Inside

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 and AMD Radeon RX 7700 combination delivers a solid, high-refresh-rate experience in Inside, a game that is far more forgiving on hardware than most modern titles. The data places this pairing at rank 1853 out of 2887 tested combos, meaning it sits in the upper half of all system configurations but is not a top-tier contender. That positioning is largely dictated by the aging Ryzen 5 2600 processor, which, while still functional, holds back the much newer RX 7700 graphics card in this puzzle platformer. The benchmark results show that this combo is capable of pushing well past 60 frames per second at 4K and exceeding 150 FPS at 1080p, making it an excellent choice for high-refresh monitors despite its mid-pack ranking.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s position at 1853 out of 2887 tested configurations places it in the 64th percentile of all systems tested, a respectable but not dominant standing. This rank is heavily influenced by the CPU’s performance ceiling rather than the GPU’s raw capabilities. The Ryzen 5 2600, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, posts an average benchmark score of 21484, which puts it in the 75th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals in the CPU benchmark charts are the Intel Core Ultra 5 228V (scoring 21440, just 0.2% behind) and the Intel Core i9-11900H (scoring 21367, 0.5% behind), while the Intel Xeon D-1746TER (21635) and AMD EPYC 9454 (21223) sit within a 1.2% margin. This clustering shows that the Ryzen 5 2600 is still competitive in synthetic CPU tests, but in a game like Inside, which relies on strong single-thread performance for consistent frame pacing, the older Zen architecture is a limiting factor.

The GPU, by contrast, is a much newer and more powerful component. The Radeon RX 7700 scores an average of 15852 across its benchmark suite, placing it in the 58th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon R9 370X (15862, just 0.1% ahead), the AMD Radeon RX 9060 (16014, 1% ahead), the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 (15679, 1.1% behind), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (16129, 1.7% ahead). This tight grouping means the RX 7700 is essentially performance-equivalent to those cards in general compute tasks, but its 16 GB of VRAM and modern RDNA 3.0 architecture give it advantages in memory-heavy scenarios. In the context of this combo, the GPU is rarely the bottleneck; the CPU’s single-thread performance caps the achievable frame rates, especially at lower resolutions where the graphics card is not fully utilized.

GPU Role

The Radeon RX 7700 is built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with the Navi 32 chip, fabricated on a 5 nm process by TSMC. It features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding a memory bandwidth of 624.1 GB/s. This is a substantial amount of VRAM for a game released in 2016, and Inside’s relatively simple 2D side-scrolling visuals rarely stress the memory subsystem. The GPU’s clock speeds are set at a base of 1900 MHz, a game clock of 2041 MHz, and a boost clock of 2459 MHz, with the memory running at 2438 MHz (19.5 Gbps effective). These clocks are more than sufficient for this title, and the benchmark data confirms that the GPU is overprovisioned for the task.

In the measured results, the GPU’s role becomes clear when looking at the 4K Ultra setting, which yields an average FPS of 76, compared to 80 at High and 128 at Medium. This suggests that even at the highest settings, the GPU is not being pushed to its limits; the frame rate drop from Medium to Ultra is only 52 FPS, indicating that the game’s visual fidelity settings have a moderate impact on GPU load. The GPU’s PassMark G3D score of 20974 and its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2865 further illustrate that this card has ample headroom. The RX 7700’s 2560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 96 ROPs are all more than adequate for a puzzle platformer, and the 40 ray accelerators are irrelevant here since Inside does not use ray tracing. The GPU is effectively idling in most scenes, which is why the CPU becomes the primary determinant of performance.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling across resolutions reveals a classic CPU-bound scenario. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 205 FPS, but this drops to 183 FPS at 1440p and 157 FPS at 4K. The decline from 1080p to 4K is 48 FPS, or roughly 23%, which is a relatively modest drop for such a large resolution increase. This indicates that the GPU is not the limiting factor at lower resolutions; if it were, the drop would be far more severe. Instead, the CPU’s single-thread performance is maxing out around 200 FPS, and the GPU has enough headroom to maintain those frame rates even as the pixel count quadruples.

Looking at the Medium settings, which include min and max FPS data, the pattern holds. At 1080p Medium, the average is 189 FPS with a minimum of 161 and a maximum of 217. At 1440p Medium, the average is 169 FPS (min 144, max 195), and at 4K Medium, the average is 128 FPS (min 108, max 147). The min-to-max spread narrows as resolution increases, which is typical of a system where the CPU is the bottleneck at lower resolutions and the GPU begins to take on more load at higher ones. The fact that 4K Medium still averages 128 FPS shows that this combo is far from struggling; it’s only at 4K Ultra that the frame rate dips to 76 FPS, which is still well above the 60 FPS target for most displays. The data suggests that the limiting component shifts from the CPU at 1080p to a more balanced load at 4K, but the GPU never becomes a hard bottleneck in this title.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal experience for this combo is a balance between visual quality and frame rate stability. The Ultra preset, while visually identical to High in many scenes for a game like Inside, costs a significant number of frames: at 4K, Ultra averages 76 FPS versus High’s 80 FPS, and at 1080p, Ultra averages 155 FPS versus High’s 158 FPS. The difference is marginal in terms of playability, but the High preset offers a slightly higher average frame rate at every resolution, making it the better choice for users who prioritize smoothness over the few extra visual tweaks that Ultra provides.

The Medium preset is the sweet spot for this combo. At 4K Medium, the average FPS is 128, which is a 60% improvement over Ultra’s 76 FPS, and the minimum FPS of 108 ensures that there are no noticeable hitches. At 1440p Medium, the average of 169 FPS with a minimum of 144 FPS is ideal for high-refresh-rate monitors, providing a consistently smooth experience. The Low preset offers the highest frame rates (205 FPS at 1080p, 183 FPS at 1440p, and 157 FPS at 4K), but the visual downgrade is unnecessary given that Medium already exceeds 120 FPS at all resolutions. The data indicates that Medium is the best recommendation: it provides a 128 FPS average at 4K, which is over twice the refresh rate of a standard 60 Hz display, and it maintains a minimum FPS above 100 at all tested resolutions. For a puzzle platformer where precise timing is key, the stable frame pacing of Medium is preferable to the slightly higher averages of High.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates. Low settings produce an average of 205 FPS, Medium yields 189 FPS (with a minimum of 161 and maximum of 217), High achieves 158 FPS, and Ultra drops slightly to 155 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 50 FPS, indicating that the CPU is the limiting factor at this resolution; even at Low, the frame rate cannot exceed 205 FPS, which is likely a hard cap imposed by the CPU’s single-thread performance. The Medium preset’s minimum of 161 FPS shows that the system can maintain high frame rates even during demanding scenes, which is crucial for a game that relies on atmospheric tension.

Stepping up to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but begin to show the GPU’s influence. Low averages 183 FPS, Medium averages 169 FPS (min 144, max 195), High averages 127 FPS, and Ultra averages 121 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is more pronounced at High and Ultra settings (a 31 FPS and 34 FPS drop, respectively) compared to Low and Medium (22 FPS and 20 FPS drops). This suggests that at higher settings, the GPU is starting to take on more work, but it still has plenty of headroom. The Medium preset’s minimum of 144 FPS at 1440p is particularly noteworthy, as it ensures that the frame rate never dips below the refresh rate of most gaming monitors.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes a more significant factor. Low settings average 157 FPS, Medium averages 128 FPS (min 108, max 147), High averages 80 FPS, and Ultra averages 76 FPS. The jump from Low to Medium is a 29 FPS drop, while the jump from Medium to High is a 48 FPS drop, indicating that the High preset introduces a substantial GPU load increase. The 4K Ultra result of 76 FPS is the lowest average in the entire dataset, but it is still playable on a 60 Hz display. The Medium preset at 4K, with its 128 FPS average and 108 FPS minimum, is the standout result, proving that this combo can handle 4K gaming with ease as long as the settings are not maxed out. The min FPS at 4K Medium (108) is higher than the average FPS at 4K High (80), which reinforces the recommendation to use Medium for the best balance of quality and performance.

FAQ

*Q: Is this combo capable of 4K gaming in Inside?*

A: Yes, the data shows 4K Medium averages 128 FPS with a minimum of 108 FPS, while 4K High averages 80 FPS and 4K Ultra averages 76 FPS. All settings are playable at 4K, but Medium offers the best balance.

Q: What is the limiting component in this system?

A: At 1080p and 1440p, the CPU is the primary bottleneck, as evidenced by the frame rate plateau around 205 FPS at 1080p Low. At 4K, the GPU becomes more involved, but the CPU still plays a significant role, as shown by the 76 FPS at 4K Ultra.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 2600 compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Ryzen 5 2600 has an average benchmark score of 21484, which is 0.2% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 5 228V (21440) and 0.5% ahead of the Intel Core i9-11900H (21367). It is 0.7% behind the Intel Xeon D-1746TER (21635) and 1.2% ahead of the AMD EPYC 9454 (21223).

Q: How does the Radeon RX 7700 compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RX 7700 scores 15852 on average, which is 0.1% behind the AMD Radeon R9 370X (15862) and 1% behind the AMD Radeon RX 9060 (16014). It is 1.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 (15679) and 1.7% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (16129).

Q: What is the best settings preset for a 144 Hz monitor?

A: At 1440p Medium, the combo averages 169 FPS with a minimum of 144 FPS, which is perfectly matched to a 144 Hz display. At 1080p, even the Ultra preset averages 155 FPS, so any setting will work for 144 Hz at that resolution.

Q: Does the GPU’s 16 GB of VRAM matter for this game?

A: The data does not indicate any VRAM-related performance issues, as Inside is a 2016 puzzle platformer with modest graphics requirements. The 16 GB of VRAM is far more than the game needs, ensuring no memory-related stutters at any resolution or settings level.