Inside

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER combination delivers a robust experience in Inside, a 2016 puzzle platformer that is far more demanding at high settings than its minimalist art style suggests. With measured frame rates spanning from a playable 47 FPS at 4K Ultra to a blistering 216 FPS at 1080p Low, this pairing demonstrates a clear performance ceiling dictated by the graphics card, while the six-core processor ensures the game never becomes CPU-bound. The data reveals a system that can comfortably handle the game at high refresh rates on 1080p and 1440p displays, with 4K remaining viable only when settings are moderated.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a predictable but steep decline in performance as resolution increases, a pattern that confirms the GTX 1660 SUPER as the primary limiting factor in this configuration. At 1080p with High settings, the combo produces an average of 108 FPS; moving to 1440p drops this to 78 FPS, and at 4K the average falls to 49 FPS. This represents a 55% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K at High settings, which is a substantial hit that illustrates the GPU's struggle to maintain fill rate at higher pixel counts.

The scaling behavior changes character when examining Low settings, where the frame rates are exceptionally high. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 216 FPS, which drops to 156 FPS at 1440p and 98 FPS at 4K. The fact that 4K Low still produces nearly 100 FPS indicates that the game's low preset significantly reduces the GPU workload, but the 55% drop from 1080p to 4K persists, reinforcing that even at minimal settings, the resolution scaling is consistent and GPU-bound. The medium preset shows similar proportional scaling, with 173 FPS at 1080p, 125 FPS at 1440p, and 78 FPS at 4K.

Notably, the delta between the High and Ultra presets is small at every resolution, suggesting that the Ultra preset offers marginal visual improvements over High while costing only a few frames. At 4K, High produces 49 FPS while Ultra produces 47 FPS, a difference of just 2 FPS; at 1080p, the gap is 5 FPS (108 vs 103). This indicates that the game's Ultra settings are not substantially more demanding than High, and the GPU is already at its limit at 4K regardless of which of those two presets is selected. The data strongly suggests that for this hardware, the sweet spot lies in the Medium preset, which provides the best balance between visual fidelity and frame rate stability, particularly at higher resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured frame rates, the Medium preset emerges as the optimal choice for this hardware combination across all tested resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the system delivers 173 FPS with a minimum of 147 FPS and a maximum of 199 FPS, providing a smooth experience well above the 144 Hz refresh rate threshold for most monitors. This preset offers a 60% improvement over High settings at 1080p (173 vs 108 FPS), making it the clear choice for competitive or high-refresh-rate play without sacrificing significant visual quality.

At 1440p, the Medium preset delivers 125 FPS with a minimum of 106 FPS, which remains comfortably above the 60 FPS standard and approaches the 120 Hz tier. This is particularly impressive given that High settings at this resolution only achieve 78 FPS, meaning the Medium preset more than doubles the performance headroom. For 4K displays, Medium is the only sensible choice among the higher presets, producing 78 FPS with a minimum of 66 FPS; this is playable and smooth, whereas High at 49 FPS and Ultra at 47 FPS fall below the ideal 60 FPS threshold for action-oriented gameplay.

The Low preset, while delivering exceptional frame rates (216 FPS at 1080p, 156 FPS at 1440p, 98 FPS at 4K), sacrifices visual fidelity that the game's atmospheric puzzle-platformer genre benefits from. The Ultra preset, conversely, offers no meaningful advantage over High in terms of frame rate (47 vs 49 FPS at 4K) and should be avoided due to the negligible visual return. The data indicates that Medium is the "best experience" preset: it maintains frame rates above 60 FPS at all resolutions, provides a significant buffer above the minimum playable threshold, and does so while retaining more visual detail than Low.

FAQ

*Q: Can this combination run Inside at 4K with a stable 60 FPS?*

A: No, not at the higher presets. At 4K Medium, the system achieves 78 FPS average with a 66 FPS minimum, which is stable and above 60 FPS. However, at 4K High and Ultra, the averages fall to 49 FPS and 47 FPS respectively, which are below the 60 FPS target.

*Q: What is the maximum frame rate this system can achieve in Inside?*

A: The highest measured average is 216 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This demonstrates that the processor and GPU combination can push extremely high frame rates when the graphical load is minimized.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 3600 holding back the GTX 1660 SUPER in this game?

A: The data suggests no. The frame rates scale consistently with resolution and settings, which is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario. The CPU, with 6 cores and 12 threads, provides sufficient headroom, as evidenced by the 216 FPS result at 1080p Low, which would expose any significant CPU bottleneck.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1440p to 4K at Medium settings?

A: The average frame rate drops from 125 FPS at 2560x1440 to 78 FPS at 3840x2160, a reduction of 47 FPS or approximately 38%. The minimum frame rate also drops from 106 FPS to 66 FPS.

Q: What is the difference between High and Ultra presets at 1080p?

A: The difference is minimal. High settings produce an average of 108 FPS, while Ultra produces 103 FPS. This 5 FPS difference suggests that the Ultra preset offers little additional visual benefit for the small performance cost.

Q: Does the system provide a consistent frame rate, or are there significant drops?

A: For the Medium preset, where minimum data is available, the frame pacing is solid. At 1080p, the minimum is 147 FPS against a 173 FPS average (an 85% minimum-to-average ratio). At 1440p, the minimum is 106 FPS against a 125 FPS average (85% ratio). At 4K, the minimum is 66 FPS against a 78 FPS average (85% ratio), indicating consistent performance across all resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the database of tested hardware combinations for Inside, this specific pairing of the AMD Ryzen 5 3600 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER holds a rank of 3166 out of 3716 total combos. This places the system in the lower 15th percentile of all tested configurations, which is a surprising result given the playable frame rates measured across most settings and resolutions.

The modest ranking is likely a reflection of the database containing many higher-end combinations with more powerful GPUs and newer processors. The GTX 1660 SUPER, while capable, sits at the 53rd percentile among all GPUs, and the Ryzen 5 3600 sits at the 71st percentile among all CPUs. When combined, this mid-range pairing is expected to lag behind the numerous combinations featuring top-tier graphics cards that dominate the upper ranks.

However, the rank should be interpreted with context. For the specific task of running Inside, this combo delivers frame rates that exceed the requirements for smooth gameplay at 1080p and 1440p, and it can handle 4K with adjusted settings. The ranking of 3166 out of 3716 indicates that while there are over 3,000 faster combinations, this one provides a usable and enjoyable experience for the game. The performance gap to the top-ranked combos is significant in terms of raw FPS, but the practical difference in gameplay smoothness is minimal for a puzzle platformer, particularly when the Medium preset is used.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Zen 2 architecture, running on the AMD Socket AM4 platform. It has a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.20 GHz, with a 32 MB shared L3 cache. This processor was released in 2019 and carries a launch MSRP of $199.

In the context of Inside, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics calculations. The game is not known for being heavily threaded, but the Ryzen 5 3600's 12 threads provide ample capacity to avoid becoming a bottleneck. The benchmark data supports this: the frame rates scale almost entirely with resolution and graphics settings, which is the hallmark of a GPU-limited scenario. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect to see frame rates plateau at higher resolutions or remain static when changing settings.

The CPU's single-thread performance, as measured by a 3DMark single-thread score of 696 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2124, is strong enough to handle the game's main thread without issue. The multi-threaded headroom, evidenced by a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 15045, ensures that any background tasks or game logic threads are handled efficiently. The 7 nm process node and 65W TDP indicate an efficient chip that won't introduce thermal throttling concerns in a standard desktop build. In terms of rivals, the Ryzen 5 3600's average benchmark score of 17035 is nearly identical to the Intel Core i7-1260P (17007, delta 0.2%) and the Intel Core i5-11400 (17067, delta -0.2%), confirming that it sits in a competitive performance tier that is well-suited for pairing with a mid-range GPU like the GTX 1660 SUPER.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS data for this combination across all resolutions and settings is as follows:

1920x1080:

• Low: 216 FPS average
• Medium: 173 FPS average, 147 FPS minimum, 199 FPS maximum
• High: 108 FPS average
• Ultra: 103 FPS average

2560x1440:

• Low: 156 FPS average
• Medium: 125 FPS average, 106 FPS minimum, 143 FPS maximum
• High: 78 FPS average
• Ultra: 74 FPS average

3840x2160:

• Low: 98 FPS average
• Medium: 78 FPS average, 66 FPS minimum, 90 FPS maximum
• High: 49 FPS average
• Ultra: 47 FPS average

The data reveals a consistent pattern: the Medium preset provides a substantial performance uplift over High settings across all resolutions. At 1080p, the jump from High to Medium is 65 FPS (108 to 173); at 1440p, it's 47 FPS (78 to 125); and at 4K, it's 29 FPS (49 to 78). The Low preset offers another significant boost, nearly doubling the frame rate from Medium at 1080p (216 vs 173) and providing a 20 FPS increase at 4K (98 vs 78).

The minimum FPS data, available only for the Medium preset, shows that frame pacing is consistent, with the minimum never falling below 85% of the average at any resolution. This stability is crucial for a puzzle platformer where precise timing is essential. The maximum FPS values at Medium (199 at 1080p, 143 at 1440p, 90 at 4K) indicate that the system has headroom to handle sudden on-screen action without stuttering. Overall, the measured FPS breakdown shows a capable mid-range system that excels at 1080p and 1440p gameplay, with 4K performance being acceptable only when using the Medium or Low presets.