Inside

Inside is a 2016 puzzle platformer that, on the surface, appears modest in its demands, but the measured data for the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 combination tells a story of extreme performance headroom. The benchmark results show this pairing delivering exceptionally high frame rates across all tested resolutions and settings, positioning it firmly in the upper echelon of tested configurations for this title. The data indicates that the primary constraint in this system is rarely the hardware itself, but rather the engine's rendering limits at lower settings.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 is a 10-core, 10-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, built on a 3 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz, which are the figures that dictate its processing throughput for game logic and physics. In a puzzle platformer like Inside, the CPU's role is typically less about raw multi-threaded muscle and more about maintaining consistent single-thread performance to handle collision detection, entity updates, and the game's scripting. The benchmark data for this CPU shows a single-core score of 3,655 in Cinebench R23, a result that places it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs tested, indicating strong per-core capability.

The processor's multi-core performance is also robust, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 25,891. This suggests that even if Inside were to utilize multiple threads for background tasks or complex scene loading, the Core Ultra 5 225 has ample capacity. The CPU's average benchmark score of 36,938 places it in a tight cluster with its nearest rivals, including the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F, which scores 36,945 (a 0% delta), and the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D, which scores 37,018 (a -0.2% delta). This proximity indicates that in synthetic tests, the processor is competitive with these alternatives, and the differences are negligible in the context of a game like Inside, which is not heavily CPU-bound.

The measured FPS data reinforces the notion that the CPU is not a bottleneck. At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves 404 FPS, a rate so high that it is likely limited by the game's engine frame pacing or the GPU's rendering overhead rather than CPU compute. Even at 4K with Ultra settings, the average FPS of 106 is far above what would indicate a CPU limitation. The processor's 20 MB of shared L3 cache and support for DDR5 memory with a bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s are more than sufficient for the game's data streaming needs. In this specific title, the data suggests the Core Ultra 5 225 provides a foundation that allows the GPU to operate without any constraint, delivering performance that scales predictably with resolution and settings changes.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 is the dominant component in this pairing for Inside. It features 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 672.0 GB/s. The GPU's core clocks are set at 2325 MHz base and 2512 MHz boost, and it is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with 6,144 shading units. For a game of Inside's visual complexity, which uses a distinctive monochromatic art style with dynamic lighting and shadow effects, the RTX 5070's raw compute power is substantial. The GPU's passmark G3D score of 29,137 places it in the 82nd percentile of all GPUs, and its average benchmark score of 40,377 is closely matched by rivals like the AMD Radeon Pro 580 (40,318, a 0.1% delta) and AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100 (40,063, a 0.8% delta), showing it performs in a similar tier to those workstation cards in general compute, though gaming performance is the focus here.

The VRAM capacity of 12 GB is a critical factor at higher resolutions. The data shows that at 4K with Ultra settings, the system averages 106 FPS, which indicates the GPU is still rendering the scene efficiently without running out of memory. The 4K Medium preset yields an average of 177 FPS, with a minimum of 151 FPS and a maximum of 204 FPS, demonstrating that the GPU can handle the increased pixel count while maintaining a smooth experience. The GPU's texture rate of 482.3 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 201.0 GPixel/s are more than adequate for the game's 2.5D side-scrolling perspective, which often relies on high-quality textures and post-processing effects that are handled by the GPU.

The RTX 5070's performance scaling with settings is clear. At 1080p, the difference between Low (404 FPS) and Ultra (234 FPS) is significant, but even at the highest settings, the frame rate is well above the refresh rate of most displays. At 4K, the gap narrows in percentage terms: Ultra (106 FPS) is about half the speed of Low (222 FPS), but still perfectly playable. The data suggests that the GPU is the primary scaling factor when moving between quality presets, as the CPU's performance remains consistent. The 250 W TDP of the GPU indicates it is a high-power part, and the 600 W suggested PSU in the fact pack is a note for system builders, but for this game's load, the GPU is rarely stressed to its limits.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo in Inside depend heavily on the target display refresh rate and resolution. For 1080p displays, the High preset at 245 FPS is an excellent choice, offering a significant visual upgrade over Medium (373 FPS) while still providing frame rates that far exceed any standard 60 Hz or 144 Hz monitor. The Ultra preset at 234 FPS is also viable, but the data shows only a marginal performance drop of 11 FPS from High to Ultra, suggesting that Ultra might be the best choice for 1080p if the user prioritizes maximum visual fidelity, as the performance difference is negligible in practice.

At 1440p, the High preset delivers 176 FPS, which is ideal for high-refresh-rate gaming. The Medium preset at 282 FPS offers even more headroom, but the visual difference between Medium and High in this game is likely to be noticeable in shadow quality and texture filtering. The Ultra preset at 168 FPS is still very playable and provides the best image quality, but the 8 FPS difference between High and Ultra is minimal, making High the more balanced choice for 1440p. The data shows that the minimum FPS for Medium at 1440p is 240, which is excellent, but no minimums are listed for High or Ultra, so the average figures must be considered.

For 4K, the decision is more nuanced. The Ultra preset averages 106 FPS, which is playable on a 60 Hz display but not ideal for 120 Hz panels. The High preset at 111 FPS offers a slight improvement, but the Medium preset at 177 FPS represents the sweet spot for 4K, providing a 60% performance increase over High while still maintaining a high level of visual quality. The Medium preset also has a recorded minimum of 151 FPS, which is the only settings level at 4K with a min FPS data point, indicating stable performance. Given that Inside is a slow-paced puzzle game, the Medium preset at 4K is the recommended choice, as it ensures a smooth, stutter-free experience without sacrificing the game's atmospheric art style to a significant degree. The Low preset at 4K produces 222 FPS, but the visual degradation is likely too severe for a game that relies on its moody lighting.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 achieves a rank of 298 out of 2,887 tested combos for Inside. This places it in the top 10.3% of all systems tested for this specific game, which is a strong showing given the game's age and the wide variety of hardware configurations in the database. The rank indicates that while this combo is not the absolute fastest, it outperforms the vast majority of other pairings, likely including many with older or lower-tier CPUs and GPUs.

The high rank is consistent with the measured FPS across all resolutions. At 1080p Ultra, the combo achieves 234 FPS, which is a performance level that would place it near the top of the leaderboard for that setting. The fact that it ranks 298th overall suggests that there are a few combinations with even more powerful GPUs, such as the RTX 5090 or top-tier Radeon cards, that can push higher frame rates, but the RTX 5070 is clearly a high-end performer in this context. The CPU's performance, while in the 85th percentile, is not the limiting factor, as evidenced by the fact that the combo's rank is likely driven by the GPU's ability to render frames.

The data shows that the combo's performance is not bottlenecked by the CPU, as the frame rates scale linearly with resolution changes. If the CPU were a constraint, we would expect to see a plateau in FPS at lower resolutions, but the jump from 1080p (245 FPS on High) to 1440p (176 FPS on High) is a 28% drop, which is consistent with a GPU-bound scenario. The rank of 298 is therefore a signal of the balanced nature of this pairing, where the Core Ultra 5 225 provides enough throughput to keep the RTX 5070 fed with data, allowing the GPU to operate at its full potential for this title.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The FPS scaling across resolutions is a clear indicator of where the bottleneck lies in this system. On the High preset, the average FPS drops from 245 at 1080p to 176 at 1440p (a 28% decrease) and then to 111 at 4K (a 37% decrease from 1440p). This scaling pattern is classic for a GPU-limited scenario. If the CPU were the limiting factor, the FPS would remain relatively constant as resolution increases, since the CPU's workload (game logic, draw calls) stays the same while the GPU's workload (pixel shading) grows. The fact that FPS drops significantly with each resolution increase confirms that the RTX 5070 is the component setting the performance ceiling.

The Low preset shows even more dramatic scaling: 404 FPS at 1080p, 353 FPS at 1440p, and 222 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is only 12.6%, which is smaller than the High preset's drop, suggesting that at Low settings, the GPU is still capable of handling the reduced workload at 1440p without as much of a penalty. However, the drop to 4K is 37%, which is substantial. This indicates that even at Low settings, the 4K pixel count is a heavy load for the GPU, and the CPU is not the primary constraint.

The Medium preset provides the most complete data, with minimum and maximum FPS recorded. At 1080p, the average is 373 FPS (min 317, max 429). At 1440p, the average drops to 282 FPS (min 240, max 325), a 24% decrease. At 4K, the average is 177 FPS (min 151, max 204), a 37% decrease from 1440p. The consistent decrease percentages (24-37%) across these resolution steps are a textbook sign of a GPU-bound workload. The CPU's role is to prepare frames, and the data shows it is doing so without creating a bottleneck, as the FPS always scales down as the GPU has to render more pixels. In summary, the resolution scaling analysis points unequivocally to the GPU as the limiting component in this combo for Inside.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The following is a detailed breakdown of the measured average FPS for the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 in Inside, across all tested configurations.

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Low: 404 FPS average.
• Medium: 373 FPS average, with a minimum of 317 FPS and a maximum of 429 FPS.
• High: 245 FPS average.
• Ultra: 234 FPS average.

At 1080p, the system is capable of exceeding 400 FPS on the Low preset, which is an extreme performance level. The Medium preset's minimum of 317 FPS ensures that even in the most demanding scenes, the frame rate never dips below what would be considered a very high refresh rate. The jump from Medium to High is a 34% performance drop, which is significant, but the High and Ultra presets still deliver well over 200 FPS.

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Low: 353 FPS average.
• Medium: 282 FPS average, with a minimum of 240 FPS and a maximum of 325 FPS.
• High: 176 FPS average.
• Ultra: 168 FPS average.

The 1440p results show that the combo remains in high-refresh-rate territory across all presets. The Low setting at 353 FPS is still remarkably fast. The Medium preset's minimum of 240 FPS is a solid floor for a 240 Hz monitor. The High and Ultra presets, while lower, are still well above the 144 Hz threshold, making them viable for fast-paced gaming, although Inside is not a fast-paced title.

3840x2160 (4K):

• Low: 222 FPS average.
• Medium: 177 FPS average, with a minimum of 151 FPS and a maximum of 204 FPS.
• High: 111 FPS average.
• Ultra: 106 FPS average.

At 4K, the performance is still very strong. The Low preset at 222 FPS is playable on high-refresh-rate 4K displays. The Medium preset, with a minimum of 151 FPS, is the only 4K setting with a recorded min FPS, and it offers a smooth experience. The High and Ultra presets both average just over 100 FPS, which is suitable for 60 Hz displays and even some 120 Hz panels, though the latter would not be able to fully utilize the display's refresh rate. The data shows a clear performance hierarchy: Low > Medium > High > Ultra at every resolution, with the relative gaps between presets being consistent across the board, reinforcing the GPU-bound nature of the system.