Inside

# Inside — Intel Core Ultra 7 155H + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090

The measured FPS data for this combination in Inside reveals a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher resolutions but transitions into CPU-bound territory at 1080p, where the RTX 4090's raw power outstrips what the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H can feed it. With average frame rates ranging from 99 FPS at 4K Ultra up to 314 FPS at 1080p Low, the dataset shows a platform capable of extreme performance, yet the scaling patterns between resolution steps expose where the bottleneck shifts. The combination ranks 684th out of 2,887 tested combos, placing it in the top 24% of all configurations, a solid result given the mobile CPU paired with a flagship desktop GPU.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is dramatic but uneven across settings presets, revealing how the workload shifts between CPU and GPU limits. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 231 at 1080p to 166 at 1440p, a reduction of 65 FPS, then further to 104 at 4K, another 62 FPS drop. The scaling from 1440p to 4K represents a 37% performance loss, while the 1080p to 1440p step costs 28%, indicating that the GPU is becoming the primary constraint as pixel count rises. At Low settings, the pattern intensifies: 314 FPS at 1080p drops to 281 at 1440p (an 11% loss) and then plummets to 209 at 4K (a 26% loss from 1440p). The smaller relative drop at 1440p Low suggests that at 1080p Low, the CPU is already limiting frame rates, and moving to 1440p still leaves the CPU as a bottleneck until 4K finally loads the GPU enough to take over.

The Medium preset shows the most interesting scaling behavior because it is the only setting with min/max FPS data recorded. At 1080p Medium, the average is 290 FPS with a minimum of 246 and maximum of 333, a spread of 87 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 259 with min/max of 221/298, a 77 FPS spread. At 4K Medium, the average falls to 167 with min/max of 142/192, compressing the spread to just 50 FPS. This tightening of the frame time distribution at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU is becoming more consistently utilized, whereas at lower resolutions, CPU-driven frame pacing variability dominates. Ultra settings show a similar trend to High: 220 FPS at 1080p, 158 at 1440p, and 99 at 4K, with the 1440p-to-4K drop of 59 FPS (37%) being nearly identical to High's 62 FPS drop.

What the scaling data implies is that the RTX 4090's immense shading throughput — 82.58 TFLOPS FP32 and a pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s — is being throttled by the CPU at 1080p, where the Core Ultra 7 155H's single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1,743) becomes the limiting factor. The transition to 4K, where the GPU's 24 GB of GDDR6X memory and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth are fully exercised, allows the graphics card to stretch its legs, but even then, the 4K Ultra result of 99 FPS suggests the game's engine is not heavily taxing the GPU's capabilities.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications explain why Inside runs at such high frame rates across all resolutions. The GPU features 16,384 shading units, 512 texture mapping units, and 176 ROPs, backed by 128 ray tracing cores and 512 tensor cores. Its boost clock of 2,520 MHz (base 2,235 MHz) drives a texture rate of 1,290.2 GTexel/s. Memory consists of 24 GB of GDDR6X on a 384-bit bus, delivering 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth — more than enough for a puzzle platformer that likely uses modest texture sizes.

The GPU's benchmark scores reflect its position in the hierarchy. Its Passmark G3D score is 38,194, and its Geekbench OpenCL score reaches 255,416, with Vulkan at 271,631. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 9,223 places it well above average, with the GPU sitting in the 88th percentile of all GPUs. However, the nearest rivals in the database are surprising: the Intel Arc Pro A60 (matching at 0% delta), AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 (0.3% ahead), AMD Radeon Pro W6600M (2.5% behind), and AMD Radeon PRO V710 (2.9% ahead). These are not consumer gaming cards, suggesting the average benchmark score of 60,347 is heavily influenced by compute workloads rather than pure gaming rasterization, which is where the RTX 4090 typically excels.

In Inside specifically, the GPU's role becomes apparent when examining the 4K results. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 99, which is only 5% lower than the 104 FPS at 4K High. The difference between Ultra and High at 4K is just 5 FPS, indicating that the Ultra preset's additional graphical effects are not heavily taxing the GPU. The 4K Low result of 209 FPS is more than double the Ultra result, showing that the game's visual settings have a significant impact on GPU load, but the absolute numbers are still extremely high for a 4K resolution. The GPU's 176 ROPs and 443.5 GPixel/s pixel rate are likely the key factors enabling such high fill-rate-dependent performance, as Inside features a distinctive monochromatic art style with high contrast, which may benefit from efficient pixel processing.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 155H is a mobile processor with 16 cores and 22 threads, based on the Meteor Lake architecture fabricated on Intel's 7 nm process. Its base clock is 3.80 GHz with a boost clock of 4.80 GHz, and it features a 24 MB shared L3 cache with 2 MB L2 per core and 112 KB L1 per core. The CPU's TDP is 28 W, which is modest for a processor paired with a 450 W GPU, but the benchmark results show it is capable of feeding the RTX 4090 in most scenarios.

The CPU's benchmark scores paint a picture of a mid-range mobile chip. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score is 15,028, with a single-core score of 1,743. The Passmark single-thread score is 3,468, and the multi-thread score is 24,873. In the overall CPU percentile ranking, it sits at the 83rd percentile, with an average benchmark score of 32,697. Its nearest rivals are the Intel Core i5-14600T (0% delta), AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 360 (0.1% ahead), AMD Ryzen 5 7400F (0.2% behind), and AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850H (0.4% behind). These tight deltas indicate that the Core Ultra 7 155H is squarely in the middle of its performance class.

In Inside, the CPU's role is most evident at 1080p Low, where the average FPS reaches 314. This is a frame rate that few CPUs can sustain in any game, and the fact that it drops only to 281 at 1440p Low (a 12% reduction) before falling to 209 at 4K Low (a 26% reduction from 1440p) suggests that the CPU is still contributing to the frame rate ceiling at 1440p. The 22 threads and 4.80 GHz boost clock provide sufficient single-thread performance for the game's logic and physics, which in a puzzle platformer are likely to be less demanding than in open-world titles. The 28 W TDP, however, means the CPU may thermally throttle in sustained workloads, although the measured FPS data does not include min FPS for most settings, making it impossible to assess frame consistency from this dataset alone.

The comparison between the CPU's Cinebench R20 single-core score of 1,235 and its multi-core score of 8,754 shows a ratio of roughly 7:1, indicating that the processor's multi-threaded capabilities are strong relative to its single-thread performance. This is notable because Inside likely benefits more from single-thread performance given its 2D side-scrolling nature, and the 1080p High result of 231 FPS (vs. 314 at Low) suggests that the CPU can handle the game's logic at high frame rates when the GPU is not the bottleneck.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 684th out of 2,887 tested combos in Inside, placing it in the top 23.7% of all configurations. This ranking is notable because the RTX 4090 is an end-of-life product with a successor (GeForce 50 series) already released, yet it still delivers competitive performance in this game. The CPU's 83rd percentile ranking and the GPU's 88th percentile ranking individually suggest that the combo should perform better than its 684th position implies, but the pairing of a mobile CPU with a desktop GPU creates a bottleneck that limits the overall result.

The combo rank of 684 suggests that there are 683 other combinations that perform better in Inside, which is surprising given the RTX 4090's raw power. This can be attributed to the CPU's mobile nature — its 28 W TDP and BGA 2049 socket indicate it is designed for laptops, not desktop gaming rigs. The fact that the combo still ranks in the top quarter of all tested configurations speaks to the GPU's ability to compensate for CPU limitations at higher resolutions, but at 1080p, the CPU's single-thread performance becomes a limiting factor that prevents the combo from achieving the frame rates that a desktop CPU like the Core i9-14900K might enable.

The ranking data implies that for Inside specifically, the GPU is the more important component for achieving high frame rates at 4K, but the CPU matters more at 1080p where the game's frame rate ceiling is determined by processor speed. The 314 FPS at 1080p Low is close to what many high-refresh-rate monitors can display, but the 99 FPS at 4K Ultra suggests that even the RTX 4090 cannot maintain 100+ FPS at maximum settings in 4K for this title, which may be due to the game's engine limitations rather than the GPU's raw compute capability.

FAQ

Q: Why does the FPS drop so much from 1080p to 4K at Low settings (314 to 209 FPS) but less at Ultra settings (220 to 99 FPS)?

A: At Low settings, the GPU has less work per frame, so the CPU becomes the bottleneck at 1080p, limiting FPS to 314. As resolution increases to 4K, the GPU workload rises dramatically, and the RTX 4090's 82.58 TFLOPS FP32 throughput becomes the limiting factor, resulting in a 33% drop to 209 FPS. At Ultra settings, the GPU is already heavily loaded at 1080p (220 FPS), so the resolution increase to 4K causes a 55% drop to 99 FPS, reflecting the GPU's inability to maintain high frame rates with maximum visual effects at 4K.

Q: Is the RTX 4090's 24 GB of GDDR6X memory necessary for Inside?

A: The game's modest visual requirements suggest that 24 GB is far more than needed for Inside, as evidenced by the high frame rates at 4K even with Ultra settings (99 FPS). The 1.01 TB/s memory bandwidth and 384-bit bus are likely overkill for a puzzle platformer, but the GPU's other specifications, such as its 16,384 shading units and 443.5 GPixel/s pixel rate, contribute more to the game's performance than the memory capacity.

Q: How does the Core Ultra 7 155H compare to its nearest CPU rivals in terms of benchmark scores?

A: The Core Ultra 7 155H has an average benchmark score of 32,697, which is nearly identical to the Intel Core i5-14600T (32,707, 0% delta) and AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 360 (32,662, 0.1% ahead). It is slightly behind the AMD Ryzen 5 7400F (32,750, -0.2% delta) and AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850H (32,812, -0.4% delta). These differences are negligible, indicating that the CPU's performance is well within the norm for its class.

Q: What does the 4K Medium min FPS of 142 indicate about frame pacing?

A: The 4K Medium result shows an average of 167 FPS with a minimum of 142 and maximum of 192, producing a 50 FPS range. This relatively tight spread suggests that the RTX 4090 maintains consistent frame delivery at 4K Medium, whereas the 1080p Medium result (290 average, 246-333 range, 87 FPS spread) shows more variability, likely due to CPU-induced frame pacing inconsistencies at higher frame rates.

Q: Why does the combo rank 684th out of 2,887 if both components are in the 83rd and 88th percentiles respectively?

A: The individual percentiles reflect performance across all workloads, not just Inside. The combo's rank in this specific game is influenced by the CPU's mobile design (28 W TDP, BGA 2049 socket), which may limit sustained performance in gaming scenarios. Additionally, the RTX 4090's end-of-life status and the fact that it is paired with a non-overclockable mobile CPU (multiplier locked) means that other combos with desktop CPUs may achieve higher frame rates in Inside, especially at 1080p.

Q: Is the 4K Ultra result of 99 FPS a limitation of the GPU or the game engine?

A: Given the RTX 4090's 82.58 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 1,290.2 GTexel/s texture rate, the 99 FPS at 4K Ultra is likely a limitation of the game's engine and its rendering pipeline rather than the GPU's raw compute capability. The fact that 4K High achieves 104 FPS (only 5 FPS more) suggests that the Ultra preset's additional effects create a bottleneck that even the flagship GPU cannot overcome, possibly due to draw call overhead or single-threaded rendering paths.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance on which settings preset offers the best experience for different use cases. At 1080p, all four presets deliver frame rates above 220 FPS, with Low achieving 314 FPS, Medium at 290, High at 231, and Ultra at 220. For a 60 Hz or 144 Hz display, any preset would be more than sufficient, but for 240 Hz or higher refresh rate monitors, Low or Medium would be recommended to maximize frame rates. The Medium preset's minimum FPS of 246 at 1080p indicates that even in demanding scenes, the frame rate stays above 240, making it the best choice for competitive or high-refresh-rate play without sacrificing visual quality.

At 1440p, the results are still exceptional: Low delivers 281 FPS, Medium 259, High 166, and Ultra 158. The Medium preset's min FPS of 221 ensures that even the worst-case frame rate stays above 200, which is ideal for 240 Hz displays. High and Ultra drop below 170 FPS, which is still suitable for 144 Hz displays but may not fully utilize 240 Hz panels. For 1440p, Medium is the recommended preset as it offers a balance of visual fidelity and performance, with the min FPS of 221 providing a comfortable margin above typical refresh rate targets.

At 4K, the frame rates drop significantly: Low achieves 209 FPS, Medium 167, High 104, and Ultra 99. For 4K gaming, the High preset (104 FPS) is the recommended choice for 100 Hz or 120 Hz displays, as it provides a smooth experience with good visual quality. The Ultra preset's 99 FPS is only slightly lower, so users with 100 Hz displays could choose Ultra for maximum visual fidelity. The Medium preset at 167 FPS is ideal for 144 Hz 4K monitors, while Low at 209 FPS would be the choice for 240 Hz 4K displays, although such panels are rare. The 4K Medium result includes a min FPS of 142, which is above 120, making it a solid option for high-refresh 4K gaming.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS values across settings are: Low 314, Medium 290 (min 246, max 333), High 231, and Ultra 220. The Medium preset shows the largest spread between min and max (87 FPS), indicating variable frame times, while the other presets have no min/max data recorded. The difference between Low and Ultra is 94 FPS, representing a 30% performance penalty for maximum visual quality at 1080p.

At 2560x1440, the results are: Low 281, Medium 259 (min 221, max 298), High 166, and Ultra 158. The Medium preset's min FPS of 221 is notably high, ensuring consistent performance even in demanding scenes. The gap between Low and Ultra is 123 FPS (44% reduction), which is a larger relative drop than at 1080p, reflecting the increased GPU load at higher resolution.

At 3840x2160, the averages are: Low 209, Medium 167 (min 142, max 192), High 104, and Ultra 99. The Medium preset's min FPS of 142 and max of 192 produce a 50 FPS range, the tightest spread of any resolution, indicating stable frame delivery. The difference between Low and Ultra is 110 FPS (53% reduction), showing that the Ultra preset at 4K imposes a significant performance cost relative to Low settings. Across all resolutions, the Medium preset consistently provides the most complete dataset with min/max values, enabling a more thorough analysis of frame pacing consistency than the other presets, which only report average FPS.