Inside

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 delivers exceptional performance in Inside, a puzzle platformer that is far more demanding than its minimalist aesthetic suggests. The measured data shows this combination achieving triple-digit frame rates at every tested resolution and settings level, from a 404 FPS average at 1080p Low to a 99 FPS average at 4K Ultra. This places the combo at rank 435 out of 2887 tested combinations, putting it in the top 15% of all systems evaluated. The following analysis breaks down exactly how this hardware pairing behaves across the measured scenarios, what settings provide the best experience, and where the performance bottlenecks lie.

FAQ

*Q: What is the combo's overall rank among tested systems for Inside?*

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 + RTX 4070 combination ranks 435th out of 2887 tested combos, placing it in the 85th percentile of all systems evaluated for this game. This is a strong result, though the rank reflects that many higher-end configurations exist in the database.

*Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Inside?*

A: Yes. The measured data shows 104 FPS average at 4K High, 99 FPS at 4K Ultra, and 166 FPS at 4K Medium. Even the most demanding setting, Ultra at 4K, stays above 60 FPS, meaning smooth gameplay is achievable at maximum resolution.

Q: What is the best settings preset for a high-refresh-rate 1440p monitor?

A: At 2560x1440, the High preset delivers 165 FPS, while Ultra delivers 157 FPS. The difference is only 8 FPS, so Ultra is the better choice if visual fidelity matters. For maximum frame rates, Low hits 330 FPS and Medium hits 264 FPS, which are ideal for 240Hz or 360Hz displays.

Q: How does the RTX 4070's VRAM capacity affect performance in this game?

A: The RTX 4070 has 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus with 504.2 GB/s bandwidth. For Inside, this is more than sufficient; the measured frame times show no signs of memory capacity limiting at any resolution, including 4K Ultra where the average remains at 99 FPS.

Q: What is the CPU's single-threaded performance level relative to its rivals?

A: The Core Ultra 5 225 scores 3655 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 4412 in Passmark single-thread. Its average benchmark score of 36938 is nearly identical to the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F (36945, 0% delta) and slightly behind the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D (37018, -0.2% delta).

Q: Are the measured FPS values based on real hardware testing?

A: Yes, the `dataIsMeasured` field is true, confirming these are actual benchmark results from the specified combination, not estimates or synthetic projections. The FPS values represent averages from testing this exact CPU and GPU pairing.

How This Combo Ranks

The rank of 435 out of 2887 total combos places this system in the top 15% of all tested configurations for Inside. This is a solid result for a mid-range desktop pairing, though the percentile rank of 85 for the CPU and 81 for the GPU individually suggests the combo performs slightly better than either component's standalone percentile would predict. The synergy between the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and the RTX 4070 is evident in the measured frame rates, which consistently exceed what either component's raw benchmark scores alone would suggest.

Comparing to the CPU's nearest rivals, the Core Ultra 5 225's average benchmark score of 36938 is effectively tied with the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F at 36945 (0% delta) and the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D at 37018 (-0.2% delta). This means the CPU is neither a standout nor a weak link in this combination; it provides consistent, predictable performance that keeps the GPU well-fed. The GPU's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Tesla P4 (37628, 0.1% delta) and AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (37507, 0.4% delta), which are older or specialized parts, indicating the RTX 4070's performance class is well above entry-level gaming hardware.

Within the context of Inside specifically, the combo's rank of 435 means there are 434 other tested combinations that achieve higher average frame rates. These are likely to include higher-tier CPUs like Core i9 or Ryzen 9 parts paired with RTX 4080/4090 or RX 7900-class GPUs. However, considering the game's genre and the fact that it is not a graphically demanding title, the real-world experience at this rank is exceptional — the lowest measured average FPS across all settings and resolutions is 99 FPS at 4K Ultra, which remains well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

The rank also reflects that this combo is not overkill for the game. A system ranked higher would deliver diminishing returns in frame rates that are already far beyond what most displays can show. At 1080p, this combo produces 219-404 FPS depending on settings, meaning any modern monitor will be the limiting factor, not the hardware. The practical takeaway from the rank is that this system provides headroom for future games that may be more demanding, while already delivering flawless performance in Inside.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data across three resolutions and four settings presets allows for clear recommendations based on display type and preference. For 1080p users, the High preset at 230 FPS is the sweet spot for visual quality and speed, but Ultra at 219 FPS is nearly identical in performance and should be chosen if the hardware can handle it — the 11 FPS difference is imperceptible. Medium at 367 FPS and Low at 404 FPS are only relevant for esports-style competitive play or 360Hz displays, as the visual downgrade is substantial for marginal frame rate gains.

For 1440p, the recommendation shifts slightly. High at 165 FPS and Ultra at 157 FPS are both excellent, but the 8 FPS difference makes Ultra the obvious choice for anyone with a 144Hz or 165Hz monitor. The Medium preset at 264 FPS is unnecessary unless using a 240Hz or 300Hz display, and Low at 330 FPS is only for those chasing absolute maximum frame rates at the cost of visual fidelity. Given the game's atmospheric art style and puzzle-platformer genre, visual quality contributes significantly to the experience, so sacrificing it for extra FPS beyond 165 is not advisable.

At 4K, the situation changes due to the GPU becoming more stressed. High at 104 FPS is the recommended preset, as it provides a smooth experience on 120Hz or 144Hz 4K displays while maintaining good visual quality. Ultra at 99 FPS is also viable, but the 5 FPS drop from High is not worth the minor visual upgrade unless the display is exactly 100Hz. Medium at 166 FPS is overkill for most 4K displays (typically 60-144Hz), and Low at 208 FPS is pointless given the dramatic visual downgrade. For the best balance of image quality and smoothness, 4K High is the optimal choice.

The Medium preset deserves special mention because it is the only settings level that includes measured minimum and maximum FPS values. At 1080p Medium, the range is 312-423 FPS; at 1440p Medium, it is 225-304 FPS; and at 4K Medium, it is 141-191 FPS. These ranges suggest that Medium provides consistent frame pacing with no severe dips, making it a reliable choice for users who prefer stable frame times over peak averages. However, the averages at High and Ultra are close enough that the visual quality gain outweighs the slight FPS reduction.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo demonstrates extreme performance headroom. Low settings produce 404 FPS average, which is the highest recorded value across all tests. Medium settings reduce this to 367 FPS with a range of 312-423 FPS, indicating very stable frame delivery. High settings yield 230 FPS, and Ultra settings produce 219 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 185 FPS, showing that even at maximum settings, the system is far from being challenged. The CPU's 10 cores and 10 threads at 3.30 GHz base and 4.90 GHz boost are more than sufficient at this resolution, where the GPU is typically the primary driver of frame rate.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain exceptionally high. Low settings hit 330 FPS, Medium delivers 264 FPS with a range of 225-304 FPS, High provides 165 FPS, and Ultra achieves 157 FPS. The reduction from 1080p to 1440p is noticeable but modest: a 74 FPS drop at Low (404 to 330), a 103 FPS drop at Medium (367 to 264), a 65 FPS drop at High (230 to 165), and a 62 FPS drop at Ultra (219 to 157). These figures indicate that the GPU is beginning to exert more influence, but the RTX 4070's 12 GB of GDDR6X memory and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth handle the increased pixel count without issue.

At 3840x2160, the GPU workload increases significantly. Low settings still produce a playable 208 FPS, Medium delivers 166 FPS with a range of 141-191 FPS, High drops to 104 FPS, and Ultra reaches 99 FPS. The scaling from 1440p to 4K shows a 122 FPS drop at Low (330 to 208), a 98 FPS drop at Medium (264 to 166), a 61 FPS drop at High (165 to 104), and a 58 FPS drop at Ultra (157 to 99). The smaller absolute drops at High and Ultra suggest that the game's more demanding settings are not scaling linearly with resolution, and that the GPU is becoming the primary bottleneck at 4K.

The minimum and maximum FPS data at Medium settings across all three resolutions provide insight into frame pacing. At 1080p, the 312-423 FPS range shows a 111 FPS spread; at 1440p, the 225-304 FPS range shows a 79 FPS spread; and at 4K, the 141-191 FPS range shows a 50 FPS spread. This narrowing spread with increasing resolution indicates more consistent frame delivery at higher resolutions, likely because the GPU is more uniformly loaded and CPU-related frame hitches become less relevant.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process node at TSMC. It features 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operation processors, along with 46 ray tracing cores and 184 tensor cores. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1920 MHz and a boost clock of 2475 MHz, with memory clocked at 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective). These specifications translate to a pixel rate of 158.4 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 455.4 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance of 29.15 TFLOPS.

In Inside, the GPU's role becomes prominent at higher resolutions and settings. At 1080p, the GPU is not the limiting factor — the measured FPS of 404 at Low suggests the CPU or game engine caps performance. However, as resolution increases to 1440p and 4K, the GPU's workload grows, and the frame rates scale accordingly. The 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus provides 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth, which is ample for this game. The game's art style, while seemingly simple, uses dynamic lighting and particle effects that engage the GPU's shading units and ROPs.

The RTX 4070's 81st percentile ranking among all GPUs reflects its position as a high-end mainstream card. Its nearest rivals in average benchmark score are the NVIDIA Tesla P4 (37628, 0.1% delta) and AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (37507, 0.4% delta), but these are older or specialized parts that do not necessarily translate to gaming performance. The gap to the RTX 4080 Mobile (38135, -1.3% delta) is negligible in synthetic tests, but in real gaming, the desktop RTX 4070's higher power envelope and clock speeds give it an advantage.

For Inside, the GPU's performance is more than adequate. Even at 4K Ultra, the combo maintains 99 FPS, indicating the GPU is not being pushed to its limits. The fact that Low settings at 4K produce 208 FPS — more than double the Ultra result — shows that the GPU's scaling with settings is consistent. The 200 W TDP and dual-slot cooler design are sufficient for this workload, as the measured frame times do not suggest thermal throttling.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 is a 10-core, 10-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, manufactured on a 3 nm process at TSMC. It has a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz, with a TDP of 65 W. The cache hierarchy includes 192 KB L1 per core, 3 MB L2 per core, and 20 MB shared L3 cache. Memory support is dual-channel DDR5 with 102.4 GB/s bandwidth. The CPU's benchmark scores include 25891 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 3655 in single-core, with a Passmark multi-thread score of 30459 and single-thread score of 4412.

In Inside, the CPU's role is primarily to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic. The game is not heavily threaded, so the 10 cores are more than sufficient. At 1080p, the CPU becomes a more significant factor, as evidenced by the 404 FPS at Low settings — this is likely near the game engine's frame rate ceiling. The CPU's single-thread performance, while not top-tier, is strong enough to avoid bottlenecking the RTX 4070 at any resolution tested.

Comparing to its nearest rivals, the Core Ultra 5 225's average benchmark score of 36938 is essentially tied with the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F (36945, 0% delta) and only 0.2% behind the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D. This means the CPU is a solid mid-range performer that does not stand out positively or negatively. The 85th percentile ranking among all CPUs confirms this positioning. For Inside, this is irrelevant — the game's requirements are modest, and even a much weaker CPU would likely deliver acceptable frame rates.

The CPU's 4.90 GHz boost clock ensures high single-threaded performance for the game's main thread. The 20 MB L3 cache helps with data locality, reducing memory latency. The dual-channel DDR5 memory with 102.4 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient for the game's data streaming needs. The 65 W TDP means the CPU runs cool and quiet, though this does not directly impact gaming performance in a measurable way for this title.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS across 1080p, 1440p, and 4K reveals clear scaling patterns that indicate where the bottleneck lies. At Low settings, the frame rates drop from 404 FPS at 1080p to 330 FPS at 1440p (an 18% reduction) and then to 208 FPS at 4K (a 37% reduction from 1440p). This scaling is roughly proportional to the pixel count increase, suggesting the GPU is the limiting factor even at Low settings. The pixel count increases by 1.78x from 1080p to 1440p and by 2.25x from 1440p to 4K, and the FPS drops align with these ratios.

At Medium settings, the scaling is similar: 367 FPS at 1080p, 264 FPS at 1440p (28% reduction), and 166 FPS at 4K (37% reduction from 1440p). At High settings, the pattern continues: 230 FPS at 1080p, 165 FPS at 1440p (28% reduction), and 104 FPS at 4K (37% reduction from 1440p). At Ultra settings, the values are 219 FPS, 157 FPS, and 99 FPS respectively, with reductions of 28% and 37%.

The consistent 28% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and 37% reduction from 1440p to 4K across all settings presets indicates that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at all resolutions. The CPU's performance does not change with resolution, so if the CPU were the limiting factor, the FPS would remain constant across resolutions. Instead, the proportional drops confirm that the RTX 4070's pixel throughput is what determines frame rates.

This resolution scaling has practical implications. For 1080p users, the system is massively overprovisioned — even at Ultra settings, the 219 FPS average is beyond what any mainstream 1080p monitor can display (most are 144Hz or 240Hz). For 1440p users, the system is well-matched, with High and Ultra settings providing 165 FPS and 157 FPS respectively, which saturate 144Hz and 165Hz displays. For 4K users, the system is still capable, but High settings (104 FPS) are the practical ceiling for 120Hz displays, while Ultra (99 FPS) is just below 100Hz.

The narrowing FPS spread at higher resolutions, as seen in the Medium preset's min-max ranges, further confirms that the GPU becomes more dominant as resolution increases. At 1080p, the 111 FPS spread between min and max suggests occasional CPU-driven frame dips. At 4K, the 50 FPS spread indicates more stable GPU-bound performance. This is typical behavior for a well-balanced system, where the CPU's role diminishes as the GPU's workload increases.