Inside

Inside is a 2016 puzzle platformer that, on the surface, poses little challenge to modern flagship hardware. Yet the measured data for the Intel Core Ultra 5 235HX and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile combination reveals a fascinating scaling curve that is anything but trivial. This analysis dissects the benchmark results, focusing on how this specific CPU-GPU pairing behaves across resolutions and settings, and what that behavior indicates about the underlying performance bottlenecks.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235HX is a 14-core, 14-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake-HX architecture, built on a 3 nm process by TSMC. It operates at a base clock of 2.90 GHz and can boost up to 5.10 GHz. This is not a chip with hyper-threading, meaning its 14 cores are also its 14 threads, which is a notable design choice for a mobile part aiming for efficiency. The processor features a 24 MB shared L3 cache and a dual-channel DDR5 memory interface, providing a theoretical bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s. Its synthetic benchmark scores are robust, including a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 34731 and a single-core score of 4903, placing it in the 91st percentile of all CPUs.

For a game like Inside, which is a side-scrolling puzzle platformer with a relatively static camera and limited on-screen agents, the CPU workload is typically modest. The game does not require the massive multi-threaded rendering of a simulation title, but it does need strong single-thread performance for game logic, physics updates, and draw-call submission. The high boost clock of 5.10 GHz and the strong single-core Cinebench R20 score of 2059 suggest that this processor is more than capable of feeding frames to the GPU without becoming a limiting factor. The data supports this: at 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves an average of 432 FPS, a frame rate so high that it is almost certainly CPU-bound, yet the CPU still delivers. In this scenario, the processor's high frequency and efficient architecture allow it to process the game's workload quickly enough to maximize the GPU's output. The CPU's role here is to ensure that the RTX 4090 Mobile is never starved of data, a task it handles with aplomb, as evidenced by the high frame rates at lower resolutions where GPU load is lighter.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile is a powerhouse built on the Ada Lovelace architecture, featuring the AD103 chip on a 5 nm process. It is equipped with 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 576.0 GB/s. The GPU has a base clock of 1335 MHz and a boost clock of 1695 MHz. Its specification sheet is impressive: 9728 shading units, 304 texture mapping units, and 112 raster output units. It also includes 76 ray tracing cores and 304 tensor cores. The GPU's raw compute power is rated at 32.98 TFLOPS for FP32 operations.

In Inside, the GPU's role is to handle the rendering of the game's distinct art style, which features a high-contrast silhouette aesthetic with dynamic lighting and shadow effects. While not a high-end graphical showcase by 2024 standards, the game can still be demanding at high resolutions due to its post-processing and resolution scaling. The data shows that the GPU is the primary scaling factor as resolution increases. At 4K (3840x2160), the average FPS drops to 104 on High settings, whereas at 1080p it is 231 FPS. This indicates that the GPU is being pushed to its limits at higher resolutions. The 16 GB VRAM is more than sufficient for this game, as Inside is not a VRAM-heavy title; the memory bandwidth of 576.0 GB/s is also likely not a bottleneck. Instead, the limiting factor is the GPU's raw pixel-pushing and shading throughput. The GPU's performance percentile of 84% against all GPUs and its average benchmark score of 43667 place it in a high tier, but the data shows that even this powerful mobile GPU sees a significant frame rate drop when resolution scales from 1440p to 4K, confirming its role as the primary bottleneck in this configuration for this specific game.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data provides a clear picture of how the system scales across the three primary resolutions. Looking at High settings, the average FPS drops from 231 at 1080p to 166 at 1440p, and further to 104 at 4K. This represents a 28% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a 55% drop from 1080p to 4K. This is a classic GPU-bound scaling pattern; as the pixel count increases, the GPU must do more work, and the frame rate falls accordingly. The CPU is capable of sustaining high frame rates, as evidenced by the 432 FPS at 1080p Low, so the drop is not due to CPU limitations.

The scaling from 1440p to 4K is particularly telling. At 1440p High, the system averages 166 FPS, but at 4K High, it drops to 104 FPS, a 37% reduction. This indicates that the RTX 4090 Mobile is the limiting component at these higher resolutions. The game's visual effects, such as the volumetric lighting and shadow cascades, become more computationally expensive as resolution increases, hammering the GPU's shading units and ROPs. The fact that the frame rate does not scale perfectly with the pixel count (4K has 2.25x the pixels of 1440p, but the FPS does not drop to 1/2.25 of the 1440p value) suggests that memory bandwidth and cache efficiency on the GPU are playing a role, but the overall trend is undeniably GPU-bound. The system is far from being CPU-limited at 4K, as the CPU's headroom is vast, but the GPU is working hard to maintain playable frame rates.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The benchmark data provides a comprehensive set of measurements for this specific configuration. Here is the exact breakdown of average FPS, along with minimum and maximum values where available.

1080p (1920x1080)

• Low: 432 FPS average
• Medium: 370 FPS average (min 314 FPS, max 425 FPS)
• High: 231 FPS average
• Ultra: 220 FPS average

1440p (2560x1440)

• Low: 332 FPS average
• Medium: 266 FPS average (min 226 FPS, max 306 FPS)
• High: 166 FPS average
• Ultra: 158 FPS average

4K (3840x2160)

• Low: 209 FPS average
• Medium: 167 FPS average (min 142 FPS, max 192 FPS)
• High: 104 FPS average
• Ultra: 99 FPS average

These numbers reveal a distinct pattern. The jump from Low to Medium settings is substantial, but the jump from High to Ultra is much smaller. For example, at 1440p, the difference between High (166 FPS) and Ultra (158 FPS) is only 8 FPS, while the difference between Low (332 FPS) and Medium (266 FPS) is 66 FPS. This suggests that the Ultra preset offers diminishing returns for the performance cost, likely adding minor visual enhancements that heavily tax the GPU without a proportional frame rate penalty. The minimum FPS data points, available only for Medium settings, show that frame pacing is stable, with the 4K minimum of 142 FPS being well above the 1080p minimum of 314 FPS, indicating no sudden stutters or hitches.

FAQ

Q: Is the Intel Core Ultra 5 235HX sufficient for running Inside at high frame rates?

A: Yes. The data shows the CPU is not a bottleneck. At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves 432 FPS average, which is an extreme frame rate that would only be possible if the CPU could process the game logic and draw calls faster than the GPU could render them. Its 5.10 GHz boost clock and strong single-core scores (4903 in Cinebench R23) are key to this performance.

Q: What is the best resolution to play Inside with this hardware?

A: If targeting 144Hz or higher, 1440p is ideal. The system achieves 166 FPS on High settings and 266 FPS on Medium at that resolution. For a solid 4K experience with high refresh rates (100Hz+), the GPU handles it, but the average FPS drops to 104 on High, which is still very smooth.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K?

A: On High settings, the average FPS drops from 231 at 1080p to 104 at 4K. This is a 55% reduction in frame rate. This significant drop indicates that the system becomes heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions, as the RTX 4090 Mobile's rendering workload increases with pixel count.

Q: Which settings preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance?

A: The High preset appears to be the sweet spot. At 1440p, it offers 166 FPS average, which is a 5% drop from Ultra (158 FPS) but likely with a noticeable reduction in unnecessary visual effects. The performance cost of Ultra is high relative to its visual benefit, as the frame rate drop from High to Ultra is minimal compared to the drop from Medium to High.

Q: Is the RTX 4090 Mobile the limiting factor in this system for Inside?

A: Yes, at higher resolutions and settings. The evidence is in the scaling. At 1080p Low, the system hits 432 FPS, which is CPU-bound. But as resolution increases, the FPS drops significantly, moving from 209 FPS at 4K Low to 99 FPS at 4K Ultra. This clear downward trend with increasing GPU load confirms the GPU is the primary bottleneck at 4K.

Q: Does the game benefit from the RTX 4090 Mobile's 16 GB of VRAM?

A: The data does not indicate a VRAM limitation. The game is not VRAM-intensive, and the 16 GB capacity is far more than needed. The performance differences between settings are more likely due to shading and ROP throughput rather than memory capacity, as the frame rate scales with resolution and settings in a way consistent with a compute-bound workload.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal configuration depends on the target display and refresh rate. For users with a high-refresh 1080p monitor (240Hz+), the Low preset at 432 FPS is the only way to fully saturate the panel, but it sacrifices visual fidelity. The Medium preset at 370 FPS is a better balance, offering a significant upgrade in visual quality while still maintaining frame rates well above any typical high-refresh display.

For 1440p, the High preset at 166 FPS is the recommended starting point. It provides a substantial visual upgrade over Medium and maintains a frame rate that is smooth on 144Hz displays. The Ultra preset at 158 FPS offers a marginal 5% performance hit for what is likely an imperceptible visual difference in a game with a monochromatic art style. Therefore, High is the most efficient choice.

For 4K, the situation is more nuanced. The High preset at 104 FPS is playable and smooth on 100Hz displays. The Ultra preset at 99 FPS is also playable but offers no tangible benefit. The Medium preset at 167 FPS is the best choice for 4K users with 144Hz displays, as it crosses the 144 FPS threshold, but the visual downgrade from High to Medium is noticeable. The data suggests that for this game, High at 4K is the best balance of visual quality and performance, as frame rates remain above 100 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 235HX and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile is measured as a single data point in the database. It holds a rank of 511 out of 3716 tested combos for this game, placing it in the top 14% of all configurations tested. This ranking is a holistic measure of its performance across all resolutions and settings tested.

The ranking is impressive, but the data suggests it is not at the very top due to the CPU. While the RTX 4090 Mobile is a top-tier GPU, the Core Ultra 5 235HX, despite its strong performance, is not the fastest mobile CPU available. In a game like Inside, where the CPU can become a bottleneck at very low resolutions and high frame rates, the processor's 14-thread count and single-core performance, while excellent, may not be as high as some competing desktop-class or higher-tier mobile chips. This is likely why the combo does not crack the top 100. However, for the vast majority of gaming scenarios, especially at 1440p and 4K where the GPU is the limiting factor, the difference in rank would be negligible. The combo's high ranking reflects the GPU's brute force and the CPU's capable architecture, ensuring a high-performance experience across the board.