Inside

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT delivers a compelling 1080p and 1440p experience in Inside, a game whose minimalist visuals belie a demanding rendering load. Benchmark results show this combo is capable of high refresh rates at lower resolutions, but the data reveals a notable performance cliff when scaling to 4K, particularly at higher settings.

FAQ

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

A: The measured average is 170.7 FPS at 1920x1080 with High settings, indicating a very smooth experience for standard 144Hz displays.

*Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming in Inside?*

A: Yes, but with caveats. At 3840x2160 with High settings, the average FPS is 78.8. Lowering to Medium yields 121 FPS, while Low settings reach 149.5 FPS.

Q: How much faster is the CPU compared to its nearest rival?

A: The Ryzen 5 5600X has an average benchmark score of 20680, which is 0.3% lower than the AMD Ryzen 5 5600GT (20740) and Intel Core i7-10700 (20746). It is 0.5% behind the Intel Core i5-12490F (20794) and 0.7% ahead of the Intel Xeon 6325P (20538).

Q: What is the FPS difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the average FPS jumps from 112.7 on Ultra to 243.6 on Low. This represents a 116% increase in framerate when dropping from the highest to lowest preset.

Q: Does the GPU outperform its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RX 6700 XT has an average benchmark score of 33721, which is 0.7% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 6800 (33493) and 1.3% higher than the NVIDIA RTX A5000 (33294). It is 1% lower than both the AMD Radeon HD 7950 (34050) and AMD Radeon RX 480 (34059).

Q: What is the combo's overall ranking among tested systems?

A: The combo ranks 871st out of 1671 tested combinations for Inside, placing it in the upper-middle tier of all systems tested.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture, codenamed Vermeer. It operates with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz, features that are directly relevant to the framerate data observed. For a game like Inside, which is a puzzle platformer with a linear narrative, the CPU's role is primarily to maintain consistent frame pacing and handle the game's physics and logic without bottlenecking the GPU.

The CPU's synthetic benchmarks provide context for its capability. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 18578 and single-core score of 2622 indicate strong performance for a 6-core part. The 3DMark single-thread score of 917 and 2-thread score of 1793 suggest that the processor's per-core performance is robust, which is often more critical for older or less-threaded games. The data shows that at 1080p with Low settings, the system reaches 310.6 FPS, which is a high enough framerate that the CPU's processing speed becomes a limiting factor, as the GPU has ample headroom. The Ryzen 5 5600X's performance relative to its rivals is tight; it is effectively tied with the Ryzen 5 5600GT and Core i7-10700, with a negligible 0.3% difference in average benchmark scores. This suggests that the CPU is not a differentiator in this specific title, as the measured FPS is more heavily influenced by the GPU and resolution settings.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture, featuring 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus with a bandwidth of 384.0 GB/s. Its core clocks are substantial, with a base of 2321 MHz and a boost of 2581 MHz, contributing to its FP32 performance of 13.21 TFLOPS. These specifications are significant because Inside's visual style, while not photorealistic, involves complex lighting and shadow effects that tax the GPU's shading units. The GPU has 2560 shading units and 64 ROPs, which handle the pixel throughput necessary for the game's atmospheric environments.

The synthetic benchmarks for the GPU show it is a capable mid-to-high range card. Its Passmark G3D score of 19786 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2435 indicate solid DirectX 12 performance. The GPU's percentile ranking at 77 versus all GPUs confirms it sits above the median. However, the benchmark results also show an interesting dynamic: the RX 6700 XT's average score of 33721 is just 1% below the older AMD Radeon HD 7950 and RX 480, which have scores of 34050 and 34059 respectively. This suggests that while the card excels in synthetic tests, raw performance in specific titles can vary. In Inside, the GPU's memory bandwidth and clock speeds are the primary drivers of the FPS differences between settings, as the game's requirements scale significantly with resolution and quality presets.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data across resolutions reveals a clear performance hierarchy. At 1920x1080, the system is exceptionally fast. Low settings yield an average of 310.6 FPS, Medium at 270.6 FPS, and High at 170.7 FPS. The Ultra preset drops to 159.9 FPS, which is still well above the 144Hz refresh rate target for most monitors. This data suggests that at 1080p, the combination of CPU and GPU is rarely stressed, offering a wide berth for high-refresh-rate gaming.

Moving to 2560x1440, the framerates remain high but begin to show the GPU's workload. Low settings produce 243.6 FPS, Medium provides 196 FPS, and High delivers 122.3 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1440p yields an average of 112.7 FPS. These numbers indicate that the GPU is still capable of driving high refresh rates at this resolution, particularly at Medium and Low settings. The drop from 1080p Low to 1440p Low is 67 FPS, which is a significant but expected reduction due to the increased pixel count.

At 3840x2160, the performance curve steepens. High settings average 78.8 FPS, which is playable but not optimal for high refresh rates. Medium settings provide a more comfortable 121 FPS, while Low settings reach 149.5 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K drops to 70.9 FPS. The data shows that the GPU is the limiting factor at this resolution, as the FPS drops are more pronounced than at lower resolutions, even with the same CPU.

Resolution Scaling

The scaling from 1080p to 4K shows a predictable pattern of FPS decline, but the magnitude varies by settings. For Low settings, the FPS drops from 310.6 at 1080p to 243.6 at 1440p (a 21.6% decrease) and then to 149.5 at 4K (a 38.6% decrease from 1440p). For High settings, the progression is 170.7 to 122.3 (a 28.3% decrease) and then to 78.8 (a 35.5% decrease from 1440p). This data indicates that the GPU is increasingly strained as resolution increases, but the CPU is not a significant bottleneck until very high framerates are achieved at 1080p.

The data suggests that resolution scaling is less linear than ideal. The percentage drop from 1080p to 1440p is generally smaller than the drop from 1440p to 4K for all settings, which is typical due to the quadrupling of pixel count at 4K. However, for Low settings, the drop from 1440p to 4K is 38.6%, which is a larger relative decrease than the drop from 1080p to 1440p. This implies that the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth are saturated at 4K, particularly at lower settings where the CPU is not the limiting factor. The 12 GB of VRAM and 384.0 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient, but the raw shading power is what holds back 4K performance. The data points to the GPU being the primary bottleneck at 4K, while the CPU's influence is minimal at that resolution.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal preset for this combo depends on the user's display and preferences. For 1080p and 1440p users with 144Hz monitors, the High preset is the best choice, offering 170.7 FPS and 122.3 FPS respectively. This preset provides a balance of visual quality and performance that exceeds the refresh rate of most displays. For 4K users with 60Hz displays, the Medium preset is recommended, as it yields 121 FPS, providing headroom above the 60Hz target and reducing the risk of frame drops. The High preset at 4K (78.8 FPS) is also viable, but it leaves less margin for complex scenes.

The Ultra preset offers marginal visual improvements over High but comes with a significant FPS cost. At 1080p, the drop from High to Ultra is 10.8 FPS (170.7 to 159.9), while at 1440p it is 9.6 FPS (122.3 to 112.7). At 4K, the drop is 7.9 FPS (78.8 to 70.9). These differences suggest that the Ultra preset is not worth the performance penalty unless the user has a high-end display and prioritizes absolute visual fidelity. The Low preset is only recommended for competitive play or if the user targets 240Hz+ refresh rates at 1080p, as it reaches 310.6 FPS but sacrifices visual quality. The data shows that Medium is the "sweet spot" for 4K, while High is the best all-around choice for lower resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 871st out of 1671 tested combinations in Inside, which places it in the 52nd percentile of all tested systems. This ranking is a reflection of the hardware's overall capability, but the measured FPS data shows that this combo is far more capable than the raw rank suggests for this specific title. The rank is influenced by other combinations that may have higher-end GPUs or CPUs, but the actual performance in Inside is excellent at 1080p and 1440p, and solid at 4K with adjusted settings.

The CPU's nearest rivals show that the Ryzen 5 5600X is competitive but not leading; it is 0.3% behind the Ryzen 5 5600GT and Intel Core i7-10700, and 0.5% behind the Intel Core i5-12490F. The GPU's rivals present a more interesting picture, as the RX 6700 XT is 0.7% ahead of the RX 6800 in average benchmark scores, which is counterintuitive given the 6800's higher tier. This suggests that the benchmark database's average score may not capture all nuances of gaming performance. In Inside, the RX 6700 XT's performance is strong, but the 1% deficit versus the older HD 7950 and RX 480 in synthetic benchmarks implies that the card's strengths may be more pronounced in newer, more demanding titles. The 871st rank out of 1671 combos indicates that while there are many faster systems, this combination offers a balanced performance that is well-suited for this game, especially when considering the high framerates achieved at 1080p and 1440p.