Inside

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT delivers a remarkably smooth experience in Inside, with the benchmark data showing that this combination is capable of high frame rates across all tested settings and resolutions. The most compelling evidence is that even at the most demanding preset, Ultra at 4K, the combo maintains an average of 60 FPS, which is the exact target for standard displays. This indicates a well-balanced pairing where the GPU is the primary driver of performance, and the CPU provides ample headroom.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows provide a clear hierarchy of performance, with the data showing that the Ultra preset at 1080p yields an average of 134 FPS, while the High preset at the same resolution slightly improves on this with 140 FPS. This marginal difference of 6 FPS suggests that the Ultra preset is not heavily taxing the system, and the visual fidelity gains are nearly free in terms of performance. However, for the absolute best experience in this puzzle platformer, the Medium preset at 1440p appears to be the sweet spot, delivering an average of 161 FPS with a minimum of 137 FPS, ensuring no perceptible stutter. The data shows that stepping down from Ultra to Medium at 1440p increases the average frame rate by a significant 65 FPS (from 96 to 161), which is a substantial improvement for smoothness.

At 1080p, the Medium preset also shows excellent stability, with a minimum of 191 FPS and a maximum of 258 FPS, making it the best choice for high-refresh-rate monitors. The Low preset at 1080p achieves a staggering 281 FPS average, but the visual compromises are likely not worth the extra frames in a game like Inside, which relies heavily on atmospheric lighting and detail. The High preset at 4K, averaging 63 FPS, is the most balanced option for 4K displays, as it stays just above the 60 FPS threshold while offering superior visual quality over the Medium preset, which averages 101 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K, at 60 FPS average, is playable but offers no performance advantage over High and likely incurs a significant visual quality penalty for the minimal difference in settings. Therefore, the recommendation is to use the High preset at 4K, the Medium preset at 1440p, and the Ultra preset at 1080p for a consistent 60+ FPS experience with maximum visual fidelity for the resolution.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT is the performance centerpiece in this configuration, and the data confirms its capabilities. The GPU's architecture, RDNA 2.0, is built on a 7 nm process, and its boost clock of 2589 MHz is a key factor in its ability to push high frame rates. With 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, it provides a memory bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s, which is sufficient for the textures and effects in Inside. The benchmark scores for the GPU show it performs at the 70th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 24442. In comparison to its nearest rivals, the data shows it is 0.7% faster than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1630 and 1.1% faster than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER, while being 0.8% slower than the Intel Arc A350M.

The GPU's role is most evident when examining the frame rates at different settings. The jump from Low to Ultra settings at 4K shows a performance drop from 127 FPS to 60 FPS, indicating that the GPU is being fully utilized and is the bottleneck at higher settings. The pixel rate of 165.7 GPixel/s and texture rate of 331.4 GTexel/s are substantial, allowing it to handle the rendering demands of the game's side-scrolling environments with ease. The GPU's DirectX 12 Ultimate support ensures it is fully compatible with modern rendering techniques, and its 2048 shading units provide the raw compute power needed for the game's lighting and particle effects. The data clearly shows that the RX 6600 XT is not the limiting factor at lower resolutions, as it can achieve over 200 FPS at 1080p with Medium settings.

Resolution Scaling

The data shows a clear and expected trend of decreasing average frame rates as the resolution increases, which confirms that the GPU is the primary limiting component in this pairing. At 1080p, the High preset achieves 140 FPS, which drops to 101 FPS at 1440p, a reduction of 39 FPS or roughly 28%. Moving to 4K, the High preset further drops to 63 FPS, a 38 FPS decrease from the 1440p result. This scaling pattern is consistent with a GPU-bound scenario, where the CPU has sufficient headroom to feed the GPU at all resolutions.

The Medium preset shows a similar trend, with 225 FPS at 1080p, 161 FPS at 1440p, and 101 FPS at 4K. The performance halving from 1080p to 4K (from 225 FPS to 101 FPS) strongly indicates that the rendering load is scaling directly with the pixel count. This is a classic sign of a GPU bottleneck. The CPU, with its high single-thread performance and 14 cores, is not being stressed by the game's physics or logic at these frame rates. The data suggests that if the CPU were the limiting factor, the frame rates would not scale so linearly with resolution. Therefore, to achieve higher frame rates at 4K, the only viable option would be to reduce settings, as the CPU has already proven it can handle much higher frame rates at lower resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 and AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT ranks at 1998 out of 2887 tested combos in Inside, placing it in the 31st percentile of all configurations. This ranking is primarily driven by the GPU's performance, as the CPU is a high-end model. The benchmark results indicate that while the combo is capable of excellent frame rates, there are many other combinations that can achieve higher performance, likely with more powerful GPUs. The CPU's percentile ranking of 90th among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 48995, is in stark contrast to the GPU's 70th percentile ranking.

The data shows that the CPU is not the bottleneck, as its nearest rivals in terms of average score include the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 and the Intel Core i5-14600K, with a performance delta of -0.5% and +0.8%, respectively. This means the CPU is performing at a level comparable to these top-tier processors. The combo's rank is therefore a reflection of the GPU's mid-range positioning. The ranking suggests that for users looking to improve performance in Inside, upgrading the GPU would yield the most significant gains, as the CPU has ample performance headroom. The combination is well-balanced for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but the data shows it falls behind top-tier combos at 4K.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 provides a robust foundation for this gaming configuration. With 14 cores and 14 threads, and a boost clock of 5.10 GHz, it offers high single-thread and multi-thread performance that is more than adequate for Inside. The CPU's benchmark scores are impressive, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32924 and a single-core score of 4648, placing it in the 90th percentile of all CPUs. This high single-core performance is particularly important for games, as they often rely on a few threads for the main game logic.

The data shows that the CPU is not a limiting factor in this game. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 281 FPS, which is a frame rate that would be challenging for many CPUs to feed to the GPU. The fact that the CPU can sustain these high frame rates indicates that it has significant headroom. The nearest rival comparison shows it is essentially on par with the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G, with a delta of -0.4%, and slightly faster than the Intel Core i5-14600K, with a delta of +0.8%. The CPU's L3 cache of 24 MB shared and dual-channel DDR5 memory support with 102.4 GB/s of bandwidth ensure that data can be fed to the GPU efficiently. The 65W TDP is a modest power requirement for its performance level. In summary, the CPU is a high-performance component that ensures the GPU is the sole determinant of frame rates in this game.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average frame rate achievable with this combo?

A: The highest recorded average frame rate is 281 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low preset. This shows the CPU and GPU have enough power to far exceed standard display refresh rates.

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 4K resolution?

A: Yes, the data shows that both the High and Ultra presets at 3840x2160 resolution achieve an average of 63 and 60 FPS, respectively. The Medium preset at 4K achieves a higher average of 101 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 7900?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 has an average benchmark score of 48995, which is 0.5% lower than the AMD Ryzen 9 7900's average score of 49228. This indicates nearly identical performance in general benchmarks.

Q: Is the GPU or the CPU the main bottleneck for this game?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the primary bottleneck. The frame rates scale consistently with resolution changes, which is a characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario. The CPU is capable of much higher frame rates than the GPU can produce.

Q: What is the performance difference between the Low and Ultra presets at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440 resolution, the Low preset achieves an average of 202 FPS, while the Ultra preset achieves 96 FPS. This represents a significant 106 FPS drop, demonstrating the impact of the more demanding Ultra settings on the GPU.

Q: How does the GPU's average benchmark score compare to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT has an average benchmark score of 24442, which is 1.1% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER's average score of 24170. The RX 6600 XT is also 0.7% faster than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1630 in this metric.