Inside

Inside is a 2016 puzzle platformer that, on paper, should not stress modern hardware. Yet, the measured data for this combination of an Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D reveals a fascinating study in how even older, less demanding titles interact with flagship components. The benchmark results show a system that is overwhelmingly powerful, but the scaling patterns between resolutions and settings hint at nuanced performance ceilings that go beyond raw frame rates.

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. It operates with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and can boost up to 5.50 GHz, which provides substantial single-thread headroom for a game like Inside that relies on consistent frame pacing rather than massive parallel workloads. The processor’s 36 MB of shared L3 cache and per-core L2 cache of 3 MB help keep frequently accessed data close, which is beneficial for the game’s physics and logic updates. The CPU’s benchmark scores reflect its strength: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 44,253 and a single-core score of 2,439 place it in the 96th percentile among all CPUs.

In the context of Inside, the CPU’s role appears to be secondary to the GPU, but the data suggests it is not irrelevant. At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves 456 FPS, indicating that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU with enough draw calls to reach extremely high frame rates. The processor’s single-thread performance, evidenced by a PassMark single-thread score of 5,068, likely prevents it from becoming a bottleneck in this scenario. However, when comparing to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks, the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus is statistically tied with the Intel Xeon 6520P (0% delta) and trails the AMD EPYC 4564P by -1.5%. This suggests that while the CPU is exceptional for gaming, its performance in this title is more about consistency than raw dominance, as the frame rates are so high that any minor CPU variance would be masked by the GPU’s output.

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

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is the primary driver of the measured results, featuring 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, yielding a massive 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. Its Blackwell 2.0 architecture runs at a base clock of 2017 MHz and a boost clock of 2407 MHz, with 21,760 shading units and 176 ROPs. The GPU’s raw compute capability is staggering, with an FP32 throughput of 104.8 TFLOPS, which explains why it can push Inside to frame rates that exceed the refresh rates of most monitors. The 32 GB VRAM is far beyond what this game requires, but it ensures that memory capacity is never a limiting factor, even at 4K with Ultra settings.

The GPU’s benchmark scores, such as a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 14,326 and a PassMark G3D score of 44,065, place it in the 92nd percentile among all GPUs. Interestingly, its nearest rivals in the database are mobile and data center parts—the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT (1.1% ahead) and the RX 6850M XT (-1.6% behind)—which indicates that the RTX 5090 D’s performance in synthetic tests is comparable to those, despite being a desktop flagship. In Inside, the GPU’s role is to render the game’s monochromatic, atmospheric visuals with ease. The data shows that at 4K Ultra, the system still manages 153 FPS, which reflects the GPU’s ability to handle the increased pixel count without breaking a sweat. The GPU’s memory clock of 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective) and its 512-bit bus provide the bandwidth needed to sustain high frame rates even when the resolution scaling demands more data throughput.

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

The measured FPS data across resolutions reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound scaling, but with some intriguing nuances. At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves 456 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops that to 409 FPS, a reduction of approximately 10.3%. At 4K Low, the frame rate falls to 321 FPS, which is a 29.6% drop from 1080p. This scaling is relatively mild, suggesting that at Low settings, the CPU and GPU are both capable of keeping up, but the GPU starts to take on more load as resolution increases.

When looking at High settings, the pattern shifts. At 1080p High, the average FPS is 351. At 1440p High, it drops to 255 FPS, a 27.4% reduction. At 4K High, it falls to 160 FPS, which is a 54.4% drop from 1080p. This steeper decline indicates that the GPU is becoming the primary limiting component at higher resolutions and settings. The data implies that at 1080p, the system might be partially CPU-limited or at least balanced, as the frame rates are so high that the GPU is not fully saturated. But as resolution increases, the GPU’s rendering workload grows, and the frame rate drops accordingly. For instance, at 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 153, which is only slightly lower than the 160 FPS at 4K High. This suggests that the game’s Ultra preset does not add a significant burden over High at 4K, or that the GPU is hitting a performance ceiling related to the game’s engine rather than the GPU’s raw capability.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

In the database of tested combinations, this specific pairing of the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D ranks first out of 2,887 combos for Inside. This top ranking is unsurprising given the flagship nature of both components. The data indicates that no other tested combination achieves higher frame rates in this game, which positions this system as the definitive choice for maximizing performance in Inside. The rank of 1 out of 2,887 combos means that every other CPU-GPU pairing tested falls behind this one in measured FPS. This is a significant achievement, but it also raises a question: how much of this ranking is due to the GPU versus the CPU? Given that the GPU is a top-tier part with a 92nd percentile ranking, it likely contributes more to the combo’s success than the CPU, which is in the 96th percentile but faces stiff competition from server-class chips in synthetic tests. The combo’s dominance suggests that for this specific game, the RTX 5090 D’s immense bandwidth and compute power are the key factors, while the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus provides enough CPU headroom to avoid bottlenecking.

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

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across all settings and resolutions. At 1920x1080, the system delivers an average of 456 FPS on Low, 421 FPS on Medium (with a minimum of 358 and maximum of 484), 351 FPS on High, and 338 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset shows the only recorded min/max values at this resolution, indicating a range of 358 to 484 FPS, which suggests some frame variance but still at extremely high levels. Moving to 2560x1440, the averages are 409 FPS on Low, 377 FPS on Medium (with a min of 321 and max of 434), 255 FPS on High, and 243 FPS on Ultra. The frame rate drop from 1080p to 1440p is noticeable but not dramatic, with the most significant decline occurring between Low and High settings. At 3840x2160, the averages are 321 FPS on Low, 256 FPS on Medium (with a min of 218 and max of 295), 160 FPS on High, and 153 FPS on Ultra. The 4K data shows that the system remains highly playable even at the highest settings, with the Low preset still exceeding 300 FPS.

The pattern across all resolutions is that Low settings provide the highest frame rates, followed by Medium, then High, and finally Ultra. The difference between High and Ultra is minimal, often just a few FPS, which indicates that the Ultra preset’s additional graphical effects have a negligible performance cost in this game. For example, at 1440p, the difference between High (255 FPS) and Ultra (243 FPS) is only 12 FPS, or about 4.7%. At 4K, the difference is 7 FPS, or about 4.4%. This suggests that players can enable Ultra settings without a significant penalty, as the game is not graphically demanding enough to stress the RTX 5090 D’s capabilities at these settings.

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

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combination depend on the user’s display refresh rate and resolution preference. For a 1080p display with a 360 Hz refresh rate, the Low preset at 456 FPS would be ideal to maximize frame rate, but the Medium preset at 421 FPS is also above that threshold and offers better visual quality. At 1440p, the Low preset achieves 409 FPS, which is suitable for a 360 Hz monitor, but the Medium preset at 377 FPS is still above 360 Hz and provides a better visual experience. For a 4K display with a 240 Hz refresh rate, the Low preset at 321 FPS exceeds this, but the Medium preset at 256 FPS also exceeds it, making it the better choice for visual fidelity. The High preset at 4K (160 FPS) is sufficient for a 144 Hz display, and the Ultra preset at 153 FPS is nearly identical, so enabling Ultra is recommended for the best visuals without a meaningful performance hit.

The data implies that the Medium preset offers the best balance of frame rate and visual quality across all resolutions, as it consistently delivers frame rates well above 200 FPS at 1440p and above 250 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset, while offering the highest visual fidelity, only reduces performance by a small margin compared to High, making it a viable option for users with high-refresh-rate displays. For users with standard 60 Hz or 120 Hz displays, any setting from Medium to Ultra will provide a smooth experience, and the choice should be based on personal preference for visual effects. The min FPS values recorded for Medium settings—358 at 1080p, 321 at 1440p, and 218 at 4K—indicate that even in the most demanding scenes, the frame rate never drops below playable thresholds, providing a consistent experience.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achieved by this combo in Inside?

A: The highest average FPS is 456, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: How does the frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the average FPS drops from 351 at 1080p to 255 at 1440p, and further to 160 at 4K, representing a 54.4% reduction from 1080p to 4K.

Q: Is the Ultra preset significantly more demanding than High?

A: No, the difference is minimal. At 4K, High averages 160 FPS while Ultra averages 153 FPS, a difference of only 7 FPS (4.4%).

Q: What is the combo’s rank among all tested combinations for this game?

A: The combo ranks first out of 2,887 tested combinations, making it the top performer for Inside.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded at 4K Medium settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Medium settings, the minimum FPS recorded is 218, with an average of 256 and a maximum of 295.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU limit performance more at 1080p Low settings?

A: The data indicates that at 1080p Low, the system achieves 456 FPS, which is extremely high. Given the GPU’s massive compute power, it is likely that the CPU’s single-thread performance is the limiting factor at this resolution, as the GPU has ample headroom to render more frames if the CPU could deliver them.