Inside

Inside, a 2D puzzle-platformer from 2016, is not the typical title used to stress a flagship GPU. Yet, the measured data for this combination of an AMD Ryzen 5 5600G and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 reveals a profound imbalance, where the frame rates are dictated almost entirely by the CPU’s single-threaded performance rather than the GPU’s immense rendering power. The results show a configuration that produces exceptionally high frame rates, but one that leaves the vast majority of the RTX 4080’s capability completely untapped, particularly at lower resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling across resolutions is the clearest indicator of where the bottleneck lies in this pairing. When moving from 1080p to 1440p, the average FPS at High settings drops from 224 to 201, a modest 10.3% reduction. This relatively small penalty for a 78% increase in pixel count suggests that the system is not yet fully bound by the GPU at 1080p. The trend continues, but with a more pronounced shift, when moving from 1440p to 4K; the average frame rate at High settings falls from 201 to 133 FPS, a 33.8% decrease. This larger drop at 4K indicates that the RTX 4080’s rendering capabilities are finally becoming the limiting factor, though even at 4K, the frame rates are exceptionally high for this genre.

The most compelling evidence of a CPU limitation is the performance delta between Low and Ultra settings. At 1080p, the difference between Low (291 FPS) and Ultra (220 FPS) is 71 FPS, or 24.4%. If the GPU were the primary constraint, this gap would be much larger, as lower settings would allow the GPU to render frames far more quickly. The fact that even at Low settings the frame rate cannot exceed 291 FPS suggests a hard ceiling imposed by the CPU’s ability to process the game’s logic and draw calls. At 4K, this pattern persists, with Low (223 FPS) and Ultra (126 FPS) showing a 97 FPS difference, but here it is compounded by the GPU’s workload increasing, making the Ultra preset more demanding. The data shows that the RTX 4080 is powerful enough to maintain triple-digit frame rates at 4K, but the Ryzen 5 5600G is holding the system back from reaching its true potential at 1080p and 1440p.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the benchmark database, this specific CPU and GPU combination ranks 789th out of 3716 tested combos for Inside. This places it in the top 21.2% of all systems tested for this game. While a rank of 789 might seem low for a system containing an RTX 4080, it is a direct consequence of the CPU pairing. The Ryzen 5 5600G, while a capable processor, is not designed to be a high-end gaming CPU for maximizing frame rates. Its performance is far more modest than the GPU's, and for a game like Inside, which is not graphically demanding, the CPU's single-threaded performance becomes the main arbiter of the final score.

This ranking becomes clearer when considering the GPU’s own position in the database. The RTX 4080 sits at the 86th percentile of all GPUs, and its average benchmark score of 54247 is just 0.1% higher than that of the RTX 4080 SUPER. This indicates that, on its own, the GPU is a top-tier performer. However, the combo’s rank of 789 out of 3716 suggests that many other systems with less powerful GPUs achieve better performance in Inside because they are paired with CPUs that have stronger single-core performance. The data implies that the combo's rank is dragged down by the CPU's inability to feed the GPU with enough frames, resulting in a system that performs well in absolute terms but is poorly optimized for this specific task.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is a behemoth of a graphics card, built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process. It features 9728 shading units, 304 texture mapping units, and 112 raster output pipelines. Memory is a substantial 16 GB of GDDR6X on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s. The card’s base clock is 2205 MHz, which can boost up to 2505 MHz. These specifications are more than sufficient for any game, including Inside. The 16 GB of VRAM is far beyond what a 2D puzzle-platformer would ever need, and the memory bandwidth is similarly over-provisioned for this title.

In the context of Inside, the GPU's role is almost trivial. The measured frame rates show that even at 4K Ultra, the card averages 126 FPS. This confirms its raw power, but it also highlights a mismatch. The GPU is capable of far more, but its performance is artificially capped by the CPU. The data suggests that the RTX 4080 is not being utilized anywhere near its maximum potential. For instance, at 1080p Low, the card averages 291 FPS, a high number, but the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6567 shows the card's true capability in a more demanding scenario. In a game like Inside, the GPU is effectively running at a fraction of its capacity, waiting for the CPU to send it more work. The GPU’s 86th percentile ranking and its average benchmark score of 54247, which is 2.6% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB, are irrelevant when the processor is the bottleneck.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive look at the system's performance across resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the average frame rates are 291 FPS on Low, 269 FPS on Medium, 224 FPS on High, and 220 FPS on Ultra. The Medium setting is the only one with min/max data, showing a 228 FPS minimum and a 309 FPS maximum. At 2560x1440, the averages are 261 FPS on Low, 241 FPS on Medium, 201 FPS on High, and 197 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset here shows a minimum of 205 FPS and a maximum of 277 FPS. At 3840x2160, the averages are 223 FPS on Low, 206 FPS on Medium, 133 FPS on High, and 126 FPS on Ultra. The 4K Medium setting shows a minimum of 175 FPS and a maximum of 237 FPS.

These numbers reveal a clear pattern. The difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p is only 71 FPS, which is relatively small compared to the 165 FPS difference between Low at 1080p and Low at 4K. This indicates that the GPU is still capable of handling the increased load of Ultra settings at 1080p and 1440p without a massive frame rate penalty. However, the more significant drop occurs when moving to 4K, where the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth become more critical. The data shows that even at 4K Ultra, the system maintains an average of 126 FPS, which is still very playable, but the scaling suggests that the GPU is finally starting to be the primary limiting factor. The high frame rates across the board confirm that the CPU is the main constraint, as the GPU is never allowed to become fully saturated until the resolution is pushed to 4K.

Settings Recommendations

For this specific hardware combination, the measured data suggests that the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience, though the differences are nuanced. At 1920x1080, Medium yields an average of 269 FPS, which is 45 FPS higher than High (224 FPS) and only 22 FPS lower than Low (291 FPS). The Medium preset also provides a minimum frame rate of 228 FPS, ensuring a smooth experience without any noticeable drops. Given that the game is a puzzle-platformer, the visual enhancements from High or Ultra are likely minimal, and the performance gain from using Medium is substantial. The data suggests that Medium is the sweet spot for this title at 1080p, as it offers a significant performance headroom over High and Ultra while maintaining a high level of visual fidelity.

At higher resolutions, the recommendation shifts. At 2560x1440, the High preset averages 201 FPS, which is only 4 FPS slower than Ultra (197 FPS) but 40 FPS faster than Medium (241 FPS). The performance gap between High and Ultra is negligible, so High is the better choice here. At 3840x2160, the difference becomes more pronounced. High averages 133 FPS, which is only 7 FPS faster than Ultra (126 FPS) but 73 FPS slower than Medium (206 FPS). At 4K, the Medium preset is the clear winner, as it provides a massive performance boost over High and Ultra with likely minimal visual difference in this style of game. The data indicates that for the best experience, users should select Medium at 4K, High at 1440p, and Medium at 1080p, as these settings offer the best trade-off between frame rate and visual quality for this CPU-bound system.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600G is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture, codenamed Cezanne. It has a base clock of 3.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. While it is a competent CPU for general use and productivity, its gaming performance is held back by its relatively modest single-threaded capabilities compared to newer or more expensive processors. The CPU’s benchmark scores, such as its 1409 score in Cinebench R23 single-core and 1801 in Geekbench single-core, are decent, but they are not exceptional. Its 74th percentile ranking among all CPUs reflects this, as it sits above the median but is far from the top.

In the context of Inside, the CPU is the primary bottleneck. The game's logic and draw calls are largely single-threaded, meaning the performance is heavily dependent on the CPU's single-core speed. The data shows that the system cannot exceed 291 FPS at 1080p Low, which is a clear indication that the CPU is hitting its limit. The Ryzen 5 5600G’s performance is very close to that of its nearest rivals, with its average benchmark score of 21088 being only 0.1% higher than the Intel Core i3-1220P and 0.4% lower than the Intel Core Ultra 7 155U. This places it in a competitive but not leading position. For this game, a CPU with a higher boost clock would likely result in higher frame rates, as the GPU is never the limiting factor until 4K. The 6 cores and 12 threads are more than enough for a game like Inside, but the clock speed is what ultimately caps the performance.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate this combo can achieve in Inside?

A: The highest average frame rate recorded is 291 FPS, which occurs at 1920x1080 with the Low preset.

Q: Is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 the main performance limiter in this setup?

A: No, the data indicates the CPU is the primary limiter at 1080p and 1440p. The GPU becomes more of a factor only at 4K, where the average frame rate drops to 133 FPS on High settings.

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

A: The combo ranks 789th out of 3716 tested combos, placing it in the top 21.2% of all systems for Inside.

Q: What is the performance difference between the Low and Ultra presets at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 223 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 126 FPS, a difference of 97 FPS.

Q: Does the 16 GB of VRAM on the RTX 4080 provide any benefit in Inside?

A: While the 16 GB of VRAM is a feature of the card, the game is not demanding enough to utilize a significant portion of it. The benefit is negligible for this title.

Q: At which resolution does the GPU start to become a more significant factor in performance?

A: The GPU becomes a more significant factor at 3840x2160. The frame rate drop from 1440p to 4K (201 to 133 FPS on High) is much larger than the drop from 1080p to 1440p (224 to 201 FPS), indicating the GPU is working harder at 4K.