Inside

Inside is a 2016 puzzle platformer with modest rendering demands, yet the combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D produces an unusual benchmark profile. The measured frame rates are exceptionally high across all settings, but the scaling patterns reveal a system that is rarely stressed by the game’s visuals. This analysis walks through the resolution scaling, comparative ranking, component roles, and settings behavior using only the provided measured data.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial but follows a clear pattern tied to settings. At Low settings, the average FPS moves from 404 at 1920x1080 to 362 at 2560x1440 and finally to 310 at 3840x2160. That is a decline of approximately 10.4% from 1080p to 1440p, and another 14.4% from 1440p to 4K. The total reduction from 1080p Low to 4K Low is about 23.3%, which indicates the GPU is still the primary limiter even at the lowest quality preset, though the game’s simplicity means the absolute numbers remain far above display refresh rates.

At Medium settings, the same resolution progression shows 373 FPS at 1080p, 334 FPS at 1440p, and 256 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are 10.5% and 23.4% respectively, nearly identical to Low settings. This consistency suggests that Medium settings introduce minimal additional GPU load relative to Low, and the bottleneck shift is gradual rather than abrupt. The measured minimum FPS at Medium also scales predictably: 317 at 1080p, 284 at 1440p, and 218 at 4K, with the 4K minimum being 31.2% lower than the 1080p minimum.

High settings produce a steeper curve: 311 FPS at 1080p, 255 FPS at 1440p, and 160 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 18.0%, and from 1440p to 4K it is 37.3%. This larger decline indicates that High settings engage more GPU features, such as higher-resolution textures or additional shading effects, which scale more aggressively with pixel count. The 4K High result of 160 FPS is still smooth, but it is less than half of the 1080p Low result.

Ultra settings follow a similar pattern to High: 305 FPS at 1080p, 243 FPS at 1440p, and 153 FPS at 4K. The relative drops are 20.3% and 37.0%. Interestingly, Ultra at 4K (153 FPS) is only 7 FPS lower than High at 4K (160 FPS), suggesting that the Ultra preset adds features that are not heavily dependent on resolution, or that the GPU is approaching a performance plateau for this game. The data indicates that the RTX 5090 D is the limiting component at 4K for all settings, while at 1080p the CPU may begin to constrain results, particularly at Low where the 404 FPS average suggests a ceiling.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the database of 3,716 tested combinations, this specific pairing ranks 41st for Inside. That places it in the top 1.1% of all combos tested for this game. The rank reflects the raw performance of the RTX 5090 D, which is one of the highest-scoring GPUs in the database with an average benchmark score of 77,712 and a percentile rank of 92 among all GPUs. The CPU, while not as dominant, still holds an 85th percentile rank among all processors with an average benchmark score of 36,938.

The combination’s high rank is expected given the GPU’s performance class. The RTX 5090 D’s nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks are the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT (1.1% higher average score), AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (1.6% lower), and two NVIDIA Tesla P100 variants (2.1% and 2.4% lower). These deltas are small, but in a lightly threaded game like Inside, the actual frame rate differences could be more pronounced due to driver optimizations and architectural advantages. The CPU’s nearest rivals are equally close, with the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F matching its average score exactly, and the Ryzen 5 5500X3D trailing by only 0.2%.

The rank of 41 out of 3,716 means that only 40 other combinations deliver higher average FPS in this game. Given that Inside is not a demanding title, the rank is more a signal of the sheer headroom of the GPU than to any specific optimization. The data shows that the combo is overkill for 1080p gaming, where it achieves 404 FPS on Low, but it provides a comfortable margin for 4K Ultra at 153 FPS, which is still well above typical 60 Hz displays.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is the dominant component in this pairing. Its specs include 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, yielding 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth, and a boost clock of 2407 MHz from a base of 2017 MHz. The memory clock is listed as 1750 MHz with 28 Gbps effective speed. These specifications are far beyond what Inside requires, as the game’s low-poly aesthetic and limited texture detail do not stress VRAM capacity or bandwidth at any resolution.

The GPU’s synthetic benchmarks reinforce its high-end positioning. It scores 44,065 in Passmark G3D, 28,396 in Passmark GPU Compute, and 310,674 in Geekbench OpenCL. The Vulkan score is 376,915, indicating strong API-level performance, though Inside likely uses DirectX given its release date. The GPU’s 92nd percentile ranking among all GPUs, combined with its average benchmark score of 77,712, places it in elite territory.

In game, the GPU’s role is most evident at 4K. The measured FPS at 4K Low (310) is 23.3% lower than at 1080p Low (404), which aligns with the pixel count increase of 4.0x if the GPU were fully saturated. However, the actual drop is less than that, suggesting that at 1080p the CPU or other system components are limiting performance. At 4K Ultra (153 FPS), the GPU is clearly the bottleneck, as the setting’s additional effects reduce FPS by 50.8% compared to 4K Low. The data indicates that the GPU has enough headroom to run Inside at maximum settings on any resolution, but its performance ceiling is only reached at 4K with High or Ultra presets.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and desired frame rate. For 1080p, the Low preset yields 404 FPS average, but Medium offers 373 FPS and High 311 FPS. The difference between Low and Medium is only 31 FPS, while High drops by 62 FPS from Medium. For most users, Medium at 1080p provides a balanced experience, as the 373 FPS average is still far beyond any display’s refresh rate, and the visual improvement over Low is likely noticeable.

At 1440p, Medium (334 FPS) is again the sweet spot, with High (255 FPS) offering a 79 FPS reduction. The Ultra preset (243 FPS) is only 12 FPS lower than High, so if visual fidelity is prioritized, Ultra at 1440p is nearly as fast as High. The measured minimum FPS at 1440p Medium is 284, which is still smooth, though the 384 FPS maximum indicates some frame-time variance.

For 4K, the choice is more consequential. High (160 FPS) and Ultra (153 FPS) are close, but Medium (256 FPS) offers a significant jump. If the goal is maximum visual quality, Ultra at 153 FPS is acceptable for 144 Hz displays, but Medium at 256 FPS is far safer for high-refresh monitors. Low at 310 FPS is only 54 FPS faster than Medium, suggesting that the Medium preset is the best value in terms of performance per visual fidelity. The data does not include a Low 4K minimum FPS, but the Medium minimum of 218 FPS indicates that even the lowest dips are well above 60 FPS.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achieved by this combo in Inside?

A: The highest measured average is 404 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested combinations for this game?

A: It ranks 41st out of 3,716 tested combinations, placing it in the top 1.1% of all results.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between 1080p and 4K at Ultra settings?

A: At 1080p Ultra, the average FPS is 305, while at 4K Ultra it drops to 153, a reduction of 152 FPS or approximately 49.8%.

Q: Does the GPU or CPU limit performance at 4K?

A: The data shows that frame rates drop significantly with resolution increases (e.g., from 404 FPS at 1080p Low to 310 FPS at 4K Low), indicating the GPU is the limiting component at 4K for all settings.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded at 1440p Medium settings?

A: The minimum FPS at 2560x1440 with Medium settings is 284, with a maximum of 384 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 5090 D compare to its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT has an average score 1.1% higher, while the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT is 1.6% lower, according to the nearestRivals data.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 is a 10-core, 10-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz. Its 20 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB per-core L2 cache provide ample resources for a game like Inside, which is not heavily threaded. The CPU’s synthetic benchmarks show a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 25,891 and a single-core score of 3,655, indicating strong per-thread performance that is critical for older games that rely on a few high-clocked cores.

The CPU’s Passmark scores include a single-thread score of 4,412 and a multi-thread score of 30,459. Its 85th percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 36,938, places it above the median but not at the top tier. In Inside, the CPU’s role is most apparent at 1080p Low, where the 404 FPS average suggests a practical ceiling. The fact that 1440p Low (362 FPS) is only 10.4% lower than 1080p Low, while 4K Low (310 FPS) is 23.3% lower, indicates that the CPU can keep up with the GPU’s demands at lower resolutions, but the GPU becomes the bottleneck as pixel count rises.

The CPU’s closest rivals in synthetic tests are the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F, which matches its average score exactly, and the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D, which is 0.2% lower. These small deltas suggest that the Core Ultra 5 225 is comparable to mid-range Ryzen parts in raw compute, but its 10 cores and 10 threads may offer better performance in lightly threaded games that favor higher clocks. For Inside, the CPU is not the limiting factor at 4K, but at 1080p with Low settings, it may cap frame rates slightly below the GPU’s potential.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete set of measured FPS values is as follows:

1920x1080: Low averages 404 FPS. Medium averages 373 FPS with a minimum of 317 and maximum of 429. High averages 311 FPS. Ultra averages 305 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 99 FPS, with Ultra being 24.5% slower than Low.

2560x1440: Low averages 362 FPS. Medium averages 334 FPS with a minimum of 284 and maximum of 384. High averages 255 FPS. Ultra averages 243 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 119 FPS, with Ultra being 32.9% slower than Low. Compared to 1080p, all settings drop by roughly 10-20%, with High and Ultra showing larger drops.

3840x2160: Low averages 310 FPS. Medium averages 256 FPS with a minimum of 218 and maximum of 295. High averages 160 FPS. Ultra averages 153 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 157 FPS, with Ultra being 50.6% slower than Low. The drop from 1440p to 4K is steepest for High (37.3%) and Ultra (37.0%), while Low (14.4%) and Medium (23.4%) are more moderate.

Across all resolutions, Medium settings consistently offer the best combination of high average FPS and defined minimum/maximum values. The 4K Medium result of 256 FPS average with a 218 FPS minimum is particularly strong, as it maintains smooth performance even during demanding scenes. The High and Ultra presets at 4K both fall below 200 FPS, which may be unnecessary for a game that runs at over 300 FPS on lower settings. The data overall shows that this combo has enormous headroom for Inside, and users can prioritize visual quality without worrying about playability at any resolution.