Inside

Inside is a puzzle platformer with modest system demands, but the benchmark data for the Intel Core Ultra 7 265 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6600 reveals a configuration that scales predictably across resolutions and settings. The measured frames per second (FPS) show a clear narrative: this combo is capable of delivering high refresh rates at 1080p, remains very playable at 1440p, and only begins to show strain at 4K with maximum quality settings. The following analysis breaks down the data row by row, interpreting what the numbers mean for the limiting component and overall experience.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 is substantial, but the pattern across different settings presets tells a specific story about where the bottleneck lies. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 257 at 1080p to 116 at 4K, a reduction of 141 frames or roughly 55%. At Medium settings, the drop is from 206 to 93, a 113-frame decline (about 55% loss). High settings see a fall from 129 to 58, a 71-frame reduction (55% loss). Ultra settings drop from 122 to 55, a 67-frame decrease (55% loss). This consistent percentage drop across all settings is a strong indicator that the scaling is resolution-bound rather than settings-bound—the GPU is the limiting factor as pixel count increases.

The fact that the percentage loss is nearly identical at every preset (hovering around 55%) suggests that the CPU is not introducing a variable bottleneck at higher resolutions. If the Intel Core Ultra 7 265 were struggling at 1080p, we would expect to see a smaller percentage drop when moving to 4K, because the CPU would be less stressed at lower frame rates. Instead, the uniform scaling points to the AMD Radeon RX 6600 as the primary constraint. The GPU’s 8 GB of VRAM and 224.0 GB/s memory bandwidth are being taxed more heavily as resolution increases, which is typical for a mid-range card.

Interestingly, the gap between Low and Ultra settings widens as resolution decreases. At 4K, Low yields 116 FPS and Ultra yields 55 FPS—a 61-frame spread. At 1080p, Low yields 257 FPS and Ultra yields 122 FPS—a 135-frame spread. This indicates that at lower resolutions, the GPU has more headroom to respond to settings changes, while at 4K, it is already near its limits and settings adjustments have less impact on overall throughput. The data suggests that for 4K gaming, the user is firmly GPU-limited, and even dropping to Low settings cannot push the average FPS above 116.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265 and AMD Radeon RX 6600 ranks 2223 out of 2887 tested combinations in Inside. This places it in the lower-middle tier of the database, which is somewhat surprising given the CPU’s strong benchmark standing. The Ultra 7 265 is a 20-core, 20-thread processor with a 93rd percentile ranking against all CPUs, but the RX 6600 holds only a 63rd percentile ranking against all GPUs. The combo rank reflects the weaker link—the GPU drags the overall position down.

In terms of percentile positioning, the CPU sits well above average, while the GPU is slightly above the midpoint. This mismatch explains why the combo lands at 77% of the way down the list (2223 out of 2887). The data implies that this pairing is unbalanced for Inside, but the game itself is not particularly demanding. The measured FPS at 1080p High (129 average) is well above playable thresholds, so the low rank is more a reflection of the database containing many stronger GPU pairings rather than an indication of poor real-world performance.

The nearest rival data for the CPU shows it trading blows with server-class chips: it is 0.3% slower than the AMD EPYC 4464P, 0.3% faster than the Intel Core Ultra 7 265F, and 0.7% faster than the AMD EPYC 7343. For the GPU, the RX 6600 is essentially tied with the NVIDIA Quadro K6000 (0% delta), 0.1% faster than the GeForce RTX 4050 Mobile, and 0.3% faster than the Tesla K20m. These comparisons exist in synthetic benchmark space, but in Inside, the GPU’s 8 GB VRAM and 64 ROPs are what matter for rasterization, not server workloads.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 brings 20 cores and 20 threads to the table, with a base clock of 2.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. This is a desktop-class processor built on a 3 nm process with 30 MB of shared L3 cache. For a puzzle platformer like Inside, which is not known for heavy multithreading, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU efficiently without becoming a bottleneck. The benchmark scores support this: the Cinebench R23 multicore score is 42,216, and the single-core score is 5,960, indicating strong per-thread performance that games can leverage.

The PassMark single-thread score of 4,689 is particularly relevant for Inside, as many game engines still rely on a few primary threads for game logic and physics. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 257 FPS, which is likely near the engine’s frame rate ceiling for this CPU-GPU pairing. The fact that the CPU does not bottleneck at lower resolutions is evident from the scaling data—if the Ultra 7 265 were limiting frame rates, we would see diminishing returns when lowering resolution below 1440p. Instead, FPS nearly doubles from 1440p to 1080p at Low settings (185 to 257), indicating the CPU has ample headroom.

The 65 W TDP and DDR5 memory support (dual-channel, 102.4 GB/s bandwidth) are architectural details that contribute to consistent frame pacing. The data shows no min FPS stutters at High or Low settings, though Medium settings at 1080p report a min of 175 FPS and max of 237 FPS, suggesting some variance but nothing disruptive. The CPU’s 93rd percentile ranking against all CPUs means it outperforms the vast majority of installed processors, so it is unlikely to be the weak point in this combo.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides twelve distinct data points, covering four settings presets at three resolutions. At 1920x1080, the average FPS ranges from 257 at Low to 122 at Ultra. The Medium preset yields 206 FPS with a min of 175 and max of 237, showing a tight window. High settings produce 129 FPS. At 2560x1440, the averages are 185 at Low, 148 at Medium (min 126, max 170), 92 at High, and 88 at Ultra. The drop from Low to High at 1440p is 93 FPS, which is significant but still leaves the game well above 60 FPS. At 3840x2160, the averages drop to 116 at Low, 93 at Medium (min 79, max 107), 58 at High, and 55 at Ultra.

The most telling number is the 4K Ultra average of 55 FPS, which is just below the 60 FPS threshold that many players consider the minimum for smooth gameplay. The 4K High average of 58 FPS is marginally better but still sub-60. The 4K Medium average of 93 FPS is the first 4K preset that clears 60 FPS with headroom, while 4K Low at 116 FPS offers a comfortable margin. At 1440p, every preset except Ultra (88 FPS) and High (92 FPS) exceeds 100 FPS, with Low hitting 185 FPS. At 1080p, even Ultra maintains 122 FPS, making this resolution the sweet spot for maximum quality without compromise.

The Medium preset at all three resolutions shows the most complete data with min and max FPS. At 1080p, the min of 175 and max of 237 indicates a 62-frame variance, which is notable but not problematic given the high average. At 1440p, the min of 126 and max of 170 shows a 44-frame spread. At 4K, the min of 79 and max of 107 shows a 28-frame spread, suggesting that frame pacing becomes more stable as the GPU becomes the bottleneck. This is a consistent pattern: higher resolutions reduce frame variance because the GPU is consistently saturated.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with a Navi 23 chip, featuring 1,792 shading units, 112 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The boost clock is 2,491 MHz, with a game clock of 2,044 MHz. These specs position the card as a 1080p-focused GPU, but the Inside data shows it can handle 1440p and even 4K with settings adjustments.

The GPU’s 63rd percentile ranking against all GPUs is below the CPU’s 93rd percentile, and this gap is visible in the 4K results. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS of 55 is the only sub-60 result in the entire dataset, confirming that the RX 6600’s 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory interface are insufficient for max settings at 4K. The pixel rate of 159.4 GPixel/s and texture rate of 279.0 GTexel/s are modest by modern standards, but they are enough to push Inside to 257 FPS at 1080p Low, which is far beyond what most displays can show.

The GPU’s FP32 performance of 8.928 TFLOPS is not a direct indicator of game performance, but it contextualizes the card’s mid-range positioning. The nearest rival data shows the RX 6600 is within 0.4% of the NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation and 0.1% of the RTX 4050 Mobile, which are both newer architectures. In Inside, the GPU’s 64 ROPs are the key spec for pixel fill rate, and the data shows that at 1080p, the card is rarely the limiting factor—the 122 FPS at Ultra suggests the CPU or engine is capping performance, not the GPU. At 4K, however, the GPU is clearly the constraint, as evidenced by the dramatic FPS drop at all settings.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo achieves in Inside?

A: The highest average FPS is 257, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is the only preset that exceeds 250 FPS, and it indicates the combo is capable of very high refresh rates at the lowest quality level.

Q: Can this combo run Inside at 60 FPS on 4K?

A: Yes, but only with settings at Medium or below. The 4K Medium preset averages 93 FPS (min 79, max 107), and 4K Low averages 116 FPS. Both High (58 FPS) and Ultra (55 FPS) fall below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the CPU’s performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 is 0.3% slower than the AMD EPYC 4464P, 0.3% faster than the Intel Core Ultra 7 265F, and 0.7% faster than the AMD EPYC 7343. These deltas are within 1% of each other, showing tight competition in synthetic benchmarks.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded at 1440p Medium?

A: The minimum FPS at 1440p with Medium settings is 126, with a maximum of 170 and an average of 148. This shows a 44-frame variance, which is acceptable for a 1440p experience.

Q: Is the GPU or CPU the limiting factor at 1080p?

A: The data suggests the GPU is not the primary limiter at 1080p. At Ultra settings, the average FPS of 122 is high, and dropping to Low yields 257 FPS, implying the CPU or game engine may cap performance at the higher preset. The CPU’s 93rd percentile ranking supports that it is not holding back the GPU.

Q: How stable is frame pacing across resolutions?

A: Frame pacing improves as resolution increases. At 1080p Medium, the min-max spread is 62 FPS (175 to 237). At 1440p Medium, the spread narrows to 44 FPS (126 to 170). At 4K Medium, the spread is 28 FPS (79 to 107), indicating that the GPU’s consistent saturation at higher resolutions reduces variance.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear hierarchy for settings presets based on resolution goals. For players targeting 60 FPS as a baseline, the 4K Medium preset is the highest quality option that consistently delivers, with an average of 93 FPS and a minimum of 79 FPS. The 4K High and Ultra presets, averaging 58 and 55 FPS respectively, are not recommended for 60 Hz displays, but they remain playable on adaptive sync monitors that tolerate lower frame rates.

For 1440p users, the Ultra preset at 88 FPS is the best quality-to-performance balance, as it stays above 60 FPS and offers the highest visual fidelity. The High preset at 92 FPS is nearly identical in performance, so the choice depends on whether the slight quality bump from Ultra is worth the 4 FPS difference. The Medium preset at 148 FPS is ideal for high refresh rate monitors (144 Hz or above), and Low at 185 FPS is unnecessary unless chasing maximum frame rates.

At 1080p, the Ultra preset at 122 FPS is the recommended choice for most users, as it provides a comfortable margin above 60 FPS and delivers the full visual experience. The High preset at 129 FPS is marginally faster but may not offer a visible quality difference. The Medium preset at 206 FPS is suitable for 240 Hz monitors, and Low at 257 FPS is the absolute peak but sacrifices too much visual quality for the marginal frame rate gain. Across all resolutions, the Medium preset offers the best balance of stable frame pacing (as shown by its complete min/max data) and visual quality, making it the safest recommendation for users who want consistent performance without tuning individual settings.