Inside

Inside is a puzzle platformer that is far more demanding than its minimalist visuals suggest, and the measured data for the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus + NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER combo reveals a system that is consistently capable but never overwhelmingly fast. The benchmark results show a GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions, with the CPU’s immense headroom going largely unused, while the GTX 1660 SUPER’s 6 GB VRAM and Turing architecture become the defining factors for playability. The combination ranks in the bottom 15% of all tested systems for this title, which is a direct consequence of the GPU’s mid-range standing, not the processor’s flagship-class performance.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and clearly demonstrates that the graphics card is the limiting component in this pairing. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 216 FPS, which is exceptionally high. Moving to 1440p Low, that figure drops to 156 FPS, a 27.8% reduction. At 4K Low, the average falls to 98 FPS, which is a 54.6% reduction from the 1080p result. This scaling pattern indicates that the GPU’s pixel-pushing capabilities are being saturated as resolution increases, while the CPU’s 24 cores and 24 threads remain largely idle.

The trend continues across all settings presets. With High settings, the average FPS goes from 108 at 1080p, to 78 at 1440p (a 27.8% drop), and then to 49 at 4K (a 54.6% drop from 1080p). The Medium preset shows a similar pattern: 173 FPS at 1080p, 125 FPS at 1440p (a 27.7% drop), and 78 FPS at 4K (a 54.9% drop). The consistency of these percentage drops across different quality levels is a classic sign of a GPU bottleneck; if the CPU were the limiting factor, the absolute FPS would be capped at a certain level regardless of resolution, and the percentage drops would be much smaller.

At 4K, the Ultra preset yields an average of 47 FPS, while the High preset produces 49 FPS. This negligible 2 FPS difference suggests that the GPU is already at its absolute limit at this resolution, and the additional graphical load from Ultra settings cannot be processed without an equivalent drop in performance. The data shows that the difference between High and Ultra at 4K is just 4.1%, whereas the jump from Low to Medium at 4K is a 20.4% reduction in FPS (from 98 to 78). This indicates that the GPU’s memory bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s and its 1408 shading units are the primary constraints, not the CPU’s processing power.

How This Combo Ranks

The comboRankInGame places this specific configuration at rank 3166 out of 3716 tested combinations. This percentile standing of approximately 15.2% is a stark indicator that, for Inside, this system is far below the top tier of performance. The ranking is driven almost entirely by the GPU’s capabilities, as the GTX 1660 SUPER sits in the 53rd percentile of all GPUs, while the CPU is in the 96th percentile of all CPUs. This massive disparity between the two components’ standings explains the low overall rank; the GPU is holding the entire system back.

The GPU’s average benchmark score of 12986 puts it in close competition with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile, which scores 12940 (a 0.4% difference), and the AMD Radeon RX 580, which scores 12928 (also a 0.4% difference). The data shows the GTX 1660 SUPER is just 0.7% faster than the NVIDIA Tesla M2090, which scores 13075. These are the nearest rivals, and they all represent similar levels of graphical performance. In the context of Inside, this level of GPU performance translates to the measured FPS figures, which are adequate for smooth gameplay at lower resolutions but fall short of high-refresh-rate 4K experiences.

The CPU’s standing is entirely different. With an average benchmark score of 84003, the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is 0.2% faster than the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K (83807) and 1.1% faster than the AMD EPYC 4584PX (83090). It is 1.2% faster than the AMD EPYC 9135 (82980) but 1.3% slower than the AMD EPYC 7F72 (85072). These are all top-tier processors, and the CPU’s performance is never the limiting factor in Inside. The benchmark data confirms that this is a GPU-limited scenario, and the combo’s low rank is not a reflection of the CPU’s capabilities but rather a result of pairing a 96th-percentile CPU with a 53rd-percentile GPU.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal settings for this combo depend heavily on the target resolution and desired frame rate. For 1080p gaming, the Medium preset is the clear sweet spot, delivering an average of 173 FPS with a minimum of 147 FPS. This provides a smooth, high-refresh-rate experience that is well above the 60 FPS threshold and offers a substantial improvement over the High preset’s 108 FPS average. The Ultra preset at 1080p drops to 103 FPS, which is still playable but offers no meaningful visual benefit over Medium for a 40.5% performance cost.

At 1440p, the Medium preset is again the recommended choice, with an average of 125 FPS and a minimum of 106 FPS. This ensures that frame pacing remains consistent and the experience stays fluid. The High preset at 1440p produces 78 FPS, which is also acceptable for most players, but the Medium preset provides a 60.3% higher average FPS, making it the better choice for maintaining a high refresh rate. The Low preset at 1440p hits 156 FPS, but the visual degradation is likely too severe for a puzzle platformer where atmospheric detail matters.

For 4K resolution, the situation is more constrained. The Low preset achieves an average of 98 FPS, which is the only setting that guarantees a consistently smooth experience above 60 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K yields 78 FPS, which is still playable, but the minimum FPS of 66 suggests potential dips that could be noticeable in fast-moving scenes. The High and Ultra presets at 4K, with averages of 49 and 47 FPS respectively, are not recommended for a comfortable experience, as they fall below the 60 FPS threshold. For a balanced visual and performance profile, the data suggests using the Medium preset at 1080p and 1440p, and the Low preset at 4K.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Inside at 4K with a stable 60 FPS?

A: No. The data shows that at 4K with Medium settings, the average FPS is 78, but the minimum drops to 66. With High and Ultra settings, the averages are 49 and 47 FPS, respectively, which are all below 60 FPS. Only the Low preset at 4K achieves an average of 98 FPS, which is above 60 FPS.

Q: Is the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus a bottleneck for the GTX 1660 SUPER in this game?

A: No. The CPU is in the 96th percentile of all CPUs, while the GPU is in the 53rd percentile. The resolution scaling data shows consistent FPS drops from 1080p to 4K, which is characteristic of a GPU bottleneck. The CPU’s 24 cores and 24 threads provide far more processing power than this game requires.

Q: How does the GTX 1660 SUPER compare to its nearest rivals in terms of raw performance?

A: The GTX 1660 SUPER’s average benchmark score is 12986. It is 0.4% faster than the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile (12940) and the RX 580 (12928), and 0.9% faster than the AMD Radeon 740M (12870). It is 0.7% slower than the Tesla M2090 (13075).

Q: What is the best settings preset for a 1440p monitor?

A: The Medium preset is recommended. It delivers an average of 125 FPS and a minimum of 106 FPS, providing a smooth and consistent experience. The High preset drops to 78 FPS, while the Ultra preset drops to 74 FPS, making Medium the best balance of performance and visual quality.

Q: Does the GPU’s VRAM capacity of 6 GB limit performance in Inside?

A: The benchmark data does not directly measure VRAM usage, but the GPU’s memory bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s and 6 GB of GDDR6 memory are consistent with its overall performance class. The significant FPS drops at 4K resolution suggest that memory bandwidth is a constraint, but the data does not isolate VRAM capacity as a specific limiting factor.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to all other tested systems for Inside?

A: The comboRankInGame is 3166 out of 3716, which places it in the bottom 15.2% of all tested combinations. This low rank is primarily due to the GPU’s mid-range performance level, not the CPU’s capabilities.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER is the decisive component in this system’s performance for Inside. Its 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s, which is a critical resource for a game that scales its frame rate heavily with resolution. The benchmark data shows that increasing resolution from 1080p to 4K causes FPS to drop by over half, confirming that memory bandwidth and the GPU’s processing cores are the primary constraints.

The GPU’s clocks are set to a base of 1530 MHz and a boost of 1785 MHz, which are moderate figures for its generation. Its 1408 shading units and 48 ROPs work together to produce a pixel rate of 85.68 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 157.1 GTexel/s. These specifications place the GPU in the 53rd percentile of all GPUs, which is a mid-range standing. The measured results for Inside reflect this, with the GPU failing to maintain 60 FPS at 4K on High or Ultra settings.

The nearest rivals to the GTX 1660 SUPER in terms of average benchmark score are all within a 1.3% performance band. This tight clustering indicates that the GPU is precisely positioned in a competitive segment where marginal differences in architecture or clock speed can result in small but measurable differences in frame rates. The GPU’s performance in Inside, particularly the 49 FPS average at 4K High, is a direct result of its 5.027 TFLOPS FP32 throughput being insufficient for the pixel load at that resolution.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus plays a minimal role in determining the frame rates for Inside, as evidenced by the resolution scaling data. With 24 cores and 24 threads, this processor offers an enormous amount of parallel processing power, but the game does not utilize it. The CPU’s base clock of 3.70 GHz and boost clock of 5.80 GHz are exceptionally high, and its 36 MB of shared L3 cache ensures that any data it does process is handled with minimal latency.

The CPU’s benchmark scores are in the 96th percentile of all CPUs, with an average score of 84003. This places it in the company of server-class processors like the AMD EPYC series, as shown by its nearest rivals. The processor’s performance is so far beyond the requirements of Inside that it effectively never becomes a bottleneck, even at 1080p with Low settings where the GPU is producing 216 FPS.

The data shows that the combo’s rank of 3166 out of 3716 is directly attributable to the GPU’s limitations. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect to see similar FPS figures across different resolutions, as the processor would be unable to feed the GPU faster. Instead, the FPS scales inversely with resolution, indicating that the CPU is always ready to provide more data, but the GPU cannot process it fast enough. The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is a 96th-percentile CPU paired with a 53rd-percentile GPU, and the performance in Inside is a textbook example of a GPU-bound scenario.