Inside

# Inside with AMD Ryzen 5 7500F + AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT

This combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F and AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT delivers exceptional performance in Inside, a 2016 Puzzle Platformer. The data shows this pairing ranks 556th out of 3716 tested combinations, placing it comfortably within the top 15% of all systems evaluated. This is a remarkably strong result for a game that, while visually atmospheric, does not demand the extreme hardware resources of modern AAA titles. The measured frame rates across all resolutions and settings suggest that this combo is vastly overqualified for the task, yet the data reveals interesting scaling behaviors that tell a deeper story about where the bottleneck lies.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 556 out of 3716 tested combinations places it in the 85th percentile of all tested systems for this specific game. This is a particularly notable achievement given that the GPU's general benchmark percentile sits at 55, while the CPU's percentile is 77. The disparity between these general-purpose rankings and the in-game rank suggests that Inside's relatively modest graphical requirements allow the CPU to flex its muscles more than in heavier titles, pulling the combined performance upward.

When examining the CPU's nearest rivals, the picture becomes clearer. The AMD Ryzen 5 7500F posts an average benchmark score of 24964, sitting within 0.4% of the Intel Core i7-11850H (24935), the AMD Ryzen 5 8400F (25005), the Intel Core i7-13620H (24911), and the Intel Core 5 210H (24872). The tight clustering of these scores—all within a 0.6% band—indicates that the 7500F is squarely in the middle of a competitive pack of mid-range processors. For Inside, this level of CPU performance is more than sufficient, and the data confirms that the processor is not the limiting factor at any resolution tested.

The GPU's nearest rivals tell a more interesting story. The RX 7900 XT's average benchmark score of 13745 is within 1.5% of the AMD Radeon 660M (13812), NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile (13821), AMD Radeon RX 570X (13871), and AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT (13543). This grouping is deceptive—the RX 7900 XT is a high-end desktop card, yet its average benchmark score across all tests places it near much less powerful parts. This is likely due to the benchmark suite weighting, but for Inside, the raw gaming performance clearly shines through, as evidenced by the frame rates achieved.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT brings formidable specifications to this pairing. Its 20 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 320-bit bus delivers 800.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is far beyond what a puzzle platformer requires. The GPU's boost clock of 2394 MHz and game clock of 2025 MHz, paired with a base clock of 1387 MHz, provide substantial headroom. The 5376 shading units, 336 texture mapping units, and 192 render output units give the card a pixel rate of 459.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 804.4 GTexel/s. The FP32 performance of 51.48 TFLOPS (with FP16 reaching 103.0 TFLOPS at a 2:1 ratio) is overkill for this title.

In Inside, the GPU's role is almost trivial at lower settings. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 351 FPS average, which climbs to 314 FPS at 1440p Low and 224 FPS at 4K Low. These numbers suggest the GPU is nowhere near its limits—even at 4K, the card is likely idling well below its potential. The 84 ray tracing cores and DirectX 12 Ultimate support are unused in this game, as Inside predates widespread RT adoption. The GPU's Vulkan 1.4 and OpenGL 4.6 API support are more relevant, though the game's 2016 release date means it likely uses older rendering paths.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling data reveals a clear pattern: frame rates scale almost linearly with pixel count, indicating that the GPU is the primary driver of performance differences across resolutions, but with massive headroom remaining. At High settings, the combo delivers 248 FPS at 1080p, 178 FPS at 1440p, and 112 FPS at 4K. This represents a 28.2% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 37.1% drop from 1440p to 4K. The 4K figure is still far above any display's refresh rate, meaning the experience is smooth regardless.

At Low settings, the scaling is even more dramatic: 351 FPS at 1080p drops to 314 FPS at 1440p (a 10.5% decrease) and then to 224 FPS at 4K (a 28.7% decrease). The smaller drop at 1440p suggests that at 1080p Low, the CPU becomes a more significant factor, as the GPU can process frames faster than the processor can feed them. At 4K Low, the GPU's workload increases enough to rebalance the system.

The Medium settings data includes minimum and maximum frame times, which provide insight into frame pacing. At 1080p Medium, the average is 324 FPS with a minimum of 275 and maximum of 372. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 285 FPS with a range of 242–328. At 4K Medium, the average falls to 179 FPS with a range of 152–206. The consistency of these ranges—roughly ±15% around the average—indicates stable performance without significant stuttering, even at lower resolutions where CPU overhead might be expected to cause hiccups.

FAQ

Q: Is this combo overkill for Inside?

A: The data strongly suggests yes. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 351 FPS average, and even at 4K Ultra it maintains 107 FPS. The RX 7900 XT's 20 GB VRAM and 800 GB/s bandwidth are far beyond what a 2016 puzzle platformer requires, and the CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads are more than adequate for the game's modest processing needs.

Q: What is the best resolution to play at with this hardware?

A: Based on the measured data, 1440p High offers an excellent balance with 178 FPS average. This resolution provides a meaningful visual upgrade over 1080p while still delivering frame rates well above any display's refresh rate. At 4K High, the 112 FPS average remains smooth, so users with 4K displays can comfortably max out the resolution.

Q: How much performance is lost going from 1080p to 4K?

A: The loss varies by settings preset. At High settings, the drop is from 248 FPS at 1080p to 112 FPS at 4K, a 54.8% reduction. At Low settings, the drop is from 351 FPS to 224 FPS, a 36.2% reduction. The percentage loss is larger at higher settings because the GPU has more work to do per pixel.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU in this game?

A: The data indicates minimal CPU bottlenecking. At 1080p Low, the 351 FPS average is likely approaching the CPU's limit, but the 275 FPS minimum at 1080p Medium shows that even in demanding scenes, the processor keeps up. The Ryzen 5 7500F's 5.00 GHz boost clock and substantial cache hierarchy appear more than sufficient for this title.

Q: Is the Medium settings preset with its min/max data more consistent than High or Ultra?

A: The Medium preset is the only one with recorded minimum and maximum frame rates, showing a 275–372 range at 1080p, 242–328 at 1440p, and 152–206 at 4K. These ranges are proportionally similar to what would be expected from the average values, suggesting consistent frame pacing across all presets.

Q: How does this combo compare to the GPU's nearest rivals in terms of overall benchmark scores?

A: The RX 7900 XT's average benchmark score of 13745 is within 1.5% of the AMD Radeon 660M, NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile, AMD Radeon RX 570X, and AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT. However, the in-game performance clearly differentiates the cards, as the 7900 XT delivers over 100 FPS at 4K Ultra, a level of performance these rivals would struggle to match.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance for optimal settings. At 1080p, the Low preset achieves 351 FPS, Medium reaches 324 FPS, High hits 248 FPS, and Ultra delivers 236 FPS. Given that even Ultra maintains 236 FPS—far above any standard display refresh rate—the Ultra preset is the obvious choice for 1080p users. There is no reason to sacrifice visual quality when the performance headroom is so substantial.

At 1440p, the story is similar. Ultra delivers 170 FPS, which is still well above 144 Hz displays. The 178 FPS at High is marginally better, but the visual improvement from High to Ultra is worth the 8 FPS cost. For users with 240 Hz displays, Medium at 285 FPS might be preferable, as it provides the highest frame rates while still maintaining decent visual fidelity.

At 4K, the choice becomes more nuanced. Ultra delivers 107 FPS, which is above 60 Hz but below 120 Hz. High achieves 112 FPS, a modest 4.7% improvement. Medium jumps to 179 FPS, a 59.8% improvement over Ultra, making it the best choice for 4K users with high-refresh-rate displays. Low at 224 FPS offers the maximum frame rate but at a significant visual cost. For most 4K users, the Medium preset at 179 FPS represents the optimal balance, especially given its recorded minimum of 152 FPS—ensuring smooth frame delivery even in demanding scenes.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the 7000 series, built on the Zen 4 architecture with a 5 nm process. Its base clock of 3.70 GHz and boost clock of 5.00 GHz, combined with 6 MB of L2 cache (1 MB per core) and 32 MB of shared L3 cache, provide strong single-thread and multi-thread performance. The CPU's 65 W TDP is remarkably low for the performance on offer, and its DDR5 memory support with dual-channel configuration delivers 83.2 GB/s of bandwidth.

In Inside, the CPU's role is primarily about maintaining high frame rates at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 351 FPS, which is likely approaching the CPU's frame generation limit. The processor's single-thread performance—evidenced by a 3DMark single-thread score of 974, Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3218, and Geekbench single-core score of 2374—ensures that the game's logic and rendering commands are processed without delay. The multi-thread performance, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 22799 and PassMark multithread score of 26825, provides ample headroom for any background tasks.

The CPU's nearest rivals, all within 0.4% of its average benchmark score, include the Intel Core i7-11850H and Intel Core i7-13620H. This indicates that the 7500F performs at a level comparable to these laptop-oriented chips, which is impressive given its desktop positioning and lower power envelope. For Inside, the CPU's performance is more than sufficient, and the data confirms that the GPU is the primary determinant of frame rate differences across resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured frame rates are uniformly high across all settings. Low delivers 351 FPS average, Medium provides 324 FPS (with a range of 275–372), High achieves 248 FPS, and Ultra maintains 236 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 115 FPS, representing a 32.8% reduction in frame rate from the lowest to highest quality preset. Notably, the jump from High to Ultra costs only 12 FPS (4.8%), making Ultra a nearly free upgrade over High at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the performance remains robust. Low hits 314 FPS, Medium reaches 285 FPS (range 242–328), High achieves 178 FPS, and Ultra delivers 170 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is most pronounced at High settings (28.2% reduction) and least at Low settings (10.5% reduction). The Medium preset's minimum of 242 FPS ensures that even the most demanding scenes stay well above 240 Hz refresh rates.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates remain playable across all settings. Low achieves 224 FPS, Medium delivers 179 FPS (range 152–206), High hits 112 FPS, and Ultra maintains 107 FPS. The 4K Ultra figure of 107 FPS is the lowest measured on this page but still comfortably above 60 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K offers the best combination of visual quality and performance, with its 152 FPS minimum ensuring smooth delivery. The data shows a consistent scaling pattern: doubling the resolution from 1080p to 4K reduces frame rates by roughly half, confirming that the GPU is the scaling bottleneck, but with such high absolute numbers that the experience remains excellent at every resolution and setting combination tested.