Inside

The Intel Core i9-14900K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 delivers an extraordinary performance profile in Inside, a puzzle platformer from 2016. The data reveals a system so powerful that it fundamentally shifts the bottleneck dynamics, moving the performance ceiling from the GPU to the CPU and the game engine itself, even at 4K resolution. The measured frames per second (FPS) figures are exceptionally high across all settings, indicating that this combination is not just capable of running the game, but of pushing it to its absolute limits, likely hitting engine-level or physics-based constraints rather than traditional rendering limitations.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 reveals a significant but not crippling performance drop, indicating a system that is still heavily CPU-bound even at higher resolutions. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 325 at 1080p to 234 at 1440p, a reduction of 91 FPS, and then further to 147 at 4K, another drop of 87 FPS. This scaling pattern shows that while the GPU is being taxed more as resolution increases, the game's frame rate is still heavily influenced by the CPU's ability to feed frames, as even the 4K High result of 147 FPS is far beyond what most systems achieve at 1080p.

The data suggests that the RTX 4090 has such immense headroom that even at 4K, the game is not fully utilizing its rendering capabilities. The difference between the 1080p High (325 FPS) and 4K High (147 FPS) is a 54.8% reduction in performance. This is a substantial drop, but the absolute numbers remain so high that the limiting component is likely the game's single-threaded logic or the CPU's instruction processing, which cannot keep pace with the GPU's frame production. The fact that the 4K Ultra setting (140 FPS) is only slightly lower than 4K High (147 FPS) further supports this, as the added visual complexity of the Ultra preset is not creating a proportional load increase.

A more telling insight comes from comparing the Low settings across resolutions. At 1080p Low, the average FPS is 430, and at 1440p Low, it is 385, but at 4K Low, it drops to 293. The gap between 1440p and 4K at Low settings (92 FPS) is nearly identical to the gap at High settings between those same resolutions (87 FPS). This consistency implies that the performance scaling is driven by the pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth of the GPU, which are fixed hardware characteristics. However, the fact that 4K Low (293 FPS) is still far below 1080p High (325 FPS) suggests that the CPU is not the sole bottleneck; the GPU is still processing a massive amount of data at 4K, even with fewer graphical effects.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is a behemoth of a graphics card, and its specifications paint a clear picture of why it achieves such high frame rates in this game. It features 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, delivering a massive 1.01 TB/s of memory bandwidth. This is crucial for high-resolution textures and effects, but in a game like Inside, which has a stylized, darker art style, the sheer amount of memory bandwidth is likely overkill. The measured FPS at 4K Medium (235 FPS) and 4K High (147 FPS) shows a 88 FPS gap, indicating that the GPU is working harder with more complex shaders and lighting, but still not approaching its limits.

The GPU's clock speeds, with a base of 2235 MHz and a boost of 2520 MHz, are remarkably high, contributing to its raw compute power of 82.58 TFLOPS FP32. This immense processing capability means that even the most demanding 4K settings are well within its reach. The fact that the 4K Ultra preset yields an average of 140 FPS, only 7 FPS lower than High, suggests that the Ultra preset may introduce settings that are not heavily GPU-dependent, such as draw distance or certain post-processing effects, which are more CPU-intensive. The data implies that the GPU is rarely the primary constraint; instead, it is waiting for the CPU to provide draw calls and game state updates.

The RTX 4090's benchmark scores, while not game-specific, corroborate its performance class. Its Passmark G3D score of 38194 and 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 9223 place it in an elite tier. When compared to its nearest rivals, the data shows a negligible delta, with the Intel Arc Pro A60 being exactly 0% different in average benchmark score, and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 scoring just 0.3% higher. This is a curious statistical artifact, as the RTX 4090 is a gaming-focused card, while these rivals are professional workstation parts, but the data shows they are comparable in this specific synthetic benchmark average.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i9-14900K is a 24-core, 32-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, and its role in Inside is to provide an unassailable foundation for the GPU. With a base clock of 3.20 GHz and a boost clock of 6.00 GHz, it offers exceptional single-threaded performance, which is critical for game logic and physics. The measured FPS differences across settings at the same resolution highlight this CPU dependency. For instance, at 1080p, the difference between Low (430 FPS) and Ultra (309 FPS) is 121 FPS, meaning the CPU is capable of driving the game engine to over 400 FPS when graphical load is minimal, but the Ultra settings introduce more work for the CPU in terms of object management and AI.

The CPU's large cache hierarchy, including 36 MB of shared L3 cache, is beneficial for keeping game data close to the cores, reducing latency. The benchmark results for the i9-14900K show a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 39399.5 and a single-core score of 2262.5, indicating a processor that excels in both heavily threaded and lightly threaded workloads. Its Passmark single-thread score of 4697 is particularly relevant for Inside, as puzzle platformers often rely on a single main thread for game simulation. The data suggests that this CPU is so fast that even at 4K, it can still feed the RTX 4090 enough data to achieve a 147 FPS average on High settings.

Interestingly, the CPU's performance relative to its rivals is incredibly tight, with the nearest rival, the Intel Core i9-14900KF, scoring only 0.3% lower in average benchmark score. This implies that the 14900K's integrated graphics (UHD Graphics 770) and other features do not provide a performance advantage in this context, as the 14900KF is essentially the same chip without the iGPU. The data indicates that the CPU is not a bottleneck in any measurable way for this game; rather, it is the software's engine that may be the limiting factor, as the FPS numbers are so high that they likely approach the game's internal frame rate cap.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the database of 3716 tested combinations, this pairing of the Intel Core i9-14900K and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 achieves a rank of 38. This placement is remarkably high, placing it in the top 1% of all tested systems. The data indicates that this combo is not just powerful, but one of the most powerful configurations possible for playing Inside, far exceeding the performance of the vast majority of other hardware pairings. The rank of 38 out of 3716 confirms the sheer capability of both the CPU and GPU, as they are both near the top of their respective performance ladders.

The high rank is also a reflection of the game's age and hardware requirements. Since Inside was released in 2016, it was designed for the hardware of that era, and the current top-tier components are vastly overqualified for the task. This combination represents an extreme example of hardware headroom, where the system is capable of running the game at frame rates that are likely higher than the display refresh rate of most monitors, making the experience incredibly smooth and responsive. The fact that this combo is ranked 38th suggests that only a few other combinations, perhaps with more exotic or newer components, can outperform it in this specific title.

This high ranking contrasts with the GPU's individual percentile of 88, which is lower than the CPU's percentile of 95. This discrepancy suggests that the CPU's relative strength is a more differentiating factor in this game than the GPU's raw power. While the RTX 4090 is a top-tier card, its performance percentile is dragged down by its comparison to a broader range of GPUs, including professional workstation cards. However, when paired with the i9-14900K, the combination's rank in this game is exceptionally high, indicating that the CPU is the key component in achieving such high frame rates.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the High preset at 2560x1440 offers the most balanced experience, delivering an average of 234 FPS. This is a significant jump from the Ultra preset at the same resolution, which yields 222 FPS, and the difference of 12 FPS is likely imperceptible in real-world gameplay. The High preset at 1440p provides a fantastic balance between visual fidelity and performance, and it is the recommended starting point for users with high refresh rate monitors. The data shows that the step from High to Ultra has a diminishing return in performance, while the step from High to Medium shows a much larger gain.

For users with 4K displays, the Medium preset is the clear winner, providing an average of 235 FPS. This is a substantial improvement over the High preset's 147 FPS, a 88 FPS difference, which is a 60% performance increase. The visual difference between Medium and High in a game with Inside's muted color palette and atmospheric lighting is likely minimal, making Medium the most efficient choice for 4K gaming. The Low preset at 4K offers 293 FPS, but the visual compromise is likely too severe for a game that relies on its art style for atmosphere.

At 1080p, the Ultra preset is the best choice, as it still achieves an average of 309 FPS. Since the system is incredibly powerful, even the most demanding settings at 1080p result in frame rates far above what any display can show. The difference between Ultra (309 FPS) and Low (430 FPS) is 121 FPS, but both are so high that the user will not notice a difference in smoothness. Therefore, maximizing visual quality at 1080p is the most sensible option, as there is no performance penalty that would affect the experience.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The benchmark data provides a comprehensive look at the system's performance across three resolutions and four quality presets. At 1920x1080, the average frame rates are consistently high, starting with 430 FPS on Low, 397 FPS on Medium, 325 FPS on High, and 309 FPS on Ultra. This shows a clear trend of decreasing performance as settings increase, but the absolute numbers are so high that they are beyond the refresh rate of any standard monitor. The Medium preset at this resolution shows a minimum FPS of 337 and a maximum of 456, indicating a wide but smooth frame time variance.

Moving to 2560x1440, the data shows a similar pattern with lower absolute values. The Low preset averages 385 FPS, Medium averages 355 FPS, High averages 234 FPS, and Ultra averages 222 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra is only 12 FPS, suggesting that the Ultra preset's additional effects are not heavily taxing the GPU. The Medium preset at this resolution has a minimum FPS of 302 and a maximum of 409, showing that even the worst-case frame rates are well above 300 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the performance is still excellent but shows the most significant scaling. The Low preset averages 293 FPS, Medium averages 235 FPS, High averages 147 FPS, and Ultra averages 140 FPS. The stark difference between Medium and High at this resolution highlights the increased GPU load from more complex shaders and effects. The Medium preset, with a minimum FPS of 200 and a maximum of 270, is the only 4K setting with min/max data, and it shows a consistent performance envelope.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average FPS this combo achieves in Inside?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 430, which occurs at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low settings preset.

Q: How does the performance drop from 1080p to 4K on High settings?

A: The average FPS drops from 325 at 1920x1080 to 234 at 2560x1440, and then to 147 at 3840x2160, representing a 54.8% reduction from 1080p to 4K.

Q: Which settings preset at 4K provides the highest frame rate?

A: The Low preset at 3840x2160 achieves the highest average FPS of 293, followed by Medium at 235 FPS, High at 147 FPS, and Ultra at 140 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more of a limiting factor in this game?

A: The data suggests the CPU is a primary factor, as even at 4K the frame rates are very high, and the difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p is 121 FPS, indicating the CPU can push the engine to over 400 FPS when the GPU load is low.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems?

A: This combination of the Intel Core i9-14900K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 38th out of 3716 tested combos for this game, placing it in the top 1% of all systems.

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

A: At 2560x1440, the High preset averages 234 FPS while the Ultra preset averages 222 FPS, a difference of only 12 FPS, suggesting the Ultra preset offers minimal visual benefit for the performance cost.