Inside

Inside is a 2D puzzle-platformer from 2016, and the data reflects that its visual demands are modest, but the combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 still produces a wide spread of results depending on your settings. The measured frames per second (FPS) show that this pairing is capable of smooth gameplay, but only if you respect the GPU's 4 GB VRAM and its position in the performance hierarchy. The GTX 1650, which sits at the 40th percentile of all GPUs, is the clear limiting factor in this build, while the 20-core CPU is effectively idle in comparison.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Inside at 4K resolution?

A: Yes, but only at Low settings, where it achieves an average of 61 FPS. At Medium settings, the average drops to 49 FPS, and at High and Ultra settings, the averages fall to 30 FPS and 29 FPS, respectively, which are below the ideal smoothness threshold.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maintain a high frame rate?

A: At 1920x1080, the system achieves 134 FPS on Low and 107 FPS on Medium, making 1080p the only resolution where the average FPS exceeds 100 on any preset. At 2560x1440, the best average is 97 FPS on Low.

Q: How much of a performance difference is there between Medium and Ultra settings?

A: At every resolution, the drop from Medium to Ultra is substantial. At 1080p, the average drops from 107 FPS to 64 FPS. At 1440p, it drops from 77 FPS to 46 FPS. At 4K, it drops from 49 FPS to 29 FPS.

Q: Is the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K bottlenecked by the GTX 1650 in this game?

A: Yes, the data strongly suggests a GPU bottleneck. The CPU is a top-tier part, ranking in the 94th percentile of all CPUs with a multi-core score of 35850 in Cinebench R23, while the GPU ranks in the 40th percentile. The FPS scaling with resolution changes points to the GPU as the limiting component.

Q: Does the GTX 1650 have enough VRAM for Inside?

A: The GTX 1650 has 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus with 128.1 GB/s of bandwidth. Given that the game runs at 30 FPS on 4K High, the VRAM capacity is sufficient for the game's textures, but the GPU's compute power (2.984 TFLOPS) is what limits high-resolution performance.

Q: What is the lowest frame rate recorded in the data?

A: The lowest measured average FPS is 29, which occurs at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings. The lowest minimum FPS recorded is 41, which appears in the 4K Medium preset.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 is a Turing-architecture part built on a 12 nm process, featuring 896 shading units and 32 ROPs. Its base clock is 1485 MHz with a boost clock of 1665 MHz, and it is paired with 4 GB of GDDR5 memory running at 2001 MHz (8 Gbps effective) on a 128-bit bus. This configuration yields a memory bandwidth of 128.1 GB/s and a pixel rate of 53.28 GPixel/s. In the context of Inside, this GPU is the decisive factor in the measured results.

The benchmark data shows that the GTX 1650's performance is highly sensitive to both resolution and settings. At 1080p Low, the system posts 134 FPS, but this drops to 64 FPS at 1080p Ultra—a 52% reduction. The pattern repeats at higher resolutions, confirming that the GPU's fillrate and shading power are being stressed. The card's FP32 performance of 2.984 TFLOPS is modest by modern standards, which explains why the 4K Ultra preset collapses to 29 FPS. The GPU's 75 W TDP and lack of external power connectors indicate it is a low-power part, but Inside's art style does not require heavy compute, so it manages playable frame rates at lower settings. The card's 40th percentile ranking among all GPUs places it near the AMD Radeon HD 8850M (0.3% faster) and Intel Arc A310 (1% faster), which contextualizes its mid-range-low performance tier.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear hierarchy of presets. For the best balance of visual fidelity and frame rate, the Medium preset is the optimal choice across all resolutions. At 1920x1080, Medium delivers an average of 107 FPS with a minimum of 91 FPS, ensuring no noticeable stutter. At 2560x1440, Medium averages 77 FPS with a minimum of 66 FPS, which is still smooth for a puzzle platformer. Even at 3840x2160, Medium is the highest preset that maintains an average above 30 FPS, posting 49 FPS with a minimum of 41 FPS.

High settings are a compromise, offering 67 FPS at 1080p and 48 FPS at 1440p, but dropping to 30 FPS at 4K. Ultra settings are only viable at 1080p, where 64 FPS is acceptable, but the 46 FPS at 1440p and 29 FPS at 4K are too low for a consistent experience. Low settings are unnecessary at 1080p, as Medium already provides over 100 FPS, but they become the only playable option at 4K, hitting 61 FPS. For a 60 FPS target, the user should stick to Medium at 1080p or 1440p, or Low at 4K.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The data includes twelve measured configurations, with average FPS for all, and minimum/maximum FPS for the Medium preset only. At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 134 FPS, Medium averages 107 FPS (min 91, max 124), High averages 67 FPS, and Ultra averages 64 FPS. This shows a steep cliff between Medium and High, where the average drops by 40 FPS, while the transition from High to Ultra costs only 3 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages are 97 FPS on Low, 77 FPS on Medium (min 66, max 89), 48 FPS on High, and 46 FPS on Ultra. The pattern repeats: a 29 FPS drop from Low to Medium, a 29 FPS drop from Medium to High, and a negligible 2 FPS drop from High to Ultra. At 3840x2160, the numbers are 61 FPS on Low, 49 FPS on Medium (min 41, max 56), 30 FPS on High, and 29 FPS on Ultra. The resolution scaling is consistent—Low settings always provide roughly double the FPS of Ultra settings, regardless of resolution.

Resolution Scaling

The performance degradation from 1080p to 4K is substantial and follows a predictable pattern based on the GPU's workload. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 134 at 1080p to 97 at 1440p (a 28% reduction) and then to 61 at 4K (a 37% reduction from 1440p). The total drop from 1080p to 4K on Low is 73 FPS, or 54%. On Medium settings, the averages go from 107 to 77 to 49, representing a 54% total drop. On High settings, the averages go from 67 to 48 to 30, a 55% drop. Ultra settings see the steepest percentage decline, from 64 to 46 to 29, a 55% drop.

The fact that the percentage drop is nearly identical across all settings (54-55%) indicates that the GPU is the sole limiting factor, and the CPU is not introducing any frame rate ceiling. If the CPU were limiting performance, the 1080p results would be closer to the 4K results, as the CPU load does not scale with resolution. Since the FPS halves from 1080p to 4K, the GPU is clearly running out of pixel-pushing capability. The 4K High result of 30 FPS is exactly half of the 1080p High result of 67 FPS, which is a classic sign of a fillrate-bound scenario where the GPU's 53.28 GPixel/s pixel rate is being saturated.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K is a 20-core, 20-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, built on a 3 nm process by TSMC. It has a base clock of 3.90 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz, with 30 MB of shared L3 cache. Its benchmark scores are exceptional, including a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 35850 and a single-core score of 2020, placing it in the 94th percentile of all CPUs. In comparison to its nearest rivals, it is 1% faster than the Intel Core i7-14700KF and 1.3% faster than the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F.

However, in Inside, this CPU's power is entirely irrelevant. The game is a 2D platformer with simple physics, and the measured FPS data shows no sign of CPU bottlenecking. The 1080p Low preset achieves 134 FPS, which is likely near the game's engine limit, but the fact that higher resolutions scale down the FPS proportionally confirms the GPU is the constraint. The CPU's 20 cores and 20 threads are massively overkill for this title, and the data shows no scenario where the CPU's performance is the deciding factor. The system's FPS is dictated by the GTX 1650's ability to render frames, and the 265K simply provides a stable platform without ever becoming a limiting factor. The CPU's memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s with DDR5 support and PCIe Gen 5 lanes are also unused capabilities in this context, as the GPU operates on PCIe 3.0 x16.