Inside

Inside is a puzzle platformer from 2016 that, on paper, should be trivial for a modern high-end mobile platform. Yet, the benchmark results for the Intel Core Ultra 5 235HX paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile reveal a fascinating scaling curve that tells a story about where the bottlenecks truly lie in this specific combination. The data shows a system capable of extreme frame rates, but the relationship between resolution, settings, and the silicon components provides a clear picture of how this laptop combo handles the game's demands.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K is dramatic, but not entirely linear, indicating a shift in the primary limiting factor as pixel count increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces an average of 422 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops that to 303 FPS, a reduction of roughly 28%, which is substantial but still leaves the system far beyond any display's refresh rate. At 4K Low, the average falls to 191 FPS, another 37% drop from the 1440p figure. This steep decline at lower graphical presets suggests that the CPU and its memory subsystem are being pushed to their limits, as the GPU is not yet the primary constraint at these lower resolutions.

When the preset is raised to High, the scaling becomes more moderate. The 1080p High average is 211 FPS, which drops to 152 FPS at 1440p (a 28% decrease) and further to 95 FPS at 4K (a 37.5% decrease from 1440p). The percentage drops are similar to the Low preset, but the absolute values are lower, suggesting that the GPU is starting to take on more of the workload. The trend continues with the Ultra preset, which sees a 201 FPS average at 1080p, 144 FPS at 1440p (a 28.4% drop), and 91 FPS at 4K (a 36.8% drop). The consistency of these percentage drops across presets is a key indicator that the game's engine is scaling resolution in a predictable way, but the absolute frame rates suggest that the GPU is only becoming the definitive bottleneck at the 4K resolution.

The Medium preset is the only one with complete min/max data, offering a clearer view of the scaling. At 1080p Medium, the average is 337 FPS with a minimum of 287 FPS and a maximum of 388 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 243 FPS (a 27.9% drop), with a minimum of 206 FPS and a maximum of 279 FPS. At 4K Medium, the average is 152 FPS (a 37.4% drop from 1440p), with a minimum of 130 FPS and a maximum of 175 FPS. The fact that the minimum frame rates scale almost proportionally with the averages indicates that there are no sudden stutters or hitches introduced by the resolution increase; the performance degradation is smooth and consistent.

What this data indicates is that the system is heavily CPU-bound at 1080p and 1440p, especially with lower graphical presets. The 422 FPS result at 1080p Low reflects the raw power of the RTX 4080 Mobile, but the fact that it doesn't scale to 800+ FPS suggests the Intel Core Ultra 5 235HX is struggling to feed the GPU enough draw calls. At 4K, the scales tip, and the GPU's workload becomes more balanced, leading to a more predictable performance curve where the GPU's pixel throughput becomes the limiting factor. The 95 FPS at 4K High versus the 91 FPS at 4K Ultra shows that the GPU is near its saturation point, as the difference between these two presets is minimal.

How This Combo Ranks

In the broader context of all tested combinations for Inside, this specific pairing of the Intel Core Ultra 5 235HX and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile achieves a combo rank of 867 out of 3716 total combos. This places it in the top 23.3% of all systems tested, which is a respectable position given the game's age and the fact that many desktop systems with high-end parts are included in the database. The rank is more impressive when considering that this is a mobile platform, and it indicates that the combination is well-balanced for this title.

The CPU's individual performance is a major contributor to this rank. The Intel Core Ultra 5 235HX sits in the 91st percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 52073. Its nearest rivals in the CPU benchmark database are the AMD EPYC 8124P with an average score of 52121 (a -0.1% difference), the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X with 51947 (a +0.2% difference), the Intel Core i7-14700 with 52301 (a -0.4% difference), and the Intel Core i9-13900F with 51730 (a +0.7% difference). This shows that the mobile CPU is performing on par with high-end desktop processors from previous generations, which explains why it can keep pace in a game like Inside that is not particularly demanding on multi-threaded workloads.

The GPU, on the other hand, ranks in the 81st percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 38135. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce MX570 with 38299 (a -0.4% difference), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Mobile with 38349 (a -0.6% difference), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 with 37648 (a +1.3% difference), and the NVIDIA Tesla P4 with 37628 (a +1.3% difference). The fact that the RTX 4080 Mobile is ranked so closely to the RTX 4070 and the MX570 in this particular benchmark suite is odd, but the data is clear. For Inside, however, the GPU's raw compute power is more than sufficient, and the combo rank of 867 is likely held back more by the CPU's inability to push frame rates higher at lower resolutions than by any GPU deficiency.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile is a powerful piece of silicon, built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process. It features 7424 shading units, 232 texture mapping units, and 80 raster output units. The GPU is equipped with 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 432.0 GB/s. In the context of Inside, this memory configuration is more than adequate, as the game's art style and puzzle elements do not require massive texture pools or high-bandwidth assets.

The GPU's clock speeds are listed with a base clock of 1290 MHz and a boost clock of 1665 MHz. These clocks are conservative for a high-end mobile part, but they are sufficient to drive the frame rates seen in the data. The pixel rate of 133.2 GPixel/s and the texture rate of 386.3 GTexel/s are more than enough to handle the game's 2D side-scrolling perspective, even at 4K resolution. The FP32 performance of 24.72 TFLOPS indicates the GPU's compute capability, but Inside does not heavily utilize compute shaders, so this headroom is largely unused.

The GPU's role in the measured results becomes more apparent at 4K resolution. At 1080p and 1440p, the GPU is often waiting on the CPU, as evidenced by the high frame rates that do not scale linearly with graphical settings. At 4K, however, the GPU's pixel throughput becomes the bottleneck. The difference between 4K High (95 FPS) and 4K Ultra (91 FPS) is only 4 FPS, indicating that the GPU is near its limits. The 4K Low result of 191 FPS shows that even at the lowest settings, the GPU cannot exceed this threshold, which is likely due to the CPU still being a limiting factor for draw calls, but the GPU is now also contributing to the constraint.

The GPU's benchmark scores, such as the Passmark G3D score of 24926 and the Geekbench OpenCL score of 159575, are high, but they do not directly translate to Inside's performance. The game is a puzzle platformer with relatively simple geometry and lighting, so the RTX 4080 Mobile's ray tracing cores and tensor cores are not utilized. The GPU's DirectX 12 Ultimate support ensures compatibility, but the game likely runs on a simpler DirectX 11 path, as evidenced by the Passmark DirectX 11 score of 244 being higher than the DirectX 12 score of 96.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend entirely on the target resolution and refresh rate of the display. For a 1080p display with a 144 Hz refresh rate, the High preset at 211 FPS is more than sufficient, and even the Ultra preset at 201 FPS provides a comfortable margin. There is no need to drop to Medium or Low settings at this resolution, as the system has ample headroom. The 1080p Medium preset offers 337 FPS, but this is overkill for any standard display and would only be useful for competitive play on a high-refresh monitor that supports 360 Hz or higher.

For 1440p displays, which are common on high-end gaming laptops, the High preset at 152 FPS is the sweet spot. This provides a smooth experience on a 144 Hz panel with some headroom for frame drops. The Ultra preset at 144 FPS is nearly identical in performance and could be chosen if visual fidelity is prioritized, but the difference is negligible. The Medium preset at 243 FPS is excessive for most 1440p displays, but it would be beneficial for a 240 Hz panel. The Low preset at 303 FPS is not recommended unless the user is chasing maximum frame rates for esports-style play, which is not typical for a puzzle platformer.

At 4K resolution, the situation changes. The High preset at 95 FPS is the best choice for a 60 Hz display, as it provides a stable experience above the refresh rate threshold. The Ultra preset at 91 FPS is also viable, but the 4 FPS difference is not worth the potential for slightly lower minimum frame rates. The Medium preset at 152 FPS is ideal for a 120 Hz or 144 Hz 4K display, but this is a rare configuration. The Low preset at 191 FPS is not recommended, as the visual quality degradation is significant for a game that relies on atmospheric lighting and shadow play. Overall, the data suggests that the High preset is the most balanced choice across all resolutions, providing the best combination of visual quality and frame rate stability.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The full dataset provides a comprehensive look at the combo's performance across all tested configurations. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 422 FPS, the Medium preset delivers 337 FPS with a minimum of 287 FPS and a maximum of 388 FPS, the High preset delivers 211 FPS, and the Ultra preset delivers 201 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 85 FPS, while the gap between Medium and High is 126 FPS, and the gap between High and Ultra is only 10 FPS. This shows that the High to Ultra transition has diminishing returns, while the Medium to High jump is the most significant visual upgrade in terms of performance cost.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 303 FPS, the Medium preset averages 243 FPS with a minimum of 206 FPS and a maximum of 279 FPS, the High preset averages 152 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 144 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is consistent, with a roughly 28% drop across all presets. The difference between High and Ultra at 1440p is only 8 FPS, reinforcing the notion that Ultra is largely a cosmetic upgrade over High. The Medium preset's minimum of 206 FPS is still well above any standard refresh rate, indicating no stuttering concerns.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 191 FPS, the Medium preset averages 152 FPS with a minimum of 130 FPS and a maximum of 175 FPS, the High preset averages 95 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 91 FPS. The most significant drop occurs between Medium and High, a 57 FPS decrease, which is a 37.5% reduction. This indicates that the High preset introduces effects that are particularly taxing on the GPU at 4K. The minimum frame rate of 130 FPS at Medium is still respectable, but the High and Ultra presets do not have min/max data, so it is unclear if they experience any frame time spikes.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235HX is a 14-core, 14-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, manufactured on a 3 nm process by TSMC. It has a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 5.10 GHz, with a TDP of 55 W. The CPU features 24 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB of L2 cache per core, which is a significant amount of cache for a mobile part. The memory support is DDR5 with a dual-channel bus, providing a theoretical bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s.

In the context of Inside, the CPU's role is primarily to handle game logic, physics, and draw call submission. The game is not heavily multi-threaded, so the 14 cores are not fully utilized, but the high boost clock of 5.10 GHz is beneficial for single-threaded performance. The CPU's Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4903 and multi-core score of 34731 indicate strong performance, but the single-core score is more relevant for this game. The Passmark single-thread score of 4683 supports this, placing the CPU in a strong position for games that rely on a single primary thread.

The benchmark results show that the CPU is the limiting factor at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the 422 FPS average is likely constrained by the CPU's ability to process frames, not the GPU's ability to render them. The fact that the 1080p High average of 211 FPS is almost exactly half of the Low average suggests that the CPU is still the bottleneck, as the GPU's workload increases but the CPU's frame submission rate remains the limiting factor. At 4K, the CPU has more time to process each frame, so the GPU becomes the primary constraint, as evidenced by the smaller performance gap between settings.

The CPU's nearest rivals in the benchmark database, such as the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X and the Intel Core i9-13900F, are desktop parts that are typically paired with high-end desktop GPUs. The fact that this mobile CPU performs within 0.7% of these parts in average benchmark score is remarkable and explains why the combo rank is as high as it is. However, for Inside specifically, the CPU's performance is more than adequate, and the system is effectively GPU-limited at 4K and CPU-limited at 1080p, which is an unusual but not problematic balance for a game of this type.