggests that the GTX 1660 Ti is hitting its fill-rate and shading limits. The data shows that the Core i9-14900K is not the limiting factor at any resolution; even at 1080p Low, where CPU overhead is most likely to appear, the system exceeds 200 FPS, leaving no indication of a processor bottleneck.

The scaling from Medium to Ultra at each resolution also shows a consistent pattern. At 4K, the spread is from 98.5 FPS (Low) to 80.3 FPS (Medium) to 49.6 FPS (High) to 47.4 FPS (Ultra). The proximity of High and Ultra results at 4K—a gap of only 2.2 FPS—suggests that the GPU is saturated and additional visual fidelity settings do not meaningfully alter the output. This is a classic sign of a GPU-bound scenario where the card's compute units are fully occupied.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti is built on the TU116 chip using a 12 nm process from TSMC. It operates with a base clock of 1500 MHz and a boost clock of 1770 MHz, paired with 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s. The memory clock is rated at 1500 MHz with 12 Gbps effective speed. These specifications define the card's capability to handle the textures and shaders in Inside.

The VRAM capacity of 6 GB is sufficient for the game's demands, as evidenced by the playable frame rates at 4K Ultra (47.4 FPS). However, the data shows that the card's raw compute—5.437 TFLOPS FP32—is the primary constraint. The pixel rate of 84.96 GPixel/s and texture rate of 169.9 GTexel/s are moderate figures that align with the observed performance drop at higher resolutions. The card's 1536 shading units and 48 ROPs handle the puzzle platformer's visuals, but the benchmark results indicate the GPU is working near its ceiling at 1440p and beyond.

The data shows a clear separation between Low/Medium and High/Ultra settings. At 1080p, Low delivers 220.1 FPS while Ultra delivers 102.3 FPS, a difference of 117.8 FPS. This halving of performance from the lowest to highest quality preset underscores that the GTX 1660 Ti's shading and texture units are the determining factor. The card's DirectX 12 support (version 12_1) and Vulkan 1.4 API compatibility are present, but the benchmark scores—such as the PassMark G3D score of 12871—place it in the 55th percentile among all GPUs, confirming its mid-range status.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested hardware combinations for Inside, this pairing ranks 1461 out of 1671 combos. This position in the lower 12th percentile of all tested systems is notable given the CPU's strength. The Intel Core i9-14900K itself sits in the 97th percentile against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 79824. Its nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 7413, which scores 80041 (a delta of -0.3% relative to the i9), and the Intel Core i9-14900KF at 79245 (a delta of 0.7%).

The discrepancy between the CPU's high percentile and the combo's low rank is entirely attributable to the GPU. The GTX 1660 Ti has an average benchmark score of 13925, placing it in the 55th percentile. Its nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon RX 570X (13871, delta of 0.4%) and the NVIDIA Tesla K10 (14029, delta of -0.7%). The data indicates that the combo's rank is dragged down by the graphics card's performance ceiling, which prevents the i9-14900K from demonstrating its full potential in this game. The rank of 1461 out of 1671 suggests that most other tested combinations, even with weaker processors, achieve better results because they pair more balanced components.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates. With Low settings, the average FPS is 220.1. Medium settings yield 173.8 FPS, High settings produce 106.5 FPS, and Ultra settings result in 102.3 FPS. The step from Low to Medium is a 46.3 FPS drop, while the step from High to Ultra is a modest 4.2 FPS drop. This indicates that the Ultra preset adds features that the GPU can barely process beyond High.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages are 157.1 FPS (Low), 128.7 FPS (Medium), 76.3 FPS (High), and 74.6 FPS (Ultra). The scaling from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings is a 63 FPS loss (220.1 to 157.1), which is a 28.6% reduction. At Ultra, the loss is 27.7 FPS (102.3 to 74.6), a 27.1% reduction. This consistency across settings at the same resolution change reinforces that pixel count is the dominant variable.

At 3840x2160, the data shows the system's limits. Low settings average 98.5 FPS, Medium drops to 80.3 FPS, High falls to 49.6 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 47.4 FPS. The transition from 1440p to 4K at High settings is a 26.7 FPS loss (76.3 to 49.6), which is a 35% reduction. The Ultra preset at 4K produces only 47.4 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The data shows that 1080p is the only resolution where all settings remain comfortably above 100 FPS, while 4K Ultra is the only combination that dips below 48 FPS.

FAQ

*Q: Is the Intel Core i9-14900K bottlenecking the GTX 1660 Ti in Inside?*

A: No. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 220.1 FPS. If the CPU were the limiting factor, the frame rate would plateau at a lower value regardless of resolution. Instead, frame rates drop consistently as resolution increases, indicating the GPU is the performance ceiling.

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for this hardware?

A: The data indicates 1080p Ultra is the optimal balance, delivering 102.3 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, the average drops to 74.6 FPS, which is still playable. For 4K, only Low settings (98.5 FPS) or Medium (80.3 FPS) provide smooth frame rates above 60 FPS.

Q: How does the GTX 1660 Ti compare to its nearest competitors in general benchmarks?

A: The GTX 1660 Ti has an average benchmark score of 13925. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 570X, scores 13871, which is 0.4% lower. The NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile scores 13821, a 0.8% delta. The card is positioned in the 55th percentile of all GPUs.

Q: Why does the combo rank so low despite having a high-end processor?

A: The combo ranks 1461 out of 1671 tested combinations. This is because the GPU's performance, which is in the 55th percentile, limits the overall result. The CPU is in the 97th percentile, but the measured FPS in Inside is governed by the graphics card's rendering capabilities.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between High and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, High settings average 76.3 FPS and Ultra settings average 74.6 FPS. The difference is only 1.7 FPS, suggesting that the Ultra preset adds minimal visual benefit that the GTX 1660 Ti can process at that resolution.

*Q: Does the 6 GB VRAM limit performance in Inside?*

A: The data does not show VRAM-related stuttering or crashes, as the game runs at playable frame rates up to 4K Medium (80.3 FPS). The primary constraint appears to be the GPU's compute throughput (5.437 TFLOPS) rather than memory capacity, given that performance scales linearly with resolution.