Inside

The Intel Core Ultra 9 185H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 combination delivers exceptional performance in Inside, a 2016 Puzzle Platformer. The measured data shows this pairing achieves high frame rates across all tested resolutions and settings, with the system demonstrating a strong balance between CPU and GPU capabilities that allows for smooth gameplay even at 4K Ultra settings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 185H is a 16-core, 22-thread mobile processor based on the Meteor Lake architecture, built on Intel's 7 nm process node. It operates with a base clock of 3.90 GHz and can boost up to 5.10 GHz, with a 45 W TDP. The processor features a substantial cache hierarchy including 112 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 24 MB of shared L3 cache. This configuration places the CPU in the 85th percentile among all processors tested, indicating strong overall computational capability.

In the context of Inside, the CPU's role is less demanding than in many other titles due to the game's puzzle-platformer nature. The game's measured performance shows that even at 1080p Low settings, the system achieves 333 FPS, which is well beyond what most displays can show. The CPU's multi-core performance, demonstrated by a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 17984.5, provides ample headroom for the game's physics and logic calculations, though the single-core performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1810.5) is equally important for maintaining consistent frame pacing in this type of game.

The benchmark data reveals a clear pattern: as resolution increases, the performance difference between settings becomes more pronounced, suggesting that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this configuration. At 1080p Low, the system produces 333 FPS, while at 4K Low it drops to 150 FPS — a 55% reduction that clearly indicates the GPU is taking over as the bottleneck at higher resolutions. The CPU's 16 cores and 22 threads are more than sufficient for Inside, which is likely not optimized to use all available threads, but the high single-core boost clock of 5.10 GHz ensures that the game's primary thread runs efficiently.

The CPU's performance relative to its nearest rivals shows a tight grouping. The AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 350 scores 35719 (0.1% higher), the Intel Core 7 250H scores 35728 (0.2% higher), the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 scores 35802 (0.4% higher), and the AMD Ryzen 7 7700X scores 35909 (0.7% higher). This places the Ultra 9 185H in a very competitive position, with less than 1% separating it from these alternatives in average benchmark scores. However, the actual gaming performance in Inside is likely dominated by the GPU, given the game's relatively low CPU requirements.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance on which settings preset offers the best experience for this hardware combination. At 1080p, the Ultra preset delivers 159 FPS, which is more than sufficient for smooth gameplay on any standard display. The High preset at 1080p produces 166 FPS, representing a modest 4.4% improvement over Ultra while likely reducing visual fidelity. The Medium preset at 1080p achieves 266 FPS with minimums of 226 FPS, offering a substantial frame rate boost for competitive play or high-refresh-rate displays.

For 1440p gaming, the Ultra preset maintains 114 FPS, which is excellent for this resolution. The High preset at 1440p reaches 120 FPS, again showing a minimal difference from Ultra. The Medium preset at 1440p produces 192 FPS with a minimum of 163 FPS, providing a significant margin for displays with refresh rates above 144 Hz. At 4K, the Ultra preset drops to 72 FPS, which is still playable but approaches the threshold where some users might notice reduced smoothness. The High preset at 4K achieves 75 FPS, while Medium reaches 120 FPS with minimums of 102 FPS.

The best experience per the measured data depends on the display's refresh rate. For a standard 60 Hz display, Ultra settings at any resolution up to 4K provide a smooth experience, with 4K Ultra at 72 FPS being perfectly adequate. For 144 Hz displays, Medium settings at 1080p (266 FPS) or 1440p (192 FPS) are recommended to fully utilize the refresh rate. For 240 Hz displays, Low settings at 1080p (333 FPS) are the only option that can keep up, though the visual trade-off may not be worth it for a puzzle platformer. The Medium preset at 1080p offers the best balance for most users, delivering 266 FPS with minimums above 226 FPS, ensuring consistent frame delivery without compromising too much on visual quality.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals important information about the system's bottleneck characteristics. At High settings, performance drops from 166 FPS at 1080p to 120 FPS at 1440p (a 27.7% reduction) and then to 75 FPS at 4K (a 37.5% reduction from 1440p). This scaling pattern shows a steep drop at higher resolutions, characteristic of GPU-bound scenarios. The Ultra preset follows a similar pattern: 159 FPS at 1080p, 114 FPS at 1440p (28.3% lower), and 72 FPS at 4K (36.8% lower from 1440p).

The Low settings show the most dramatic scaling: 333 FPS at 1080p, 239 FPS at 1440p (28.2% lower), and 150 FPS at 4K (37.2% lower from 1440p). This consistent pattern across all settings — roughly 28% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and an additional 37% reduction from 1440p to 4K — indicates that the render resolution is the dominant factor in performance scaling. The fact that even at Low settings, the drop from 1080p to 4K is 55% (from 333 to 150 FPS) confirms that the GPU is the limiting component.

Medium settings show the most complete data with minimum and maximum FPS values. At 1080p Medium, the system averages 266 FPS with minimums of 226 FPS and maximums of 306 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 192 FPS with minimums of 163 FPS and maximums of 220 FPS. At 4K Medium, the average is 120 FPS with minimums of 102 FPS and maximums of 138 FPS. This data shows that the frame time consistency remains stable across resolutions, with the minimum FPS being approximately 85% of the average in each case, indicating smooth performance without significant stuttering.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 9 185H paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 ranks 1889 out of 3716 tested combos for Inside, placing it in the 49th percentile of all combinations tested. This mid-pack ranking might seem surprising given the high frame rates measured, but it reflects the fact that Inside is an older game with modest hardware requirements, meaning many lower-end combinations can also achieve playable frame rates.

The ranking indicates that while this combo delivers excellent raw performance — as shown by the 333 FPS at 1080p Low — there are many other combinations that can also run this game well. The RTX 4070's percentile ranking of 81 among all GPUs, combined with the CPU's 85th percentile ranking, suggests that this system is well above average in overall capability. However, for a game like Inside that was released in 2016, the performance ceiling is reached relatively quickly, and additional hardware headroom does not translate to proportionally better rankings.

The combo's position in the middle of the pack is more a reflection of the game's low demands than any weakness in the hardware. The measured data shows that this system can achieve 72 FPS at 4K Ultra, which is the most demanding configuration tested. This level of performance would be considered excellent for modern AAA titles but is somewhat overkill for Inside. The ranking suggests that users with this hardware can expect maximum settings at any resolution without concern, but the game itself does not stress the system enough to differentiate it from many other combinations.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture using TSMC's 5 nm process node, with a die size of 294 mm² containing 35,800 million transistors. The GPU features 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 64 raster output units, alongside 46 ray tracing cores and 184 tensor cores. Its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory operates on a 192-bit bus, providing 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU boosts up to 2475 MHz from a base clock of 1920 MHz, delivering 29.15 TFLOPS of FP32 performance.

In Inside, the GPU's role is clearly dominant, as evidenced by the resolution scaling patterns. The card's 81st percentile ranking among all GPUs indicates strong overall performance, though its nearest rivals in average benchmark scores show a tight grouping. The NVIDIA Tesla P4 scores 37628 (0.1% higher), the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 scores 37507 (0.4% higher), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile scores 38135 (1.3% higher), and the AMD Radeon PRO W6400 scores 37157 (1.3% lower). This places the RTX 4070 in a competitive position, though the differences are minimal.

The GPU's memory configuration is particularly relevant for Inside at high resolutions. The 12 GB VRAM capacity is more than sufficient for this game, even at 4K Ultra settings, as evidenced by the consistent frame rates. The 504.2 GB/s memory bandwidth ensures that texture streaming and memory-intensive operations do not become bottlenecks. The RTX 4070's performance at 4K Ultra (72 FPS) demonstrates that the GPU can handle the most demanding settings this game offers, and the 4K Medium result of 120 FPS shows there is substantial headroom for users who prefer higher frame rates over maximum visual fidelity.

The GPU's DirectX 12 Ultimate support and Vulkan 1.4 compatibility ensure that Inside runs efficiently regardless of the API used. The measured performance at 1080p Medium (266 FPS) with minimums of 226 FPS suggests that the GPU is operating well within its capabilities, leaving room for future titles or more demanding scenarios. The power requirements of 200 W TDP and a suggested 550 W PSU indicate that this GPU is relatively efficient for its performance class, though these figures are informational rather than related to the game's performance.

FAQ

*Q: What is the maximum frame rate achievable with this hardware in Inside?*

A: The highest measured average FPS is 333 at 1080p with Low settings. At 1080p Medium, the system achieves 266 FPS, and at 1080p High it reaches 166 FPS.

*Q: Can this system run Inside at 4K Ultra settings smoothly?*

A: Yes, the measured average FPS at 4K Ultra is 72, which provides a smooth experience on a 60 Hz display. For higher refresh rates, dropping to 4K Medium yields 120 FPS with minimums of 102 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in overall performance?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 9 185H has an average benchmark score of 35670, which is within 0.7% of its closest competitors: the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 350 (35719), Intel Core 7 250H (35728), AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 (35802), and AMD Ryzen 7 7700X (35909).

Q: What is the GPU's performance percentile and how does it rank?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is in the 81st percentile among all GPUs. Its average benchmark score of 37648 places it within 1.3% of its nearest rivals, including the RTX 4080 Mobile (38135) and RX Vega 56 (37507).

Q: What settings provide the best balance of visual quality and performance at 1440p?

A: At 1440p, the Medium preset offers 192 FPS average with 163 FPS minimums, which is excellent for high-refresh-rate displays. The Ultra preset still achieves 114 FPS, making it suitable for 60 Hz displays with maximum visual quality.

Q: Is the system CPU-limited or GPU-limited in this game?

A: The data indicates GPU-limited performance. At 1080p Low, the system produces 333 FPS, but this drops to 239 FPS at 1440p and 150 FPS at 4K, showing a consistent scaling pattern that points to the GPU as the bottleneck, while the CPU's high single-core performance (1810.5 in Cinebench R23) prevents it from becoming a limiting factor.