Inside

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and Intel Arc B570 combination delivers a strong experience in Inside, a 2016 puzzle platformer that is far more demanding at 4K than its minimalist art style might suggest. Benchmark data shows this pairing is capable of high refresh rates at 1080p and 1440p, but requires a settings adjustment to maintain a locked 60 FPS at 4K. The system ranks in the 80th percentile of tested combos, proving it is a well-balanced match for this title.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the system has ample headroom. The Ultra preset is the most demanding option that still stays well above the 60 FPS playability threshold, delivering an average of 114 FPS. The data shows that even the most visually intensive settings are not a challenge at this resolution, with the GPU clearly having plenty of performance left in reserve.

Moving to 2560x1440, the Ultra preset remains the highest playable setting, achieving an average of 82 FPS. While this is a significant drop from the 1080p result, it still clears the 60 FPS mark with a comfortable 22 FPS margin. The data indicates that 1440p is the sweet spot for this combo, balancing visual fidelity with high frame rates.

At 3840x2160, the situation changes. The Ultra preset drops to an average of 52 FPS, falling below the 60 FPS threshold. The most demanding preset that remains playable is Medium, which produces an average of 87 FPS. This is the recommended setting for 4K, as it provides a smooth experience while sacrificing some visual effects compared to the higher presets. The High preset at 54 FPS is borderline, but the Medium setting provides a much larger safety margin.

CPU and GPU Roles

The benchmark results reveal a clear shift in component importance depending on the resolution. At 1080p, the game is heavily CPU-bound. The CPU’s strong single-thread performance, evidenced by a 3DMark single-thread score of 1286 and a Geekbench single-core score of 3010, is what allows the GPU to push frame rates up to 240 FPS on Low settings. The GPU’s role is almost secondary here, as the CPU is feeding it data faster than it can render at these lower resolutions.

At 1440p, the balance begins to shift toward the GPU. The average FPS drops from 120 (High) at 1080p to 86 (High) at 1440p, a 28% decrease. This scaling shows that the increased pixel count is starting to put more strain on the Intel Arc B570. However, the fact that the Ultra preset still manages 82 FPS indicates the CPU is still keeping up effectively, preventing a bottleneck.

The 4K results confirm that the GPU becomes the primary limiting factor at this resolution. The average FPS at High settings drops from 86 at 1440p to 54 at 4K, a 37% reduction. This is a substantial hit that points directly to the GPU’s rendering limits. The Arc B570’s 10 GB of GDDR6 memory and 380.0 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient, but its raw compute power (11.52 TFLOPS FP32) is what holds it back at this demanding resolution. The CPU’s role is diminished here, as it is clearly not the bottleneck; the GPU is simply unable to render the frames fast enough.

Similar Performance Alternatives

Looking at the CPU’s nearest rivals, the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X sits in a tightly packed performance cluster. The AMD EPYC 9015 is a near-identical match, with an average score of 57555, just 0.1% below the 9900X’s 57498. The AMD EPYC 7313 is also very close, scoring 57399, a 0.2% difference. In practice, these server-class chips would deliver almost indistinguishable performance in Inside.

The Intel Core i9-14900 is a more relevant consumer alternative, scoring 58115, which is 1.1% higher. This means it would provide a marginal but measurable improvement in CPU-bound scenarios, such as the 1080p Low preset. The Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M is 1.4% faster with a score of 58323, but its platform is not designed for gaming, so the 9900X is the more sensible choice.

On the GPU side, the Intel Arc B570’s closest rival is the Intel Arc A750, which scores 20582, a 0.1% difference. This is essentially a same-performance alternative, meaning users with an A750 should expect identical frame rates. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile is also a match, scoring 20534, just 0.1% lower. While this is a mobile chip, its desktop counterpart would likely be faster, but the data here shows parity.

The AMD Radeon R9 M390X and NVIDIA Quadro M4000M are also in the same performance bracket, scoring 20662 and 20480 respectively, with deltas of -0.5% and +0.4%. These are older, mobile-oriented parts, but the benchmark scores indicate they would provide similar frame rates in this game. For a desktop gamer, the Arc A750 is the most practical comparable option, as it shares the same architectural family and performance level.

The Verdict

Yes, this PC can run Inside effectively at all three tested resolutions. The verdict by resolution is clear: at 1920x1080, all settings including Ultra are playable, with the best experience being Ultra at 114 FPS. At 2560x1440, the system also handles every preset, with Ultra being the best choice at 82 FPS. At 3840x2160, the system cannot maintain 60 FPS on the High or Ultra presets, but it does clear the threshold on Low (108 FPS) and Medium (87 FPS) settings.

The data shows that the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS at 4K is Medium, with an average of 87 FPS. This is a solid result for a game like Inside, which focuses on atmosphere and puzzle-solving rather than fast-paced action. The 52 FPS average on Ultra is close to playable, but the Medium preset provides a much smoother and more consistent experience. Overall, this combo is more than capable for the game, offering high refresh rates at mainstream resolutions and a playable experience at 4K.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a detailed look at performance across all settings and resolutions.

At 3840x2160, the results are: Low settings average 108 FPS, Medium settings average 87 FPS with a minimum of 74 and a maximum of 100, High settings average 54 FPS, and Ultra settings average 52 FPS. The gap between Medium and High is significant, a 33 FPS drop, which highlights a steep performance cliff when moving beyond the Medium preset.

At 2560x1440, the breakdown is: Low averages 172 FPS, Medium averages 138 FPS with a minimum of 117 and a maximum of 159, High averages 86 FPS, and Ultra averages 82 FPS. The scaling here is more gradual, with a 56 FPS difference between Low and Ultra. The Medium preset’s minimum of 117 FPS shows excellent frame pacing, ensuring no noticeable stutters.

At 1920x1080, the results are: Low averages 240 FPS, Medium averages 192 FPS with a minimum of 163 and a maximum of 221, High averages 120 FPS, and Ultra averages 114 FPS. The system is clearly CPU-limited at this resolution, as the 240 FPS cap on Low is likely a game engine or VSync limit rather than a hardware bottleneck. The Medium preset’s 192 FPS average is exceptional for a 60Hz or 144Hz display.

How This Combo Ranks

In the benchmark database, this specific CPU-GPU combination ranks 2983rd out of 3716 tested combos for Inside. This places the system in the 80th percentile of all tested configurations, meaning it outperforms roughly 80% of the systems in the database for this game.

This rank is notable because it shows that while the Ryzen 9 9900X is a high-end CPU (92nd percentile among all CPUs) and the Arc B570 is a mid-range GPU (65th percentile among all GPUs), their combined performance in Inside is stronger than the individual percentiles might suggest. The game’s modest graphics requirements allow the CPU’s strong multi-threaded performance (a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32172) to carry the system, especially at lower resolutions. The rank indicates that this is a well-balanced pairing for this specific title, offering performance that is superior to many systems with more expensive GPUs but weaker CPUs. For a puzzle platformer, this is an excellent result.