Inside

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER delivers a performance profile in Inside that is surprisingly robust, given the age of the GPU. The combo ranks 1587th out of 2887 tested combinations, placing it in the 55th percentile of all systems. This mid-pack standing is notable because the game is a 2D puzzle platformer, where the CPU's strong single-thread performance and the GPU's raw fill rate can both contribute to high frame rates. The data reveals a configuration that is heavily skewed toward high-refresh-rate 1080p and 1440p play, while still maintaining playable 4K performance at higher settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The overall rank of 1587 out of 2887 combos suggests this system is firmly in the upper-middle tier for Inside. This positioning is a direct result of the balance between the two components. The RTX 2070 SUPER, while not a top-tier card by current standards, has a PassMark G3D score of 18169, which places it in the 65th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Arc A750, which is only 1.5% behind, and the RTX 3070 Mobile, which is 1.2% ahead. This indicates the GPU is a solid, if unspectacular, performer.

The CPU, however, is a different story. The Core Ultra 5 245 sits in the 90th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 48995. This puts it on par with the AMD Ryzen 9 7900, which is just 0.5% faster, and ahead of the Intel Core i5-14600K by 0.8%. This high CPU percentile is crucial for a game like Inside, which, despite its simple visuals, can still be sensitive to frame pacing and physics calculations. The combination in this game means the CPU is rarely the limiting factor, allowing the GPU to work at its full potential.

The ranking also implies that the system is not bottlenecked in a way that would cause poor performance. The data shows a clear scaling pattern across resolutions, which suggests a healthy balance. For example, at 1080p Ultra, the system produces 147 FPS on average, while at 4K Ultra it drops to 67 FPS. This 54% drop in performance when increasing resolution by 4x is typical of a system where the GPU becomes more stressed at higher pixel counts, while the CPU maintains a consistent frame delivery. The rank of 1587 reflects this balanced, capable pairing rather than a system with a glaring weakness.

The fact that the GPU’s average benchmark score is 20282, with a PassMark G3D score of 18169, reinforces its position as a dependable mid-range performer. It is not outpacing its rivals by a significant margin, but it is also not lagging behind. This consistency is what allows the combo to achieve a respectable rank. The data suggests that for a game like Inside, this system is a "sweet spot" for 1440p gaming, where it can comfortably push high refresh rates without the need for extreme settings.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides a clear picture of which settings offer the best experience. At 1080p, the Low preset achieves an average of 310 FPS, which is far beyond the refresh rate of most monitors. The Medium preset still delivers a very high 248 FPS, and High produces 155 FPS. The Ultra preset at 147 FPS is still exceptionally smooth. The data indicates that at 1080p, the user can select Ultra without any concern for playability, as the 147 FPS average is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

Moving to 1440p, the situation remains favorable. The Low preset yields 223 FPS, Medium drops to 178 FPS, and High manages 111 FPS. The Ultra preset is still playable at 106 FPS. This resolution offers the best balance for high-refresh-rate monitors, as even the most demanding preset stays above the 100 FPS mark. For users with a 144Hz display, the High preset at 1440p is the optimal choice, as it provides a smooth experience without the diminishing returns of the Ultra preset.

At 4K, the recommendations change significantly. The High preset drops to 70 FPS, and the Ultra preset falls to 67 FPS. While these are technically playable, they do not provide the same high-refresh-rate experience as lower resolutions. The Medium preset, however, offers a compelling alternative at 112 FPS, with a minimum frame rate of 95 FPS. This makes Medium the recommended setting for 4K, as it provides a significant performance boost over High and Ultra while maintaining visual quality that is likely indistinguishable in a game with Inside's art style.

The data suggests that the best experience overall is at 1440p with the High preset. This configuration delivers 111 FPS, which is smooth on most displays, and it allows the GPU to render the game with higher fidelity than the Medium preset. For users prioritizing frame rate above all else, the 1080p Medium preset at 248 FPS is the clear winner. For those with a 4K display, the Medium preset is the only sensible choice, as it is the only preset that maintains an average above 100 FPS.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 1440p with the High preset is the sweet spot, delivering 111 FPS. This resolution provides a balance between visual fidelity and a high frame rate. While 1080p can exceed 300 FPS on Low, and 4K is playable on Medium, 1440p High offers the best combination of smoothness and detail.

*Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Inside?*

A: Yes, 4K is playable. The benchmark results show that the Ultra preset averages 67 FPS, and the High preset averages 70 FPS. For a more comfortable experience with a higher frame rate, the Medium preset at 4K averages 112 FPS, which is the recommended setting for this resolution.

Q: How does the CPU affect performance in this game?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 is a high-end processor in the 90th percentile of all CPUs. Its strong single-thread and multi-thread performance, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 scores of 4648 and 32924 respectively, ensures it is not a bottleneck, allowing the GPU to operate at full capacity.

Q: Is the RTX 2070 SUPER a limiting factor in this game?

A: The GPU is a competent performer, but it does become the primary constraint at higher resolutions. The data shows a 54% drop in average FPS going from 1080p Ultra to 4K Ultra, indicating that the GPU's rendering load increases significantly at 4K, while the CPU's workload remains relatively stable.

Q: What is the difference in performance between the Low and Ultra presets?

A: At 1080p, the Ultra preset (147 FPS) is 53% slower than the Low preset (310 FPS). The performance gap narrows at higher resolutions, where the Ultra preset is 52% slower than Low at 1440p and 52% slower at 4K. This shows the settings scale consistently across resolutions.

Q: How does this combo compare to similar hardware?

A: The combo ranks 1587th out of 2887 tested. The GPU is comparable to an Intel Arc A750, which is only 1.5% faster, and the CPU is comparable to an AMD Ryzen 9 7900, which is 0.5% faster. This places the system in a competitive position for its class.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The benchmark data provides a comprehensive view of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the system is exceptionally fast. The Low preset produces an average of 310 FPS, while the Medium preset averages 248 FPS, with a minimum of 210 FPS and a maximum of 285 FPS. The High preset drops to 155 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 147 FPS. This resolution shows the system's ceiling, with even the most demanding settings providing more than enough frame rate for any display.

At 2560x1440, performance scales down predictably. The Low preset averages 223 FPS, which is a 28% reduction from 1080p. The Medium preset averages 178 FPS, with a minimum of 151 and a maximum of 205. This is a 28% reduction from its 1080p counterpart. The High preset averages 111 FPS, a 28% reduction, and the Ultra preset averages 106 FPS, a 28% reduction. This consistent scaling indicates a well-balanced system where neither component is disproportionately limiting.

At 3840x2160, the GPU load becomes more apparent. The Low preset produces 140 FPS, a 55% drop from 1080p Low. The Medium preset averages 112 FPS, with a minimum of 95 and a maximum of 129, a 55% drop from 1080p Medium. The High preset averages 70 FPS, a 55% drop, and the Ultra preset averages 67 FPS, a 54% drop. This uniform percentage decrease across all settings at 4K suggests that the GPU is the primary factor in the frame rate reduction, as the CPU's performance is less affected by resolution.

The minimum and maximum frame rate data for the Medium preset shows consistent frame delivery. At 1080p, the variance is 75 FPS (210 to 285), at 1440p it is 54 FPS (151 to 205), and at 4K it is 34 FPS (95 to 129). This decreasing variance with higher resolution indicates that the frame pacing becomes more consistent as the GPU workload increases, likely due to the CPU not being the limiting factor.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is a Turing-based GPU with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. Its core clocks are 1605 MHz base and 1770 MHz boost, and it has 2560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The GPU's pixel rate is 113.3 GPixel/s, and its texture rate is 283.2 GTexel/s. These specifications are directly relevant to Inside, a game with a distinctive art style that relies on lighting and shadow effects.

The GPU's FP32 performance of 9.062 TFLOPS is a key indicator of its raw compute power. For a puzzle platformer, this is more than sufficient. The benchmark data shows that the GPU is capable of handling the game's rendering demands at all resolutions. At 4K Ultra, it still manages an average of 67 FPS, which indicates that the GPU is not severely overwhelmed. The 8 GB of VRAM is also not a limiting factor in this game, as the visual complexity of Inside is unlikely to exceed this capacity.

The GPU's PassMark G3D score of 18169 places it in the 65th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the Intel Arc A750, is only 1.5% faster, and the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M is 1% slower. This shows that the RTX 2070 SUPER is a well-established performer with a known capability level. The data from Inside confirms this, as the performance is consistent with what one would expect from a GPU of this tier.

The boost clock of 1770 MHz is the maximum speed the GPU can achieve, and the benchmark results reflect the sustained performance under load. The 14 Gbps effective memory speed, combined with the 256-bit bus, provides sufficient bandwidth to feed the GPU's cores. The fact that the GPU can maintain a 70 FPS average at 4K High suggests that the memory bandwidth is not a bottleneck in this specific game.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 is a 14-core, 14-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture. It has a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.10 GHz. This high boost clock is crucial for gaming performance, as Inside is a game that can benefit from strong single-thread performance. The CPU's Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4648 is respectable, and its multi-core score of 32924 shows significant parallel processing power.

The CPU's L3 cache is 24 MB (shared), which helps with data access times. The memory support is DDR5 with a dual-channel bus, providing a bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s. This is more than enough for gaming workloads. The CPU's PassMark single-thread score of 4394 and its multithread score of 38706 indicate a strong overall performer. In the context of Inside, the CPU's role is to manage game logic, physics, and frame pacing.

The benchmark data shows that the CPU is not a bottleneck at any resolution. The consistent percentage drop in FPS from 1080p to 4K (approximately 55%) suggests that the GPU is the limiting factor at higher resolutions, not the CPU. The CPU's high percentile ranking (90th) and its average benchmark score of 48995, which is comparable to the AMD Ryzen 9 7900, confirm that it can easily keep up with the demands of the game.

The CPU's 14 cores and 14 threads are interesting for a game like Inside, which may not utilize all of them. However, the high boost clock of 5.10 GHz ensures that the few cores the game does use are running at maximum speed. This is reflected in the high frame rates at 1080p, where the CPU has more headroom to process frames. The CPU's performance reflects its architecture, which is designed to excel in both single-threaded and multi-threaded tasks.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K is a critical indicator of the system's balance. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 310 FPS. At 1440p Low, this drops to 223 FPS, a 28% decrease. At 4K Low, it drops to 140 FPS, a 55% decrease from 1080p. This pattern is consistent across all settings. For Medium, the drop from 1080p to 1440p is 28% (248 to 178), and from 1080p to 4K is 55% (248 to 112). For High, the drop is 28% (155 to 111) and 55% (155 to 70). For Ultra, the drop is 28% (147 to 106) and 54% (147 to 67).

This uniform scaling suggests that the GPU is the primary limiting factor when moving to higher resolutions. The 28% drop from 1080p to 1440p corresponds to the increase in pixel count from approximately 2.1 million to 3.7 million, which is a 76% increase. The fact that the FPS only drops by 28% indicates that the GPU has spare capacity at 1080p and is not fully utilized. The 55% drop from 1080p to 4K (8.3 million pixels, a 4x increase) shows that the GPU is closer to its limits, but still able to maintain playable frame rates.

The data implies that the CPU is not a limiting factor in this game. The FPS drops are directly proportional to the resolution increase, which is a classic sign of a GPU-bound scenario. The CPU's high single-thread performance ensures that it can deliver frames to the GPU at a rate that exceeds the GPU's rendering capability. This is confirmed by the fact that the performance drop is nearly identical across all settings, regardless of the CPU load.

The scaling also reveals that the system is well-suited for 1440p gaming. The 28% drop from 1080p is a reasonable trade-off for the increased visual clarity, and the system still maintains high frame rates at 1440p Ultra (106 FPS). At 4K, the system is playable but not optimal for high refresh rates. The data suggests that users with a 4K display should use the Medium preset to achieve a smooth experience, as the High and Ultra presets drop below the 75 FPS mark, which may be noticeable on fast-moving scenes.