Inside

Inside is a deliberately minimal game, but that minimalism creates a fascinating benchmark scenario for the Intel Core Ultra 7 265 and AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT pairing. The data reveals a combination that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher resolutions, yet shows surprising CPU headroom at 1080p, making it a study in how a modest graphics card can hold back a high-end processor.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data shows a dramatic and consistent scaling pattern as resolution increases, which clearly identifies the AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT as the primary bottleneck for this game. At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves an average of 292 FPS, but this plummets to 132 FPS at 2160p with the same settings — a reduction of approximately 55%. This steep drop-off is the classic signature of a GPU-limited scenario, where the graphics card's rendering throughput, rather than the CPU's processing speed, dictates the final frame rate.

The scaling becomes even more telling when examining the High preset. At 1920x1080, the average FPS is 146, which drops to 105 FPS at 2560x1440 (a 28% decrease) and then to 66 FPS at 3840x2160 (a 55% decrease from 1080p). This non-linear decline indicates that the RX 6650 XT's pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth are being saturated as the pixel count increases, leaving the Core Ultra 7 265 with plenty of unused capacity.

The Medium preset provides the most complete data set, including minimum and maximum FPS figures, which further illuminates the scaling behavior. At 1080p Medium, the average is 234 FPS with a minimum of 199 FPS. Moving to 1440p Medium yields an average of 168 FPS (a 28% drop), and at 2160p Medium the average falls to 106 FPS (a 55% drop from 1080p). The consistency of these percentage drops across different presets strongly suggests that the limiting factor is purely resolution-dependent, which points directly to the GPU's rasterization engine.

Interestingly, the delta between Low and Ultra settings at each resolution is remarkably consistent. At 1080p, Low produces 292 FPS while Ultra produces 139 FPS, a difference of 153 FPS. At 1440p, the difference is 110 FPS (210 vs 100), and at 4K it is 69 FPS (132 vs 63). This pattern implies that the CPU is not becoming a limiting factor even at the highest settings, as the FPS gap between presets remains proportionally similar across all resolutions. The data suggests that if the GPU were upgraded, the Core Ultra 7 265 could push significantly higher frame rates, particularly at 1080p where it appears to have substantial headroom.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with a Navi 23 chip, and its specifications provide context for the measured performance. The GPU operates with a base clock of 2055 MHz and a boost clock of 2635 MHz, with a game clock rated at 2410 MHz. These relatively high clock speeds for a mid-range card help explain why the card can deliver playable frame rates at 4K in a game as visually simple as Inside, despite its modest hardware profile.

The card features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 280.3 GB/s. For a puzzle platformer like Inside, which typically does not feature massive texture packs or complex geometry, this memory configuration appears sufficient. The measured FPS shows that even at 4K Ultra, the game maintains an average of 63 FPS, suggesting that the 8 GB frame buffer is not being exhausted at any of the tested settings, as the frame rates scale predictably with resolution changes rather than hitting a VRAM-related cliff.

The GPU's compute capabilities are modest, with 2048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs. The pixel rate of 168.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 337.3 GTexel/s are the likely limiting factors at higher resolutions. The FP32 performance of 10.79 TFLOPS is adequate for this game's simple shader work, but the raw pixel throughput becomes the bottleneck when rendering 3840x2160 frames. This is evidenced by the 4K High average of 66 FPS, which is nearly identical to the 4K Ultra average of 63 FPS, indicating that the GPU is hitting its rendering ceiling regardless of minor settings changes.

In the context of the broader GPU market, this card sits at the 65th percentile of all GPUs based on its average benchmark score of 19765. Its nearest rivals in the database include professional workstation cards like the NVIDIA Tesla K40m and AMD FirePro D300, which are separated by less than 1% in average score. This positioning confirms that the RX 6650 XT, while not a high-end part, is a capable mid-range performer that can handle esports titles and older games at high frame rates, as demonstrated by the Inside results.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 is a substantially powerful processor that appears to have minimal impact on the frame rates in Inside, based on the measured data. With 20 cores and 20 threads, this Arrow Lake-S architecture chip provides ample multi-threaded capacity, but the game's benchmark results suggest that it does not need to leverage this capability heavily. The base clock of 2.40 GHz and boost clock of 5.30 GHz indicate strong single-thread performance, which is typically what matters most for game physics and logic.

The CPU's benchmark results are impressive, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 42216 and a single-core score of 5960. Its Passmark multithread score of 49682 and single-thread score of 4689 place it at the 93rd percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 64640. The nearest rivals in the database include the AMD EPYC 4464P at 64823 (0.3% faster) and the Intel Core Ultra 7 265F at 64438 (0.3% slower), showing that this is a top-tier consumer processor.

However, the game data reveals that this CPU power is largely untapped in Inside. The FPS scaling pattern, where performance drops by roughly 55% from 1080p to 4K, is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario rather than a CPU-bound one. The fact that 1080p Low reaches 292 FPS while 1080p Ultra reaches 139 FPS further confirms that the CPU is not a limiting factor, as the frame rate is being controlled by the GPU's settings rather than the processor's ability to feed draw calls.

The L3 cache of 30 MB shared and the memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s via dual-channel DDR5 are more than sufficient for this game's demands. The CPU's 3 nm process node and 17,800 million transistors suggest a modern, efficient design that can maintain high clock speeds without thermal throttling, but these advantages are not fully utilized in this particular title. The data implies that the Core Ultra 7 265 is essentially idle-waiting for the GPU in most scenarios, and users with this processor could pair it with a much stronger graphics card for significantly higher frame rates in Inside.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The complete measured FPS data provides a clear picture of how this system performs across all resolution and settings combinations. At 1920x1080, the system delivers an average of 292 FPS on Low, 234 FPS on Medium (with a minimum of 199 and maximum of 269), 146 FPS on High, and 139 FPS on Ultra. These numbers indicate that at 1080p, the system is firmly in high-refresh-rate territory, with even the most demanding Ultra preset maintaining an average above 139 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance remains strong but shows the expected decline. Low settings produce an average of 210 FPS, Medium produces 168 FPS (minimum 143, maximum 193), High produces 105 FPS, and Ultra produces 100 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra at 1440p is only 5 FPS, suggesting that these two presets are hitting similar GPU limits, likely due to the relatively simple visual effects in Inside that do not differentiate significantly between these quality levels.

At 3840x2160, the system begins to struggle to maintain high refresh rates but remains playable. Low settings yield an average of 132 FPS, Medium yields 106 FPS (minimum 90, maximum 121), High yields 66 FPS, and Ultra yields 63 FPS. The 4K results show the most significant performance gap between Low and Medium (26 FPS difference) and then a smaller gap between High and Ultra (3 FPS difference), indicating that the GPU's rendering resources are being increasingly taxed as resolution increases.

The Medium preset is the only one that provides minimum and maximum FPS data across all three resolutions, allowing for frame time consistency analysis. At 1080p Medium, the range from minimum to maximum is 70 FPS (199 to 269), at 1440p Medium it is 50 FPS (143 to 193), and at 4K Medium it is 31 FPS (90 to 121). This narrowing range at higher resolutions suggests that the GPU is becoming more consistently saturated, reducing the variability in frame delivery as it approaches its maximum workload capacity.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT ranks at position 2378 out of 3716 tested combinations in Inside, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database. This ranking is somewhat surprising given the CPU's 93rd percentile performance, but it is entirely explained by the GPU's 65th percentile standing. The combination's rank reflects the overall system performance, which is dragged down by the relatively modest graphics card.

The ranking suggests that there are 1338 combinations that perform worse than this setup, and 2377 combinations that perform better. Given that this is a puzzle platformer with relatively simple graphics, the fact that this system ranks in the bottom 36% of all tested combos indicates that many users are pairing stronger GPUs with similar or lesser CPUs. The data implies that the RX 6650 XT is the clear weak link in this configuration, and that upgrading the GPU would significantly improve the system's rank in this game.

The CPU's nearest rivals in the database, such as the AMD EPYC 4464P and the Intel Core Ultra 7 265F, have average benchmark scores within 0.7% of each other, but the actual in-game performance would be nearly identical given that the GPU is the limiting factor. This suggests that the CPU choice has virtually no impact on the final ranking in Inside, as the frame rates are constrained by the RX 6650 XT across all tested settings. The rank of 2378 is therefore a reflection of the GPU's capabilities rather than any deficiency in the processor.

FAQ — 4-6 Q&A pairs answerable from FACT PACK data

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

A: The highest measured average FPS is 292, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This demonstrates that the system is capable of very high frame rates when the GPU is not heavily taxed.

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

A: Yes, the data shows that at 3840x2160 resolution, the system delivers an average of 132 FPS on Low, 106 FPS on Medium, 66 FPS on High, and 63 FPS on Ultra. All presets maintain an average above 60 FPS, making 4K gaming viable, though Ultra quality drops to just above the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in benchmark scores?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 has an average benchmark score of 64640, which is 0.3% lower than the AMD EPYC 4464P (64823) and 0.3% higher than the Intel Core Ultra 7 265F (64438). It is also 0.7% lower than the AMD EPYC 9124 (65104) and 0.7% higher than the AMD EPYC 7343 (64202).

Q: What is the FPS difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, Low settings produce an average of 292 FPS while Ultra settings produce an average of 139 FPS, a difference of 153 FPS. This shows that the GPU workload increases significantly with higher quality settings.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The data indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor. The FPS drops consistently by approximately 55% when moving from 1080p to 4K across all settings, which is characteristic of GPU-bound performance. The CPU has substantial headroom, as evidenced by the high frame rates at 1080p Low.

Q: What is the system's rank among all tested combos in Inside?

A: The combination of Intel Core Ultra 7 265 and AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT ranks 2378 out of 3716 tested combinations, placing it in the 64th percentile of performance (meaning it performs better than 64% of tested combos).

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Based on the measured FPS data, the Medium preset appears to offer the best balance of visual quality and performance for this system in Inside. At 1080p Medium, the system achieves an average of 234 FPS with a minimum of 199 FPS, which far exceeds the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay and approaches the 144 Hz refresh rate commonly found in gaming monitors. The Medium preset also provides the most complete performance data, with minimum and maximum values indicating good frame time consistency.

At 1440p Medium, the average FPS of 168 with a minimum of 143 FPS still provides excellent smoothness and would be the recommended choice for users with 1440p displays. The minimum FPS of 143 suggests that even during the most demanding scenes, the system maintains frame rates well above the 60 FPS standard, ensuring no noticeable stuttering. The jump from Medium to High at 1440p costs 63 FPS on average (168 to 105), which is a substantial performance penalty for what is likely a minor visual improvement in a game with Inside's minimalist aesthetic.

For 4K users, the Low preset at an average of 132 FPS is the most sensible choice, as it provides the highest frame rates while still maintaining acceptable visual quality for this game's simple art style. The Medium preset at 4K drops to 106 FPS average, which is still smooth, but the Low preset's higher frame rate provides more headroom for any potential frame time spikes. The Ultra preset at 4K, with an average of 63 FPS, sits just above the 60 FPS threshold and would be suitable for users who prioritize maximum visual fidelity over frame rate stability.

The data suggests that users should avoid the High preset at both 1440p and 4K, as it offers minimal performance benefits over Ultra (only 5 FPS difference at 1440p and 3 FPS at 4K) while providing no meaningful advantage over Medium in terms of frame rates. The Ultra preset at 1080p, with an average of 139 FPS, is the best option for users with high-refresh-rate 1080p monitors who want maximum visual quality, as it still maintains frame rates above 139 FPS. Ultimately, the Medium preset provides the best overall experience across all resolutions, offering high frame rates with good visual fidelity and the most consistent frame delivery based on the available data.