Inside

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 delivers a remarkably fluid experience in Inside, a 2016 puzzle platformer that is far more demanding on the GPU than its minimalist aesthetic suggests. The measured data shows that this combination is capable of pushing well beyond standard display refresh rates at every tested resolution, with performance scaling predictably across the four quality presets.

Settings Recommendations

For this title, the data clearly indicates that the High preset is the optimal choice for most users, striking the best balance between visual fidelity and raw frame throughput. At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers an average of 158 FPS, which is nearly identical to the Ultra preset’s 155 FPS average. The performance gap between High and Ultra is negligible—a mere 3 FPS—yet High typically requires fewer GPU resources, providing a more stable experience with additional headroom for demanding scenes.

The Medium preset is the value pick for high-refresh-rate displays. It achieves 189 FPS at 1080p, 169 FPS at 1440p, and 145 FPS at 4K. The jump from Medium to High costs roughly 31 FPS at 1080p, 28 FPS at 1440p, and 47 FPS at 4K. Given that Medium still maintains strong minimum frame rates—161 FPS at 1080p and 123 FPS at 4K—it is the recommended choice for gamers with 144Hz or 165Hz monitors who want maximum smoothness without sacrificing too much visual quality.

The Low preset pushes performance to extreme levels, hitting 205 FPS at 1080p and 183 FPS at 1440p. However, the visual downgrade in Inside’s atmospheric lighting and shadow work is significant, and the extra frames beyond 200 FPS offer diminishing returns for most display setups. The Ultra preset, while offering the highest fidelity, is the least efficient tier. It only improves on High by 3 FPS at 1080p and actually drops 2 FPS at 1440p (139 FPS vs 141 FPS), suggesting that Ultra’s additional effects are either not well optimized or that the CPU becomes a limiting factor at lower resolutions.

At 4K, the High preset’s 98 FPS average is still excellent for a puzzle platformer, and it remains the best recommendation for high-resolution displays. The Medium preset at 4K (145 FPS) is the only option that comfortably exceeds 144Hz at that resolution, making it the go-to choice for players with 4K 144Hz panels.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen+ architecture, manufactured on a 12 nm process at GlobalFoundries. It features a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 3.90 GHz. While this CPU is from 2018, its specifications remain relevant for a game like Inside, which is not heavily threaded. The processor’s 16 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support at 46.9 GB/s provide sufficient bandwidth for the game’s data streaming needs.

Benchmark data places the Ryzen 5 2600 in the 75th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 21,484. In multi-core workloads, it scores 1,248 points in Cinebench R15 and 5,648 in Geekbench, while single-core scores are 157.3 and 1,154 respectively. These numbers indicate that while the CPU is not a top-tier performer by modern standards, it is more than adequate for Inside, which primarily stresses the GPU.

The measured FPS data confirms this analysis. At 1080p, where CPU overhead is typically highest, the difference between Low (205 FPS) and Ultra (155 FPS) is 50 FPS. This spread suggests that at lower resolutions, the CPU is still able to feed the GPU sufficiently, but the GPU is doing the bulk of the work. The fact that High and Ultra are nearly identical (158 FPS vs 155 FPS) at 1080p hints that the CPU may be starting to cap performance at these settings, as the GPU has enough headroom to render more frames but the CPU cannot issue draw calls fast enough.

Compared to its nearest rivals, the Ryzen 5 2600 is remarkably well-positioned. It is 0.2% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 5 228V, 0.5% ahead of the Intel Core i9-11900H, and 1.2% ahead of the AMD EPYC 9454 in average benchmark scores. It trails the Intel Xeon D-1746TER by 0.7%. This clustering within a ±1.2% band shows that the Ryzen 5 2600 remains competitive with much newer processors in synthetic tests, which bodes well for its ability to maintain consistent frame pacing in Inside.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution to play Inside with this hardware combo?*

A: The data shows that 1440p High is the sweet spot, delivering 141 FPS average. This provides excellent visual clarity while still exceeding 140 FPS, making it suitable for high-refresh-rate displays without the need to compromise on settings.

Q: Does this combo hit 144 FPS at 4K?

A: Yes, but only on Medium settings. The Medium preset at 3840x2160 achieves 145 FPS average with a minimum of 123 FPS. The High preset at 4K drops to 98 FPS, which is still smooth but below the 144 FPS threshold.

Q: How much performance is gained by dropping from High to Low at 1080p?

A: The difference is 47 FPS, with Low hitting 205 FPS and High at 158 FPS. This represents a 29.7% increase in frame rate, but it comes at the cost of significant visual detail in lighting and shadows.

Q: Is the CPU a bottleneck in this game?

A: The evidence suggests partial CPU limitation at lower resolutions. At 1080p, the gap between High (158 FPS) and Ultra (155 FPS) is only 3 FPS, while at 1440p the gap widens to 2 FPS (141 vs 139). The minimal scaling beyond High settings indicates the Ryzen 5 2600 may be the limiting factor when trying to push frame rates above ~160 FPS.

Q: What is the smoothest experience available in terms of minimum FPS?

A: The Medium preset provides the most consistent experience, with minimum FPS of 161 at 1080p, 144 at 1440p, and 123 at 4K. These are the only measured minimums in the dataset, and they all remain well above 120 FPS.

Q: How does this GPU compare to its nearest competitors?

A: The Radeon RX 9070 scores 23,877 in average benchmarks, placing it in the 69th percentile of all GPUs. It is 0.6% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Z and 1.1% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Mobile, while trailing the AMD Radeon RX 6800S by 0.8% and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER by 1.2%.

How This Combo Ranks

In the comprehensive database of tested hardware combinations for Inside, the AMD Ryzen 5 2600 + AMD Radeon RX 9070 configuration ranks 2,216 out of 3,716 total combos. This places it in the top 59.6% of all tested systems, which is a respectable position given the CPU’s age and the game’s release date in 2016.

The ranking is heavily influenced by the GPU’s strong performance, as the RX 9070 is a modern RDNA 4.0 architecture part with 3,584 shading units and 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus. The GPU’s 36.13 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 644.6 GB/s of memory bandwidth are more than sufficient for Inside’s relatively simple geometry and lighting models.

The CPU’s position in the 75th percentile of all processors helps solidify this mid-pack ranking. While the Ryzen 5 2600 does not have the single-thread dominance of newer CPUs, its 12 threads provide ample parallel processing capability. The benchmark scores show it is within 1.2% of much more modern processors like the Intel Core Ultra 5 228V and Intel Core i9-11900H, demonstrating that the Zen+ architecture remains viable for this workload.

The 2,216th rank out of 3,716 means there are 1,500 combos that perform better, but these are typically paired with newer high-end CPUs. The data indicates that the frame rates achieved by this combo are largely GPU-bound, meaning that upgrading the CPU would yield minimal gains in Inside at the tested settings. The bottleneck is more likely to appear at lower resolutions where the CPU must process more frames per second.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling across resolutions follows a predictable pattern, but with some interesting nuances. From 1080p to 1440p, the performance drop is moderate, while the jump to 4K introduces more significant losses. At the High preset, 1080p yields 158 FPS, 1440p yields 141 FPS, and 4K yields 98 FPS. This represents an 10.8% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a 38% drop from 1080p to 4K.

The Medium preset shows a more linear scaling: 189 FPS at 1080p, 169 FPS at 1440p, and 145 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 10.6%, and from 1080p to 4K is 23.3%. This smaller percentage drop at 4K for Medium (23.3% vs 38% for High) suggests that the GPU is less stressed at Medium settings, allowing it to maintain higher utilization across resolutions.

The Low preset exhibits the smallest scaling penalty: 205 FPS at 1080p, 183 FPS at 1440p, and 157 FPS at 4K. The 1080p to 4K drop is 23.4%, nearly identical to the Medium preset’s scaling. This indicates that at Low settings, the game becomes more CPU-bound, and the Ryzen 5 2600’s single-thread performance becomes the limiting factor.

The Ultra preset shows the most significant 4K penalty, dropping from 155 FPS at 1080p to 93 FPS at 4K—a 40% reduction. This is the steepest drop across all settings, indicating that Ultra’s additional effects (likely advanced shadows and post-processing) place a heavy load on the GPU at high resolutions. The fact that Ultra only improves on High by 3 FPS at 1080p but loses 5 FPS at 4K suggests that Ultra’s settings are not well optimized for this game.

The resolution scaling data clearly shows that this combo is GPU-limited at 4K, with the RX 9070 struggling to maintain high frame rates at the most demanding settings. At 1080p, the CPU begins to emerge as a limiting factor, particularly at Low settings where the GPU has excess capacity.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the complete FPS data across all settings is as follows: Low averages 205 FPS, Medium averages 189 FPS with a minimum of 161 FPS and a maximum of 217 FPS, High averages 158 FPS, and Ultra averages 155 FPS. The Medium preset’s minimum of 161 FPS is crucial for 144Hz displays, as it ensures no drops below the refresh rate. The spread between Low and Ultra is 50 FPS, representing a 32.3% performance range.

At 2560x1440, performance remains strong: Low averages 183 FPS, Medium averages 169 FPS with a minimum of 144 FPS and a maximum of 195 FPS, High averages 141 FPS, and Ultra averages 139 FPS. The Medium preset’s minimum of 144 FPS is exactly at the 144Hz threshold, making it the entry point for smooth high-refresh gaming at this resolution. The performance delta between Low and Ultra is 44 FPS (31.7%).

At 3840x2160, the GPU is put to the test: Low averages 157 FPS, Medium averages 145 FPS with a minimum of 123 FPS and a maximum of 167 FPS, High averages 98 FPS, and Ultra averages 93 FPS. The Medium preset is the only viable option for 144Hz at 4K, as its 145 FPS average exceeds the threshold, albeit with a minimum that dips to 123 FPS. The High and Ultra presets are still very playable on 60Hz displays, and the 93-98 FPS range is smooth for a puzzle platformer.

The maximum FPS readings are only available for the Medium preset across all resolutions: 217 FPS at 1080p, 195 FPS at 1440p, and 167 FPS at 4K. These figures represent the peak performance the combo can achieve when the scene is not demanding, providing a sense of the headroom available. The minimum FPS data for Medium shows that frame pacing is consistent, with only 26 FPS difference between the 1080p minimum (161 FPS) and 4K minimum (123 FPS), indicating that the game’s rendering workload scales smoothly with resolution.