Inside

Inside is not a demanding title by modern standards, and the benchmark data for the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT confirms this, delivering exceptionally high frame rates across all tested configurations. The measured results show a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher resolutions, while at 1080p, the sheer speed of the Radeon RX 9070 XT begins to expose the limitations of the CPU's single-threaded performance. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS data, ranking, and component roles to provide a clear picture of this combo's capabilities in this specific puzzle platformer.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K clearly indicates a shift in the system's bottleneck. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 413 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops this to 330 FPS, a 20% reduction, and then to 4K Low, it falls to 207 FPS, a 50% reduction from the 1080p figure. This steep decline as resolution increases points to the GPU becoming the primary limiting factor.

However, the story changes when examining higher settings. At Ultra settings, the frame rate is 219 FPS at 1080p, which only drops to 157 FPS at 1440p (a 28% decrease) and 99 FPS at 4K (a 55% decrease from 1080p). The percentage drop from 1080p to 1440p is smaller for Ultra than for Low, suggesting that at lower resolutions and settings, the CPU's processing power is more of a constraint, preventing the GPU from reaching its full potential. At 1080p Low, the system is likely hitting a CPU limit, as the GPU has ample headroom but is being held back by the processor's frame submission rate. The 4K Ultra result of 99 FPS shows the GPU is being pushed harder, but the game’s simple geometry and lighting mean the RX 9070 XT still has plenty of resources to spare.

The data suggests this is a scenario where the GPU is almost never fully stressed, even at 4K. The Radeon RX 9070 XT's immense power is far beyond what this 2016 title requires. The primary scaling bottleneck is the CPU, particularly at 1080p, where the frame rates are astronomically high but still limited by the processor's single-thread performance. At 4K, the GPU workload increases, but the frame rates remain exceptionally high, indicating that the combination is more than capable of delivering a fluid experience at any resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT holds a rank of 574 out of 3716 tested combos in this game. This places it in the top 15.5% of all configurations, which is respectable but not top-tier. The high rank is almost entirely attributable to the GPU's raw power, as the CPU's average benchmark score of 46062 is only 0.1% higher than its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375, and 0.1% lower than the Intel Core i9-13900HX.

The GPU's average benchmark score of 13543 puts it in the 55th percentile of all GPUs, but its nearest rivals in the database are significantly older and less powerful parts like the AMD Radeon HD 7770M and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570. This suggests that the benchmark database's scoring for this GPU may not fully reflect its real-world gaming performance, which is clearly exceptional in this title. The combo's rank of 574 is likely held back by the CPU's modest multi-core performance relative to other high-end CPUs. In a game like Inside, which is not heavily multi-threaded, the CPU's 14 cores are largely underutilized, and the ranking is more dependent on the single-thread performance, which is adequate but not class-leading.

Settings Recommendations

Given the extraordinarily high frame rates at all settings, the choice of preset is about balancing visual fidelity with the pursuit of maximum refresh rate. The data shows that even at 4K Ultra, the combo maintains an average of 99 FPS, which is perfectly playable on a 100Hz display. For users with high-refresh-rate monitors (144Hz or higher), the Medium preset offers an excellent compromise, delivering 367 FPS at 1080p, 264 FPS at 1440p, and 166 FPS at 4K. The Medium preset also provides the only min/max FPS data in the pack, showing a minimum of 312 FPS at 1080p and a maximum of 422 FPS, indicating a stable experience.

Choosing the High preset over Medium yields a significant drop in performance, with 4K falling to 104 FPS and 1080p to 230 FPS. The jump from High to Ultra provides a further, but less dramatic, reduction in speed. For the best visual experience without any risk of frame rate dips, Ultra at 1440p is a solid choice, averaging 157 FPS. However, for the most fluid experience on a 1440p or 4K display, the Medium preset is the sweet spot, providing a massive performance headroom. The Low preset, while delivering 413 FPS at 1080p, is unnecessary for a game like this, and the visual compromise is not worth the extra frames beyond a certain point. The data strongly recommends the Medium preset as the optimal balance for this specific title and hardware combination.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Inside at 4K with the Ultra preset?

A: Yes. The measured data shows an average frame rate of 99 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, which is well above the standard 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combo for a 144Hz monitor?

A: For a 144Hz display, the Medium preset is the most reliable choice. At 1440p, it averages 264 FPS, and at 4K, it averages 166 FPS, both of which are above 144 FPS. Even the High preset at 1440p, with an average of 165 FPS, would be suitable.

Q: Is the CPU or the GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The data suggests the CPU becomes the limiting factor at lower resolutions and settings. For instance, at 1080p Low, the frame rate is 413 FPS, but this is likely constrained by the CPU's processing speed, as the GPU is powerful enough to render far more frames in this simple game.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems?

A: It ranks 574th out of 3716 tested combinations, placing it in the top 15.5% of all configurations tested for this game.

Q: Is it better to use the High or Ultra preset at 1080p?

A: The difference is small in terms of playability, with High averaging 230 FPS and Ultra averaging 219 FPS. The 11 FPS difference is unlikely to be noticeable, so the Ultra preset can be used for maximum visual quality without a significant performance cost.

Q: Does the game ever drop below 60 FPS with this hardware?

A: No. The lowest average frame rate recorded across all tested resolution and settings combinations is 99 FPS at 4K Ultra. The lowest minimum FPS recorded is 141 FPS at 4K Medium, indicating that the game never comes close to dropping below 60 FPS.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is the dominant component in this system for gaming. It features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s. For a game like Inside, which has a relatively small texture footprint, 16 GB of VRAM is an enormous amount of headroom, ensuring that texture loading and memory allocation are never a bottleneck. The GPU's 4096 shading units and 128 ROPs are more than sufficient to handle the game's 2D-style rendering with ease.

The GPU's clock speeds are notably high, with a base clock of 1660 MHz and a boost clock of 2970 MHz. This high boost clock is a key factor in the exceptional frame rates observed. For instance, at 4K Medium, the GPU maintains an average of 166 FPS, which reflects its raw processing power. The GPU's benchmark scores, such as a Passmark G3D score of 26795, are high, but its percentile rank of 55 seems low, likely due to the database's historical scoring methods. In the context of this game, the RX 9070 XT's performance is overwhelming, providing frame rates that far exceed the display capabilities of most monitors. The data shows the GPU is never the primary constraint, even at 4K Ultra, where it still manages an average of 99 FPS. Its role is to provide an enormous performance buffer, making the game run flawlessly regardless of the graphical settings chosen.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 plays a secondary, but important, role in this configuration. With 14 cores and 14 threads, it's a modern processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture. Its base clock is 3.40 GHz, with a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. In Inside, which is not heavily multi-threaded, the CPU's high boost clock is more critical than its core count. The data indicates that the CPU can become a limiting factor at 1080p with lower settings, where the frame rate hits 413 FPS. This is likely near the CPU's practical limit for frame generation in this game engine.

The CPU's single-thread performance, as indicated by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2085, is good but not the absolute highest, which explains why it can't push frame rates even higher at 1080p. The CPU's Passmark single-thread score of 4516 places it in a competitive position, but the frame rate data suggests it is the bottleneck at the very high end of performance. The CPU's 24 MB of shared L3 cache is sufficient for the game's data needs. While the CPU's multi-threaded performance (Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 14769) is solid, it's not fully utilized here. In this game, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with data quickly enough, and while it succeeds in maintaining over 200 FPS at 4K, it prevents the system from reaching even higher frame rates at 1080p, where the GPU's potential is untapped.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following is a detailed breakdown of the measured frame rates for the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT combination in Inside.

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Low: Average FPS of 413. This is the highest score for this resolution and shows the CPU limit is being approached.
• Medium: Average FPS of 367, with a minimum of 312 FPS and a maximum of 422 FPS. This shows a very stable performance window.
• High: Average FPS of 230.
• Ultra: Average FPS of 219. The difference between High and Ultra at 1080p is only 11 FPS.

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Low: Average FPS of 330. A 20% drop from the 1080p Low result.
• Medium: Average FPS of 264, with a minimum of 224 FPS and a maximum of 304 FPS. This is still an excellent result for high-refresh-rate 1440p gaming.
• High: Average FPS of 165. This is a perfect result for a 165Hz monitor.
• Ultra: Average FPS of 157. The performance gap between High and Ultra narrows to just 8 FPS.

3840x2160 (4K):

• Low: Average FPS of 207. This is a significant drop from 1440p but still very high.
• Medium: Average FPS of 166, with a minimum of 141 FPS and a maximum of 191 FPS. This is the only 4K setting with min/max data and shows a solid floor.
• High: Average FPS of 104.
• Ultra: Average FPS of 99. This is the most demanding setting and the only one to dip below 100 FPS on average.

The data shows a consistent pattern: performance scales down as resolution increases, and the gap between Low and Ultra settings is considerable, especially at 4K where the difference is 108 FPS. However, all results are far above the threshold for smooth, playable performance.