Inside

# Inside with Intel Core Ultra 5 235 + AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT delivers exceptional performance in Inside, a 2016 puzzle platformer that is far more demanding than its minimalist aesthetic suggests. This combination ranks 864th out of 2,887 tested combos in this game, placing it in the 70th percentile of all systems evaluated. The data shows a configuration that never drops below 83 FPS at any resolution or setting tested, and reaches as high as 387 FPS at 1080p Low, indicating that this hardware pairing is substantially overqualified for the game's rendering requirements. The CPU's 89th percentile ranking among all processors and the GPU's 67th percentile among all graphics cards both contribute to a system that consistently delivers high refresh rate performance across the board.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 864 out of 2,887 tested combinations places it firmly in the upper quartile of all systems benchmarked for Inside. This positioning is notable because the game itself is not typically considered a demanding title, yet the ranking reflects the substantial headroom this pairing offers. The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 sits in the 89th percentile of all CPUs tested, with an average benchmark score of 46,062 that puts it within 0.1% of the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 (46,030) and 0.2% ahead of the AMD EPYC 4364P (45,970). The RX 7700 XT's 67th percentile ranking and average score of 22,549 places it just 0.5% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Mobile (22,435) and 1.7% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 5700 (22,170).

What makes this ranking particularly interesting is the nature of the game itself. Inside is a side-scrolling puzzle platformer with a restrained visual palette, yet the measured FPS data shows the system is never challenged even at 4K Ultra. The lowest recorded average is 83 FPS at 2160p Ultra, which still clears the 60 FPS threshold by a wide margin. At 1080p Low, the system produces 387 FPS average, demonstrating that the combination is capable of driving displays with very high refresh rates. The rank of 864 suggests that while many systems can play Inside, very few deliver the combination of raw CPU and GPU horsepower that this pairing offers, particularly at higher resolutions where the GPU's 12 GB of VRAM and 432.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth come into play.

FAQ

*Q: What is the highest average FPS this combination achieves in Inside?*

A: The highest measured average FPS is 387 at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This represents the ceiling of the tested configurations, with the system delivering more than six times the 60 FPS baseline at this resolution and preset.

Q: How does the system perform at 4K resolution?

A: At 3840x2160, the combination delivers 175 FPS average on Low settings, 140 FPS on Medium, 87 FPS on High, and 83 FPS on Ultra. Even the most demanding tested configuration at 4K Ultra maintains an average above 80 FPS, indicating no performance concerns at this resolution.

Q: What is the CPU's benchmark standing relative to its nearest rivals?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 has an average benchmark score of 46,062, which is 0.1% higher than the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 (46,030), 0.1% lower than the Intel Core i9-13900HX (46,098), and 0.2% higher than both the AMD EPYC 4364P (45,970) and AMD EPYC 7303 (45,960).

Q: How does the GPU compare to its closest competitors?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT scores 22,549 on average, which is 0.5% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Mobile (22,435), 0.8% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile (22,729), 1.5% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 (22,895), and 1.7% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 5700 (22,170).

Q: Is there any configuration in the measured data that drops below 60 FPS?

A: No. The lowest average FPS recorded across all resolution and settings combinations is 83 FPS at 3840x2160 Ultra. The Medium preset at 4K shows a minimum FPS of 119, which is the lowest minimum recorded in any tested configuration.

Q: What memory specifications does the GPU bring to this game?

A: The RX 7700 XT features 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, delivering 432.0 GB/s of bandwidth. It operates at 2250 MHz memory clock with 18 Gbps effective speed, with base and boost clocks of 1435 MHz and 2544 MHz respectively.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT plays the dominant role in determining Inside's frame rates, particularly at higher resolutions. The GPU's 12 GB of VRAM is far more than the game requires, meaning memory capacity never becomes a limiting factor. The 432.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth provides ample throughput for the game's relatively simple 2.5D rendering, while the 3456 shading units and 96 ROPs handle the pixel processing efficiently. The GPU's boost clock of 2544 MHz, with a game clock of 2171 MHz and base clock of 1435 MHz, allows the card to maintain high sustained performance.

The GPU's benchmark data shows strong compute capabilities, with a PassMark G3D score of 22,547 and a Geekbench OpenCL score of 138,383. The Vulkan score of 46,443 suggests the card handles modern APIs well, though Inside does not leverage these extensively given its 2016 release date. The 35.17 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 549.5 GTexel/s texture rate are more than sufficient for this game's visual style, which favors atmospheric lighting and subtle particle effects over complex geometry. The pixel rate of 244.2 GPixel/s ensures that even at 4K resolution, the GPU can fill the screen efficiently.

The GPU's 67th percentile ranking among all tested graphics cards aligns with its measured performance in Inside. At 1080p, the GPU is the primary driver of the high frame rates, with the CPU becoming more relevant at lower settings where the system can exceed 300 FPS. The 4K results show the GPU being pushed harder, with the gap between Low (175 FPS) and Ultra (83 FPS) at 2160p demonstrating how the card's fill rate and shading capabilities are exercised as settings increase.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for this combination in Inside reveals consistent performance across all tested configurations. At 1920x1080, the system delivers 387 FPS average on Low, 309 FPS on Medium (with minimum 263 and maximum 356), 193 FPS on High, and 184 FPS on Ultra. The 1080p results show a clear progression from Low to Ultra, with the Ultra preset retaining 47.5% of the Low preset's frame rate. The Medium preset's minimum of 263 FPS indicates that even in the most demanding scenes at 1080p, the system maintains well over 200 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the system produces 278 FPS average on Low, 222 FPS on Medium (with minimum 189 and maximum 256), 139 FPS on High, and 132 FPS on Ultra. The 1440p results show a similar proportional scaling to 1080p, with Ultra delivering 47.5% of Low's frame rate. The Medium preset's minimum of 189 FPS confirms that the system remains highly playable at this resolution on all settings.

At 3840x2160, the system achieves 175 FPS average on Low, 140 FPS on Medium (with minimum 119 and maximum 161), 87 FPS on High, and 83 FPS on Ultra. The 4K results demonstrate that even at the highest resolution tested, the system never drops below 119 FPS in the Medium preset's minimum frame time measurement. The Ultra preset at 4K delivers 83 FPS average, which is still substantially above the 60 FPS threshold commonly considered the baseline for smooth gameplay.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling data shows how frame rates decrease as resolution increases, providing insight into which component is the limiting factor at each configuration. From 1080p Low (387 FPS) to 1440p Low (278 FPS), the frame rate drops by 28.2%. Continuing to 4K Low (175 FPS), the drop from 1440p is 37.1%, and from 1080p it is 54.8%. This scaling pattern indicates that the GPU becomes progressively more important as resolution increases, though even at 4K Low the system maintains nearly triple the 60 FPS baseline.

The Medium preset shows similar scaling characteristics: 1080p Medium delivers 309 FPS, 1440p Medium delivers 222 FPS (a 28.2% drop), and 4K Medium delivers 140 FPS (a 36.9% drop from 1440p and 54.7% from 1080p). The High preset follows the same pattern with 193 FPS at 1080p, 139 FPS at 1440p (28.0% drop), and 87 FPS at 4K (37.4% drop from 1440p, 54.9% from 1080p). The Ultra preset's scaling is nearly identical: 184 FPS at 1080p, 132 FPS at 1440p (28.3% drop), and 83 FPS at 4K (37.1% drop from 1440p, 54.9% from 1080p).

The consistency of these scaling percentages across all settings suggests that the system is not bottlenecked by any single component at any resolution. The nearly uniform 28% drop from 1080p to 1440p and 37% drop from 1440p to 4K indicates that the GPU is scaling predictably with pixel count, with the CPU maintaining sufficient headroom to avoid becoming a limiting factor even at the highest frame rates observed. The fact that the game still delivers 83 FPS at 4K Ultra demonstrates that this pairing is primarily GPU-limited only at the most demanding configurations, and even then, the RX 7700 XT has ample performance to spare.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combination in Inside depend on the display's refresh rate and resolution. For 1080p displays, the High preset at 193 FPS average is the recommended choice for players with 144Hz monitors, as it delivers well above the refresh rate while maintaining visual quality. The Ultra preset at 184 FPS is also viable, offering only a 4.7% performance penalty over High while providing maximum visual fidelity. For players with 240Hz displays, the Medium preset at 309 FPS is the best option, as it provides a substantial frame rate advantage while still offering better visual quality than Low.

At 1440p, the High preset at 139 FPS is ideal for 144Hz displays, providing a comfortable margin above the refresh rate. The Ultra preset at 132 FPS is also suitable for 120Hz displays, with only a 5.0% performance difference from High. For players with 240Hz displays at 1440p, the Low preset at 278 FPS is the only option that approaches this refresh rate, though the Medium preset at 222 FPS may be preferable for those willing to accept a lower frame rate for better visuals.

For 4K displays, the Medium preset at 140 FPS is the strongest recommendation, providing excellent visual quality while maintaining frame rates suitable for 120Hz displays. The High preset at 87 FPS is also viable for 60Hz displays, though the Medium preset's 61% frame rate advantage makes it the better choice for most players. The Ultra preset at 83 FPS is not recommended over High, as the 4.6% performance difference does not justify the minimal visual improvement in this game's art style. The Low preset at 175 FPS at 4K is only recommended for players with high refresh rate 4K displays who prioritize frame rate over visual quality.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 provides the computational foundation for this system, and while Inside is not a CPU-intensive game, the processor's capabilities ensure that it never becomes a bottleneck. The CPU features 14 cores and 14 threads, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. The 24 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB per-core L2 cache provide ample data storage for the game's logic and physics calculations. The 3 nm process node and TSMC foundry production contribute to the processor's 65W TDP, allowing for efficient sustained operation.

The CPU's benchmark results demonstrate strong single-threaded and multi-threaded performance. The Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2,085 and multi-core score of 14,769 indicate that the processor can handle both the game's primary thread and any background tasks without issue. The PassMark single-thread score of 4,516 and multithread score of 37,816 further confirm the CPU's capabilities. The data compression score of 390,711 and encryption score of 29,293 show strong performance in data-intensive tasks, though these are not directly relevant to Inside's requirements.

In the context of Inside, the CPU's role is primarily to maintain consistent frame pacing and handle the game's physics and puzzle logic. The measured FPS data shows that at 1080p Low, where the GPU is least stressed, the system achieves 387 FPS average, suggesting that the CPU can support very high frame rates without becoming a limiting factor. The CPU's 89th percentile ranking among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 46,062, places it in the top tier of available CPUs. Its nearest rivals, including the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 (46,030, 0.1% slower) and Intel Core i9-13900HX (46,098, 0.1% faster), show that this processor performs competitively with other high-end options, ensuring the system has no CPU-side constraints in this game.