Inside

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 combination occupies a specific niche in the database: it ranks 2915th out of 3716 tested combos for Inside. That places it in the lower third of all systems measured, which is a direct consequence of the GPU's age and tier rather than the CPU's capability. The Ryzen 7 9700F is a modern 8-core, 16-thread processor built on the Zen 5 architecture, and it sits in the 94th percentile among all CPUs. The RTX 2060, however, is a Turing-generation card from 2019, and its percentile rank against all GPUs is only 58. The pairing is therefore asymmetric: a top-tier CPU harnessed to a mid-range, older graphics card. For a puzzle platformer like Inside, the data suggests this imbalance is manageable, but it shapes every result recorded.

How This Combo Ranks

The recorded data places this specific CPU-GPU pairing at rank 2915 out of 3716 total combinations tested in the database for Inside. That rank is not a measure of failure; it reflects the distribution of all systems, many of which use far newer and more expensive GPUs. The combo sits below the median, but the actual frame rates tell a more nuanced story. The RTX 2060's Passmark G3D score of 14111 and its average benchmark score of 15290 are modest, yet Inside is not a demanding title by modern standards. The game's release in 2016 and its 2D side-scrolling presentation mean that even a GPU in the 58th percentile can produce high frame rates at most settings. The rank of 2915 is a statistical outlier in the sense that such a low rank usually implies poor playability, but the measured FPS data contradicts that assumption. The combo is capable of clearing 60 FPS at every resolution tested, which suggests the rank is dragged down by the GPU's absolute score rather than by real-world performance in this specific game. The CPU's 94th percentile ranking and its average benchmark score of 69996, which is nearly identical to the Ryzen 9 7940HX (69875) and Intel Core i7-14700KF (70163), mean that the processor is never the bottleneck. The bottleneck is purely the GPU, and in Inside, that bottleneck is high enough to deliver smooth gameplay.

CPU and GPU Roles

The data shows a clear division of labor between the CPU and GPU across resolutions. At 1920x1080, the CPU's strength dominates. The Ryzen 7 9700F's single-thread score of 4691 and multithread score of 36470 ensure that the processor can feed frames rapidly, but the GPU becomes the limiting factor as resolution increases. Comparing the average FPS at Low settings across resolutions reveals the scaling: 256 FPS at 1080p drops to 184 FPS at 1440p, and further to 116 FPS at 4K. That is a drop of 72 FPS (28%) from 1080p to 1440p, and another 68 FPS (37%) from 1440p to 4K. These percentage reductions are almost entirely GPU-driven, as the CPU workload for a puzzle platformer remains constant regardless of resolution. The GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth, 80.64 GPixel/s and 336.0 GB/s respectively, are the constraints. At Ultra settings, the same pattern emerges: 122 FPS at 1080p, 88 FPS at 1440p, and 55 FPS at 4K. The CPU's role is to maintain a high baseline, which it does, but the GPU's pixel and texture throughput dictates the ceiling. The 4K Ultra result of 55 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold, proves that the GPU alone is responsible for the shortfall. The CPU's 8 cores and 16 threads are never stressed by this game, as evidenced by the fact that even at 1080p Low, the frame rate is more than four times the playable threshold.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The recorded measurements cover three resolutions and four settings each, with average frame rates provided for all, and min/max values only for Medium settings. At 1920x1080, the results are exceptionally high. Low settings produce an average of 256 FPS, which is the highest recorded for this combo. Medium settings average 205 FPS, with a minimum of 174 and a maximum of 236. High settings average 128 FPS, and Ultra settings average 122 FPS. Every 1080p configuration clears the 60 FPS threshold by a wide margin, with even the lowest minimum (174 FPS at Medium) being nearly three times the playable target. At 2560x1440, the averages remain strong. Low settings hit 184 FPS, Medium averages 147 FPS with a min of 125 and max of 169, High averages 92 FPS, and Ultra averages 88 FPS. The 1440p results show that the GPU's load increases, but the frame rates stay comfortably above 60 FPS across the board. The 4K resolution, 3840x2160, is where the limits appear. Low settings still produce 116 FPS on average, and Medium averages 93 FPS with a min of 79 and max of 106. High settings drop to 58 FPS on average, which is just below the 60 FPS threshold, and Ultra settings fall to 55 FPS. The transition from Medium to High at 4K represents a 35 FPS drop (from 93 to 58), which is a 38% reduction. This steep decline indicates that the High preset introduces shading and post-processing effects that the RTX 2060's 6 GB of GDDR6 memory and 192-bit bus cannot sustain at 4K. The min FPS at 4K Medium (79) is still above 60, but the High and Ultra settings have no recorded min/max values, which suggests the database only captured averages for those configs.

The Verdict

Can this PC run Inside? The answer is yes, with caveats only at the highest resolution and preset. The verdict data is explicit: at 1920x1080, all four settings (High, Low, Medium, Ultra) are playable, with the best setting being Ultra at an average of 122 FPS. At 2560x1440, the same is true: High, Low, Medium, and Ultra all clear 60 FPS, with Ultra averaging 88 FPS. At 3840x2160, only Low and Medium are playable, with Medium being the best at 93 FPS. High and Ultra at 4K fall short, averaging 58 and 55 FPS respectively. The practical implication is that this combo can run Inside at maximum settings at 1080p and 1440p, delivering frame rates that are more than double the playable threshold. For 4K, the user must drop to Medium settings to stay above 60 FPS, and even then, the average of 93 FPS leaves ample headroom. The 4K High result of 58 FPS is a near miss, just 2 FPS below the target, which could be smoothed over by minor in-game adjustments such as disabling specific effects. The data indicates that the CPU is never a limiting factor; the GPU is the sole reason for the 4K High and Ultra shortfalls. Overall, this system is more than adequate for Inside at mainstream resolutions, and it only struggles with the most demanding 4K presets.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Inside at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings?

A: Yes, the measured average FPS at 1080p Ultra is 122, which is well above the 60 FPS playable threshold.

Q: What is the best playable setting at 3840x2160?

A: At 4K, the best playable setting is Medium, with an average FPS of 93. High and Ultra average 58 and 55 FPS respectively, both below the 60 FPS threshold.

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

A: The Ryzen 7 9700F has an average benchmark score of 69996, which is nearly identical to the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX (69875, 0.2% delta) and the Intel Core i7-14700KF (70163, -0.2% delta). It is also 0.7% ahead of the Ryzen 9 7950X (69515) and 0.9% ahead of the Core i7-14700K (69355).

Q: What is the lowest frame rate recorded for this combo?

A: The lowest recorded average is 55 FPS at 4K Ultra settings. The lowest min FPS recorded is 79 FPS at 4K Medium settings.

Q: Does the GPU bottleneck the CPU at 1080p?

A: No, the data shows the opposite. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 256 FPS, indicating the CPU and GPU are both underutilized. The GPU becomes the bottleneck only at 4K High and Ultra, where frame rates drop below 60.

Q: Is the RTX 2060 close to any modern GPUs in performance?

A: The RTX 2060's average benchmark score is 15290. Its nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 (15283, 0% delta), followed by the AMD Radeon 680M (15270, 0.1% delta), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM (15199, 0.6% delta), and the AMD Radeon RX 7600 (15171, 0.8% delta).

Best Settings per Resolution

The database identifies the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS for each resolution. At 1920x1080, that is Ultra, with an average FPS of 122. This is the highest preset available, and it clears the threshold by more than double. At 2560x1440, the best setting is also Ultra, averaging 88 FPS. The 1440p Ultra result is 34 FPS lower than 1080p Ultra, which reflects the increased pixel load on the RTX 2060. At 3840x2160, the best playable setting is Medium, averaging 93 FPS. The jump from Medium to High at 4K is steep, dropping from 93 to 58 FPS, a 35 FPS difference. For users who prioritize visual fidelity, 1440p Ultra is the sweet spot, as it offers the full graphical experience while maintaining a frame rate that is 28 FPS above the playable target. For 4K, Medium is the only viable option that provides a smooth experience, and it does so with a 33 FPS margin above the threshold. The data does not include min/max values for High or Ultra settings, so the averages are the only reliable metric for those presets. In all cases, the recommended settings are derived from measured averages, not theoretical estimates.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The nearest rivals for the CPU and GPU provide context for what other hardware would behave similarly in this system. For the Ryzen 7 9700F, the closest matches are the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX (avg score 69875, delta 0.2%), the Intel Core i7-14700KF (70163, delta -0.2%), the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (69515, delta 0.7%), and the Intel Core i7-14700K (69355, delta 0.9%). These processors all fall within a 0.9% performance band of each other, meaning any of them would produce nearly identical CPU-bound results in Inside. Since the game is not CPU-intensive, swapping the 9700F for any of these rivals would have negligible impact on frame rates. For the RTX 2060, the nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 (15283, delta 0%), the AMD Radeon 680M (15270, delta 0.1%), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM (15199, delta 0.6%), and the AMD Radeon RX 7600 (15171, delta 0.8%). These GPUs have average benchmark scores within 0.8% of each other, so they would all produce nearly identical frame rates in Inside. The GTX 580 is a much older card, but its score is essentially tied with the RTX 2060. The Radeon 680M is an integrated GPU, yet it matches the RTX 2060's score closely. The RTX 3050 OEM and RX 7600 are newer, but their scores are slightly lower. Any of these alternatives would yield the same gameplay experience, with the GPU remaining the primary determinant of performance at 4K High and Ultra settings.