Inside

# How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D achieves rank 2 out of 2,887 tested combos in Inside. This places the pairing in the 99.9th percentile of all configurations evaluated for this game, meaning it outperforms nearly every other CPU-GPU combination in the database. Only one other combo posts higher average frame rates across the tested settings and resolutions. The delta between this combo and the top spot is not captured in the data, but the margin is slim enough that the ranking remains competitive rather than dominant.

What stands out is how consistent this combo is. At 4K Ultra, it still delivers 153 FPS average, which is above the refresh rate of most high-end monitors. The only scenario where the frame rate dips below 160 FPS is at 4K Ultra, and even then it stays comfortably playable. At lower resolutions and settings, the combo scales to 451 FPS at 1080p Low, which is far beyond what any display can currently show. This suggests the combo is not just capable for Inside — it is overkill for the game's modest graphical demands, yet the data shows it still ranks near the top because raw hardware strength carries through regardless of workload.

The ranking also benefits from the CPU's strong synthetic benchmarks. The Core Ultra 7 265K posts a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 35,850 and a single-core score of 2,020, placing it in the 94th percentile of all CPUs. The RTX 5090 D, meanwhile, sits in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 77,712. Neither component is the absolute fastest in its category, but the combination is greater than the sum of its parts for this title. The data indicates that Inside responds well to both high single-thread performance and massive GPU throughput, and this combo delivers both in spades.

# GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with the GB202 chip, manufactured on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It packs 21,760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, and 176 raster output pipelines. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2017 MHz and boosts to 2407 MHz, with memory running at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). The 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus provides 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth, which is more than sufficient for Inside's art style and effects.

In this game, the GPU's role is less about raw memory capacity and more about raw throughput. Inside is a 2D side-scrolling puzzle platformer with moderate particle effects and lighting, so the RTX 5090 D's 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is rarely stressed. Even at 4K Ultra, the GPU only needs to push 153 FPS average, which is a fraction of what it can deliver in more demanding titles. The benchmark results reflect this: the GPU scores 44,065 in Passmark G3D and 28,396 in Passmark GPU Compute, but those numbers are far higher than what Inside actually requires.

The 32 GB VRAM is another sign of headroom. Inside's textures and geometry are simple enough that even 8 GB would suffice, but the RTX 5090 D's capacity means there is zero risk of memory-related stutters or texture pop-in. The 1.79 TB/s bandwidth ensures that any data the game does need is fetched instantly. The data shows that the GPU is never the bottleneck in this combo — at every resolution and settings level, the frame rates are limited by other factors, likely the game engine's frame pacing or the CPU's ability to feed the GPU.

Interestingly, the GPU's nearest rivals in the database are not other high-end desktop cards. The AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT scores 76,904 in average benchmarks (1.1% higher than the RTX 5090 D), and the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT scores 78,940 (1.6% lower). These are mobile GPUs, which suggests the benchmark averages are influenced by a wide range of tests, not just gaming. For Inside specifically, the RTX 5090 D's performance is clearly top-tier, as evidenced by the combo's rank 2 overall.

# Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a system that is GPU-bound at higher resolutions but CPU-bound at lower ones. At 1080p High, the combo delivers 347 FPS. At 1440p High, it drops to 255 FPS — a 26.5% reduction. At 4K High, it falls further to 160 FPS, a 37.3% drop from 1440p. This scaling pattern is typical for a game where the GPU becomes more stressed as pixel count increases, but the absolute numbers remain so high that the CPU is still the limiting factor at 1080p.

The Low settings tell a similar story. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 451 FPS. At 1440p Low, it drops to 404 FPS (a 10.4% reduction), and at 4K Low, it falls to 321 FPS (a 20.5% reduction). The smaller percentage drops at Low settings indicate that the GPU is less burdened, so the CPU's performance ceiling becomes more apparent. The fact that 1080p Low only reaches 451 FPS — not 600 or 700 FPS — suggests the Core Ultra 7 265K's single-thread performance caps the frame rate in lightweight scenes.

At Medium settings, the scaling is more gradual. 1080p Medium produces 417 FPS, 1440p Medium produces 373 FPS (10.6% lower), and 4K Medium produces 256 FPS (31.4% lower). The 4K Medium drop is steeper than the 1440p drop, indicating the GPU is starting to become the limiting factor at higher resolutions. The Ultra settings mirror this: 338 FPS at 1080p, 243 FPS at 1440p (28.1% lower), and 153 FPS at 4K (37.0% lower). The consistent 28-37% drops from 1440p to 4K across High and Ultra settings confirm that the GPU's workload scales predictably with pixel count.

What this means for a builder is that this combo is overkill for 1080p and 1440p gaming in Inside. The frame rates at those resolutions are so high that the display's refresh rate will be the bottleneck, not the hardware. At 4K, the combo still delivers playable frame rates at every setting, with even Ultra staying above 150 FPS. The data indicates that if you want to push beyond 4K or use high refresh rates at 4K, this combo has headroom, but for standard 4K displays, it is more than sufficient.

# Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p, the combo delivers its highest frame rates. Low settings produce an average of 451 FPS, Medium produces 417 FPS (with a minimum of 354 FPS and maximum of 479 FPS), High produces 347 FPS, and Ultra produces 338 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is only 113 FPS, which is surprisingly small given the settings difference. This suggests that Inside's Ultra preset adds visual effects that do not heavily tax the GPU, or that the CPU is the primary limiter even at Ultra.

At 1440p, the frame rates remain high but start to show more differentiation between settings. Low produces 404 FPS, Medium produces 373 FPS (minimum 317 FPS, maximum 429 FPS), High produces 255 FPS, and Ultra produces 243 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra widens to 161 FPS, indicating that the GPU is starting to feel the load from higher settings. The Medium settings' minimum of 317 FPS is still far above any display's refresh rate, so there is no practical concern about frame drops.

At 4K, the frame rates are the lowest but still impressive. Low produces 321 FPS, Medium produces 256 FPS (minimum 218 FPS, maximum 295 FPS), High produces 160 FPS, and Ultra produces 153 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is now 168 FPS, reinforcing that the GPU is more stressed at 4K. The Medium minimum of 218 FPS is notable — it shows that even in the most demanding moments, the combo never dips below 200 FPS at 4K Medium. At High and Ultra, the frame rates stay above 150 FPS, which is still well above the 60 FPS target most games aim for.

The Medium settings data is the only set with minimum and maximum FPS values, so it provides the clearest picture of frame pacing. At 1080p Medium, the range is 354-479 FPS, a 125 FPS spread. At 1440p Medium, the range is 317-429 FPS, a 112 FPS spread. At 4K Medium, the range is 218-295 FPS, a 77 FPS spread. The narrowing range at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU becomes more consistently loaded, reducing the variance between frame times. This is a positive sign for smoothness — the higher the resolution, the more stable the frame delivery.

# CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K is a 20-core, 20-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, manufactured on a 3 nm process at 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 and 3 MB of L2 cache per core. The CPU supports DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration with 102.4 GB/s of bandwidth, and it connects to the GPU via PCIe Gen 5 with 20 lanes.

In Inside, the CPU's role is primarily about single-thread performance, since the game is a 2D platformer with limited physics and AI. The Core Ultra 7 265K posts a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2,020 and a Geekbench single-core score of 2,713, which places it in the 94th percentile of all CPUs. This strong single-thread performance is what allows the combo to reach 451 FPS at 1080p Low — the game's logic and rendering calls are processed quickly enough to feed the GPU at high frame rates.

The multi-core performance is less relevant for Inside, but the CPU's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 35,850 shows it is not a weak link. The 20 cores and 20 threads ensure that any background tasks or streaming workloads do not interfere with game performance. The Passmark data supports this: the CPU scores 58,594 in multithread, 143,242 in integer math, and 189,629 in floating point math. These numbers are all far above what Inside requires, so the CPU never becomes a bottleneck in this title.

The nearest rivals to the Core Ultra 7 265K in the database are interesting. The Intel Xeon 6511P scores 71,051 on average (0.2% lower), the Intel Xeon Platinum 8270 scores 71,370 (0.7% lower), the Intel Core i7-14700KF scores 70,163 (1.0% higher), and the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F scores 69,996 (1.3% higher). These deltas are minuscule, suggesting that for Inside, any of these CPUs would perform nearly identically. The Core Ultra 7 265K's advantage lies in its boost clock of 5.50 GHz, which is higher than most rivals, giving it a slight edge in single-threaded workloads.

The CPU's 125 W TDP and Intel Socket 1851 compatibility are worth noting for builders. The 3 nm process node from TSMC keeps power efficiency reasonable, and the 30 MB L3 cache helps reduce memory latency. For a game like Inside, the CPU's cache hierarchy is not heavily stressed, but the high boost clock ensures that frame times remain low. The data shows that the CPU is not the limiting factor at any resolution or settings level — the GPU handles the rendering load, and the CPU keeps up without breaking a sweat.

# FAQ

*Q: Is this combo overkill for Inside?*

A: At 1080p, the combo delivers 338-451 FPS depending on settings, and at 4K it delivers 153-321 FPS. These numbers far exceed the 60 FPS target most games use, and even the lowest measured frame rate (153 FPS at 4K Ultra) is more than triple that. The data indicates that this combo is significantly more powerful than Inside requires, making it overkill for this title.

Q: What is the best settings/resolution combination for smooth gameplay?

A: At 4K, even Ultra settings produce 153 FPS average, so there is no need to lower settings for smoothness. At 1440p, all settings produce at least 243 FPS, and at 1080p, all settings produce at least 338 FPS. The Medium settings show minimum frame rates of 218 FPS at 4K, 317 FPS at 1440p, and 354 FPS at 1080p, so any combination will be smooth.

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

A: The RTX 5090 D's average benchmark score is 77,712. The AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT scores 76,904 (1.1% higher), the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT scores 78,940 (1.6% lower), and the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB scores 79,396 (2.1% lower). These small deltas indicate that the RTX 5090 D is competitive but not the absolute fastest in the database.

Q: Is the CPU a bottleneck at any resolution?

A: At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 451 FPS, which suggests the CPU's single-thread performance caps the frame rate, as the GPU is not fully utilized at that resolution. At 4K Ultra, the frame rate drops to 153 FPS, indicating the GPU becomes the limiting factor. The CPU's Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2,020 places it in the 94th percentile, so it is strong enough for most games.

Q: How much VRAM does the GPU have and is it enough?

A: The RTX 5090 D has 32 GB of GDDR7 memory with a 512-bit bus and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth. Inside is a 2D platformer with modest texture requirements, so 32 GB is far more than needed. The high bandwidth ensures that any data the game requires is fetched quickly, eliminating any possibility of VRAM-related performance issues.

Q: What is the launch MSRP of the CPU and GPU?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K has a launch MSRP of $394, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D has a launch MSRP of 2,299 USD. These figures are provided for reference; the benchmark data does not account for price-to-performance ratios.