Inside

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 delivers exceptional frame rates in Inside, a puzzle platformer that is far more demanding than its minimalist aesthetic suggests. The data reveals a configuration that is overwhelmingly GPU-limited at lower resolutions but shows a complex interplay between the processor and graphics card as resolution scales, ultimately landing this combo in the top quartile of all tested systems.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and predictable pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases, but the magnitude of the drop reveals critical information about the system's bottleneck. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 297.7 FPS, which falls to 266.1 FPS at 1440p and further to 229.8 FPS at 4K. This represents a 22.8% drop from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, which is relatively modest and suggests the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU even at high frame rates.

However, the scaling story changes dramatically when examining the High and Ultra presets. At High settings, the system delivers 230.2 FPS at 1080p, 208 FPS at 1440p, and 146.4 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1440p to 4K at High settings is a substantial 29.6%, indicating that the GPU is beginning to become the limiting factor at higher resolutions and quality levels. The Ultra preset tells a similar story: 224.4 FPS at 1080p, 200.6 FPS at 1440p, and 139 FPS at 4K, with a 30.7% decrease from 1440p to 4K.

The Medium preset shows a more moderate scaling curve, with 274.6 FPS at 1080p, 248.3 FPS at 1440p, and 208.7 FPS at 4K. The fact that the 1080p to 1440p drop is only 9.6% at Medium but 11.6% at Ultra suggests that the game's higher quality settings are placing proportionally more load on the GPU. The data implies that at 1080p, the RTX 4090 is severely underutilized, with frame rates exceeding 224 FPS even at Ultra, while the CPU maintains a comfortable lead. At 4K, the GPU workload increases enough to create a more balanced system, though the RTX 4090 still has ample headroom given its 24 GB of VRAM and 1.01 TB/s memory bandwidth.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications explain why Inside runs at such high frame rates across all tested configurations. The GPU's 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus provides 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth, which is more than sufficient for a puzzle platformer that does not demand large texture datasets. The 16384 shading units, 512 texture mapping units, and 176 render output units are all massively over-provisioned for this game's visual complexity.

The clock speeds of 2235 MHz base and 2520 MHz boost are relatively high for a modern GPU, and the data shows that this card is capable of sustaining these clocks without thermal throttling even at 4K Ultra settings, where it delivers 139 FPS. The GPU's FP32 performance of 82.58 TFLOPS is more than enough to handle the game's lighting and shadow calculations, which are likely the most demanding aspects of its rendering pipeline. The RTX 4090's 128 RT cores are present but likely unused in Inside, as the game does not feature ray-traced effects.

The GPU's performance percentile of 91 places it in the upper echelon of all graphics cards, though the benchmark scores show some interesting anomalies. The PassMark DirectX 10 score of 224 and DirectX 9 score of 397 are notably lower than the DirectX 11 score of 326 and DirectX 12 score of 150, which suggests the card has varied performance across different API generations. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 9223 and Geekbench OpenCL score of 317684 indicate that the card excels in modern workloads, which aligns with the high frame rates observed in Inside.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600 provides a solid foundation for this configuration, though its role is clearly secondary to the GPU in Inside. The processor's 6 cores and 12 threads are more than adequate for a puzzle platformer that does not heavily utilize multi-threading, as evidenced by the 3DMark 16-thread score of 5641 versus the single-thread score of 882. The base clock of 3.50 GHz and boost clock of 4.40 GHz are modest by modern standards, but the Zen 3 architecture's efficiency compensates for the relatively low frequency.

The CPU's 32 MB of shared L3 cache and 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth are sufficient for the game's data requirements, and the 7 nm process node from TSMC ensures power efficiency with a 65 W TDP. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 18309 and single-core score of 2584 show that the processor can handle both lightly and heavily threaded workloads, though the single-core performance is what matters most for Inside's game logic and physics calculations.

The CPU's percentile of 79 places it above average, but the nearest rivals list reveals a tight grouping. The Intel Xeon D-1746TER scores 21635 with a 0.6% delta, while the AMD EPYC 9554P scores 21899 with a -0.6% delta. This clustering suggests that the Ryzen 5 5600 is near the top of its performance class, but the CPU is not the star of this show. The data shows that at 1080p Low settings, the system reaches 297.7 FPS, which is likely approaching the CPU's maximum frame delivery capability, as the GPU is far from saturated at that resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 5600 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 achieves a rank of 292 out of 1671 combos in Inside, placing it in the top 17.5% of all tested systems. This is a strong showing, but it is not at the very top, which suggests that some higher-end CPUs paired with the same GPU can extract slightly more performance, particularly at 1080p where the CPU is more likely to be the limiting factor.

The rank is impressive given that the CPU is a mid-range processor from the Ryzen 5000 series, but it is not surprising considering the RTX 4090's dominance. The data implies that the GPU is doing the heavy lifting, and the CPU is providing enough support to avoid being a significant bottleneck in most scenarios. However, the fact that this combo does not crack the top 100 suggests that there is still headroom for improvement with a more powerful processor, especially for users who prioritize maximum frame rates at 1080p.

The GPU's own ranking of 91st percentile and the CPU's 79th percentile combine to produce a system that is greater than the sum of its parts in this game, but the bottleneck analysis from the resolution scaling data indicates that the CPU is holding back the GPU at lower resolutions. This is a classic case of a high-end GPU being paired with a mid-range CPU, which works well for most games but leaves some performance on the table in CPU-bound scenarios.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates across all settings. Low settings produce 297.7 FPS, Medium settings yield 274.6 FPS, High settings achieve 230.2 FPS, and Ultra settings reach 224.4 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 73.3 FPS, which is a 24.6% reduction, indicating that the game's quality settings have a significant impact on performance at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show the expected decline. Low settings deliver 266.1 FPS, Medium settings produce 248.3 FPS, High settings achieve 208 FPS, and Ultra settings reach 200.6 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra narrows slightly to 65.5 FPS, or 24.6%, suggesting that the GPU is becoming more of a factor as resolution increases.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops are more pronounced. Low settings still manage an impressive 229.8 FPS, Medium settings deliver 208.7 FPS, High settings achieve 146.4 FPS, and Ultra settings fall to 139 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 90.8 FPS, or 39.5%, which is a much larger spread than at lower resolutions. This indicates that the GPU is now the primary bottleneck, and the higher-quality settings are placing additional strain on the rendering pipeline.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data suggests that the High preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance for most users. At 1080p, High settings deliver 230.2 FPS, which is more than enough for any display, while at 1440p the 208 FPS is still well above the refresh rate of most gaming monitors. Even at 4K, the 146.4 FPS at High settings provides a smooth experience on high-refresh-rate displays.

For users with 4K displays, the Ultra preset at 139 FPS is also viable, as the visual improvements over High may be worth the 5% performance cost. However, the data shows that the drop from High to Ultra at 4K is 7.4 FPS, which is a minor difference that might not be perceptible in a puzzle platformer's slower-paced gameplay. The Medium preset at 208.7 FPS at 4K offers a significant performance boost over High and Ultra, but the visual quality reduction may be noticeable.

At 1080p and 1440p, the Low and Medium presets are unnecessary for achieving high frame rates, as even Ultra settings provide 224.4 FPS and 200.6 FPS respectively. The data indicates that users with high-refresh-rate displays (144Hz or higher) should opt for High or Ultra settings at these resolutions to maximize visual fidelity without sacrificing frame rates. For 4K users, High settings are the recommended starting point, with Ultra available as an option for those who prioritize image quality over the marginal frame rate difference.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with Ultra settings?

A: The system achieves 224.4 FPS at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings, which is the lowest frame rate at that resolution but still extremely high.

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

A: The average FPS drops from 230.2 at 1080p to 146.4 at 4K at High settings, representing a 36.4% reduction in performance.

*Q: Is this combination more CPU or GPU limited in Inside?*

A: The data shows that at 1080p, the system is likely CPU-limited since the GPU is not fully utilized, but at 4K, the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck, particularly at higher quality settings.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 4K gaming?

A: The High preset at 146.4 FPS offers the best combination of visual quality and performance, as Ultra only delivers 139 FPS and Medium provides 208.7 FPS but with reduced visual fidelity.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested systems?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 5600 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combination ranks 292 out of 1671 combos, placing it in the top 17.5% of all systems tested.

Q: What is the maximum frame rate achieved by this system?

A: The highest average FPS is 297.7, which occurs at 1920x1080 with Low settings, indicating the CPU's maximum frame delivery capability.