Inside

The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT pairing delivers a remarkably fluid experience in Inside, a game that is far more demanding on frame rates than its minimalist art style suggests. The data positions this combo in the 76.8th percentile of tested configurations, with a combo rank of 670 out of 2887. This system is clearly built for high-refresh-rate displays, with average frame rates exceeding 140 FPS at all tested settings, even at 4K. The benchmark results paint a picture of a balanced system where the high-end CPU and capable GPU take turns being the limiting factor depending on the resolution and graphical preset.

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

The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus is a 24-core, 24-thread processor from the Arrow Lake Refresh generation, built on a 3 nm process by TSMC. It operates at a base clock of 3.70 GHz and boosts up to 5.50 GHz, with a 125 W TDP. While Inside is a puzzle platformer that is not traditionally considered a multi-threaded benchmark, the CPU's raw single-thread performance is crucial for maintaining high frame rates, especially at lower resolutions where the GPU is not the bottleneck. The processor's PassMark single-thread score of 5068 and single-core Cinebench R23 score of 2439 place it in the 96th percentile of all CPUs, indicating exceptional per-core performance that prevents physics calculations and game logic from limiting frame output.

This CPU's headroom becomes evident when examining the frame rate scaling. At 1080p Low, the system produces 415 FPS, a figure that is nearly double the 4K Low result of 188 FPS. This massive jump suggests that at 1080p, the CPU is doing the heavy lifting, pushing the game's engine to its limits. The data shows that even at these extreme frame rates, the processor does not become a hard ceiling; the frame rates continue to scale with resolution changes, which is a sign of a robust architecture. The 24 threads (equal to core count) handle the game's background tasks with ease, though the single-thread score is the more relevant metric for this title. The L3 cache of 36 MB shared across the cores provides fast access to game data, further reducing potential stutters. The processor's average benchmark score of 93785 is nearly identical to the Intel Xeon 6520P (deltaPct of 0), showing that despite being a desktop part, it competes with enterprise silicon in raw throughput, though this matters little for Inside specifically.

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

The AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT, based on the RDNA 3.0 architecture and the Navi 32 chip, is the primary driver of visual fidelity. It features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 624.1 GB/s. With a boost clock of 2430 MHz and a game clock of 2124 MHz, the GPU's 3840 shading units are capable of immense throughput, reflected in its 37.32 TFLOPS of FP32 compute. In Inside, the GPU's role is to handle the rendering of the game's moody lighting, shadows, and water effects. The 16 GB VRAM is more than sufficient for this title, even at 4K Ultra settings, ensuring no texture pop-in or memory-related frame drops.

The GPU's benchmark scores show an interesting dichotomy. Its PassMark G3D score is 24176, placing it in the 51st percentile of all GPUs, which is a mid-range position. However, the measured performance in Inside is anything but mid-range. At 4K High, the combo achieves 94 FPS, a playable and smooth experience. The GPU's nearest rivals in the synthetic benchmark list are the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 (deltaPct -0.5) and the AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT (deltaPct -1.8), which are far less capable cards in real-world gaming. This discrepancy highlights that synthetic averages can be skewed by compute workloads, whereas Inside relies more on fill rate and pixel throughput. The GPU's pixel rate of 233.3 GPixel/s and texture rate of 583.2 GTexel/s are the specifications that likely contribute most to the high frame rates observed, as the game's visual style is heavy on post-processing effects that require these resources.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combo's rank of 670 out of 2887 tested combinations (comboRankInGame) indicates that it outperforms roughly 77% of all systems tested with this game. This is a strong showing, placing it firmly in the upper quartile of gaming PCs. The percentile data for the individual components further contextualizes this: the CPU is in the 96th percentile of all CPUs, while the GPU is in the 51st percentile of all GPUs. This suggests that the CPU is a top-tier performer, while the GPU is a mid-range part that is being pushed to its limits.

The high combo rank relative to the GPU's modest percentile suggests that Inside is a title that rewards CPU efficiency and high single-thread speeds more than raw GPU compute power. The system is not just relying on brute force from the graphics card; instead, the CPU's ability to feed the GPU with draw calls at high speed is what allows the frame rates to reach the observed levels. The data implies that this pairing is well-balanced for this specific title, avoiding a significant bottleneck in either component. The deltaPct values for the CPU's rivals (e.g., -1.5% vs AMD EPYC 4564P) are minor, but the CPU's high rank ensures that the system is never waiting on the processor, allowing the GPU to work at its full potential.

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

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of the system's capabilities across three resolutions and four settings presets.

At 1920x1080 (1080p), the system is exceptionally fast:

• Low: 415 FPS
• Medium: 332 FPS (min 282, max 382)
• High: 208 FPS
• Ultra: 198 FPS

At 2560x1440 (1440p), the frame rates remain high:

• Low: 299 FPS
• Medium: 239 FPS (min 203, max 275)
• High: 149 FPS
• Ultra: 142 FPS

At 3840x2160 (4K), the system still delivers smooth gameplay:

• Low: 188 FPS
• Medium: 150 FPS (min 128, max 173)
• High: 94 FPS
• Ultra: 89 FPS

The data reveals a consistent pattern: the gap between Low and Medium settings is significant (e.g., 332 vs 415 at 1080p), while the gap between High and Ultra is much smaller (e.g., 208 vs 198 at 1080p). This suggests that the Ultra preset in Inside is not substantially more demanding than High, making High a highly efficient choice. The minimum FPS values are only recorded for Medium settings, showing a healthy 282 FPS floor at 1080p and a 128 FPS floor at 4K, ensuring no significant stutters are present.

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

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals the dynamic bottleneck behavior of this combo. At Low settings, the FPS drops from 415 at 1080p to 188 at 4K, a reduction to 45.3% of the original value. This is a linear scaling with pixel count (4K has 4x the pixels of 1080p), but the FPS does not drop to 25% of the original, indicating that the CPU becomes the limiting factor at 1080p, capping the frame rate before the GPU can reach its maximum potential.

At Ultra settings, the FPS drops from 198 at 1080p to 89 at 4K, a reduction to 44.9%. This similar percentage drop suggests that at Ultra settings, the load is more evenly balanced, but the GPU is still the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions. The data indicates that the CPU has enough headroom to maintain 198 FPS at 1080p Ultra, but the GPU cannot keep up with the 4K Ultra workload, dropping to 89 FPS. The scaling from 1440p to 4K is less severe than from 1080p to 1440p, which further points to the GPU being the limiting component at higher resolutions, as the workload becomes more pixel-bound. The system is CPU-bound at 1080p and GPU-bound at 4K, with the crossover point likely occurring somewhere between the two.

FAQ

*Q: Can this system run Inside at 4K with high settings?*

A: Yes. The measured data shows an average of 94 FPS at 3840x2160 with High settings, which is well above the standard 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

Q: What is the maximum frame rate this combo can achieve?

A: The highest measured average is 415 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This indicates the system's peak capability when the GPU load is minimal.

*Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this system for Inside?*

A: The data indicates a shift. At 1080p, the CPU is likely the limiting factor, as frame rates are extremely high but do not scale linearly with resolution. At 4K, the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck, as the frame rate drops proportionally with the increase in pixel count.

Q: How does the CPU's performance compare to its closest rivals?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus has an average benchmark score of 93785, which is nearly identical to the Intel Xeon 6520P (deltaPct 0). It trails the AMD EPYC 4564P by 1.5% and the AMD EPYC 9175F by 1.9%.

Q: What is the benefit of the 16 GB VRAM on the RX 7800 XT for this game?

A: While Inside does not require a large memory footprint, the 16 GB of VRAM ensures that the game's textures and effects are fully loaded at 4K Ultra settings without any memory-related performance dips. The measured 89 FPS at 4K Ultra confirms this.

Q: How significant is the jump from High to Ultra settings?

A: The performance cost is minimal. At 1080p, the drop is from 208 FPS (High) to 198 FPS (Ultra), a difference of only 10 FPS. At 4K, the drop is from 94 FPS to 89 FPS, a similarly small margin.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the High preset offers the most efficient balance between visual quality and performance. At 4K, High delivers 94 FPS, which is a smooth experience on a standard 60 Hz display and even playable on a 90 Hz panel. The jump to Ultra only yields a marginal visual improvement in a game with a muted color palette and simple geometry, while costing 5 FPS at 4K (89 FPS vs 94 FPS). For users with high-refresh-rate monitors at 1440p, High also hits the sweet spot at 149 FPS, which is sufficient for a 144 Hz display.

The Medium preset is the best choice for those seeking maximum frame rates without sacrificing the core visual identity of the game. At 1080p, Medium provides 332 FPS with a minimum of 282 FPS, ensuring a perfectly stable experience on even the fastest gaming monitors. At 4K, Medium's 150 FPS (with a 128 FPS minimum) is a phenomenal result, offering a dramatic improvement over High and Ultra. The Low preset, while achieving 415 FPS at 1080p, strips away many of the atmospheric effects that define Inside's presentation, making it less desirable for a first playthrough. The data suggests that High is the default recommendation for visual fidelity, while Medium is the go-to for competitive or high-refresh-rate scenarios. The Ultra preset, despite its name, offers no significant advantage over High in this title and should be avoided to preserve the extra frame rate headroom.