Inside

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT delivers exceptional performance in Inside, consistently producing frame rates far above display refresh rate thresholds across all tested configurations. The data indicates this combination is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher resolutions, while the CPU’s strong single-thread performance ensures no bottleneck at 1080p. With an average FPS ranging from 99 at 4K Ultra to 308 at 1080p Low, this system is unequivocally overkill for a smooth experience, making high-refresh-rate monitors the only sensible pairing.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial but not linear, revealing a classic GPU-limited scaling pattern. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 230 FPS at 1920x1080 to 165 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 65 FPS (28.3%). Moving from 1440p to 3840x2160, the average drops further to 104 FPS, another 61 FPS decrease (37.0%). This steep decline at 4K confirms that the RX 9070 XT’s rendering workload, not the Ryzen 5 5600X, is the primary constraint as pixel count rises.

The scaling pattern is more pronounced at lower settings, where the GPU is pushed even harder. At Low settings, the transition from 1080p (308 FPS) to 1440p (276 FPS) costs only 32 FPS, but the jump to 4K (207 FPS) represents a 69 FPS drop from 1440p. This 25.0% decrease from 1440p to 4K at Low settings, compared to a 37.0% drop at High settings, suggests that the GPU’s compute units are the limiting factor, but the memory subsystem also plays a role at higher resolutions.

Ultra settings show the most dramatic scaling, with 219 FPS at 1080p dropping to 157 FPS at 1440p and then to 99 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is less than half the 1080p Ultra figure, a 54.8% reduction. This indicates that the game’s Ultra preset introduces effects that are particularly expensive at high pixel counts, likely related to the GPU’s pixel fill rate and texture throughput. The RX 9070 XT’s 380.2 GPixel/s pixel rate and 760.3 GTexel/s texture rate are sufficient for 1080p, but the 4K workload approaches the limits of these units.

Interestingly, the gap between Medium and High settings narrows as resolution increases. At 1080p, the difference is 55 FPS (285 vs 230), which shrinks to 90 FPS at 1440p (255 vs 165) and 62 FPS at 4K (166 vs 104). This convergence suggests that at 4K, the GPU is so saturated that the marginal cost of High over Medium becomes relatively smaller, whereas at 1080p, the CPU can feed the GPU fast enough to expose the full cost of each setting tier.

The minimum FPS data, available only for Medium settings, reinforces the GPU-bound conclusion. At 4K Medium, the minimum of 141 FPS is 84.9% of the average (166 FPS), indicating consistent frame pacing. At 1440p Medium, the minimum of 217 FPS is 85.1% of the average, and at 1080p Medium, it is 84.9% (242 vs 285). This uniform ratio across resolutions shows that the frame time variance scales proportionally with the average, a hallmark of a stable GPU workload with no CPU-induced stutters.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT, with its 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus delivering 644.6 GB/s of bandwidth, is clearly the dominant component in this system for Inside. The game’s modest visual complexity does not require the full 16 GB frame buffer, but the high bandwidth ensures that even at 4K Ultra, the GPU can fetch textures and geometry without stalling. The 4K Ultra average of 99 FPS, while the lowest recorded, still represents a smooth experience, and the 4K High result of 104 FPS shows that the GPU handles the game’s highest fidelity settings comfortably.

The GPU’s clock behavior is notable: the base clock of 1660 MHz, game clock of 2400 MHz, and boost clock of 2970 MHz indicate a wide dynamic range. Benchmark results show the GPU reaching high utilization under load, with the boost clock likely being sustained during the 1080p Low tests where the CPU can feed frames quickly. At 4K, the clocks may not reach the absolute maximum due to power and thermal limits, but the 304 W TDP and dual-slot cooler are designed to handle sustained loads.

The RX 9070 XT’s architectural strengths, RDNA 4.0 on a 4 nm process with 53,900 million transistors, translate directly to this game’s performance. The 4096 shading units and 128 ROPs are more than sufficient for Inside’s 2D-heavy visuals. The GPU’s passmark G3D score of 26795 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 7260 place it in the 55th percentile of all GPUs, but its nearest rivals in the benchmark database—AMD Radeon HD 7770M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570, NVIDIA P106-090, and AMD Radeon Pro 555—are all far older architectures with significantly lower scores. This discrepancy highlights that the RX 9070 XT’s raw compute is overkill for this title, yet it still scales properly with resolution.

The 16 GB memory capacity is never stressed by Inside, which is a 2016 puzzle platformer with limited texture sizes. However, the 644.6 GB/s bandwidth is beneficial at 4K, where the GPU must move more data per frame. The 2518 MHz memory clock (20.1 Gbps effective) contributes to this bandwidth, and the fact that 4K Medium (166 FPS) outperforms 4K High (104 FPS) by 62 FPS suggests that memory bandwidth is not the limiting factor; rather, it is the shading and texture units that struggle with the High preset’s additional effects.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achievable with this CPU-GPU combo?

A: The highest recorded average FPS is 308, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is far above any display’s refresh rate, indicating the system is heavily GPU-limited even at the lowest settings.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU at 1080p?

A: No. The 1080p Low result of 308 FPS and 1080p Ultra of 219 FPS show that the Ryzen 5 5600X can feed the RX 9070 XT effectively. The CPU’s 3DMark single-thread score of 917 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1541 are strong, and the fact that FPS scales with settings at 1080p confirms the GPU is the primary driver.

Q: How does 4K performance compare to 1440p at High settings?

A: At High settings, the average FPS drops from 165 at 2560x1440 to 104 at 3840x2160, a 37.0% reduction. This indicates that the GPU’s pixel throughput is the limiting factor at 4K.

Q: Is the RX 9070 XT’s 16 GB VRAM necessary for this game?

A: No. Inside is a 2D puzzle platformer with modest texture requirements. The 16 GB frame buffer is far more than needed, but the accompanying 644.6 GB/s bandwidth helps maintain high FPS at 4K.

Q: What is the minimum FPS at Medium settings across resolutions?

A: The minimum FPS at Medium settings is 141 at 4K, 217 at 1440p, and 242 at 1080p. These values are consistently 84.9-85.1% of the average FPS, showing stable frame pacing.

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

A: The combination ranks 978th out of 3716 tested combos, placing it in the top 26.3% of all systems. This is a strong result given the game’s age and the hardware’s modern performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest performance. Low settings produce an average of 308 FPS, Medium reaches 285 FPS with a minimum of 242 and maximum of 327, High achieves 230 FPS, and Ultra drops to 219 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 89 FPS, a 28.9% reduction, demonstrating that even the most demanding preset at 1080p cannot stress the RX 9070 XT to its limits. The Medium minimum of 242 FPS is still above 240 Hz, making this resolution suitable for the highest refresh rate monitors available.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages decrease across all settings. Low yields 276 FPS, Medium 255 FPS (minimum 217, maximum 293), High 165 FPS, and Ultra 157 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra narrows to just 8 FPS at this resolution, compared to 11 FPS at 1080p, suggesting that the Ultra preset’s additional effects are becoming more expensive relative to the GPU’s capacity. The Medium minimum of 217 FPS still exceeds 200 Hz, but the High and Ultra averages are now below 170 FPS, meaning 1440p 165 Hz monitors are the practical limit for high-fidelity settings.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is finally challenged. Low settings produce 207 FPS, Medium 166 FPS (minimum 141, maximum 191), High 104 FPS, and Ultra 99 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra is only 5 FPS, indicating that both presets are pushing the GPU to its near-maximum rendering capacity. The Medium minimum of 141 FPS is still above 120 Hz, but the High and Ultra averages are barely above 100 FPS, making 4K 120 Hz displays the ceiling for these settings. The Low setting at 207 FPS is the only 4K result that exceeds 200 FPS, showing that significant visual compromises are required for ultra-high refresh rates at this resolution.

The data reveals a consistent pattern: the RX 9070 XT scales almost perfectly with pixel count, with the 4K results being approximately 45-52% of the 1080p results for the same settings. This linear scaling is typical of a GPU-bound scenario, where the rendering workload is proportional to the number of pixels. The CPU’s role is minimal, as evidenced by the fact that the 1080p Low result of 308 FPS is the only metric that approaches the GPU’s theoretical limit.

Settings Recommendations

For 4K displays, the Medium preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance. The 166 FPS average is 67 FPS higher than High, and the minimum of 141 FPS ensures no drops below 120 Hz. The jump from Medium to High costs 62 FPS, a 37.3% reduction, which is a significant sacrifice for marginal visual improvements in a puzzle platformer. Ultra at 99 FPS is playable but leaves no headroom for scene complexity, and the 5 FPS difference from High is negligible.

At 1440p, High settings provide an excellent experience with 165 FPS average, which syncs perfectly with 165 Hz monitors. The 8 FPS difference between High and Ultra (157 FPS) is small, but the Ultra preset’s additional effects are unlikely to be noticeable in this game’s dark, atmospheric art style. For users with 240 Hz monitors, Medium at 255 FPS is the clear choice, though Low at 276 FPS offers only a marginal 21 FPS improvement.

For 1080p, the system is so powerful that even Ultra settings at 219 FPS exceed the refresh rate of most monitors. The recommendation is to use Ultra settings unconditionally, as the 89 FPS gap between Low and Ultra is imperceptible when both are above 200 FPS. The Medium preset’s minimum of 242 FPS is still above 240 Hz, but the Ultra average of 219 FPS is sufficient for all but the most extreme esports displays.

The best overall experience, considering the game’s puzzle platformer genre and its 2016 release date, is the High preset at 1440p. This configuration delivers 165 FPS, which is above the refresh rate of most high-end monitors, while maintaining visual fidelity that respects the game’s artistic design. The Ultra preset at 1080p is also a valid choice for users with 240 Hz displays, as the 219 FPS average is close enough to the refresh rate to minimize tearing with V-Sync disabled.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X, with 6 cores and 12 threads, plays a supporting role in Inside’s performance. The game’s 2D puzzle platformer nature is not thread-hungry, and the CPU’s 3DMark single-thread score of 917, Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1541, and Geekbench single-core score of 1989 indicate excellent per-core performance. The 4.60 GHz boost clock, up from a 3.70 GHz base, ensures that the game’s primary thread is never starved, even at 1080p where the GPU can produce over 300 FPS.

The CPU’s 32 MB of L3 cache and 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth are more than adequate for Inside’s data requirements. The game’s assets are small, and the CPU is not required to stream large amounts of geometry or textures. The 3DMark 2-thread score of 1793 and 4-thread score of 3363 show that even with just a few threads, the CPU can handle the game’s logic and rendering command submission without becoming a bottleneck.

The Ryzen 5 5600X’s overall benchmark performance, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 11838 and Passmark multithread score of 21858, places it in the 75th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals—the AMD Ryzen 7 4800H (0.1% slower), AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 6650U (0.5% faster), Intel Core i7-11700 (0.5% faster), and AMD EPYC 9554P (0.6% faster)—are all within 1% of its average benchmark score. This indicates that the CPU is a mid-range part that is perfectly matched to the GPU’s capabilities for this game.

At 1080p Low, the 308 FPS result is likely the practical limit of what this CPU-GPU combination can achieve, as the GPU’s rendering time per frame approaches the CPU’s command submission time. The fact that the 1080p Ultra result is 219 FPS, only 28.9% lower than Low, confirms that the GPU is still the bottleneck even at the highest settings. The CPU’s 65 W TDP and 7 nm process node ensure it operates without thermal throttling, maintaining consistent boost clocks across all test runs.

The Ryzen 5 5600X’s memory support for DDR4 in dual-channel mode provides sufficient bandwidth for the game, though the 51.2 GB/s is modest by modern standards. The PCIe Gen 4 interface with 20 lanes ensures that the RX 9070 XT has full bandwidth to communicate with the CPU, and the PCIe 5.0 x16 bus of the GPU is backward compatible, running at Gen 4 speeds without issue. The 4,150 million transistors on a 74 mm² die, fabricated on TSMC’s 7 nm process, make for an efficient chip that does not bottleneck the GPU in any resolution tested.