Inside

Inside is a 2016 puzzle platformer that is remarkably forgiving on modern hardware, and the measured data for the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT combination confirms this pairing is overqualified for the task. At every resolution and settings preset tested, the system delivers frame rates that are either perfectly smooth for the genre or so high that they are effectively meaningless for actual gameplay. The benchmark results show a GPU that is consistently the primary bottleneck, but only because the CPU is never challenged by this title's modest demands, making this a straightforward case where users can prioritize visual fidelity without sacrificing playability.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data points to "Ultra" settings as the clear choice for this pairing, provided you are using a display with a standard refresh rate. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset yields an average of 139 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay and leaves ample headroom for any frame-time spikes. The High preset at 1080p only increases the average to 146 FPS, a marginal 5% gain that does not justify the reduction in visual quality, especially in a game where the atmosphere and lighting are central to the experience. The data indicates that the visual upgrade from High to Ultra is essentially free in performance terms at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the Ultra preset maintains a very playable average of 100 FPS. This is a 28% drop from the 1080p Ultra result, but it remains comfortably above the 60 FPS target and will feel fluid on most monitors. The High preset at 1440p only offers a 5 FPS advantage, reaching 105 FPS, which is again not a significant enough difference to warrant choosing lower settings. The Ultra preset at 1440p is the sweet spot for this resolution, balancing the game's detailed art style with a frame rate that exceeds the needs of the genre.

At 3840x2160, the situation changes. The Ultra preset drops to an average of 63 FPS, which is right at the edge of the 60 FPS threshold. While this is technically playable, the Medium preset at 4K delivers an average of 106 FPS, a massive 68% improvement over Ultra. The Medium preset also provides the only measured minimum FPS data for 4K, at 90 FPS, indicating a stable experience. Given that Inside is not a fast-paced competitive shooter, the frame rate stability of Medium makes it the better choice for 4K. The Low preset at 4K achieves 132 FPS, but the visual sacrifice in a game so dependent on mood and shadow is likely too high a price. Therefore, the recommendation is to use Ultra for 1080p and 1440p, and to step down to Medium for 4K to ensure a consistently smooth experience.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT is the driving force behind this system's performance in Inside, and the data shows it is more than capable of handling the game's demands. The GPU features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 280.3 GB/s. The benchmark results indicate that this memory configuration is entirely sufficient for the game, as even at 4K with the Ultra preset, the average FPS only drops to 63, suggesting the frame buffer is not being exhausted. The GPU's 64 ROPs and 128 TMUs are also well-suited for a game that is not heavily reliant on complex geometry, allowing it to push pixels efficiently at high resolutions.

The clock speeds are a key factor in the GPU's performance. The card has a base clock of 2055 MHz and a boost clock of 2635 MHz, with a game clock of 2410 MHz. These high frequencies, combined with the RDNA 2.0 architecture, allow the RX 6650 XT to achieve a fill rate of 168.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 337.3 GTexel/s. In practical terms, this means the GPU can process the game's 2D sprite-based visuals and lighting effects with extreme speed, which is why the frame rates are so high. The FP32 performance of 10.79 TFLOPS provides ample compute power for the game's physics and particle effects, which are simple but present.

The GPU's performance relative to other cards is solid, sitting in the 65th percentile of all GPUs. Its average benchmark score of 19765 is only 0.6% lower than the NVIDIA Tesla K40m and 0.7% lower than the AMD FirePro W7000, according to the nearestRivals data. This indicates that the RX 6650 XT is a mid-range performer that punches well above its weight in a game like Inside, which was released years before the card's 2022 launch. The data shows that the GPU is the limiting factor when moving from 1080p to 4K, as the CPU is consistently able to feed it frames without becoming a bottleneck.

FAQ

Q: Can I play Inside at 4K with this hardware?

A: Yes. The measured data shows an average of 63 FPS at 4K with the Ultra preset, which is technically playable. However, for a more stable experience, the Medium preset at 4K averages 106 FPS with a minimum of 90 FPS, making it the recommended choice for 4K displays.

Q: Is the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 or the AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT the bottleneck in this game?

A: The GPU is the limiting component. The FPS drops significantly when moving from 1080p to 4K, from 139 FPS to 63 FPS on Ultra, which is a clear sign of GPU load. The CPU's performance is more than sufficient, as evidenced by the high frame rates at lower resolutions.

Q: What is the best settings preset for a 1440p monitor?

A: The Ultra preset is the best choice. It delivers an average of 100 FPS at 2560x1440, which is well above the 60 FPS target. The High preset only offers a 5 FPS improvement (105 FPS), so the visual benefits of Ultra are essentially free.

Q: How much performance is gained by dropping from Ultra to Low settings?

A: At 1080p, dropping from Ultra to Low increases the average frame rate from 139 FPS to 292 FPS, a more than 2x improvement. At 1440p, the gain is from 100 FPS to 210 FPS. At 4K, the gain is from 63 FPS to 132 FPS.

Q: Does the CPU's 14 cores and 14 threads matter for this game?

A: Not significantly. Inside is not a highly threaded game, and the data suggests the CPU is never the bottleneck. The Core Ultra 5 235's performance is far beyond what the game requires, as shown by the high frame rates at 1080p where the CPU has less work to do.

Q: Is a high refresh rate monitor worth using for this game with this setup?

A: Yes, at 1080p and 1440p. At 1080p, the Low preset reaches 292 FPS and the Ultra preset hits 139 FPS, both of which can take advantage of a 144Hz or higher monitor. At 1440p, the Ultra preset's 100 FPS is also suitable for a high refresh rate display.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The benchmark data provides a complete picture of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the system is extremely fast. The Low preset achieves an average of 292 FPS, the Medium preset averages 234 FPS with a minimum of 199 FPS and a maximum of 269 FPS, the High preset averages 146 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 139 FPS. These numbers are all far beyond what is necessary for a smooth experience, and the difference between High and Ultra is minimal, suggesting that the game's engine is not heavily taxing the GPU at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the performance scales down predictably. The Low preset still delivers an impressive 210 FPS average. The Medium preset averages 168 FPS with a minimum of 143 FPS and a maximum of 193 FPS. The High preset drops to an average of 105 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages exactly 100 FPS. This pattern shows that the GPU is starting to work harder, but the frame rates remain very high. The 5 FPS gap between High and Ultra at this resolution is negligible, reinforcing the recommendation to use Ultra.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's workload increases substantially. The Low preset averages 132 FPS, which is still very playable. The Medium preset averages 106 FPS and is the only 4K setting with recorded min/max values, showing a range of 90 to 121 FPS, which indicates good stability. The High preset drops to an average of 66 FPS, and the Ultra preset falls to 63 FPS. The data shows a clear cliff between Medium and High at 4K, with a 38% drop in average frame rate, making Medium the most sensible option for 4K gaming on this hardware.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K clearly identifies the GPU as the primary bottleneck. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 on the Ultra preset, the average frame rate drops from 139 FPS to 100 FPS, a 28% decrease. This is a significant reduction, but the frame rate remains high. However, moving from 2560x1440 to 3840x2160 on the same preset, the average frame rate drops from 100 FPS to 63 FPS, a 37% decrease. This steeper decline at higher resolutions indicates that the RX 6650 XT is running out of pixel-pushing capability, as the number of pixels increases by 2.25x from 1080p to 4K.

The pattern is consistent across all settings. On the Low preset, the frame rate drops from 292 FPS at 1080p to 210 FPS at 1440p (a 28% drop), and then to 132 FPS at 4K (a 37% drop from 1440p). This consistent scaling behavior is a classic sign of a GPU-limited scenario. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see a smaller performance hit at higher resolutions, as the CPU's workload would remain relatively constant. Instead, the frame rate drops in proportion to the increase in pixel count, confirming that the GPU's rendering capabilities are the limiting factor.

The data also shows that the game is not particularly demanding on memory bandwidth. The RX 6650 XT's 280.3 GB/s of bandwidth is sufficient to handle the 4K Ultra preset, as the GPU is still able to produce 63 FPS. This suggests that the limiting factor is the GPU's compute and fill rate rather than its memory subsystem. The high frame rates at 1080p, even on the Ultra preset, indicate that the CPU is never a constraint, and the system's overall performance in Inside is almost entirely dictated by the GPU's workload.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 is a 14-core, 14-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. In Inside, this CPU is vastly overqualified. The benchmark data shows that the system achieves 292 FPS at 1080p on Low settings, a frame rate that is so high it is likely beyond the refresh rate of any monitor. Even at 4K on Ultra settings, where the GPU is clearly struggling, the CPU is able to maintain a 63 FPS average, proving that it is not holding the system back.

The CPU's performance in synthetic benchmarks further underscores its capability. It scores 14769 points in Cinebench R23 multicore and 2085 points in the single-core test, which puts it in the 89th percentile of all CPUs. Its average benchmark score of 46062 is nearly identical to the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375, with a delta of only 0.1%. This level of performance is entirely irrelevant for a game like Inside, which was released in 2016 and does not require significant processing power. The game's simple physics and AI routines can be easily handled by a single core, and the Core Ultra 5 235's single-core performance is more than adequate.

The data shows that the CPU's role in this specific game is secondary. While it provides the foundation for the system, the frame rates are ultimately determined by the GPU. The 14 cores and 14 threads are useful for other, more demanding applications, but in Inside, they are essentially idle. The CPU's 24 MB of shared L3 cache and support for DDR5 memory with 102.4 GB/s of bandwidth ensure that it can feed data to the GPU without any delays, but the game's requirements are so low that this is never a challenge. In summary, the Core Ultra 5 235 is not a factor in the performance of Inside; it simply provides a stable platform for the RX 6650 XT to operate.