Inside

The AMD Ryzen 5 4600G paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 produces a fascinating dataset in Inside, a 2016 Puzzle Platformer. The measurements reveal a system that is heavily skewed toward GPU capability, yet constrained by the processor at lower resolutions. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS across three resolutions and four presets, interpreting what the numbers indicate about the bottleneck, the components' roles, and the optimal way to play.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data shows a clear and predictable pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases, but the rate of that degradation tells a compelling story about system balance. At the High preset, the average frame rate drops from 186.6 FPS at 1920x1080 to 166.3 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 20.3 FPS. Moving further to 3840x2160, the average falls to 140.6 FPS, marking a further 25.7 FPS decrease. This scaling suggests that the GPU is becoming the primary limiting factor at 4K, as the workload on the rendering hardware increases significantly.

However, the scaling pattern is not uniform across all presets. The Low preset shows a steeper drop from 240.6 FPS at 1080p to 217.1 FPS at 1440p, and then down to 183.7 FPS at 4K. The absolute delta between 1080p and 4K for Low is 56.9 FPS, which is larger than the High preset's 46.0 FPS delta. This indicates that at lower settings, the CPU has more headroom to push frames at 1080p, but the GPU's workload still dominates at higher resolutions. The Medium preset follows a similar trajectory, going from 223.6 FPS at 1080p to 199.5 FPS at 1440p and finally 174.2 FPS at 4K.

The Ultra preset shows the smallest relative drop in frame rate, moving from 181.6 FPS at 1080p to 165.1 FPS at 1440p and 142.4 FPS at 4K. The total reduction of 39.2 FPS from 1080p to 4K is the smallest of all presets, suggesting that the Ultra settings are heavily GPU-bound even at 1080p. This data collectively indicates that while the RTX 4090 is powerful enough to maintain high frame rates at 4K, the CPU still has a measurable influence at 1080p, particularly with lighter settings.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the dominant component in this configuration, and its specifications align perfectly with the measured results. The GPU features 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, yielding a massive 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is more than sufficient for a game like Inside, which is not known for demanding high-resolution textures. The data shows that even at 4K Ultra, the average frame rate remains at 142.4 FPS, proof of the GPU's raw processing power.

The Ada Lovelace architecture, built on a 5 nm process, includes 16,384 shading units and 512 texture mapping units. The boost clock of 2520 MHz contributes to a peak FP32 performance of 82.58 TFLOPS. These figures explain why the GPU can handle the 4K resolution with ease, as the pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,290.2 GTexel/s are more than adequate for a 2D side-scrolling puzzle platformer. The GPU's percentile rank of 91 among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 66473, places it in the top tier of available hardware.

Interestingly, the GPU's nearest rivals in the benchmark database—the NVIDIA Tesla T4, Tesla P40, AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56, and NVIDIA Quadro P6000—all have average scores within 1.3% of the RTX 4090. This suggests that in synthetic benchmarks, the performance gap is minimal, but the measured FPS in Inside shows the RTX 4090's real-world advantage in a gaming scenario. The data shows that the GPU is never the bottleneck at 1080p, as even the lowest FPS figure at that resolution (181.6 FPS on Ultra) is well above the refresh rate of most monitors.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 4600G is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 2 architecture, specifically the Renoir codename. It operates with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.20 GHz. While this CPU is not a top-tier gaming processor, its performance is sufficient for a game like Inside, which is not heavily multithreaded. The CPU's average benchmark score of 17489 places it in the 75th percentile of all CPUs, indicating it is a solid mid-range option.

The CPU's role becomes apparent when examining the FPS data at 1080p. At the Low preset, the system achieves 240.6 FPS, which is likely near the CPU's maximum frame generation capability. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 59.0 FPS, from 240.6 to 181.6 FPS. This 24.5% drop indicates that the CPU is still capable of driving high frame rates, but the GPU's workload at Ultra settings begins to limit performance. At 4K, the CPU's influence is diminished, as the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck, with only a 41.3 FPS difference between Low and Ultra.

The CPU's cache configuration includes 8 MB of shared L3 cache, which is modest by modern standards but sufficient for this game's data requirements. The 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth from dual-channel DDR4 is also adequate. In synthetic benchmarks, the Ryzen 5 4600G scores 13593 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 1919 in single-core, showing that its single-threaded performance, which is more critical for gaming, is respectable. The nearest rivals—the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 5355GE, Intel Core i5-12450H, Intel Core i3-14100T, and Intel Core i3-13100F—all have average scores within 1% of the 4600G, confirming its position in the market.

How This Combo Ranks

In the benchmark database, this specific combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 4600G and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 664th out of 1671 tested combos for Inside. This places it in the 60th percentile of all tested configurations, which is a strong showing given the CPU's mid-range nature. The rank suggests that while the GPU is exceptionally powerful, the CPU holds the combo back from reaching the top tiers of performance.

The data indicates that the combo's performance is more dependent on the GPU than the CPU. At 4K Ultra, the system achieves 142.4 FPS, which is a high frame rate for any game. However, if the CPU were more powerful, the 1080p Low result of 240.6 FPS might be higher, potentially pushing the combo higher in the rankings. The 664th rank out of 1671 combos implies that there are many configurations with better overall performance, likely featuring faster processors paired with high-end GPUs.

The combo's ranking is also influenced by the fact that the RTX 4090 is an end-of-life product, having been succeeded by the GeForce 50 series. Despite this, its performance in Inside remains exceptional. The GPU's percentile rank of 91 and the CPU's percentile rank of 75 combine to create a system that is well above average, but not at the absolute peak of the database. This is a classic example of a GPU-bottlenecked system at high resolutions, with the CPU becoming more relevant only at lower settings.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and desired frame rate. For 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers the highest average at 240.6 FPS, but the Medium preset at 223.6 FPS offers a better balance of visual quality and performance. The High preset at 186.6 FPS is also viable for gamers with 144Hz monitors, as it provides a significant visual upgrade over Medium with only a 37.0 FPS penalty.

At 2560x1440, the High preset is the recommended choice, achieving 166.3 FPS. This is a substantial improvement over the Medium preset's 199.5 FPS, but the visual fidelity gains are worth the 33.2 FPS reduction. The Ultra preset at 165.1 FPS is nearly identical to High, so the extra visual detail comes at almost no performance cost. For 3840x2160, the High preset again offers the best experience at 140.6 FPS, which is smooth for most displays. The Medium preset at 174.2 FPS is also a strong option, but the High preset provides better image quality for a 33.6 FPS trade-off.

The data shows that the Ultra preset is consistently the most demanding, with the lowest frame rates at all resolutions. However, the differences between High and Ultra are relatively small, especially at 1440p and 4K, where the gap is just 1.2 FPS and 1.8 FPS, respectively. For the best experience, the High preset is recommended across all resolutions, as it offers a good balance of visual quality and performance. Gamers with high refresh rate monitors at 1080p should consider the Medium preset to stay above 200 FPS.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achievable with this combo?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 240.6 FPS at 1920x1080 with the Low preset. The next highest is 223.6 FPS at 1080p with the Medium preset.

Q: Is this system capable of 4K gaming?

A: Yes, the data shows that at 3840x2160, the average FPS ranges from 183.7 FPS on Low to 142.4 FPS on Ultra. The High preset achieves 140.6 FPS, which is suitable for smooth 4K gameplay.

Q: How does the CPU affect performance at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the CPU has a noticeable impact, as the difference between Low and Ultra preset is 59.0 FPS (from 240.6 to 181.6 FPS). This indicates the CPU can become a limiting factor at lower resolutions with lighter settings.

Q: What is the performance gap between High and Ultra presets?

A: The gap varies by resolution. At 1080p, the difference is 5.0 FPS (186.6 vs 181.6). At 1440p, it is 1.2 FPS (166.3 vs 165.1). At 4K, it is 1.8 FPS (140.6 vs 142.4). The Ultra preset is slightly slower at 1080p and 1440p, but marginally faster at 4K.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems?

A: This combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 4600G and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 664th out of 1671 tested combos for Inside, placing it in the 60th percentile of all configurations.

Q: Which preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance?

A: The High preset is recommended, as it achieves 186.6 FPS at 1080p, 166.3 FPS at 1440p, and 140.6 FPS at 4K. These frame rates are high enough for smooth gameplay while providing better visual fidelity than Medium.