Inside

Inside is a 2016 puzzle platformer that, on paper, should not stress modern hardware. Yet, the measured data for the Intel Core Ultra X7 368H paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 reveals a fascinating performance curve that is heavily dictated by the game's engine and the chosen graphics preset. The benchmark results show a system capable of delivering extremely high frame rates, but the scaling between settings and resolutions is anything but linear, indicating a complex interaction between the CPU, GPU, and the game's rendering pipeline. This analysis will break down the measured FPS data to provide a methodical look at how this particular combo handles the game.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate recorded for this combo in Inside?

A: The highest average frame rate recorded is 382 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low settings preset. This is the peak performance point for this configuration, suggesting that the game is highly scalable at lower graphical loads on this hardware.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K resolution with the Ultra preset?

A: At 3840x2160 with the Ultra preset, the combo produces an average frame rate of 99 FPS. This is the most demanding configuration tested, and while it remains playable, it represents a significant drop from lower resolutions and settings, highlighting the GPU load at 4K.

Q: What is the difference in average FPS between the Medium and Low presets at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Medium preset yields an average FPS of 266, while the Low preset yields an average FPS of 332. This represents a 66 FPS difference, or approximately a 24.8% performance uplift when moving from Medium to Low settings at this resolution.

Q: Are there any frame rate consistency metrics like minimum FPS in the data?

A: Yes, minimum and maximum FPS values are only provided for the Medium settings preset at each resolution. For example, at 1080p Medium, the average FPS is 352, with a minimum of 299 FPS and a maximum of 405 FPS. The other presets (Low, High, Ultra) only have average FPS data in the measurement set.

Q: What is the overall ranking of this specific CPU and GPU combo for Inside?

A: The combo ranks 636th out of 3716 total tested combinations for this game. This places it in the top 17.1% of all tested configurations, indicating that while it is a high-performing setup, there are many other combinations that deliver higher frame rates in this specific title.

Q: Based on the data, which preset provides the best balance of high frame rate and visual fidelity at 1440p?

A: The High preset at 2560x1440 delivers an average FPS of 166, which is well above the standard 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. This makes it a strong candidate for the best experience, as it likely offers improved visual quality over Medium without the significant performance cost of the Ultra preset, which drops to 158 FPS.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the dominant component in this configuration, and its role in Inside is defined by its massive memory pool and high clock speeds. With 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, the GPU has a memory bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s. In a game like Inside, which is not typically known for requiring vast amounts of VRAM, this capacity is far beyond what is necessary. The data suggests that the GPU is never bottlenecked by memory capacity, allowing it to focus its full processing power on rendering frames.

The core clocks of the RTX 4090, with a base clock of 2235 MHz and a boost clock of 2520 MHz, are critical to its performance. The benchmark results show a clear pattern: as resolution increases, the average FPS drops, which is a classic sign of the GPU becoming the primary limiting factor. At 1080p Low, the GPU produces 382 FPS, but at 4K Ultra, it produces 99 FPS. This 74% decrease in performance is directly attributable to the increased pixel-pushing workload at higher resolutions, a task that falls squarely on the GPU's 16,384 shading units and 176 ROPs.

The GPU's performance in synthetic benchmarks further contextualizes its capabilities. It scores 38,194 in Passmark G3D and 26,613 in Passmark GPU Compute, placing it in the 88th percentile of all GPUs. While its nearest rivals in average benchmark score include the Intel Arc Pro A60 and AMD Radeon Pro W6600M, the RTX 4090's raw specifications, such as its 82.58 TFLOPS FP32 performance, are far superior. In the context of Inside, this raw power is what allows for such high frame rates, even at 4K, where it still manages to exceed 100 FPS on the High preset. The data indicates that the GPU is the performance backbone, and its headroom is so vast that the game's frame rate at lower resolutions is likely constrained by other factors.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides a clear matrix for recommending settings based on the user's priority: maximum frame rate, maximum visual fidelity, or a balance of both. For users with high-refresh-rate monitors, the Low preset is the clear winner. At 1080p, it achieves an average of 382 FPS, and even at 1440p, it maintains a stellar 332 FPS. This preset is designed to remove as much graphical load as possible, allowing the system to push frames at an exceptional rate.

The Medium preset offers a significant step up in visual quality while still maintaining very high performance. At 1440p, it delivers an average of 266 FPS, which is more than enough for even the most demanding 240Hz displays. This preset also has the only recorded minimum FPS data, showing a 226 FPS minimum at 1440p, which indicates a stable frame delivery. At 1080p, the Medium preset hits 352 FPS average, with a minimum of 299 FPS, showing it is also a highly viable option for competitive play.

For users prioritizing visual fidelity, the Ultra preset is the most demanding, and the data shows it comes at a cost. At 1440p, Ultra yields an average of 158 FPS, which is still very smooth, but a notable drop from the 266 FPS of Medium. At 4K, Ultra drops to 99 FPS, which is just at the edge of high-refresh-rate territory. The High preset appears to be the optimal balance. At 1440p, it produces 166 FPS, which is only a small improvement over Ultra (158 FPS), but at 4K, it offers a significant jump to 104 FPS compared to Ultra's 99 FPS. The data suggests that for the best overall experience, the High preset at 1440p provides a superior frame rate to Ultra while likely offering a negligible visual difference in this game's art style.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra X7 368H and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 achieves a rank of 636 out of 3716 tested combinations for Inside. This places it in the top 17.1% of all tested systems, which reflects its overall capability. However, the ranking also reveals that this is not a top-tier configuration for this specific game. The fact that 635 other combinations perform better suggests that the pairing, while powerful, is not perfectly optimized for Inside's engine.

This ranking is particularly interesting when considering the individual components. The RTX 4090 is in the 88th percentile of all GPUs, and the Core Ultra X7 368H is in the 87th percentile of all CPUs. One might expect such high-performing parts to result in a higher combo ranking. The data implies that the game's performance is not solely dependent on raw component strength. The 636th rank suggests that the game may be heavily reliant on a specific aspect of CPU performance, such as single-thread speed, where other CPUs might have an edge, or that the game is bottlenecked by the CPU at certain settings, preventing the GPU from reaching its full potential.

The deltaPct values for the CPU's nearest rivals show it is incredibly close to them in average benchmark score, with a -0.1% difference from the Intel Core 7 253PE and a 0.2% difference from the AMD Ryzen 9 7940H. This indicates that the CPU performance is very consistent with its peers. Therefore, the 636th rank is more likely a result of the game's specific engine characteristics and how it interacts with this particular CPU architecture, rather than a deficiency in the hardware's raw power. The data shows a high-performing combo that is nevertheless outclassed by more specialized or differently-balanced systems in this title.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra X7 368H is a 16-core, 16-thread processor based on the Panther Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.00 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. While its 18 MB of shared L3 cache and 153.6 GB/s memory bandwidth are substantial, its role in Inside is more nuanced than the GPU's. The game is a puzzle platformer that is not traditionally considered to be heavily multi-threaded. Therefore, the CPU's high boost clock of 5.00 GHz is likely more critical than its core count.

The benchmark data supports this theory. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 382 FPS, but at 1080p Ultra, it drops to 220 FPS. This 42% performance decrease, which is solely due to a change in graphics settings, indicates that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU at very high rates, but its performance is also impacted by the increased graphical workload. This is unexpected, as typically lower resolutions and settings shift the bottleneck to the CPU. Here, the CPU is strong enough to maintain high frame rates, but the game's engine still shows a dependency on the GPU even at 1080p.

The CPU's synthetic benchmarks show a strong single-core performance, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3984 and a Passmark single-thread score of 4005. This is crucial for a game like Inside, which likely has a primary game logic thread. The multi-core performance is also excellent, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 28221, but this is less impactful for this genre. The data suggests that the CPU's high clock speeds are what allow the RTX 4090 to achieve such high frame rates at lower resolutions, but the game's engine still creates a bottleneck that prevents the 4090 from reaching its absolute maximum potential. The CPU is a capable partner, but it is not the primary driver of performance in this specific title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data offers a comprehensive look at performance across all major resolutions and presets. At 1920x1080, the system demonstrates its peak performance. The Low preset leads with an average of 382 FPS, followed by Medium at 352 FPS, High at 231 FPS, and Ultra at 220 FPS. The Medium preset shows a minimum of 299 FPS and a maximum of 405 FPS, indicating a slightly variable but generally stable experience.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain exceptionally high. The Low preset averages 332 FPS, while the Medium preset averages 266 FPS, with a minimum of 226 FPS and a maximum of 306 FPS. The High and Ultra presets deliver averages of 166 FPS and 158 FPS, respectively. This shows a clear and expected drop from 1080p, with the Low preset experiencing an 13.1% decrease, and the High preset a 28.1% decrease.

At 3840x2160, the GPU begins to feel the strain of the higher pixel count. The Low preset still manages a very playable 209 FPS, but the Medium preset drops to 167 FPS, with a minimum of 142 FPS. The High preset averages 104 FPS, and the Ultra preset falls to 99 FPS. The transition from 1440p to 4K is significant, with the High preset losing 37.3% of its performance. The data shows a system that is overkill for 1080p and 1440p but is still very capable at 4K, delivering smooth gameplay on all but the most demanding Ultra preset.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K provides clear insight into the limiting component. From 1080p to 1440p, the average FPS across all presets drops by approximately 13-28%. For instance, the High preset goes from 231 FPS to 166 FPS, a 28.1% reduction. This is a substantial drop, but the frame rates are still so high that the system remains firmly in "GPU-bound" territory.

The scaling from 1440p to 4K is even more dramatic. The High preset falls from 166 FPS to 104 FPS, a 37.3% decrease. The Ultra preset sees a similar fall from 158 FPS to 99 FPS, a 37.3% decrease as well. This steeper decline at higher resolutions is the classic signature of the GPU becoming the primary bottleneck. The RTX 4090 is being tasked with rendering more pixels, and its frame output is directly tied to this workload.

However, the relationship between resolution and settings is not perfectly uniform. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 162 FPS (382 vs 220). At 4K, this difference shrinks to 110 FPS (209 vs 99). This compression of the performance gap at higher resolutions suggests that while the GPU is the main limiter at 4K, it still has enough headroom to process the increased graphical complexity of the Ultra preset. Conversely, at 1080p, the CPU is more likely to be a co-limiting factor, but the data shows that even then, the GPU is still heavily involved. The scaling indicates a system where the GPU is the primary performance driver across all tested settings, with the CPU providing a sufficiently strong foundation to avoid being the main constraint until frame rates reach extremely high levels.