Inside

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT is a remarkably balanced combination for Inside, delivering playable frame rates at 4K and exceptional performance at lower resolutions. In the database of tested combos, this pairing ranks 864th out of 2,887, placing it comfortably in the top third of all systems tested for this title. The data shows a system that is never the bottleneck at 1080p or 1440p, and only at 4K with the highest settings does the GPU begin to show its limits. This analysis details how the CPU’s massive core count and the GPU’s 12 GB of VRAM interact with Inside’s specific rendering demands, backed by measured FPS across three resolutions and four quality presets.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus and the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT achieves a rank of 864 out of 2,887 tested combos for Inside. This places the system in the 70th percentile of all configurations, meaning it outperforms roughly 70% of the tested setups in this specific game. The ranking is not surprising given the individual component strengths. The CPU sits in the 96th percentile against all CPUs, while the GPU is in the 67th percentile against all GPUs. The pairing of a top-tier processor with a mid-high-range graphics card yields a system that is heavily weighted toward CPU headroom, which matters in a puzzle platformer where frame pacing and consistent frame delivery are more important than raw pixel pushing.

Benchmark results indicate that the CPU’s average benchmark score of 84,003 is a mere 0.2% higher than its closest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, which scores 83,807. The AMD EPYC 4584PX trails by 1.1% with a score of 83,090, and the AMD EPYC 9135 is 1.2% behind at 82,980. The only rival that beats the 290K Plus is the AMD EPYC 7F72, which scores 85,072, a 1.3% advantage. These deltas are minuscule, indicating that for Inside, the CPU is operating at the absolute top of its class. On the GPU side, the RX 7700 XT’s average benchmark score of 22,549 is 0.5% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Mobile (22,435) and 1.7% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 5700 (22,170). It sits 0.8% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile (22,729) and 1.5% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 (22,895).

This rank of 864 is particularly strong when considering that Inside is not a graphically demanding title by modern standards. The game’s release date of 2016-07-06 means its engine is relatively simple compared to modern AAA releases. The data shows that the combo’s rank is driven more by the CPU’s ability to feed frames rapidly than by the GPU’s raw output. At 1080p, the system produces frame rates that are multiples of the refresh rate of most displays, indicating that the CPU is doing the heavy lifting. The combination ranks high because it can deliver absurdly high FPS at lower resolutions, which is a direct result of the 24-core, 24-thread processor’s exceptional single-thread performance, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 7,303.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT is built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with the Navi 32 chip, fabricated on a 5 nm process by TSMC. It carries 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, yielding a memory bandwidth of 432.0 GB/s. The GPU’s base clock is 1,435 MHz, with a game clock of 2,171 MHz and a boost clock of 2,544 MHz. These clocks are relevant to Inside because the game’s art style relies on high-contrast silhouettes and volumetric fog, which do not significantly tax the shading units but do benefit from consistent clock speeds. The GPU has 3,456 shading units, 216 texture mapping units, and 96 render output units, along with 54 ray accelerators.

For a game like Inside, the 12 GB VRAM is more than sufficient. The measured FPS data shows no signs of memory bottlenecks, even at 4K Ultra. The GPU’s 35.17 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is ample for the game’s simple geometry and lighting. The pixel rate of 244.2 GPixel/s and texture rate of 549.5 GTexel/s mean that the GPU can fill frames quickly, but the ultimate limit at 4K Ultra is observed in the frame rates. At 3840x2160 Ultra, the average FPS drops to 83, which is the lowest measured in the entire dataset. This suggests that the GPU is nearing its compute limit at that resolution and preset, but it is still perfectly playable.

The GPU’s performance relative to its rivals is tight. The RX 7700 XT’s PassMark G3D score of 22,547 is only 0.5% above the RTX 5060 Mobile and 1.7% above the RX 5700. It is 0.8% below the RTX 4060 Mobile and 1.5% below the RTX 2080. These small margins indicate that in Inside, the GPU is not the distinguishing factor; the CPU is. The GPU’s role is to maintain a stable output at high settings. The 4K High preset yields 87 FPS, while 4K Medium yields 140 FPS, showing that the GPU has headroom when settings are lowered. The measured FPS at 1920x1080 Low is 387 FPS, which is far beyond the GPU’s typical workload, confirming that the RX 7700 XT is not a limiting factor at lower resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is a 24-core, 24-thread processor from the Core Ultra Series 2, based on the Arrow Lake Refresh codename and manufactured on a 3 nm process by TSMC. It has a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.80 GHz. The cache hierarchy includes 192 KB of L1 per core, 3 MB of L2 per core, and 36 MB of shared L3 cache. This processor has a TDP of 125 W and supports DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration with a bandwidth of 115.2 GB/s. It also features an integrated Arc Xe-LPG Graphics 64EU, though the discrete RX 7700 XT handles all rendering in this test.

In Inside, the CPU’s role is to maintain high frame rates, especially at 1080p where the GPU is not stressed. The data shows that at 1920x1080 Low, the system achieves 387 FPS, and at 1920x1080 Medium, it achieves 309 FPS. These numbers are only possible with a CPU that has exceptional single-thread performance. The Cinebench R23 single-core score of 7,303 and the PassMark single-thread score of 4,823 confirm that the 290K Plus is among the fastest processors for single-threaded tasks. Inside is a puzzle platformer with relatively simple physics, so it relies heavily on the CPU’s ability to process game logic and draw calls quickly.

The CPU’s multi-threaded performance is also strong, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 51,731. The PassMark multi-thread score of 60,860 and the PassMark physics score of 3,315 further illustrate the processor’s capability. However, Inside is unlikely to use all 24 threads. The game’s 2016 release date means it was designed for older, lower-core-count processors. The high frame rates at 1080p are more attributable to the CPU’s high boost clock of 5.80 GHz and the 36 MB of L3 cache, which reduces memory latency. The CPU’s percentile of 96 against all CPUs means it is in the top 4% of all processors, which is overkill for this game but ensures that the GPU is never waiting on the CPU.

The nearest rival data shows the 290K Plus is virtually tied with the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, which has an average score of 83,807 versus 84,003 for the Plus, a delta of 0.2%. This means that the 290K Plus offers no meaningful advantage over the 285K in Inside. The AMD EPYC 9135 and EPYC 4584PX are 1.2% and 1.1% behind, respectively, but these are server processors with different performance profiles. The EPYC 7F72 is 1.3% ahead, but again, this is a server part. For gaming, the 290K Plus is effectively at the top of the heap, and its role in this combo is to deliver frame rates that are limited only by the GPU’s output.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for this combo covers three resolutions and four settings, providing a comprehensive view of performance. At 1920x1080, the system produces average frame rates of 387 FPS on Low, 309 FPS on Medium, 193 FPS on High, and 184 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset includes a minimum FPS of 263 and a maximum of 356, indicating some variance but still an extremely smooth experience. The gap between High (193 FPS) and Ultra (184 FPS) is only 9 FPS, suggesting that the Ultra preset does not add much graphical fidelity for the performance cost. At this resolution, the system is overwhelmingly CPU-bound, as the GPU is capable of much higher output.

Moving to 2560x1440, the average FPS drops significantly but remains high. Low settings yield 278 FPS, Medium yields 222 FPS, High yields 139 FPS, and Ultra yields 132 FPS. The Medium preset’s minimum is 189 FPS and maximum is 256 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is roughly 28% for Low (387 to 278 FPS) and 30% for Medium (309 to 222 FPS). The High preset drops by 28% (193 to 139 FPS), and Ultra drops by 28% (184 to 132 FPS). These consistent drops indicate that the GPU is becoming more involved, but the CPU still holds the system back at Low and Medium settings, where the FPS remains far above 144 Hz.

At 3840x2160, the system’s limits become apparent. Low settings produce an average of 175 FPS, Medium produces 140 FPS, High produces 87 FPS, and Ultra produces 83 FPS. The Medium preset has a minimum of 119 FPS and a maximum of 161 FPS. The drop from 1440p to 4K is more pronounced: Low drops from 278 to 175 FPS (a 37% reduction), Medium drops from 222 to 140 FPS (a 37% reduction), High drops from 139 to 87 FPS (a 37% reduction), and Ultra drops from 132 to 83 FPS (a 37% reduction). These uniform percentage drops across all settings indicate that at 4K, the system is now GPU-bound. The GPU’s pixel rate of 244.2 GPixel/s and memory bandwidth of 432 GB/s are being fully utilized.

The data shows that the 4K High preset (87 FPS) is the threshold for a 60 FPS experience, while 4K Medium (140 FPS) provides a comfortable margin. The 4K Ultra preset at 83 FPS is still playable but leaves little headroom. The minimum FPS data is only available for Medium presets across all resolutions, with values of 263 FPS at 1080p, 189 FPS at 1440p, and 119 FPS at 4K. These minimums are all well above 60 FPS, confirming that the system never stutters in this game.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling behavior of this combo reveals the balance between CPU and GPU. From 1080p to 1440p, the average FPS drops by approximately 28-30% across all settings. From 1440p to 4K, the drop is a consistent 37% across all settings. This consistency is a hallmark of a system that is GPU-limited at 4K but CPU-limited at lower resolutions. The fact that the percentage drop from 1440p to 4K is identical (37%) for Low, Medium, High, and Ultra settings strongly suggests that the GPU is the limiting component at 4K, regardless of the graphical load.

At 1080p, the CPU’s dominance is clear. The 290K Plus has a boost clock of 5.80 GHz and a PassMark single-thread score of 4,823, which allows it to push frame rates beyond 300 FPS. The GPU, at 1080p, is not stressed, as evidenced by the 387 FPS result on Low. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p shows a 30% drop, which is less than the 37% drop from 1440p to 4K. This indicates that the system transitions from being CPU-bound to GPU-bound somewhere between 1440p and 4K. At 1440p, the High preset at 139 FPS suggests the GPU is still keeping up, but the Ultra preset at 132 FPS shows the gap between High and Ultra narrowing, which is a sign of GPU pressure.

The data also shows that the difference between High and Ultra settings is minimal at all resolutions. At 1080p, the difference is 9 FPS (193 vs 184), at 1440p it is 7 FPS (139 vs 132), and at 4K it is 4 FPS (87 vs 83). This suggests that the Ultra preset in Inside adds little beyond the High preset, and the GPU is not being taxed by the extra effects. The limiting factor at 4K is the sheer number of pixels, not the complexity of the scene. The GPU’s 192-bit memory bus and 432.0 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for the game’s textures, but the rendering resolution is the bottleneck.

The scaling behavior positions the RX 7700 XT as a solid 1440p card that can handle 4K at reduced settings. The system’s 4K Medium result of 140 FPS is impressive, but the 4K High result of 87 FPS shows that the GPU is nearing its limits. The CPU’s role in this scaling is to ensure that the FPS does not drop below the GPU’s capability. The 290K Plus’s 36 MB of L3 cache and high boost clock prevent any CPU-induced frame dips, as evidenced by the minimum FPS of 119 at 4K Medium. This minimum is still far above the 60 FPS target, indicating a stable experience.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend on the resolution target. For 1920x1080, the Ultra preset at 184 FPS is the best choice, as it offers the highest graphical fidelity while still delivering frame rates that are more than double the refresh rate of most monitors. The High preset at 193 FPS provides a marginal 9 FPS improvement, but the visual difference between High and Ultra is likely negligible in Inside’s minimalist art style. Since the system is CPU-bound at this resolution, there is no reason to sacrifice quality. The Medium preset at 309 FPS is only useful for competitive play, but Inside is not a competitive title.

For 2560x1440, the High preset at 139 FPS is the sweet spot. It provides a smooth experience on 120 Hz or 144 Hz monitors, and the Ultra preset at 132 FPS is only 7 FPS slower. The difference between High and Ultra is not significant enough to warrant the performance loss. The Medium preset at 222 FPS is overkill for most displays, but it offers a minimum FPS of 189, which ensures no drops below 144 Hz. The Low preset at 278 FPS is unnecessary. The data shows that 1440p High is the best balance of visual quality and performance, as it keeps the GPU from being the bottleneck while still utilizing the CPU’s headroom.

For 3840x2160, the Medium preset at 140 FPS is the recommended choice. This preset has a minimum FPS of 119, which guarantees a stable 60 FPS experience with significant headroom. The High preset at 87 FPS is also playable, but it leaves less margin for demanding scenes. The Ultra preset at 83 FPS is the lowest measured and should be avoided if frame consistency is a priority. The Low preset at 175 FPS is not recommended because Inside’s visual style benefits from higher quality settings, and the Medium preset still provides excellent performance. The data indicates that the GPU’s 12 GB VRAM is sufficient for 4K Medium, as there are no signs of texture pop-in or memory-related stuttering.

In summary, the measured rows point to 1080p Ultra, 1440p High, and 4K Medium as the best settings for this combo. The 4K Medium result of 140 FPS is particularly noteworthy, as it shows that the RX 7700 XT can handle 4K gaming in less demanding titles. The CPU’s performance ensures that the system never feels underpowered, and the GPU’s 12 GB memory and 2544 MHz boost clock are more than adequate for a 2016 puzzle platformer. The combo ranks 864th out of 2,887, which is a strong showing, and the measured FPS confirms that this system is a high-performance choice for Inside.