Inside

The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus paired with the Intel Arc B570 delivers a remarkably smooth experience in Inside, a game that clearly favors high frame rates over raw graphical fidelity. The dataset shows this combo can push well past 100 FPS at 1080p and even maintains playable performance at 4K, though the scaling patterns reveal a system that is firmly balanced between CPU and GPU demands depending on the resolution and settings chosen.

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 based on the Arrow Lake Refresh architecture. Its base clock of 3.70 GHz and boost clock of 5.50 GHz provide substantial single-thread headroom, which is critical for a game like Inside that relies on consistent frame pacing rather than massive multi-threaded workloads. The 36 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB per-core L2 cache further help reduce latency in physics and object interaction scenes.

In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 44,253 and single-core score of 2,439 place it in the 96th percentile of all CPUs. The PassMark single-thread score of 5,068 reinforces its strength in lightly threaded tasks. When examining the measured FPS data, the CPU's influence becomes clear at lower resolutions: at 1080p Low settings, the system achieves 240 FPS, which is exactly double the 120 FPS seen at 1080p High. This doubling pattern suggests the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU at high rates, but the GPU becomes the bottleneck as settings increase.

The 24 threads are more than sufficient for Inside, which is not a heavily threaded title. The PassMark multi-thread score of 68,574 and data compression score of 804,322 indicate the CPU would handle background tasks without interfering with game performance. However, the data suggests that at 1080p, the CPU is not the limiting factor in most scenarios — the GPU's workload scales with settings, while the CPU maintains a stable frame delivery rate. The boost clock of 5.50 GHz is particularly relevant for the 1% low frame rates, though the dataset only provides min FPS for Medium settings at each resolution.

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

The Intel Arc B570 is built on the Xe2-HPG architecture with 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus, providing 380.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its base and boost clocks are both 2500 MHz, which is unusual for a GPU — typically boost clocks exceed base clocks. This fixed clock rate explains the predictable scaling in frame rates across settings. The GPU's 2,304 shading units and 80 ROPs deliver 11.52 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, which is modest for modern standards but ample for a 2D side-scrolling puzzle platformer.

The GPU's benchmark scores show it sits in the 65th percentile of all GPUs, with a PassMark G3D score of 14,195 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2,649. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (0.1% faster) and the Intel Arc A750 (0.1% slower), indicating the B570 is competitively positioned. For Inside, the GPU's 10 GB VRAM is more than sufficient — the game's art style uses simple textures and limited geometry, so memory capacity is not a constraint at any resolution tested.

The GPU's bandwidth of 380.0 GB/s becomes relevant when examining the 4K results. At 3840x2160 with High settings, the system averages 54 FPS, while dropping to Low settings nearly doubles that to 108 FPS. This 2x improvement when reducing settings suggests the GPU's shading units and ROPs are the bottleneck at higher quality presets, not memory bandwidth. The Medium preset at 4K shows a min FPS of 74 and max of 100, averaging 87 FPS — a 61% increase over High settings. This pattern indicates the GPU scales predictably with workload, and the 10 GB frame buffer is never saturated.

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

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance on the optimal preset for each resolution. At 1080p, the Low preset achieves 240 FPS, which is beyond the refresh rate of most monitors and offers no practical benefit over Medium at 192 FPS. The Medium preset provides a better visual experience with a still-excellent frame rate, and its min FPS of 163 ensures smooth pacing. High at 120 FPS is also viable, but Ultra drops to 114 FPS — a marginal difference that does not justify the visual upgrade.

At 1440p, Medium stands out as the sweet spot with 138 FPS average and a min of 117 FPS, which is comfortably above the 100 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. High at 86 FPS is playable but approaches the point where frame drops become noticeable. Low at 172 FPS is excessive, while Ultra at 82 FPS is the minimum recommended for maintaining smooth motion. The data suggests that Medium at 1440p offers the best balance between visual fidelity and performance.

At 4K, the situation changes dramatically. Medium is the only preset that provides a min FPS above 60 (74 FPS) while averaging 87 FPS. High at 54 FPS and Ultra at 52 FPS are technically playable but risk dipping below 50 FPS in busy scenes. Low at 108 FPS is playable but sacrifices too much visual quality for a puzzle platformer where atmosphere matters. The recommendation across all resolutions is the Medium preset, which consistently delivers frame rates that are at least 60% higher than High while maintaining a stable minimum.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and Intel Arc B570 ranks 2,301 out of 2,887 tested combos in Inside. This places it in the bottom 20% of all configurations, which is surprising given the strong individual benchmark scores of both components. The CPU's 96th percentile ranking and the GPU's 65th percentile ranking do not translate into a top-tier gaming experience for this specific title.

This discrepancy suggests that Inside is not particularly demanding on hardware, and the ranking is influenced by other factors. Many higher-ranked combos likely use more powerful GPUs that can push higher frame rates at 4K Ultra settings. The 52 FPS at 4K Ultra is the weakest result in the dataset, and it drags down the overall ranking. However, the 1080p results are competitive — 240 FPS at Low settings would rank highly against many systems.

The ranking also reflects that Inside is a 2016 title with modest requirements. The data implies that the CPU's 24 cores and the GPU's 10 GB VRAM are overkill for this game, and the ranking is more about GPU raw performance than architectural efficiency. The combo's 2,301st place out of 2,887 suggests that while it is not a top performer, it is far from the weakest — the 586 combos below it likely struggle to maintain 60 FPS at 1080p.

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

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a clear division of labor between CPU and GPU. At Medium settings, the 1080p average is 192 FPS, dropping to 138 FPS at 1440p (a 28% decrease) and then to 87 FPS at 4K (a 37% decrease from 1440p). The percentage drop accelerates as resolution increases, which is typical of GPU-bound scenarios. The pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K, yet the frame rate only drops by 55%, indicating that the GPU is not the sole bottleneck.

At Low settings, the scaling is even more revealing: 240 FPS at 1080p drops to 172 FPS at 1440p (28% decrease) and then to 108 FPS at 4K (37% decrease again). The consistent 28% and 37% drops across Low and Medium presets suggest the CPU is providing a stable frame delivery rate, while the GPU's workload scales linearly with resolution. The High preset shows a similar pattern: 120 FPS at 1080p, 86 FPS at 1440p (28% decrease), and 54 FPS at 4K (37% decrease).

The Ultra preset breaks this pattern slightly: 114 FPS at 1080p, 82 FPS at 1440p (28% decrease), and 52 FPS at 4K (37% decrease). The consistent scaling percentages imply that the CPU is not struggling at any resolution — it maintains the same frame delivery rate, and the GPU's performance degrades proportionally with pixel count. The limiting component is clearly the GPU, as evidenced by the fact that reducing settings from Ultra to Low at 4K doubles the frame rate from 52 to 108 FPS.

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

1920x1080: The Low preset achieves 240 FPS average, the highest in the entire dataset. Medium averages 192 FPS with a min of 163 and max of 221 FPS. High averages 120 FPS, while Ultra averages 114 FPS — a surprisingly small difference of only 5% between High and Ultra at this resolution. This indicates that the visual upgrade from High to Ultra is minimal for the performance cost.

2560x1440: Low averages 172 FPS, which is a 28% drop from 1080p Low. Medium averages 138 FPS with a min of 117 and max of 159 FPS. High averages 86 FPS, and Ultra averages 82 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra narrows to 4.7% at 1440p, suggesting that Ultra's additional effects are not heavily taxing the GPU at this resolution.

3840x2160: Low averages 108 FPS, which is a 37% drop from 1440p Low. Medium averages 87 FPS with a min of 74 and max of 100 FPS — the only 4K preset with a recorded min FPS. High averages 54 FPS, and Ultra averages 52 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra at 4K is just 3.7%, making High the better choice if visual parity is desired.

Across all resolutions, the Medium preset offers the most consistent experience, with min FPS values that are at least 76% of the average. The Low preset provides the highest frame rates but lacks the visual richness that Inside's atmospheric art style benefits from. The Ultra preset is only marginally better than High in average FPS but shows no min FPS data, suggesting potential frame drops that are not captured in the averages.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution to play Inside with this hardware?*

A: The data shows 1440p Medium provides the best balance with 138 FPS average and a 117 FPS minimum. At 1080p Medium, the average rises to 192 FPS, but the visual upgrade at 1440p is significant for a puzzle platformer. 4K is playable at Medium with 87 FPS average, but the 74 FPS minimum is close to the edge of smooth gameplay.

Q: Why does the Ultra preset show such a small improvement over High?

A: At 1080p, Ultra averages 114 FPS versus High's 120 FPS, a 5% difference. At 1440p, the gap narrows to 4.7% (82 vs 86 FPS), and at 4K it is just 3.7% (52 vs 54 FPS). The data suggests Ultra adds visual effects that are not heavily taxing on the GPU, making High the more sensible choice for nearly identical performance with lower resource usage.

*Q: Is this CPU or GPU combo more limited in Inside?*

A: The GPU is the limiting factor. Evidence comes from the resolution scaling: at Low settings, the frame rate drops by 28% from 1080p to 1440p and 37% from 1440p to 4K, which matches the GPU's pixel-processing workload. The CPU's 24 cores and 5.50 GHz boost clock are never stressed, as evidenced by the stable 240 FPS at 1080p Low.

Q: How does the Arc B570 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The Arc B570's average benchmark score of 20,556 is nearly identical to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (20,534, 0.1% slower) and the Intel Arc A750 (20,582, 0.1% faster). It also trades blows with the Quadro M4000M and R9 M390X, all within 0.5% of each other. The B570's 10 GB VRAM and 380 GB/s bandwidth are the differentiating factors.

*Q: Does the CPU's high core count benefit Inside?*

A: No. Inside is a puzzle platformer that does not utilize multi-threaded workloads. The CPU's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 44,253 and PassMark multi-thread score of 68,574 are irrelevant for this game. The single-thread performance (5,068 PassMark) is what matters, and it is sufficient to maintain 240 FPS at 1080p Low.

Q: Is the 4K performance acceptable for this game?

A: Yes, at Medium settings the system averages 87 FPS with a 74 FPS minimum at 3840x2160. This is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. Low settings double the average to 108 FPS, while High and Ultra fall below 60 FPS (54 and 52 respectively), making Medium the only 4K preset that guarantees a smooth experience.