Inside

# Inside: Intel Core Ultra 7 265HX + AMD Radeon 890M — Benchmark Analysis

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265HX paired with the AMD Radeon 890M integrated graphics delivers a playable experience for Inside at most settings, though the data shows clear limitations at higher resolutions. This 20-core, 20-thread Arrow Lake-HX processor combined with the RDNA 3.5-based iGPU ranks in the 2714th position out of 2887 tested combos for this title, placing it in the lower quartile of system configurations. The measured frame rates reveal a setup that can handle the game's atmospheric puzzle-platforming at 1080p with strong performance, but struggles to maintain smooth gameplay at 4K Ultra settings.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution for playing Inside with this combo?*

A: The data shows 1920x1080 provides the best experience, with average FPS ranging from 66 at Ultra settings to 139 at Low settings. At 2560x1440, averages drop to between 47 and 100 FPS depending on the preset, while 3840x2160 averages only 30 to 63 FPS across settings.

Q: How does the Radeon 890M compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The Radeon 890M has an average benchmark score of 9210, placing it 0.1% behind the AMD Radeon Vega 8 (9221), 0.7% behind the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 (9273), and 0.9% behind the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 465 (9294). It sits in the 45th percentile of all GPUs.

Q: What CPU performance level does the Core Ultra 7 265HX offer?

A: The processor achieves a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 40642 and a single-core score of 5737. Its average benchmark score of 63173 places it in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs, with PassMark multithread and single-thread scores of 47985 and 4500 respectively.

Q: Which settings preset delivers the highest frame rate at 1080p?

A: The Low preset at 1920x1080 produces the highest average FPS at 139 frames per second. Medium follows closely at 111 FPS average, while High and Ultra deliver 69 and 66 FPS averages respectively.

Q: Is 4K gaming viable with this integrated graphics solution?

A: At 3840x2160, only the Low preset achieves a playable average of 63 FPS. Medium drops to 50 FPS average, while High and Ultra fall to 31 and 30 FPS respectively, indicating 4K is only feasible with the lowest settings.

Q: How does the Radeon 890M's compute performance compare to its gaming performance?

A: The GPU's PassMark G3D score of 8076 and PassMark compute score of 4157 show a significant gap, with gaming performance notably stronger than raw compute. Its Geekbench OpenCL score of 37254 and Vulkan score of 40808 indicate solid API support for this title.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon 890M is an integrated graphics processor built on the Strix Point chip with RDNA 3.5 architecture, fabricated on a 4 nm process at TSMC. It features 1024 shading units, 64 texture mapping units, and 32 raster operation units, with 16 ray tracing cores supporting DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4 APIs. The GPU operates with a base clock of 400 MHz and a boost clock of 2900 MHz, delivering a pixel rate of 92.80 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 185.6 GTexel/s. Its FP32 performance reaches 5.939 TFLOPS, with FP16 matching at 5.939 TFLOPS on a 1:1 ratio.

Memory configuration is entirely system-shared, meaning the GPU relies on the CPU's dual-channel DDR5 memory support with a bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s. This shared memory architecture directly impacts Inside performance, as the game's data throughput depends on the same memory pool used by the processor. The 890M's 15 W TDP reflects its integrated nature, with no dedicated power connectors and a PCIe 4.0 x8 bus interface connecting it to the system.

For Inside, a puzzle platformer with a muted color palette and atmospheric lighting, the GPU's strengths lie in its ability to handle the game's 2.5D rendering with relatively modest geometry demands. The measured FPS data shows the 890M performing best at 1080p, where the 66 FPS average at Ultra settings demonstrates sufficient rasterization throughput for this title's visual style. The drop to 30 FPS at 4K Ultra, however, indicates that the shared memory bandwidth becomes a bottleneck at higher pixel counts, as the system-shared memory cannot keep pace with the increased fill rate requirements.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265HX and AMD Radeon 890M achieves a rank of 2714 out of 2887 tested combinations for Inside, placing it in the bottom 6% of all configurations evaluated. This low ranking reflects the integrated GPU's limitations rather than the CPU's capabilities, as the processor itself performs in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 63173.

The CPU's nearest rivals illustrate its processing headroom: the Intel Core i7-13790F scores 63080 on average (0.1% behind), the AMD Ryzen AI 7 450G scores 63331 (0.2% ahead), the AMD Ryzen AI Embedded P185 scores 62839 (0.5% behind), and the Intel Core Ultra 7 255HX scores 62738 (0.7% behind). These margins are minimal, showing the 265HX sits in a tightly competitive band for raw processing power.

The GPU's ranking tells a different story. With an average benchmark score of 9210, the Radeon 890M sits in the 45th percentile of all GPUs, placing it below the midpoint of the performance distribution. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon Vega 8 (9221, 0.1% ahead), NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 (9273, 0.7% ahead), NVIDIA GeForce GTX 465 (9294, 0.9% ahead), and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M (9302, 1% ahead). This clustering of scores indicates the 890M delivers performance comparable to older discrete GPUs, which explains its mid-pack GPU percentile.

The combination's low rank for Inside specifically suggests that the game's rendering demands, while modest by modern standards, still exceed what this iGPU can deliver at higher resolutions. The CPU's strong 20-core, 20-thread configuration with 30 MB of shared L3 cache and boost clocks up to 5.30 GHz cannot compensate for the GPU's throughput limitations in this title, making the combo's ranking a direct reflection of graphics-bound performance.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data across three resolutions and four quality presets provides clear guidance for optimizing Inside on this hardware. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset delivers an average of 111 FPS with a minimum of 94 FPS and maximum of 127 FPS, offering the best balance between visual quality and smoothness. The High preset at 69 FPS average remains playable, while Ultra at 66 FPS average pushes the GPU to its limits without dropping below 60 FPS on average.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset achieves a 100 FPS average, while Medium drops to 80 FPS with a minimum of 68 FPS and maximum of 92 FPS. High and Ultra settle at 50 and 47 FPS averages respectively, with the latter approaching the threshold where frame pacing becomes noticeable. For this resolution, Low or Medium provides the most consistent experience, with Medium offering better visual fidelity at a still-smooth 80 FPS.

The 3840x2160 resolution presents the greatest challenge. Low settings achieve a 63 FPS average, barely maintaining playability, while Medium drops to 50 FPS with a minimum of 43 FPS. High and Ultra average 31 and 30 FPS respectively, which falls below the smoothness threshold for this genre. The data suggests that 4K gaming with this combo is only viable at Low settings, and even then with reduced visual quality that may detract from the game's atmospheric presentation.

For the best overall experience, the Medium preset at 1920x1080 offers the highest visual quality while maintaining 111 FPS average and a 94 FPS minimum, ensuring smooth gameplay throughout. Players prioritizing frame rate consistency over visual fidelity can opt for Low at 1440p for 100 FPS average, though the visual downgrade may not be worth the resolution increase.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160, the data shows a steep performance cliff as settings increase. The Low preset averages 63 FPS, Medium averages 50 FPS with a minimum of 43 and maximum of 58, High averages 31 FPS, and Ultra averages 30 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium represents a 13 FPS drop (approximately 21% lower), while the jump from Medium to High results in a 19 FPS decrease (38% lower). The High and Ultra presets perform nearly identically, with just 1 FPS separating their averages, suggesting both are limited by the same GPU bottleneck.

At 2560x1440, the performance scaling is more gradual. Low settings produce a 100 FPS average, Medium drops to 80 FPS with a 68 FPS minimum and 92 FPS maximum, High averages 50 FPS, and Ultra averages 47 FPS. The step from Low to Medium reduces performance by 20 FPS (20% lower), while Medium to High represents a 30 FPS drop (37.5% lower). The minimal 3 FPS difference between High and Ultra indicates diminishing returns at this resolution, with both presets straining the shared memory bandwidth.

At 1920x1080, the combo demonstrates its strongest performance. Low settings achieve a 139 FPS average, Medium averages 111 FPS with a 94 FPS minimum and 127 FPS maximum, High averages 69 FPS, and Ultra averages 66 FPS. The scaling from Low to Medium costs 28 FPS (20% lower), while Medium to High costs 42 FPS (37.8% lower). The 3 FPS difference between High and Ultra mirrors the pattern seen at 1440p, confirming that these two presets are similarly demanding on this GPU.

Across all resolutions, the data reveals that the Medium preset consistently provides the most significant visual quality per frame cost, while High and Ultra offer marginal improvements at substantial performance penalties. The minimum FPS values recorded only for Medium settings (94 at 1080p, 68 at 1440p, 43 at 4K) provide the clearest indication of frame time consistency, with 1080p Medium maintaining a 94 FPS floor that ensures smooth gameplay throughout.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265HX serves as the processing foundation for this combo, bringing 20 cores and 20 threads built on the Arrow Lake architecture with a 3 nm process at TSMC. It operates with a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, backed by a 30 MB shared L3 cache and 3 MB L2 cache per core. The processor's 55 W TDP and Intel BGA 2114 socket target the mobile segment, with DDR5 memory support over a dual-channel bus delivering 102.4 GB/s bandwidth.

For Inside, a game that relies on physics-based puzzles and environmental interactions, the CPU's computational strength is evident in its benchmark results. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 40642 and single-core score of 5737 demonstrate substantial processing headroom, while PassMark scores of 47985 for multithread, 4500 for single-thread, and 2978 for physics operations indicate strong performance across diverse workloads. The data compression score of 511817 and encryption score of 39472 further confirm the CPU's versatility.

The 20-core configuration with a 5.30 GHz boost clock ensures that Inside's game logic, collision detection, and puzzle mechanics run without processor bottlenecks. The CPU's 93rd percentile ranking among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 63173, places it well above the GPU's 45th percentile, confirming that the Radeon 890M is the limiting factor in this combo's measured FPS results.

The nearest CPU rivals show the 265HX performs within 0.7% of its closest competitors, but this statistical clustering has little practical impact on Inside's frame rates. The game's modest CPU requirements mean that even the 0.1% lead over the Intel Core i7-13790F or the 0.7% lead over the Intel Core Ultra 7 255HX translates to no measurable difference in gameplay performance. Instead, the CPU's role is to maintain consistent frame delivery by keeping the GPU fed with data through the dual-channel DDR5 memory system, a task well within its capabilities given the 102.4 GB/s bandwidth and 30 MB L3 cache.