Inside

Inside is a 2016 puzzle platformer that is anything but demanding on modern hardware, yet the measured data for this specific combination of an AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 reveals a fascinating story about frame pacing, resolution scaling, and where the true bottleneck lies in a game with such a low graphical ceiling. The benchmark results show that this pairing produces extraordinarily high frame rates across all settings, with the data indicating that the experience is defined more by the CPU's capability at lower resolutions and the GPU's raw throughput at higher ones. The following analysis breaks down the measured FPS rows to provide a clear picture of what this combo delivers, focusing strictly on the empirical data provided.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and predictable trend as resolution increases, but the magnitude of the performance drop is uniquely shaped by the game's simple rendering demands. At 1920x1080 with the High preset, the combo achieves an average of 206 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 at the same High settings, the average drops to 185 FPS, a decline of 21 FPS or roughly a 10% reduction. Stepping up to 3840x2160 High yields an average of 133 FPS, which is a significant 52 FPS drop from the 1440p result and a 73 FPS drop from 1080p. This scaling pattern—where the 1080p to 1440p transition is relatively mild but the 1440p to 4K jump is severe—indicates that the GPU is only starting to become a limiting factor at the highest resolution.

The pattern is even more pronounced at the Low settings preset. At 1080p Low, the combo produces a staggering 268 FPS average. At 1440p Low, it still maintains a very high 240 FPS average. However, at 4K Low, the average falls to 206 FPS. The drop from 1440p to 4K is 34 FPS, which is a steeper percentage decline than the 1080p to 1440p step, where only 28 FPS was lost. This suggests that even with simpler settings, the pixel throughput demanded by 4K is the primary constraint, and the RTX 4080's architecture is being pushed closer to its limits despite the game's age.

For the Medium preset, which has complete data including min/max FPS, the scaling is similar. The 1080p Medium average is 247 FPS, the 1440p Medium average is 222 FPS, and the 4K Medium average is 190 FPS. The delta between 1080p and 1440p is 25 FPS, while the delta between 1440p and 4K is 32 FPS. This incremental increase in the performance cost per resolution step reinforces that the game's engine is well-optimized for mid-range resolutions but presents a more substantial challenge at 4K. The min FPS values at Medium also show a consistent pattern: 210 at 1080p, 188 at 1440p, and 161 at 4K, indicating that the frame time consistency scales directly with resolution.

What the resolution scaling data reveals is that this combo is utterly overqualified for 1080p and 1440p gaming in Inside, where the frame rates are so high that they are likely limited by the CPU's single-threaded performance or the game's engine logic rather than the GPU. The substantial drop to 4K, particularly on High and Ultra settings, finally brings the RTX 4080 into play, showing that it can still deliver exceptional performance but is no longer running at the same headroom. The data suggests that for 4K gaming, the GPU is the definitive limiting component, while at lower resolutions, the CPU's capabilities are the ceiling.

How This Combo Ranks

The measured combo rank for this pairing in Inside is 1059 out of a total of 3716 tested combinations. This percentile placement is surprisingly modest for a hardware pairing that includes a top-tier enthusiast GPU like the RTX 4080, but it makes sense when contextualized by the game's low requirements. The rank indicates that there are 1058 other CPU and GPU combinations that achieve higher average frame rates in this specific title. This is not a reflection of poor performance—the absolute FPS numbers are extremely high—but rather evidence of how many other modern and older components can also run this puzzle platformer at triple-digit frame rates.

The data implies that the performance ceiling on a 1080p or 1440p display is likely tied to the CPU's capability to feed the game's simulation and draw calls. The Ryzen 5 5500X3D, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, is a strong processor, but its benchmark scores show it is not the absolute fastest in single-threaded tasks, which is often the bottleneck for older games. The rank of 1059 suggests that many CPUs with higher single-thread performance or higher memory bandwidth can push the frame rate even further in Inside, particularly at 1080p where the GPU is less stressed.

However, the ranking context is crucial. Being in the 1059th position out of 3716 combos places this pairing in the top 28.5% of all tested systems. This is a solid ranking, but it is not in the top tier where one would expect a combo featuring an RTX 4080. The data indicates that the GPU's massive power is somewhat wasted in this game at lower resolutions, as the CPU cannot generate enough frames to leverage the GPU's full potential. The pairing only starts to demonstrate its true relative strength at 4K and with higher settings presets, where the GPU begins to dominate the performance equation and the combo's rank would likely improve due to the GPU's high memory bandwidth and compute power. The benchmark results clearly show that in Inside, the GPU is not the star of the show; it is the CPU that dictates the combo's position in the overall ranking.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is a formidable piece of hardware, and the data shows it plays a decisive role in shaping the performance at higher resolutions and settings. The GPU features 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s. This is a critical specification for 4K gaming, as the demand for texture data and frame buffer memory increases exponentially with resolution. The measured FPS at 4K High (133 FPS) and 4K Ultra (126 FPS) suggests that the GPU's massive bandwidth and processing power are being utilized effectively, maintaining high frame rates that would be impossible for lesser hardware.

The GPU's clock speeds are also relevant. With a base clock of 2205 MHz and a boost clock of 2505 MHz, the RTX 4080 has a significant performance headroom. The data does not explicitly show how these clocks scale under load, but the consistent performance across the Medium settings (which have min/max FPS data) indicates stable operation. The 4K Medium result shows a min FPS of 161 and a max of 218, suggesting that the GPU is able to maintain a relatively tight frame pacing window, even when the resolution is high.

The GPU's architecture, Ada Lovelace, with 76 RT cores and 304 Tensor cores, is overkill for a game like Inside, which is a 2D side-scroller. The data confirms this by showing that the GPU is not the bottleneck at 1080p or even 1440p. The average FPS at 1440p High (185 FPS) is only slightly lower than the 1080p High result (206 FPS), indicating that the GPU has ample resources to spare at these resolutions. The GPU's role only becomes truly dominant at 3840x2160, where the pixel fill rate demands begin to challenge even its impressive capabilities. The benchmark data shows that the RTX 4080 is effectively a 4K powerhouse for this game, but its potential is largely untapped at lower resolutions, where the CPU's performance is the limiting factor. The GPU's relatively high FPS at 4K Low (206 FPS) versus 4K High (133 FPS) also highlights how settings presets can dramatically alter the load on the GPU.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The provided data includes measured average FPS for 12 distinct configurations, with three presets also including min and max FPS values. At 1920x1080, the results are as follows: Low settings produce an average of 268 FPS, Medium produces 247 FPS (with a min of 210 and max of 285), High produces 206 FPS, and Ultra produces 203 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 65 FPS, showing that the settings presets have a moderate impact on the frame rate at this resolution. The min FPS at Medium being 210 indicates a strong floor even during complex scenes, which is a positive sign for gameplay consistency.

Moving to 2560x1440, the average FPS numbers are 240 for Low, 222 for Medium (with a min of 188 and max of 255), 185 for High, and 182 for Ultra. The performance difference between High and Ultra is negligible at this resolution (only 3 FPS), suggesting that the Ultra preset in Inside is not significantly more demanding than High, or that the CPU is starting to become the limiting factor. The min FPS at Medium (188) is still very high, ensuring smooth gameplay. The transition from 1080p to 1440p costs about 28 FPS on Low, 25 FPS on Medium, 21 FPS on High, and 21 FPS on Ultra, showing a consistent reduction across all presets.

At 3840x2160, the average FPS results are 206 for Low, 190 for Medium (with a min of 161 and max of 218), 133 for High, and 126 for Ultra. The drop from 1440p to 4K is much more pronounced: 34 FPS on Low, 32 FPS on Medium, 52 FPS on High, and 56 FPS on Ultra. This data confirms that the GPU's workload increases significantly at 4K, especially with the High and Ultra presets. The min FPS at 4K Medium (161) is still above 144 Hz, meaning that even the lowest frame rate in the measured data is suitable for high-refresh-rate gaming. However, the gap between Low and Ultra at 4K (80 FPS) is the largest of any resolution, highlighting that the settings presets have a much greater impact on performance when the GPU is the bottleneck.

The data shows a clear hierarchy: 1080p Low is the fastest configuration at 268 FPS, while 4K Ultra is the slowest at 126 FPS. The measured values indicate that any of these configurations will provide a smooth experience on a standard 60 Hz monitor, but only the lower resolution and settings combinations will satisfy the demands of a 240 Hz display. The min FPS data for Medium settings across all resolutions (210, 188, 161) provides a reliable estimate for worst-case performance, which is excellent for a game of this type.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D is a Zen 3 architecture processor with 6 cores and 12 threads, running on the AM4 socket. Its base clock is 3.00 GHz, and it boosts up to 4.00 GHz. The CPU's cache structure is its most interesting feature, with 96 MB of shared L3 cache. This large cache is designed to improve gaming performance by reducing memory latency, and it is likely a key reason why the combo achieves such high frame rates at lower resolutions. The CPU's benchmark scores support this, showing a Passmark single-thread score of 2941 and a multithread score of 20363.

In Inside, the CPU's role is to handle the game's logic, physics, and draw calls. The measured FPS data at 1080p and 1440p suggests that the CPU is the primary limiting component at these resolutions. The fact that the FPS only drops slightly from 1080p High (206 FPS) to 1440p High (185 FPS) indicates that the CPU is able to maintain a high frame output regardless of the resolution, as long as the GPU is not overwhelmed. The CPU's high single-thread performance, evidenced by the Passmark score of 2941, is crucial for a game like Inside, which likely relies heavily on a single main thread for its simulation.

The CPU's performance is further contextualized by its nearest rivals in the benchmark database. It is only 0.2% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F and the Intel Core Ultra 5 225, and 0.2% behind the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450. This indicates that the 5500X3D's raw compute power is very competitive with other mid-range CPUs, but it is not exceptional. The data shows that the combo's rank in Inside (1059 out of 3716) is likely dragged down by the CPU's inability to push frame rates beyond the 268 FPS observed at 1080p Low. A CPU with higher single-thread performance would likely achieve a higher average FPS at that resolution, thereby improving the combo's rank.

The CPU's 96 MB L3 cache is a notable asset, but the data shows that it is not enough to overcome the performance ceiling of its core architecture. The 105W TDP and 7nm process node make it an efficient chip, but in the context of Inside, the CPU's role is to provide a stable, high frame rate floor. The measured results show it succeeds in this, as even the lowest average FPS at 1080p (203 FPS on Ultra) is extremely high. The CPU's performance is sufficient to feed the RTX 4080 at 4K, as evidenced by the 133 FPS average on High settings, but it is not fast enough to unlock the GPU's full potential at lower resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings preset for this combo depends entirely on the user's display refresh rate and resolution preference. For a 4K display, the High preset is the best choice, delivering an average of 133 FPS. This is more than sufficient for a smooth experience on a 120 Hz or 144 Hz monitor, and it provides a significant visual upgrade over the Medium preset's 190 FPS average. The Ultra preset at 4K only yields 126 FPS, which is a marginal 7 FPS improvement in visual quality for a 7 FPS performance loss, making High the more practical choice. The data does not show min FPS for High or Ultra, but the Medium preset's min of 161 FPS at 4K suggests that High should maintain a floor well above 120 FPS.

For a 1440p display, the Ultra preset is the recommended choice. The average FPS of 182 is still extremely high, and the visual fidelity gains over the High preset (185 FPS) are negligible in terms of performance, with only a 3 FPS difference. The data shows that the combo can easily handle the Ultra preset at 1440p, providing a premium experience without any risk of frame rate drops. The Low preset at 1440p (240 FPS) is only necessary if the user has a 240 Hz monitor and prioritizes frame rate over visual quality, but the Ultra preset's 182 FPS is already well above the refresh rate of most high-end monitors.

For a 1080p display, the Ultra preset is also the best choice, with an average of 203 FPS. This is high enough to take advantage of a 240 Hz display, although it does not match the Low preset's 268 FPS. The visual jump from Low to Ultra is substantial in a game with atmospheric lighting and shadows, so the 65 FPS difference is a worthwhile trade-off for most users. The Medium preset's min FPS of 210 at 1080p shows that even in the most demanding scenes, the frame rate will not dip below 200 FPS, making it a safe choice for competitive play. Ultimately, the data supports using the Ultra preset at 1080p and 1440p, and the High preset at 4K, as these configurations offer the best balance of visual quality and performance based on the measured results.