Inside

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 combination delivers exceptionally high frame rates in Inside, a 2016 puzzle platformer that is far less demanding than modern AAA titles. Across all tested resolutions and settings, the system never dips below an average of 126 FPS, indicating that this hardware pairing is overwhelmingly overqualified for the game's visual workload.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a clear shift in bottleneck behavior. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo produces 308 FPS, which drops to 276 FPS at 2560x1440 and further to 237 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 23% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 14% reduction from 1440p to 4K. The scaling pattern suggests that at lower resolutions, the CPU is the primary limiting factor, as the frame rate does not increase proportionally with reduced pixel count.

The gap between Low and Ultra settings widens dramatically as resolution increases. At 1080p, the spread between Low (308 FPS) and Ultra (233 FPS) is 75 FPS, or roughly 24%. At 1440p, the spread narrows slightly to 75 FPS (276 vs. 201 FPS), but the percentage difference remains similar. At 4K, the delta grows to 111 FPS (237 vs. 126 FPS), a much larger 47% gap. This indicates that at 4K, the GPU becomes the dominant constraint, as the RTX 4080's rendering workload scales more severely with pixel count.

The 4K Medium preset shows an average of 212 FPS with a minimum of 181 FPS and maximum of 244 FPS. This suggests that even at the highest resolution, the system maintains well above 144 Hz refresh rates, making the experience buttery smooth on high-refresh displays. The 4K Ultra result of 126 FPS is the only configuration that approaches the 120 FPS threshold, but it still clears it comfortably.

The data shows that resolution scaling is not linear. Moving from 1440p High (211 FPS) to 4K High (133 FPS) represents a 37% performance drop, whereas moving from 1080p High (237 FPS) to 1440p High (211 FPS) is only an 11% reduction. This non-linear scaling is typical of games where geometry and shading costs grow quadratically with resolution, reinforcing that the RTX 4080's memory bandwidth and rasterization throughput are being taxed more heavily at 4K.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process node from TSMC. It features 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 716.8 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2205 MHz with a boost clock of 2505 MHz, and memory runs at 1400 MHz (22.4 Gbps effective). These specifications are far beyond what Inside requires, as the game's simple 2D side-scrolling visuals with limited 3D elements do not stress modern GPUs.

The RTX 4080's benchmark scores confirm its high-end positioning. It achieves a Passmark G3D score of 34457 and a Geekbench OpenCL score of 214739, placing it in the 86th percentile of all GPUs. Its average benchmark score of 54247 is nearly identical to the RTX 4080 SUPER (54209, a 0.1% delta), and it sits just ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X (54828, -1.1% delta). In Inside, however, the GPU is rarely the limiting factor except at 4K Ultra, where the frame rate drops to 126 FPS.

The measured FPS results show that the GPU's headroom is vast. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 308 FPS, which is likely capped by CPU single-thread performance rather than GPU capability. The RTX 4080's 9728 shading units and 304 TMUs are massively underutilized in this title, as the game's art style relies on simple lighting and minimal particle effects. The 112 ROPs and 280.6 GPixel/s pixel rate are more than sufficient for the game's resolution demands.

Interestingly, the RTX 4080's performance in Inside at 4K High (133 FPS) versus 4K Ultra (126 FPS) shows only a 5% difference, suggesting that the Ultra preset adds minimal visual fidelity for the extra GPU load. The memory bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s is not a constraint here, as even the 4K Medium preset with 181 FPS minimum does not approach bandwidth saturation.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of AMD Ryzen 5 5600X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 ranks 587th out of 3716 tested combos in Inside. This places it in the top 15.8% of all tested hardware pairings for this game, which is a surprisingly low rank given the absolute performance on display. The ranking reflects that many other combinations—likely with higher-end CPUs or even more powerful GPUs—achieve similar or higher frame rates, particularly at lower resolutions where the CPU bottleneck dominates.

The CPU itself, the Ryzen 5 5600X, holds the 75th percentile among all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 21771. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 4800H (21749, a 0.1% delta) and the Intel Core i7-11700 (21891, a -0.5% delta). The Ryzen 5 5600X's 6 cores and 12 threads with a boost clock of 4.60 GHz provide strong single-thread performance, which is critical for Inside's physics and logic updates.

The GPU's percentile ranking is higher at 86th, but its average score of 54247 is closely matched by the RTX 4080 SUPER (54209, 0.1% delta) and the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB (55698, -2.6% delta). The fact that the combo rank is lower than either component's individual percentile suggests that the pairing is not optimally balanced for this specific game—the CPU may be limiting the GPU's potential in lower-resolution scenarios.

Given that 3716 combos are tracked, a rank of 587 means the 5600X + RTX 4080 is outperformed by roughly 3129 other combinations. This is likely because many of those combos feature newer, higher-core-count CPUs that can push frame rates higher at 1080p, where the RTX 4080 is not the bottleneck. At 4K, the combo's rank would be considerably better, but the aggregate ranking weighs all resolutions equally.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates. The Low preset yields an average of 308 FPS, while Medium produces 285 FPS with a minimum of 242 FPS and maximum of 327 FPS. High settings drop to 237 FPS, and Ultra further reduces to 233 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra at 1080p is negligible at just 4 FPS, indicating that the Ultra preset's additional effects have minimal impact on the GPU at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance remains exceptionally high. Low settings average 276 FPS, Medium averages 255 FPS (minimum 217, maximum 293), High averages 211 FPS, and Ultra averages 201 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1440p is a 27% reduction, which is more pronounced than at 1080p (24%), showing the GPU's growing influence.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates are still impressive but show the GPU's workload. Low settings deliver 237 FPS, Medium delivers 212 FPS (minimum 181, maximum 244), High delivers 133 FPS, and Ultra delivers 126 FPS. The dramatic drop from Medium to High at 4K (212 to 133 FPS, a 37% reduction) is noteworthy, as it suggests the High preset enables some expensive visual effects that disproportionately impact the GPU at this resolution.

The minimum FPS data is only provided for Medium settings across all resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the minimum is 242 FPS; at 1440p Medium, it is 217 FPS; and at 4K Medium, it is 181 FPS. These minimums are all well above 144 FPS, ensuring smooth gameplay even during demanding scenes. The lack of min/max data for other presets limits detailed frame-time analysis, but the averages are consistently high.

Settings Recommendations

For the best experience, the Medium preset at 1440p offers an excellent balance, delivering 255 FPS average with a 217 FPS minimum. This configuration is ideal for high-refresh-rate monitors up to 240 Hz, as it comfortably exceeds that threshold while maintaining the lowest minimum frame rate among all tested settings at that resolution. The jump from Medium to High at 1440p costs 44 FPS (255 to 211), which is a significant drop for visual gains that are likely minimal in Inside's stylized art direction.

At 4K, the Medium preset is the clear recommendation, with a 212 FPS average and 181 FPS minimum. This provides a smooth experience on 144 Hz 4K displays, and the 31 FPS difference between Medium and High (212 to 133) is too large to justify. The Ultra preset at 4K, at 126 FPS, is barely playable on 120 Hz displays but may cause stutter on 144 Hz panels, making it the least advisable option.

For users with 1080p 360 Hz displays, the Low preset at 308 FPS is the only setting that approaches that refresh rate, though the Medium preset at 285 FPS is also viable. The High and Ultra presets at 1080p (237 and 233 FPS) are effectively identical in performance, so users should choose Ultra for the best visuals without sacrificing meaningful frame rate.

Overall, the Medium preset across all resolutions offers the best combination of frame rate stability and visual quality, as evidenced by the provided minimum FPS figures. The High preset is a reasonable choice at 1080p (237 FPS) and 1440p (211 FPS), but at 4K, the 133 FPS average is too close to the 120 FPS threshold for comfort. Low settings are only recommended for users chasing maximum frame rates on ultra-high-refresh displays.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture (codename Vermeer) built on TSMC's 7 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz, with 32 MB of L3 cache and 512 KB of L2 cache per core. The CPU supports DDR4 memory with dual-channel bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s and connects via PCIe Gen 4 with 20 lanes. Its TDP is 65 W, and it launched with an MSRP of $299.

In Inside, the CPU's role is significant at lower resolutions. The 1080p Low result of 308 FPS is likely near the CPU's practical limit for this game, as the RTX 4080 is not the bottleneck at such low graphical settings. The CPU's single-thread performance, as measured by a Passmark single-thread score of 3364 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1541, is strong for a 2020 processor, but Inside's engine may have frame rate ceilings that prevent higher values.

The Ryzen 5 5600X's multi-threaded capabilities, shown by a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 11838 and a Passmark multi-thread score of 21858, are more than adequate for a game that likely uses only a few threads. The 3DMark scores (5582 for 16 threads, 5588 for max threads) indicate that the CPU scales well across cores, but this is not relevant for Inside's workload.

At 4K, the CPU's influence wanes, as the GPU becomes the limiting factor. The 4K Low result of 237 FPS versus 4K High of 133 FPS demonstrates that the GPU's rendering load is the primary constraint at that resolution. However, the fact that 4K Low (237 FPS) is still lower than 1440p Low (276 FPS) suggests that the CPU still contributes to the performance ceiling even at high resolutions, likely through draw call processing.

The CPU's nearest rivals, such as the AMD Ryzen 7 4800H (0.1% delta) and Intel Core i7-11700 (-0.5% delta), all have similar average scores, indicating that the 5600X is well-matched to its peers in general workloads. For Inside specifically, the 5600X's 4.60 GHz boost clock is likely the key factor, as the game benefits from high single-thread frequency rather than core count. The 65 W TDP also means the CPU runs cool, allowing sustained boost clocks during gameplay.