Inside

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti presents a fascinating study in bottleneck dynamics for Inside, a 2016 puzzle platformer. The data reveals a system where the modern six-core CPU is largely untaxed, leaving the older Turing-based GPU as the definitive arbiter of performance, particularly as resolution and settings escalate. This combination ranks 1463rd out of 1671 tested combos in this game, placing it in the lower percentile of system pairings, a position that seems more attributable to the GPU's age than the CPU's capability.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and predictable pattern of decline as resolution increases, but the rate of that decline tells a compelling story about where the system's limits lie. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 219 FPS, a figure that suggests the CPU is feeding frames with relative ease. Moving to 1440p at the same Low preset drops the average to 156.2 FPS, a 28.7% reduction. The jump to 4K at Low settings yields 99.9 FPS, which represents a 36% drop from the 1440p figure and a 54.4% drop from the 1080p baseline.

This scaling pattern is the signature of a GPU-bound workload. When the resolution increases, the pixel throughput demand on the GTX 1660 Ti grows exponentially, and the frame rate falls in near lockstep. The fact that the 1080p Low result (219 FPS) is so high suggests the CPU is not the limiting factor at that point; if it were, the frame rate would plateau regardless of resolution. The data implies that the GTX 1660 Ti's 6 GB of GDDR6 memory and its 288.0 GB/s bandwidth are being saturated by the higher pixel counts, making the GPU the primary constraint in every measured scenario.

How This Combo Ranks

The system's overall position in the database is 1463rd out of 1671 tested combinations, a ranking that places it in the bottom 12.5% of all pairings for Inside. This low standing is somewhat paradoxical given the CPU's strength. The Ryzen 5 7500F is a Zen 4 part with 6 cores and 12 threads, and its benchmark scores are robust, but the GTX 1660 Ti's percentile rank of 55 against all GPUs drags the combined performance down.

The CPU's nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-11850H (deltaPct 0.1) and the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX (deltaPct 0.4), indicating that the 7500F is competitive with high-end mobile parts from previous generations. However, the GPU's nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon RX 570X (0.4% faster) and the NVIDIA Tesla K10 (0.7% slower), which are far from modern powerhouses. This pairing of a top-tier CPU with a mid-range, end-of-life GPU creates a significant imbalance, making the combo rank heavily dependent on the GPU's performance ceiling rather than the CPU's headroom.

GPU Role

The GTX 1660 Ti is the clear bottleneck in this configuration. Its Turing architecture, built on a 12 nm process, features 1536 shading units and 48 ROPs, with a boost clock of 1770 MHz. The memory configuration is 6 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus, delivering 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. These specifications are modest by modern standards, and the benchmark results reflect that. Its PassMark G3D score is 12871, and its average benchmark score is 13925, which is only 0.4% higher than the RX 570X.

In Inside, the GPU's role is to render the atmospheric, side-scrolling environments. The measured FPS data shows that at 4K Ultra, the combo manages only 45.3 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target most players prefer. The 47.7 FPS at 4K High is similarly marginal. The GPU's compute capabilities, measured at 5226 in PassMark GPU Compute, are not heavily stressed by this title, but the raw pixel fill rate (84.96 GPixel/s) and texture rate (169.9 GTexel/s) become the limiting factors as resolution climbs. The 12 Gbps effective memory speed helps, but the 6 GB capacity is sufficient for this game's textures, so the bus width and bandwidth are more critical.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete dataset provides a granular view of performance across all settings and resolutions. Starting at 1080p, the Ultra preset delivers 105.8 FPS, while High is nearly identical at 107 FPS. The Medium preset jumps to 176.7 FPS, and Low reaches 219 FPS. This gap between High/Ultra and Medium/Low suggests that the Ultra and High presets enable effects that significantly tax the GPU, such as advanced lighting or shadow rendering, which the 1660 Ti struggles to process even at 1080p.

At 1440p, the pattern holds but with lower absolute numbers. Ultra yields 76.8 FPS, High drops slightly to 77.6 FPS, Medium achieves 125.8 FPS, and Low hits 156.2 FPS. The similarity between Ultra and High at both 1080p and 1440p is notable, indicating that the difference between these two presets is minimal in this game, or that the GPU is hitting a similar bottleneck for both. The 4K results are more punishing: Ultra produces 45.3 FPS, High 47.7 FPS, Medium 76.7 FPS, and Low 99.9 FPS. The data shows that even the Low preset at 4K cannot reach the 120 FPS that the 1080p Low setting achieves, confirming the GPU's pixel throughput limits.

CPU Role

The Ryzen 5 7500F is a modern desktop processor with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. Its 6 cores and 12 threads, based on the Zen 4 architecture, provide substantial processing power, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 22799 and single-core score of 3218. The 32 MB of shared L3 cache and 83.2 GB/s memory bandwidth are more than sufficient for a puzzle platformer like Inside.

The CPU's benchmark data suggests it is rarely the limiting factor. Its PassMark multithread score is 26825, and its single-thread score is 3841. In a game like Inside, which is not known for heavy CPU simulation, the 7500F is likely idling most of the time. The fact that the 1080p Low preset reaches 219 FPS indicates that the CPU can feed frames at a rate far exceeding the GPU's capacity at higher resolutions. The CPU's nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-11850H, has a nearly identical average score (24974 vs 24993 for the 7500F), showing that this AMD chip is a top-tier performer that will not hold back the GPU in this title.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal experience depends on the target resolution. For 1080p displays, the High preset is the best balance, delivering 107 FPS. This is comfortably above 60 FPS and only 1.2 FPS slower than Ultra, meaning players lose almost nothing by avoiding the Ultra preset. The Medium preset offers a massive jump to 176.7 FPS, which is ideal for high-refresh-rate monitors, but the visual fidelity reduction may not be worth it given High is already so smooth.

For 1440p, the High preset at 77.6 FPS is the recommended choice. It provides a smooth experience on standard 60 Hz displays and is only 0.8 FPS slower than Ultra. The Medium preset at 125.8 FPS is an excellent option for players with 120 Hz or 144 Hz monitors, as it maintains high frame rates while still looking good. For 4K, the situation is more challenging. The Medium preset at 76.7 FPS is the best playable option, offering a consistent frame rate above 60 FPS. The High and Ultra presets at 47.7 FPS and 45.3 FPS, respectively, are not ideal for smooth gameplay, and the Low preset at 99.9 FPS sacrifices too much visual quality for the performance gain.

FAQ

*Q: Can this combo run Inside at 4K with maximum settings?*

A: No. The Ultra preset at 3840x2160 produces an average of 45.3 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

Q: What is the best preset for 1440p gaming?

A: The High preset at 2560x1440 delivers 77.6 FPS, which is the most balanced option. The Ultra preset is nearly identical at 76.8 FPS, so either is acceptable, but High is marginally faster.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 7500F compare to its closest CPU rival?

A: The 7500F has an average benchmark score of 24993, which is 0.1% higher than the Intel Core i7-11850H's score of 24974, indicating they are essentially performance equals.

Q: Is the GTX 1660 Ti the bottleneck in this system?

A: Yes. The data shows frame rates drop significantly with resolution increases, and the GPU's average benchmark score (13925) is only 0.4% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 570X, indicating its performance ceiling is the limiting factor.

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 1080p with Medium settings?

A: The measured average FPS is 176.7, which provides a very smooth experience and is well-suited for high-refresh-rate displays.

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

A: It ranks 1463rd out of 1671 total combinations, placing it in the lower 12.5% of all tested pairings for this game.