Inside

The AMD Ryzen 5 7400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 delivers an exceptionally high-performance experience in Inside, a 2016 puzzle platformer. The measured FPS data shows this combination is capable of pushing frame rates far beyond display refresh rate requirements at every tested resolution and settings preset, positioning the combo at rank 215 out of 2,887 tested combinations. This analysis examines the scaling behavior, component roles, and practical settings choices derived strictly from the measured data.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic GPU-bound scenario, but with unusual magnitude due to the game’s age and the RTX 4090’s raw power. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 259 at 1920x1080 to 232 at 2560x1440, a modest 10.4% reduction, then drops more sharply to 147 at 3840x2160, representing a 43.2% decrease from the 1080p figure. This pattern indicates that while the GPU becomes the primary limiting factor at 4K, the transition from 1080p to 1440p barely stresses the RTX 4090, suggesting the CPU still has headroom to feed frames at lower resolutions.

Looking at Low settings, the scaling is even more dramatic. The average FPS at 1080p is 337, dropping to 302 at 1440p (10.4% lower) and then to 258 at 4K (23.4% lower than 1080p). The fact that 4K Low still produces 258 FPS average underscores how far this hardware combination outpaces the game’s requirements. The delta between 1440p and 4K at Low settings (44 FPS) is nearly identical to the delta at High settings (85 FPS), but proportionally smaller, indicating that the GPU’s workload scaling is not linear with pixel count alone.

Ultra settings show the steepest relative decline. At 1080p, the average is 255 FPS; at 1440p it drops to 222 FPS (13% reduction); at 4K it falls to 140 FPS (45% reduction from 1080p). The 82 FPS gap between 1440p Ultra and 4K Ultra is significant, suggesting that at 4K Ultra, the RTX 4090’s shading units and memory bandwidth are finally being taxed to a degree where the frame rate becomes resolution-limited rather than CPU-limited. The data implies that for 4K gaming, even a flagship GPU like the RTX 4090 sees a meaningful performance hit, though 140 FPS average remains exceptionally smooth.

The Medium settings row provides the only min/max FPS data in the entire measured set. At 1080p Medium, the min FPS is 264 and max is 357, giving a 93 FPS spread. At 1440p Medium, the range tightens slightly to 237-320 (83 FPS spread), while at 4K Medium, it narrows further to 200-270 (70 FPS spread). This compression of the frame time distribution as resolution increases further confirms that GPU workload becomes the dominant factor at higher pixel counts, reducing the CPU-induced variability seen at lower resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090’s specifications explain its ability to maintain triple-digit FPS even at 4K Ultra. With 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, the memory bandwidth reaches 1.01 TB/s, which is more than sufficient for a 2016 puzzle platformer’s texture and geometry demands. The GPU’s boost clock of 2520 MHz and base clock of 2235 MHz, combined with 16,384 shading units, deliver 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 compute. In the context of Inside, which has relatively simple visuals compared to modern AAA titles, this hardware is massively overprovisioned.

The VRAM capacity of 24 GB is particularly notable. Even at 4K Ultra settings, the game’s memory footprint would be a fraction of this allocation, meaning there is zero risk of VRAM-related stuttering or texture thrashing. The benchmark results reflect this: the min FPS at 4K Medium is 200, which is still far above any threshold where memory pressure could cause frame drops. The GPU’s pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,290.2 GTexel/s indicate that fill-rate limits are unlikely to be reached at any resolution tested.

The RTX 4090’s benchmark scores provide context for its ranking. It achieves a Passmark G3D score of 38,194 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 9,223, placing it at the 88th percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in the database include the Intel Arc Pro A60 with an average score of 60,326 (delta 0%) and the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M at 61,896 (delta -2.5%), showing that the RTX 4090 sits in a performance tier that is essentially unmatched in these synthetic tests. The Geekbench OpenCL score of 255,416 and Vulkan score of 271,631 further corroborate its compute dominance.

In Inside specifically, the GPU’s role is to render the game’s atmospheric side-scrolling environments with high frame consistency. The measured FPS at 4K High (147) versus 4K Low (258) shows a 75.5% performance uplift from lowering settings, which is a substantial gain that suggests the GPU’s shading complexity scales significantly with the graphics preset. The fact that even 4K Ultra maintains 140 FPS average indicates that the RTX 4090 never becomes fully saturated, leaving headroom for future driver optimizations or higher refresh rate displays.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS measured for this combo in Inside?

A: The highest average FPS is 337, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The lowest measured average is 140 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings.

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

A: At High settings, the average FPS drops from 259 at 1920x1080 to 147 at 3840x2160, representing a 43.2% reduction in frame rate. This indicates that 4K resolution places significantly more load on the RTX 4090.

Q: Does the RTX 4090’s 24 GB VRAM cause any bottlenecks in this game?

A: No. The measured data shows no signs of VRAM-related stuttering or frame drops, as even the minimum FPS at 4K Medium is 200. The 24 GB GDDR6X memory with 1.01 TB/s bandwidth is far beyond what Inside requires.

Q: Which settings preset shows the smallest FPS difference between 1080p and 1440p?

A: Low settings show the smallest relative difference, with only a 10.4% drop from 337 to 302 FPS. This suggests that at Low settings, the CPU becomes more of a limiting factor than the GPU at lower resolutions.

Q: What is the FPS range at 4K Medium settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Medium settings, the average FPS is 235, with a minimum of 200 and maximum of 270. This provides a 70 FPS spread, indicating some frame time variability at this resolution.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested configurations in Inside?

A: The combo ranks 215th out of 2,887 tested combinations, placing it in the top 7.4% of all configurations. This high ranking reflects the RTX 4090’s dominance and the Ryzen 5 7400F’s adequate support.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the Medium preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance headroom. At 1080p Medium, the average FPS is 311, which is only 26 FPS lower than Low (337) but provides better visual fidelity. The minimum FPS of 264 at 1080p Medium ensures that even the most demanding scenes stay above 240 Hz, making this ideal for high refresh rate monitors. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 278 FPS with a minimum of 237, still comfortably above 200 Hz. At 4K Medium, the average is 235 FPS with a minimum of 200, which is sufficient for 144 Hz displays without any perceived stutter.

High settings are a viable alternative for users who prioritize image quality over raw frame rates. At 1080p High, the average is 259 FPS, which is 52 FPS lower than Medium but still exceptionally smooth. The 4K High result of 147 FPS average is the first setting where frame rates approach the 120-144 Hz range, making it suitable for standard 4K displays. Ultra settings provide the maximum visual experience but sacrifice performance: at 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 140, which is 95 FPS lower than Medium at the same resolution. Given that Inside is a puzzle platformer where visual fidelity is atmospheric rather than competitive, the Medium preset delivers the most consistent experience across all resolutions.

The data suggests avoiding Low settings unless targeting extreme frame rates above 300 FPS. At 1080p Low, the 337 FPS average is only 26 FPS higher than Medium, and the visual downgrade is unlikely to be worth the marginal gain. Similarly, Ultra settings offer diminishing returns at 4K, where the 7 FPS difference between High (147) and Ultra (140) does not justify the additional graphical load. For most users, Medium at any resolution provides the sweet spot: minimum FPS never falls below 200, which is well beyond the refresh rate of any mainstream monitor.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the performance envelope is remarkably narrow. Low settings produce an average of 337 FPS, Medium 311 FPS (min 264, max 357), High 259 FPS, and Ultra 255 FPS. The difference between the highest and lowest average is just 82 FPS, indicating that even at 1080p, the RTX 4090 is not the primary constraint. The Medium settings’ min FPS of 264 is particularly impressive, as it exceeds the average FPS of many lower-tier GPUs at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages are 302 FPS for Low, 278 FPS for Medium (min 237, max 320), 232 FPS for High, and 222 FPS for Ultra. The gap between Low and Ultra widens to 80 FPS, but the overall pattern remains consistent: every settings preset delivers well above 200 FPS average. The minimum FPS at 1440p Medium is 237, which is still higher than the average FPS at 4K High, underscoring the resolution’s lighter load on the GPU.

At 3840x2160, the performance tiers become more distinct. Low settings average 258 FPS, Medium 235 FPS (min 200, max 270), High 147 FPS, and Ultra 140 FPS. The 4K results show a clear bifurcation: Low and Medium settings maintain high triple-digit rates, while High and Ultra drop to the 140-147 FPS range. This suggests that the RTX 4090’s shading units are being saturated at 4K with higher quality presets, though the 140 FPS floor at Ultra is still excellent for a 2016 title. The min FPS of 200 at 4K Medium is the only sub-200 measurement in the entire dataset, and it remains far above any playability threshold.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture, codenamed Raphael, fabricated on TSMC’s 5 nm process. Its base clock of 3.70 GHz and boost clock of 4.70 GHz provide substantial single-thread performance, which is critical for a game like Inside that likely relies on a few primary threads for physics and game logic. The CPU’s Cinebench R23 scores of 21,765 multi-core and 3,072 single-core demonstrate strong computational capabilities, while the Passmark single-thread score of 3,689 confirms its ability to handle per-core workloads efficiently.

The CPU’s role in this benchmark is to feed the RTX 4090 with enough frames to avoid becoming a bottleneck. The data shows evidence of this at 1080p, where the FPS differences between settings are compressed (337 to 255 FPS), suggesting that the CPU may be limiting the maximum achievable frame rate. The 82 FPS spread between Low and Ultra at 1080p versus the 118 FPS spread at 4K indicates that at lower resolutions, the CPU’s processing speed becomes relatively more significant. The Ryzen 5 7400F’s 32 MB shared L3 cache and 83.2 GB/s memory bandwidth are adequate for the game’s data streaming needs.

The CPU’s benchmark ranking places it at the 83rd percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 32,750. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i5-14600T (delta 0.1%) and the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850H (delta -0.2%), showing that the 7400F is competitively positioned in the mid-range desktop segment. In the context of Inside, the CPU’s 6 cores and 12 threads are more than sufficient for a puzzle platformer, and the measured FPS data at 1440p and 4K indicates that the CPU never becomes a limiting factor at those resolutions, as the GPU’s workload scaling dominates the performance curve.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 7400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 achieves a rank of 215 out of 2,887 tested combos in Inside, placing it in the top 7.4% of all configurations. This high ranking is driven almost entirely by the RTX 4090’s exceptional performance, given that the CPU is a mid-range part. The data suggests that for this particular game, the GPU is the dominant factor in determining overall frame rates, as evidenced by the strong correlation between resolution/settings and FPS.

The RTX 4090’s percentile ranking of 88 among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 60,347, places it in the upper echelon of graphics cards. Its nearest GPU rivals in the database are the Intel Arc Pro A60 (delta 0%) and the AMD Radeon PRO V710 (delta 2.9%), though these are professional-grade parts that would not typically be paired with gaming CPUs. The CPU’s percentile ranking of 83, with an average score of 32,750, is slightly lower but still respectable, and its nearest rivals (Core i5-14600T, Core Ultra 7 155H, Ryzen 7 PRO 6850H) are all comparable mid-range processors.

The combo rank of 215 suggests that there are 214 combinations that perform better in Inside, likely featuring higher-end CPUs like the Ryzen 9 or Core i9 series paired with the RTX 4090. However, the performance difference is likely minimal, as the measured FPS at 1080p (337 max) is already near the practical limit for most displays. The 4K Ultra score of 140 FPS is a strong indicator that this combo can handle any resolution/settings configuration the game offers, making the rank 215 position more of a theoretical distinction than a practical limitation. For a puzzle platformer, this combo’s ranking underscores that the RTX 4090 is the primary performance driver, while the Ryzen 5 7400F provides sufficient CPU support without becoming a significant bottleneck.