Inside

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 delivers exceptional performance in Inside, a puzzle platformer that is far more demanding than its minimalist aesthetic suggests. Across all tested resolutions and settings, the combo maintains frame rates well above the threshold for smooth gameplay, with the data indicating a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher resolutions but begins to show CPU limitations at 1080p. The measured results provide a clear picture of how this hardware scales under the game's unique rendering load.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic scaling pattern, though the absolute numbers are high enough to mask the transition points. At 1080p with High settings, the combo produces 206 FPS. Moving to 1440p High drops this to 156 FPS, a 24% reduction, and then to 4K High further reduces it to 98 FPS, a 37% drop from the 1440p figure. This steep decline as resolution increases points directly to the GPU as the primary limiting factor at higher pixel counts, with the RX 9070’s rendering throughput being taxed by the additional pixel workload.

The scaling becomes even more pronounced when examining the Low settings preset. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 268 FPS, which is already a very high frame rate. Moving to 1440p Low yields 240 FPS, a modest 10% decrease, suggesting the CPU is still able to feed the GPU adequately at this resolution. However, the jump to 4K Low produces 196 FPS, a 27% drop from the 1440p result. This larger drop at 4K indicates that even at Low settings, the pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth of the RX 9070 become the dominant constraint, as the game’s simple geometry and effects do not scale down enough to offset the massive increase in pixel count.

What is particularly telling is the comparison between Low and Ultra settings at each resolution. At 1080p, the gap between Low (268 FPS) and Ultra (203 FPS) is 65 FPS, a 24% performance penalty for maxing out the visual features. At 1440p, the gap widens to 92 FPS (240 vs 148), a 38% penalty, and at 4K, the gap grows to 103 FPS (196 vs 93), a 53% penalty. This widening gap with resolution confirms that the RX 9070 is the component being stressed by higher quality settings, while the CPU’s role remains relatively constant. The data suggests that for this game, the CPU is capable of sustaining high frame rates even at 1080p, with the GPU becoming the bottleneck as resolution and settings increase.

FAQ

*Q: What is the maximum average frame rate achievable with this combo in Inside?*

A: The highest measured average FPS is 268, recorded at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This represents the peak performance ceiling for this pairing under the tested conditions.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS is 93. This is the lowest measured result across all configurations, indicating that while playable, it is the most demanding scenario for the RX 9070.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck at 1080p Medium settings?

A: At 1080p Medium, the average FPS is 247, with a minimum of 210 and maximum of 285. The high minimum frame rate and the relatively small drop from Low to Medium (268 to 247 FPS) suggest the CPU is still capable of keeping up, with the GPU beginning to take on more work as settings increase.

Q: What is the difference in performance between 1440p and 4K at High settings?

A: At 1440p High, the average FPS is 156, while at 4K High, it drops to 98. This represents a 58 FPS reduction, or a 37% performance decrease, when moving from one resolution to the next.

Q: Does the combo provide a smoother experience at Medium settings compared to High?

A: Yes, at every resolution, Medium settings provide higher average FPS than High. For example, at 1440p, Medium achieves 222 FPS while High achieves 156 FPS. The Medium preset also provides minimum FPS data (188 at 1440p, 133 at 4K), which is not available for High, indicating a more stable frame delivery.

Q: What is the combo's overall rank among tested systems for this game?

A: The combo ranks 1050 out of 2887 tested combinations for Inside. This places it in the top 36% of all tested systems, though the high absolute frame rates suggest the ranking is influenced by many higher-end GPUs.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 is the dominant component in this pairing for Inside, particularly at higher resolutions. Its 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 644.6 GB/s of bandwidth, which is ample for the game’s texture and asset streaming demands. The memory clock runs at 2518 MHz, with an effective data rate of 20.1 Gbps, and this bandwidth is likely a key factor in maintaining high frame rates at 4K, where the pixel fill rate demands are substantial.

The GPU’s clock speeds are notable: a base clock of 1330 MHz and a boost clock of 2520 MHz, with a game clock of 2070 MHz. The boost clock is critical, as it represents the sustained frequency during gaming workloads. The data shows that the GPU is heavily utilized when moving from 1080p to 4K, as evidenced by the significant FPS drops. For instance, at High settings, the drop from 206 FPS at 1080p to 98 FPS at 4K is a 52% reduction, which is a clear indication that the GPU’s shading units (3584) and ROPs (128) are being saturated by the increased pixel count.

The RX 9070’s FP32 performance of 36.13 TFLOPS is substantial, but Inside is not a compute-heavy title; it is more reliant on fill rate and memory bandwidth. The pixel rate of 322.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 564.5 GTexel/s are the specifications that directly impact this game’s rendering. At 4K Ultra, the combo drops to 93 FPS, suggesting that the GPU is reaching its limit with the highest quality settings and resolution combination. The GPU’s 220 W TDP and 550 W suggested PSU are indicative of its power draw, but the measured FPS data shows that it delivers strong performance within this power envelope.

Measured FPS Breakdown

Starting at 1920x1080, the combo delivers a spread of results across the four settings presets. At Low, the average FPS is 268, which is the highest recorded for this resolution. Medium settings yield 247 FPS, with a minimum of 210 and maximum of 285, showing a tight frame pacing. High settings produce 206 FPS, and Ultra settings yield 203 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra is minimal (3 FPS), suggesting that the Ultra preset adds features that are not particularly taxing on the GPU at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance scales down predictably. Low settings produce 240 FPS, while Medium settings drop to 222 FPS, with a minimum of 188 and maximum of 255. High settings average 156 FPS, and Ultra settings average 148 FPS. The drop from Low to High is 84 FPS, which is a 35% reduction, indicating that the GPU is starting to feel the pressure of higher resolution combined with quality settings.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is clearly the limiting factor. Low settings produce 196 FPS, which is still very high, but Medium settings drop to 157 FPS, with a minimum of 133 and maximum of 180. High settings average 98 FPS, and Ultra settings average 93 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra at 4K is only 5 FPS, similar to the pattern seen at 1080p, but the absolute values are much lower. The minimum FPS data at 4K Medium (133) is notably higher than the average FPS for 4K High (98), indicating that the Medium preset offers a more consistent experience in the most demanding scenarios.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured data, the Medium settings preset offers the best balance of performance and visual fidelity for this combo across all resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the system achieves 247 FPS, which is only 21 FPS lower than Low but provides a richer visual experience. The minimum FPS of 210 at 1080p Medium ensures that there are no significant frame drops during gameplay, making it the safest choice for high-refresh-rate monitors.

At 1440p Medium, the average FPS is 222, with a minimum of 188. This is a substantial improvement over High settings (156 FPS) and provides a much smoother experience than Ultra (148 FPS). The 188 FPS minimum is still well above the 144 Hz threshold, making it ideal for high-refresh-rate gaming monitors. For 4K, Medium settings are the recommended choice, as the average FPS of 157 is significantly higher than High (98 FPS) and Ultra (93 FPS). The minimum FPS of 133 at 4K Medium also ensures that the experience remains smooth, even during complex scenes.

The High and Ultra presets are not recommended at 4K, as they produce average FPS values below 100, which could lead to noticeable stuttering on some displays. At 1080p and 1440p, High and Ultra are playable, but they do not offer a proportional visual benefit over Medium, given the small frame rate differences at 1080p (206 vs 203 FPS) and the larger but still acceptable drops at 1440p (156 vs 148 FPS). For the best overall experience, Medium settings are the clear winner in this dataset.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D plays a supporting role in Inside, but it is not without its influence on the results. The CPU features 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 3.00 GHz and a boost clock of 4.00 GHz. Its 96 MB of shared L3 cache is a significant asset, as it helps to reduce memory latency and improve data access for the game’s physics and logic calculations. The CPU’s Zen 3 architecture, built on a 7 nm process, is mature and well-suited for gaming workloads.

The benchmark data for the CPU shows a PassMark single-thread score of 2941 and a multithread score of 20363. In Inside, which is a puzzle platformer with relatively simple AI and physics, single-thread performance is more critical than multi-thread scaling. The CPU’s 85th percentile ranking among all CPUs indicates that it is a strong performer, but its nearest rivals provide context. The AMD Ryzen 5 5600F has an average score of 36945, which is 0.2% higher than the 5500X3D’s average of 37018. The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 is also 0.2% higher, while the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 is 0.2% lower, and the Intel Core i9-12900T is 0.3% lower. These are very tight margins, suggesting that the CPU is not a differentiator in this game.

The measured FPS data supports this interpretation. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 268 FPS, which is close to the practical limit for many displays. The fact that the FPS does not increase dramatically when moving from High to Ultra at 1080p (206 to 203 FPS) suggests that the CPU is not the bottleneck in these scenarios; rather, the GPU’s rendering of additional effects is the limiting factor. However, the CPU’s role becomes more apparent when comparing 1080p Low (268 FPS) to 1440p Low (240 FPS). The 10% drop is lower than the drop seen at High settings, indicating that at Low settings, the CPU is able to feed the GPU more effectively, and the GPU is the primary limiter even at 1080p.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo of the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D and AMD Radeon RX 9070 ranks 1050 out of 2887 tested combos for Inside. This puts it in the top 36% of all tested systems, which is a solid result given the game’s relatively modest graphical demands. The ranking is notable because the RX 9070 is a high-end GPU, but the CPU is a mid-range part, and the combination still manages to outperform a majority of systems.

The GPU’s individual ranking is 69th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 23877. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Z, which is 0.6% higher, and the AMD Radeon RX 6800S, which is 0.8% lower. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Mobile is 1.1% higher, and the RTX 2080 SUPER is 1.2% lower. These small deltas indicate that the RX 9070 is performance-comparable to a range of older and mobile GPUs, despite being a newer architecture.

In the context of Inside, the combo’s rank is driven by the GPU’s ability to maintain high frame rates at 4K, where many lower-end GPUs would struggle. The fact that it achieves 98 FPS at 4K High puts it ahead of many combos that might feature stronger CPUs but weaker GPUs. The combo’s rank of 1050 is not a reflection of poor performance; rather, it indicates that the game is so well-optimized that many systems can achieve high frame rates, and the ranking is compressed at the top. The data shows that this combo is more than sufficient for a smooth experience at any resolution, with the only caveat being that 4K Ultra settings will push the GPU to its limits.