Inside

Inside is a 2016 puzzle platformer that places almost no sustained stress on modern hardware, but the measured results for the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT reveal a surprisingly wide performance spread depending on resolution and settings. The data shows a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-limited at 4K, but transitions to a more balanced state at 1080p where the CPU's single-threaded strength becomes relevant. This combination ranks in the 47th percentile of tested configurations, which is a strong showing for a game that is nearly a decade old, but the frame rates suggest that users are far more likely to be constrained by their display's refresh rate than by this hardware.

Resolution Scaling

The most striking pattern in the measured FPS data is how performance scales with resolution. At 1080p with Low settings, the system produces 337 FPS, which drops to 242 FPS at 1440p and then to 152 FPS at 4K. This represents a 55% reduction from 1080p to 4K, which is a massive hit that clearly indicts the GPU as the primary bottleneck. The RX 6700 XT, with its 12 GB of VRAM and 384.0 GB/s of bandwidth, is being pushed to its limits at higher pixel counts, but the fact that it still manages over 150 FPS at 4K Low confirms the game's light rendering demands.

When settings are raised to Ultra, the scaling pattern shifts. At 1080p Ultra, the system hits 160 FPS, which falls to 115 FPS at 1440p and then to 72 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 4K is 55%, nearly identical to the Low settings delta, but the absolute numbers are much lower. This suggests that Ultra settings introduce a fixed cost, likely from additional shader complexity and draw calls, that scales with resolution rather than being a purely GPU-bound effect. The 4K Ultra result of 72 FPS is the only measured configuration that dips below the 75 FPS threshold, indicating that this is the breaking point for the combo.

The Medium settings data provides the most granular view, as it includes min and max FPS values. At 1080p Medium, the average is 269 FPS with a minimum of 229 FPS, while at 1440p Medium the average drops to 194 FPS with a minimum of 165 FPS. At 4K Medium, the average falls to 122 FPS with a minimum of 103 FPS. The consistency of these minimums, which stay within 15-20% of the averages, indicates that there are no severe frame time spikes, even at higher resolutions. This is a strong sign that the game's engine is well-optimized for this hardware.

What is unusual is that the scaling from 1080p to 1440p is relatively gentle, with an average drop of about 28% across all settings, but the jump from 1440p to 4K is much steeper, averaging a 37% reduction. This non-linear scaling points to the GPU's memory bandwidth becoming a limiting factor at 4K, where the 384.0 GB/s of bandwidth is insufficient to feed the pixel fill rate demanded by 8.3 million pixels. The 4K High result of 76 FPS, which is barely above the 4K Ultra result, reinforces this interpretation.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Inside at 4K with maximum settings?

A: Yes, but barely. At 4K Ultra, the measured average FPS is 72, which is below the 60 FPS standard for smooth gameplay but still playable. For a locked 60 FPS experience, dropping to High settings at 4K yields 76 FPS on average, though neither configuration has recorded minimum FPS data to confirm frame time stability.

Q: Is there a significant difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: The data shows a 177 FPS difference, with Low producing 337 FPS and Ultra producing 160 FPS. This is a 53% reduction, which is substantial, but the Ultra result is still far above any standard display's refresh rate, making the visual upgrade essentially free in practical terms.

Q: How does the CPU affect performance in Inside?

A: The Core Ultra 5 235 has 14 cores and 14 threads, which is overkill for a puzzle platformer that rarely uses more than a few threads. Benchmark results show a single-thread score of 2085 in Cinebench R23, which is what matters most for this game. The CPU's 5.00 GHz boost clock ensures it is never the limiting factor, as evidenced by the 337 FPS result at 1080p Low.

Q: What is the best resolution for this hardware in Inside?

A: At 1080p and 1440p, the system produces frame rates that exceed 115 FPS even at Ultra settings, making both resolutions excellent choices. At 4K, however, the average FPS drops to 72-76 FPS depending on settings, which is still playable but may not satisfy users with high-refresh-rate 4K displays.

Q: Does the RX 6700 XT's VRAM capacity matter for this game?

A: The 12 GB of GDDR6 memory is far more than Inside requires, as the game's textures are not demanding by modern standards. The data shows no evidence of VRAM-related stuttering, with minimum FPS values staying within 15% of averages at Medium settings across all resolutions.

Q: How does this combo compare to other tested systems?

A: This configuration ranks 1367 out of 2887 tested combos, placing it just above the median. This is a strong result for a mid-range GPU paired with a new mid-range CPU, indicating that the combination is well-balanced for this game's requirements.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 is a 14-core, 14-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, fabricated on a 3 nm process by TSMC. Its 14 cores are a mix of performance and efficiency cores, though the fact that thread count equals core count means there is no hyperthreading. For Inside, this is irrelevant, as the game's engine is not designed to scale beyond a few threads. The CPU's real asset is its single-thread performance, reflected in a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2085, which places it in the 89th percentile of all CPUs.

In the measured FPS data, the CPU's influence is most visible at 1080p Low, where the system produces 337 FPS. This is a frame rate that exceeds what most GPUs can deliver in more demanding games, but it also suggests that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU with enough draw calls to sustain such high output. The fact that 1080p Ultra only drops this to 160 FPS, rather than a more severe reduction, indicates that the CPU can handle the increased geometry and physics load without becoming a bottleneck.

The CPU's memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s, provided by dual-channel DDR5, is another factor. While this is not a number that directly appears in game benchmarks, it supports the CPU's ability to quickly access level data and game state. The L3 cache of 24 MB shared across all cores is generous for a game like Inside, which has small, dense levels that can easily fit in cache. The Passmark multi-thread score of 37816 places it in the 89th percentile, but this metric is less relevant for a game that relies on single-threaded performance.

Compared to its nearest rivals, the Core Ultra 5 235 is effectively tied with the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375, showing a 0.1% higher average benchmark score, and trails the Intel Core i9-13900HX by 0.1%. This means that for Inside, any of these CPUs would produce nearly identical results, as the game is not CPU-bound at any resolution. The CPU's 5.00 GHz boost clock is the key spec, as it ensures that the single thread doing most of the work runs at maximum frequency.

How This Combo Ranks

With a combo rank of 1367 out of 2887 tested configurations, this pairing sits in the 47th percentile of all tested systems for Inside. This is a slightly below-average ranking, which is surprising given the high frame rates measured. The explanation lies in the fact that many of the top-ranked combos feature much more powerful GPUs, such as the RTX 4090 or RX 7900 XTX, which achieve even higher frame rates at 4K Ultra. However, for a mid-range GPU like the RX 6700 XT, this ranking is respectable.

The ranking also reflects the age of the game. Inside was released in 2016, and modern CPUs and GPUs are vastly overpowered for its requirements. The 72 FPS result at 4K Ultra is the only configuration that falls below 100 FPS, and it is this single data point that likely drags the combo down in the rankings. At 1080p and 1440p, the system produces frame rates that would rank much higher, but the composite score in the database weighs all resolutions equally.

In the context of the GPU's nearest rivals, the RX 6700 XT's average benchmark score of 27425 is essentially tied with the RTX 4070 Mobile, which scores 27435, and is only 0.5% behind the RTX 3090. This means that in Inside, swapping the RX 6700 XT for an RTX 3090 would yield a negligible FPS increase, as the game is not demanding enough to expose the performance differences between these GPUs. The combo rank is therefore more indicative of the GPU's tier than its specific model.

The CPU's rank of 1367 out of 2887 is also affected by the fact that many higher-ranked combos use flagship CPUs like the Ryzen 9 7950X or Core i9-14900K, which offer similar single-threaded performance but significantly higher multi-threaded scores. In a game like Inside, these multi-threaded advantages are irrelevant, so the Core Ultra 5 235's 89th percentile CPU ranking is a better indicator of its actual gaming capability.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT is a RDNA 2.0 architecture GPU, built on a 7 nm process with 17,200 million transistors. It features 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operations units, along with 40 ray tracing cores. Its boost clock of 2581 MHz and 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus provide 384.0 GB/s of bandwidth. For Inside, this is an enormous amount of graphics horsepower, and the measured FPS data reflects that.

At 1080p Low, the GPU produces 337 FPS, which is likely near the engine's internal frame rate limit. The fact that 1080p Medium drops this to 269 FPS and 1080p High to 168 FPS shows that the GPU is not the limiting factor at this resolution; instead, the game's draw call overhead on the CPU becomes the bottleneck. This is a classic pattern for older games, where the GPU is underutilized at low resolutions.

The GPU's role becomes more pronounced at 4K. At 4K Low, the system produces 152 FPS, which is a 55% drop from 1080p Low. This is a clear sign that the GPU's pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth are being saturated. The 4K Ultra result of 72 FPS, which is less than half of the 1080p Ultra result, confirms that the GPU is the dominant factor at this resolution. The 72 FPS figure is also notable because it is close to the GPU's theoretical limit based on its 165.2 GPixel/s pixel rate.

The GPU's 12 GB of VRAM is more than sufficient for Inside, which has modest texture sizes. The 384.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth is also adequate, as evidenced by the lack of severe frame time issues at 4K Medium, where the minimum FPS of 103 is within 16% of the average of 122. The GPU's DirectX 12 Ultimate support is irrelevant for a game that likely uses DirectX 11, but the Passmark DirectX 11 score of 173 suggests strong performance in this API.

Compared to its nearest rivals, the RX 6700 XT is a solid mid-range performer. Its average benchmark score of 27425 is within 0.5% of the RTX 3090, which is a much more expensive GPU. This means that in a game like Inside, the RX 6700 XT's performance is effectively indistinguishable from that of a flagship GPU from the previous generation. The GPU's 72nd percentile ranking among all GPUs reflects its position as a capable 1440p card that can handle 4K in less demanding titles.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates. Low settings produce an average of 337 FPS, which is the highest measured result across all configurations. Medium settings reduce this to 269 FPS, with a minimum of 229 FPS and a maximum of 310 FPS. High settings yield 168 FPS, and Ultra settings produce 160 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra is only 8 FPS, suggesting that the Ultra preset adds minimal visual fidelity for the performance cost at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show a clear step down. Low settings produce 242 FPS, which is a 28% reduction from 1080p. Medium settings produce 194 FPS, with a minimum of 165 FPS and a maximum of 223 FPS. High settings yield 121 FPS, and Ultra settings produce 115 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra at 1440p is only 6 FPS, reinforcing the pattern seen at 1080p that the Ultra preset is not particularly demanding.

At 3840x2160, the system begins to show its limits. Low settings produce 152 FPS, which is still very playable. Medium settings produce 122 FPS, with a minimum of 103 FPS and a maximum of 140 FPS. High settings yield 76 FPS, and Ultra settings produce 72 FPS. The drop from High to Ultra at 4K is only 4 FPS, indicating that the Ultra preset is nearly identical to High in terms of rendering cost. The 4K Medium result of 122 FPS is the best balance of visual quality and performance for users with 4K displays, as it maintains a comfortable margin above 60 FPS.

The most notable finding is that the system never drops below 72 FPS in any measured configuration, which means it can maintain a stable 60 FPS experience at 4K Ultra without issue. For users with 1440p or 1080p displays, the system is capable of driving high-refresh-rate panels at 144 Hz or even 240 Hz in Low and Medium settings. The data suggests that the RX 6700 XT is the limiting component at 4K, while the Core Ultra 5 235 becomes more relevant at lower resolutions where the CPU's single-threaded performance is taxed by high frame rates.