Inside

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER combination delivers a highly capable experience in Inside, a puzzle platformer that scales predictably across its three tested resolutions. The measured data shows a system that is firmly GPU-limited at higher settings, yet capable of extreme frame rates at lower presets, placing it in the lower half of the database’s tested combos for this title.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 reveals a classic GPU-bound workload, particularly at the Medium and High presets. At Medium settings, the average FPS drops from 173 at 1080p to 125 at 1440p, a 27.7% reduction, and then further to 78 at 4K, a 37.6% drop from the 1440p figure. This steepening curve indicates that the GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER’s rendering throughput becomes the primary constraint as pixel count quadruples.

The High preset shows a similar pattern, with averages of 108 FPS at 1080p, 78 at 1440p, and 49 at 4K. The scaling between 1080p and 1440p is a 27.8% decrease, nearly identical to the Medium preset’s relative drop, suggesting that the GPU is equally saturated at both settings when moving up in resolution. However, the jump from 1440p to 4K at High is a more severe 37.2% decline, indicating that the 6 GB frame buffer and 336.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth are being pushed harder at 4K.

The Low preset tells a different story. At 1080p, the combo achieves 205 FPS, which drops to 156 at 1440p (a 23.9% decrease) and then to 98 at 4K (a 37.2% decrease from 1440p). The fact that 4K Low still produces 98 FPS shows that the CPU, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, is not the limiting factor even at lower graphical loads; the GPU continues to scale downwards in performance as resolution increases. The Ultra preset mirrors High, with 103 FPS at 1080p, 74 at 1440p, and 47 at 4K, confirming that the game’s highest settings consistently halve performance when moving from 1080p to 4K.

The data suggests that at 1080p, the Ryzen 5 2600’s single-thread performance, evidenced by its 2239 Passmark single-thread score, is sufficient to feed the GPU even at 205 FPS on Low. The bottleneck shifts entirely to the graphics card as resolution climbs, which is typical for a title of this visual complexity. The lack of min FPS data for Low, High, and Ultra presets at most resolutions leaves some variance unquantified, but the Medium preset’s min/max spread (147–199 at 1080p, 106–143 at 1440p, 66–90 at 4K) shows consistent frame pacing without severe stutter.

FAQ

*Q: What is the highest average frame rate this combo achieves in Inside?*

A: The maximum measured average is 205 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with the Low preset.

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 4K?

A: Yes, but only at Medium settings, where the average is 78 FPS with a minimum of 66 FPS. At High and Ultra, averages fall to 49 FPS and 47 FPS respectively, which are below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K at Medium settings?

A: The average frame rate drops from 173 FPS at 1080p to 78 FPS at 4K, a 54.9% reduction in average FPS.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 2600 holding back the GTX 1660 SUPER at 1080p?

A: The data does not indicate a CPU bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 205 FPS, and at 1080p Ultra it still manages 103 FPS, suggesting the processor’s 3.90 GHz boost clock and 12 threads are adequate for this game’s demands.

Q: What is the difference between the High and Ultra presets at 1440p?

A: The High preset averages 78 FPS, while Ultra averages 74 FPS. This 4 FPS difference indicates that Ultra provides minimal visual benefit for a small performance cost at this resolution.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested configurations for this game?

A: It ranks 3231 out of 3716 tested combos, placing it in the lower 13th percentile of all configurations in the database for Inside.

Settings Recommendations

For a balanced experience prioritizing smooth gameplay, the Medium preset at 2560x1440 is the standout choice. It delivers 125 FPS average with a minimum of 106 FPS, which is comfortably above the 60 FPS standard and provides headroom for demanding scenes. The 143 FPS maximum indicates that the combo does not cap out early, leaving room for variance in less intensive areas. At 4K, Medium is the only preset that maintains an average above 60 FPS, making it the definitive recommendation for UHD displays.

At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset’s 103 FPS average is perfectly playable on high refresh rate monitors, but the step down to High at 108 FPS offers a marginal 4.8% improvement with likely identical visual fidelity in a game with this art style. The data shows that Low at 1080p produces 205 FPS, which is useful only for extreme refresh rate displays (240Hz+), but the visual compromise is substantial. For most users, Medium at 1080p offers the best compromise, with 173 FPS and a minimum of 147 FPS, ensuring zero perceptible stutter on standard 144Hz monitors.

At 1440p, High and Ultra are nearly indistinguishable in performance, 78 FPS versus 74 FPS. Given that the Ultra preset typically adds marginal effects that are hard to notice in a 2D side-scrolling puzzle platformer, High is the more efficient choice, preserving a 78 FPS average. The Low preset at 1440p jumps to 156 FPS, which is excessive for this genre; the visual downgrade is not worth the frame rate gain. The recommendation hierarchy is: 1080p Medium for competitive frame rates, 1440p High for visual quality with smoothness, and 4K Medium as the only viable option for 4K displays.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full range of presets was measured. Low produced an average of 205 FPS, which is the highest score recorded for this combo in any configuration. Medium averaged 173 FPS, with a minimum of 147 and a maximum of 199. High averaged 108 FPS, and Ultra averaged 103 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 49.8% reduction in average FPS, from 205 to 103. Notably, the gap between High and Ultra is only 5 FPS, suggesting diminishing returns at the top end.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages scale down proportionally. Low averages 156 FPS, a 23.9% drop from 1080p. Medium averages 125 FPS, with a min/max of 106/143, showing that frame pacing remains tight. High averages 78 FPS, and Ultra averages 74 FPS. The delta between High and Ultra remains small, just 4 FPS, mirroring the 1080p behavior. The scaling from Medium to High at 1440p is a 37.6% reduction, which is steeper than the 37.6% reduction seen between Medium and High at 1080p.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is clearly the limiting component. Low averages 98 FPS, which is still playable but represents a 37.2% drop from 1440p Low. Medium averages 78 FPS, with a minimum of 66 FPS, making it the only preset that never dips below 60 FPS at 4K. High averages 49 FPS, and Ultra averages 47 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra at 4K is just 2 FPS, indicating that the Ultra preset’s additional effects are nearly free in terms of performance but still cannot overcome the resolution’s pixel count. The data shows that the GTX 1660 SUPER’s 5.027 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is the limiting factor at 4K, as even Low settings cannot reach 100 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 3231 out of 3716 tested combinations for Inside, placing it in the bottom 13% of the database. This low ranking is not a reflection of poor performance in absolute terms—the combo produces 103 FPS at 1080p Ultra—but rather indicates that the database contains many configurations with far more powerful GPUs and CPUs. The GTX 1660 SUPER’s percentile vs all GPUs is 53, meaning it sits near the median of all graphics cards, while the Ryzen 5 2600’s percentile vs all CPUs is 75, placing it in the upper quartile of processors.

The ranking disparity suggests that the GPU is the limiting factor for this combo’s position. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 21484 is close to its nearest rivals: the Intel Core Ultra 5 228V (21440, 0.2% slower) and the Intel Core i9-11900H (21367, 0.5% slower). The GPU’s average score of 12986 is similarly close to its nearest rivals, including the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile (12940, 0.4% faster) and the AMD Radeon RX 580 (12928, 0.4% faster). These close margins indicate that the combo performs as expected for its component tier.

In the context of Inside, which is not a demanding title, the rank is heavily influenced by high-end systems achieving 300+ FPS at 1080p. The combo’s 205 FPS at 1080p Low would rank higher if the database only included mid-range hardware, but against all 3716 combos, it falls behind. The data shows that for a puzzle platformer, the combo is overqualified for 60 FPS gaming at all resolutions, but underqualified for 144Hz 4K gaming, which explains its low percentile ranking.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the 2000 series, built on the 12 nm Zen architecture. Its base clock is 3.40 GHz, boosting to 3.90 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. In Inside, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic. The game’s puzzle platformer nature means it does not require heavy physics simulation or large numbers of AI agents, which is why the CPU’s single-thread performance is more relevant than its multi-thread capability.

The CPU’s Passmark single-thread score is 2239, which is modest by modern standards but more than adequate for this title. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo reaches 205 FPS, which is likely near the CPU’s frame generation limit for this game. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect the FPS to plateau at a similar value across all resolutions at Low settings. However, the FPS drops from 205 at 1080p to 156 at 1440p and 98 at 4K, proving that the GPU is the limiting factor even at Low settings.

The CPU’s multi-thread scores, such as 1248 in Cinebench R15 multi-core and 13160 in Passmark multithread, are not directly relevant here, as Inside is unlikely to use all 12 threads efficiently. The 16 MB of shared L3 cache is sufficient for the game’s asset streaming. The CPU’s percentile vs all CPUs is 75, meaning it outperforms three-quarters of all processors in the database, but the game’s performance is still dictated by the GPU. The boost clock of 3.90 GHz is the key specification, as higher single-core speeds would only marginally improve the 1080p Low result of 205 FPS, which is already beyond the refresh rate of most monitors.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER is based on the TU116 chip, using the Turing architecture on a 12 nm process. It features 1408 shading units, 88 TMUs, and 48 ROPs, with a base clock of 1530 MHz and a boost clock of 1785 MHz. The 6 GB of GDDR6 memory runs at 14 Gbps effective, providing 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth over a 192-bit bus. This memory configuration is critical for Inside, which has a dark, atmospheric art style that may rely on high-resolution textures.

The GPU’s FP32 compute is 5.027 TFLOPS, and its pixel rate is 85.68 GPixel/s. These figures explain the scaling behavior observed in the data. At 1080p, the GPU is not fully saturated, allowing for 205 FPS on Low. As resolution increases, the pixel rate becomes the limiting factor. At 4K, the GPU must fill 8.3 million pixels per frame, and the 47 FPS at Ultra suggests that the 48 ROPs are working at near capacity.

The 6 GB frame buffer is sufficient for Inside, as the game does not require the 8-12 GB seen in modern AAA titles. The GPU’s memory bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s is more than adequate, as evidenced by the smooth min FPS values at Medium settings (66 at 4K, 106 at 1440p). The GPU’s percentile vs all GPUs is 53, placing it just above the median, which aligns with its measured performance. Its average benchmark score of 12986 is nearly identical to the AMD Radeon RX 580 (12928, 0.4% difference), confirming that the GTX 1660 SUPER is a solid mid-range performer that excels at 1080p and 1440p but struggles to maintain 60 FPS at 4K on higher presets.