Inside

The Intel Core Ultra 7 165H paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 produces a highly responsive experience in Inside, a Puzzle Platformer from 2016-07-06. The measured data shows this combination is capable of pushing very high frame rates across all tested resolutions, with the GPU acting as the primary scaling factor as resolution increases. The combo ranks 2431 out of 3716 tested combinations, placing it in the middle of the pack despite delivering excellent raw performance in this specific title.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 1080p with High settings?

A: The measured average FPS is 144 at 1920x1080 with High settings. This indicates the combination is well-suited for high-refresh-rate 1080p displays, providing a smooth experience that matches typical 144Hz monitor capabilities.

Q: How does the RTX 5060 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 5060 has an average benchmark score of 26331, which places it 1.2% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT (score 26011) and 0.8% behind the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary (score 26553). It also trails the AMD Radeon 860M and NVIDIA GeForce MX550 by 0.3% each, with those rivals scoring 26401 and 26421 respectively.

Q: What is the CPU's single-thread performance relative to its peers?

A: The Core Ultra 7 165H scores 1759 in Cinebench R23 single-core. Its PassMark single-thread score is 3509. The CPU's percentile ranking versus all CPUs is 84, meaning it outperforms 84% of all tested processors in aggregate benchmark scores.

*Q: Does the GPU memory bandwidth affect performance in Inside?*

A: The RTX 5060 features 8 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Given that the game runs at 130 FPS average at 4K Low settings, the memory subsystem appears sufficient for this title, though the bandwidth becomes a limiting factor at higher settings where frame rates drop significantly.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-core performance compare to the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X?

A: The Core Ultra 7 165H has an average benchmark score of 34083, which is 0.5% lower than the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X's score of 34260. The Intel chip is also 0.4% behind the AMD EPYC 4244P (34220) and AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 (34222), while being 0.3% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 5 338H (33989).

Q: What is the maximum measured frame rate in this configuration?

A: The highest recorded average is 288 FPS at 1080p with Low settings. The maximum FPS observed in any test was 265 at 1080p Medium settings, with a minimum of 196 FPS in the same configuration.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture using a 5 nm process from TSMC, with a die size of 181 mm² containing 21,900 million transistors. The GPU operates with a base clock of 2280 MHz and a boost clock of 2497 MHz. Its memory configuration includes 8 GB of GDDR7 on a 128-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is a critical specification for understanding how this card behaves across different settings in Inside.

The GPU's shading units total 3840, alongside 120 texture mapping units and 48 raster output pipelines. The card also includes 30 ray tracing cores and 120 tensor cores, though Inside is a Puzzle Platformer that does not heavily leverage these features. The FP32 performance is rated at 19.18 TFLOPS, which provides ample compute headroom for this game's relatively modest graphical demands. The texture rate of 299.6 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 119.9 GPixel/s further indicate the card's ability to handle the side-scrolling environments and lighting effects in Inside without bottlenecking.

In synthetic benchmarks, the RTX 5060 scores 20891 in PassMark G3D and 112787 in Geekbench OpenCL, with a Vulkan score of 113321. The GPU's percentile ranking is 72, placing it above 72% of all tested graphics cards. Its average benchmark score of 26331 puts it in close competition with several rivals, notably the AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT which it leads by 1.2%. This synthetic data suggests the GPU is a capable mid-range performer, which aligns with the measured results in Inside where it maintains high frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, but shows its limits at 4K with higher settings.

The GPU's memory bandwidth becomes a relevant factor when examining the frame rate scaling in Inside. At 1080p, the card delivers 288 FPS at Low settings and 144 FPS at High, showing that the GPU is not the limiting factor at this resolution. However, at 4K, the average drops to 130 FPS at Low and 65 FPS at High, indicating that the 128-bit memory bus and 8 GB capacity begin to constrain performance as pixel count increases. The 448.0 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient for the game's data requirements, but the frame rate scaling suggests that the GPU's compute resources are the primary driver of performance at lower resolutions, while memory bandwidth becomes more influential at 4K.

Resolution Scaling

The measured data shows a clear pattern of frame rate reduction as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 144 at 1080p to 104 at 1440p, and then to 65 at 4K. This represents a 54.9% reduction from 1080p to 4K, which is steeper than the pixel count increase of 4x, indicating that the GPU is becoming the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions.

At Low settings, the scaling is more dramatic: 288 FPS at 1080p drops to 207 FPS at 1440p and 130 FPS at 4K. The 4K Low result is still above 120 FPS, suggesting that the GPU has enough headroom to handle the game at lower graphical fidelity regardless of resolution. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K at Low settings is 54.9%, which is identical to the High settings drop, implying that the scaling is consistent and primarily driven by resolution rather than settings complexity.

The Medium settings data provides additional insight, as this is the only configuration with recorded minimum and maximum FPS values. At 1080p Medium, the average is 230 FPS with a range of 196 to 265 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 166 FPS with a range of 141 to 191 FPS. At 4K Medium, the average is 104 FPS with a range of 89 to 120 FPS. The consistency of the minimum FPS values relative to the averages suggests stable frame pacing, with the 4K Medium minimum of 89 FPS still being playable.

The Ultra settings present the lowest performance across all resolutions. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 137 FPS, which drops to 99 FPS at 1440p and 62 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result of 62 FPS is the lowest measured value in the entire dataset, indicating that this setting combination pushes the GPU to its limits. The scaling from 1080p to 4K at Ultra settings is 54.7%, nearly identical to the other settings, confirming that the resolution is the dominant factor in performance degradation rather than the specific graphical settings.

This scaling behavior indicates that the CPU, the Intel Core Ultra 7 165H, is not the bottleneck in this game. The consistent frame rate drops across all settings as resolution increases point to the GPU being the limiting component. The CPU's 16 cores and 22 threads, with a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, provide more than enough processing power for a Puzzle Platformer like Inside, which does not feature complex physics or AI calculations that would stress the processor.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the configuration delivers its highest performance across all settings. The Low setting produces an average of 288 FPS, which is the single highest average in the dataset. Medium settings yield 230 FPS average with a minimum of 196 and maximum of 265 FPS. High settings drop to 144 FPS average, while Ultra settings produce 137 FPS average. These results show that even at the highest settings, the frame rate remains well above 120 FPS, making the game exceptionally smooth on 1080p displays.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show a noticeable reduction. Low settings average 207 FPS, which is still excellent for high-refresh-rate 1440p monitors. Medium settings average 166 FPS with a range of 141 to 191 FPS, providing a solid experience. High settings drop to 104 FPS average, while Ultra settings produce 99 FPS average. The 1440p results indicate that the combination can handle this resolution comfortably, with even the Ultra setting staying close to 100 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the performance begins to show the GPU's limitations. Low settings average 130 FPS, which remains playable for most users. Medium settings average 104 FPS with a minimum of 89 and maximum of 120 FPS, showing that frame pacing is stable but the headroom is reduced. High settings drop to 65 FPS average, which is still smooth for a Puzzle Platformer but noticeably lower than the lower resolutions. Ultra settings produce 62 FPS average, the lowest measured result, but still above 60 FPS for a playable experience.

The Medium settings data provides the only complete frame time information across all resolutions. At 1080p, the range from 196 to 265 FPS shows a spread of 69 FPS, indicating some variability but generally consistent performance. At 1440p, the range narrows to 50 FPS (141 to 191), suggesting better frame consistency. At 4K, the range narrows further to 31 FPS (89 to 120), which indicates that the GPU is working harder and producing more consistent frame times as it approaches its performance ceiling.

The Low and High settings data do not include minimum or maximum FPS values, but the averages alone tell a clear story. The difference between Low and High settings at each resolution is substantial: 144 FPS at 1080p (288 vs 144), 103 FPS at 1440p (207 vs 104), and 65 FPS at 4K (130 vs 65). This consistent delta suggests that the graphical settings have a predictable impact on performance, with the GPU's compute units being the primary factor in determining the final frame rate.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 7 165H combined with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 achieves a rank of 2431 out of 3716 tested combinations for Inside. This places the combo in the 65th percentile of all tested configurations, meaning it outperforms 65% of the 3716 total combinations in this game. While this rank may seem modest given the high frame rates measured, it reflects the fact that many other combinations in the database feature more powerful desktop-class hardware.

The rank of 2431 indicates that this mobile-oriented combination is not at the top of the performance hierarchy for Inside, but it is far from the bottom. The measured FPS data shows that the combo delivers playable frame rates at all tested settings and resolutions, which is a practical achievement for a mobile CPU paired with a mid-range GPU. The combination's performance is consistent with its individual component rankings: the CPU is in the 84th percentile of all processors, while the GPU is in the 72nd percentile of all graphics cards.

The combo's performance in Inside is particularly notable considering the game's release date of 2016-07-06. The game is not graphically demanding by modern standards, which allows this combination to achieve high frame rates. However, the rank of 2431 out of 3716 suggests that many other combinations, likely featuring higher-end GPUs, can achieve even higher frame rates in this title. The RTX 5060's average benchmark score of 26331, which is 1.2% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT, indicates that the GPU is competitive within its class, but not exceptional compared to more powerful options.

The ranking also reflects the balance between CPU and GPU in this combination. The Core Ultra 7 165H's average benchmark score of 34083 places it 0.5% lower than the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X, showing that the CPU is a solid mid-range performer. However, for a game like Inside that does not heavily utilize multi-core processing, the CPU's 16 cores and 22 threads provide more than sufficient headroom, allowing the GPU to be the primary determinant of performance.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 165H is a mobile processor from the Core Ultra Series 1, built on the Meteor Lake architecture using a 7 nm process from Intel. It features 16 cores and 22 threads, with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. The CPU has a TDP of 28 watts, designed for mobile systems, and uses the Intel BGA 2049 socket. Its cache configuration includes 112 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 24 MB of shared L3 cache.

In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU scores 14551 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 1759 in single-core. Its PassMark multi-thread score is 25933, with a single-thread score of 3509. The CPU's percentile ranking is 84, indicating it performs better than 84% of all tested CPUs. Its average benchmark score of 34083 is very close to several rivals, including the Intel Core Ultra 5 338H (33989, 0.3% higher), AMD EPYC 4244P (34220, 0.4% lower), AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 (34222, 0.4% lower), and AMD Ryzen 7 3700X (34260, 0.5% lower).

For Inside, the CPU's role is relatively minor due to the game's nature as a Puzzle Platformer. The game does not require extensive physics calculations, complex AI, or large-scale simulation, which means the CPU is unlikely to be a bottleneck. The 16 cores and 22 threads provide substantial multi-threading capability, but the game likely uses only a few threads. The boost clock of 5.00 GHz ensures strong single-thread performance, which is more relevant for this type of game.

The CPU's memory bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s, using dual-channel DDR5 memory, ensures that data can be fed to the GPU without causing stalls. The 24 MB of L3 cache helps with data locality, reducing the need to access system memory frequently. These factors contribute to the CPU's ability to maintain high frame rates in Inside, as evidenced by the measured FPS data showing the GPU as the limiting factor at high resolutions.

The CPU's TDP of 28 watts is noteworthy for a mobile processor, indicating that it is designed for power efficiency rather than maximum performance. This is reflected in its benchmark scores, which are competitive with desktop-class processors from previous generations. For a game like Inside, this efficiency is beneficial, as it allows the system to maintain high frame rates without excessive power consumption or thermal throttling. The CPU's release date of 2023-12-13 places it as a recent addition to the mobile processor market, and its performance in this game demonstrates that it is well-suited for gaming workloads.