Inside

The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 produces a surprisingly capable experience in Inside, a 2016 puzzle platformer. At 1080p, this combo delivers triple-digit frame rates across all tested presets, with the Low preset reaching 256 FPS average. The data indicates that the primary bottleneck shifts from the GPU at lower resolutions to a more balanced load at 4K, where the Ultra preset still manages a playable 55 FPS average. This is a configuration that excels at high-refresh 1080p gaming and remains viable at 1440p, with 4K requiring settings adjustments for smooth gameplay.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 1920x1080 delivers the highest frame rates, with the Medium preset averaging 205 FPS and the Low preset at 256 FPS. Even the Ultra preset at 1080p averages 122 FPS, making this resolution the clear sweet spot for maximum performance.

*Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Inside?*

A: Yes, but with caveats. At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 116 FPS, while Medium averages 93 FPS. However, High drops to 58 FPS and Ultra to 55 FPS. For consistent 60+ FPS at 4K, the Low or Medium preset is recommended based on the measured results.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 compare to its nearest rivals in overall GPU benchmarks?

A: The RTX 2060 has an average benchmark score of 15290, placing it against the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 (15283, 0% delta), AMD Radeon 680M (15270, 0.1% delta), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM (15199, 0.6% delta), and AMD Radeon RX 7600 (15171, 0.8% delta). The performance differences are minimal, all within 0.8% of each other.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 184 FPS, while Ultra averages 88 FPS. This represents a significant 96 FPS difference, roughly 109% higher performance on Low compared to Ultra. The Medium preset sits between them at 147 FPS.

Q: Does the CPU's benchmark score indicate strong gaming performance?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus has a percentile ranking of 96 among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 93785. Its nearest rival, the Intel Xeon 6520P, scores 93786 (0% delta), while the AMD EPYC 4564P scores 95183 (-1.5% delta). This places the CPU in the top tier of processors.

Q: What frame rates can be expected at 1080p with High settings?

A: The measured data shows an average of 128 FPS at 1920x1080 with High settings. This is well above the 60 FPS threshold and suitable for high-refresh-rate monitors, though not as high as the 205 FPS seen on Medium or the 256 FPS on Low.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance for optimizing the experience in Inside. At 1920x1080, every preset delivers playable frame rates, but the Medium preset offers the best balance between visual quality and performance. The Medium preset at 1080p averages 205 FPS with a minimum of 174 FPS and maximum of 236 FPS, ensuring smooth gameplay even during demanding scenes. The Ultra preset at the same resolution averages 122 FPS, which is still excellent, but the 83 FPS gap between Medium and Ultra suggests diminishing returns from the additional graphical fidelity.

For 2560x1440, the Medium preset again emerges as the recommended choice. It averages 147 FPS with a minimum of 125 FPS and maximum of 169 FPS. The High preset at 1440p averages 92 FPS, which is playable, but Medium provides a substantial 55 FPS advantage while likely offering comparable visual improvements over Low. The Low preset at 1440p reaches 184 FPS, making it the choice for competitive or high-refresh scenarios, but Medium's 147 FPS average represents the best combination of smoothness and visual quality.

At 3840x2160, the situation changes dramatically. The Ultra preset averages 55 FPS, which falls below the 60 FPS target for many users. The High preset at 58 FPS is similarly marginal. However, the Medium preset at 4K averages 93 FPS with a minimum of 79 FPS, providing a comfortable margin above 60 FPS. The Low preset at 4K reaches 116 FPS, which is excellent. For 4K gaming, the Medium preset offers the best balance, delivering 93 FPS average while maintaining higher visual quality than Low. The minimum of 79 FPS on Medium ensures that even the most demanding sequences remain smooth.

The data reveals a consistent pattern: the Medium preset provides the most efficient use of the hardware across all resolutions. At 1080p, it achieves 205 FPS; at 1440p, 147 FPS; and at 4K, 93 FPS. This makes Medium the universal recommendation for users who want high frame rates without sacrificing too much visual fidelity. For users prioritizing maximum frame rates, the Low preset at 1080p delivers 256 FPS, while those wanting the best visuals can still use Ultra at 1080p with 122 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 ranks 2915 out of 3716 tested combos in Inside. This places it in the lower 21.5% of all tested configurations, indicating that while the combo performs adequately, many other hardware pairings achieve higher frame rates in this game. The rank reflects the RTX 2060's position as a mid-range GPU, despite the CPU's strong overall performance.

The CPU's percentile ranking of 96 among all processors suggests it is not the limiting factor in this combo. The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus scores 44253 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 2439 in single-core, with an average benchmark score of 93785. This places it just 0.1 points below the Intel Xeon 6520P's score of 93786, a negligible difference. The CPU's high performance in synthetic benchmarks does not translate to a top-tier gaming rank in Inside, which is consistent with the game's relatively low CPU demands.

The GPU, by contrast, has a percentile ranking of 58 among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 15290. This places it in the mid-range of graphics cards, just above the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 (15283) and AMD Radeon 680M (15270). The RTX 2060's DirectX 12 benchmark score of 53 and Passmark G3D score of 14111 reflect its Turing architecture's capabilities, but the game's puzzle platformer nature and 2016 release date mean it does not heavily stress modern GPU features.

The ranking of 2915 out of 3716 suggests that the combo is outperformed by systems with more powerful GPUs, but the measured FPS data shows it remains fully playable at all tested resolutions and presets. The combination's rank is likely influenced by the RTX 2060's mid-range standing rather than any deficiency in the CPU. Users with this combo can expect solid performance in Inside, though those seeking the highest possible frame rates would benefit from a more powerful GPU.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured data shows a wide range of performance across presets. The Low preset achieves an average of 256 FPS, the highest of any tested configuration. Medium follows at 205 FPS average, with a minimum of 174 FPS and maximum of 236 FPS. High delivers 128 FPS average, while Ultra drops to 122 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 134 FPS reduction, from 256 to 122 FPS, representing a 52.3% decrease in frame rate. Every preset at 1080p exceeds the 60 FPS threshold, making this resolution the most flexible for the combo.

At 2560x1440, performance remains strong but shows a clearer separation between presets. Low averages 184 FPS, a 72 FPS drop from the 1080p Low result. Medium averages 147 FPS with a minimum of 125 FPS and maximum of 169 FPS. High averages 92 FPS, while Ultra averages 88 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 96 FPS, from 184 to 88 FPS. All presets at 1440p remain above 60 FPS, though Ultra's 88 FPS average leaves less headroom for demanding scenes.

At 3840x2160, the data reveals the GPU's limits. Low averages 116 FPS, a substantial drop from the 1440p Low result. Medium averages 93 FPS with a minimum of 79 FPS and maximum of 106 FPS. High averages 58 FPS, while Ultra averages 55 FPS. The 4K resolution introduces the first sub-60 FPS results, with both High and Ultra falling below the 60 FPS threshold. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 61 FPS, from 116 to 55 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K, with its 93 FPS average and 79 FPS minimum, remains the safest choice for smooth gameplay.

Comparing across resolutions, the data shows a consistent pattern of diminishing returns as resolution increases. At Low settings, 1080p achieves 256 FPS, 1440p achieves 184 FPS (71.9% of 1080p), and 4K achieves 116 FPS (45.3% of 1080p). At Ultra settings, 1080p achieves 122 FPS, 1440p achieves 88 FPS (72.1% of 1080p), and 4K achieves 55 FPS (45.1% of 1080p). This proportional scaling suggests the GPU is the primary constraint at higher resolutions, with the CPU providing consistent performance across all settings.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 features 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 336.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1365 MHz and a boost clock of 1680 MHz, with memory running at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). These specifications place the RTX 2060 in the mid-range of the GeForce 20-series, with a Passmark G3D score of 14111 and a percentile ranking of 58 among all GPUs.

The memory configuration plays a significant role in the measured FPS results. The 6 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for Inside, a game released in 2016 with relatively modest texture requirements. The 336.0 GB/s bandwidth ensures that the GPU can feed data to the 1920 shading units and 120 texture mapping units without bottlenecking. The 48 ROPs handle pixel output at a rate of 80.64 GPixel/s, which is adequate for the game's resolution and settings.

The GPU's Turing architecture includes 30 RT cores and 240 tensor cores, though these features are unlikely to be heavily utilized in Inside given its puzzle platformer genre and 2016 release date. The GPU's DirectX 12 Ultimate support (12_2) ensures compatibility with modern APIs, but the game's performance is more dependent on raw rasterization throughput. The FP32 performance of 6.451 TFLOPS provides the computational foundation for the frame rates observed in the measured data.

The RTX 2060's performance in synthetic benchmarks helps contextualize its gaming results. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1242 and Passmark DirectX 12 score of 53 indicate moderate performance in modern workloads. The GPU's average benchmark score of 15290 places it just above the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 (15283) and slightly below the AMD Radeon 680M (15270), with the RTX 3050 OEM (15199) and RX 7600 (15171) trailing by 0.6% and 0.8% respectively. This tight clustering suggests that the RTX 2060's performance in Inside is representative of its overall capabilities.

The measured FPS data shows the GPU becoming the limiting factor at higher resolutions. At 4K Ultra, the 55 FPS average indicates the GPU is near its performance ceiling. The 6 GB VRAM, while sufficient for this game, may become a constraint in more demanding titles. The 160 W TDP and dual-slot design make it a manageable card for most systems, with a suggested PSU of 450 W.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus is a 24-core, 24-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake Refresh architecture. It operates at a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz, with a TDP of 125 W. The CPU features 36 MB of shared L3 cache, 3 MB of L2 cache per core, and 192 KB of L1 cache per core. This configuration provides substantial compute resources for both gaming and productivity workloads.

The CPU's benchmark scores demonstrate its high performance ceiling. In Cinebench R23, it scores 44253 in multicore and 2439 in single-core tests. Passmark results include a multithread score of 68574, single-thread score of 5068, and physics score of 4064. These results place the CPU in the 96th percentile among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 93785. The nearest rival, Intel Xeon 6520P, scores 93786 (0% delta), while AMD EPYC processors score between 95183 and 95764 (-1.5% to -2.1% deltas).

In Inside, the CPU's role is less demanding than in many other games. The puzzle platformer genre typically features limited on-screen entities and simple physics, reducing the CPU workload. The measured FPS data shows no evidence of CPU bottlenecking: at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 256 FPS, which is likely near the game's engine limit. The consistent scaling from 1080p to 4K suggests that the CPU provides more than enough throughput for the GPU to operate without constraint.

The CPU's 24 cores and 24 threads are more than sufficient for this game, which likely uses only a fraction of the available processing power. The high boost clock of 5.50 GHz ensures strong single-threaded performance, which is more relevant for gaming than the multicore capabilities. The 36 MB of L3 cache provides ample data storage for game assets, reducing memory latency and improving frame pacing.

The CPU's integrated graphics, Arc Xe-LPG Graphics 64EU, are not utilized when the discrete RTX 2060 is installed, but their presence does not negatively impact performance. The CPU's memory support for DDR5 with dual-channel configuration and 115.2 GB/s bandwidth ensures that the system has sufficient memory throughput for the GPU. The PCIe Gen 5 interface with 20 lanes provides high-bandwidth connectivity, though the RTX 2060 uses PCIe 3.0 x16, which is adequate for the game's requirements.

The benchmark data indicates that the CPU is not a limiting factor in this combo for Inside. The 96th percentile ranking and strong synthetic scores suggest that the CPU could support much more demanding games. The measured FPS results are consistent with the GPU being the primary determinant of performance, particularly at higher resolutions and settings.