Inside

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 delivers an exceptionally strong performance profile in Inside, a 2016 puzzle platformer that is clearly not demanding by modern standards. The measured frame rates across all resolutions and settings are extremely high, ranging from 99 FPS at 4K Ultra to 320 FPS at 1080p Low, indicating that this combination is heavily overqualified for the game's graphical requirements.

Resolution Scaling

The data reveals a predictable and steep decline in frame rates as resolution increases, with the most dramatic drop occurring between 1440p and 4K. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 165 at 2560x1440 to 104 at 3840x2160, a reduction of 61 FPS or roughly 37%. A similar pattern appears at Ultra settings, where the average drops from 157 FPS at 1440p to 99 FPS at 4K, a 58 FPS decrease. This scaling behavior strongly suggests the GPU becomes the primary limiting component at higher resolutions, as the increased pixel count directly taxes the RTX 4070's rendering pipeline.

The transition from 1080p to 1440p is much less punishing. At High settings, the average FPS goes from 230 at 1080p to 165 at 1440p, a 65 FPS drop. At Medium settings, the decline is from 296 to 264 FPS, a more modest 32 FPS reduction, indicating that the CPU can still keep up at these lower pixel counts. The smallest relative penalty appears at Low settings, where the average drops from 320 at 1080p to 287 at 1440p, a mere 33 FPS difference, suggesting that at minimal graphical load, the system is approaching a CPU-bound ceiling.

At 4K, the frame rate collapse becomes more pronounced across all settings. The gap between 1440p Low (287 FPS) and 4K Low (208 FPS) is 79 FPS, while the gap between 1440p Medium (264 FPS) and 4K Medium (166 FPS) is a substantial 98 FPS. This widening delta at higher resolutions confirms that the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth are the determining factors, with the 12 GB of GDDR6X memory and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth being pushed harder as pixel count grows.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination ranks 900th out of 3716 tested combos in this game, placing it in the top 24.2% of all possible pairings. This percentile position is notable because it reflects the fact that Inside is a light workload where even mid-range hardware can achieve high frame rates, so the absolute performance of this combo is not as dominant as its raw specifications might suggest. The rank is more a statement about the game's low requirements than about any deficiency in the hardware.

Benchmark results indicate that the CPU alone sits at the 89th percentile among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 44573, while the GPU sits at the 81st percentile among all graphics cards, with an average score of 37648. The fact that the combo rank (75.8th percentile) is lower than both individual component percentiles implies that the game's engine does not scale perfectly with the available hardware power, likely due to its age and simpler rendering techniques.

The nearest rivals for the CPU include the Intel Core Ultra X9 388H with an average score of 44466 (0.2% lower) and the Intel Core i9-13950HX at 44342 (0.5% lower), showing the 7500X3D is competitive with top mobile and desktop parts. For the GPU, the NVIDIA Tesla P4 scores 37628 (0.1% lower) and the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 scores 37507 (0.4% lower), indicating the RTX 4070 sits in a tight cluster with these older cards in synthetic benchmarks, though real-world gaming performance is likely different.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D brings 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 4.00 GHz and a boost clock of 4.50 GHz. Its 96 MB of shared L3 cache is the standout feature, a design choice from the 7000 series that typically benefits gaming workloads by reducing memory latency. However, in Inside, the data suggests the CPU is rarely the bottleneck, as frame rates exceed 200 FPS at most settings, leaving ample headroom for the GPU to do the heavy lifting.

At 1080p Low, the average FPS reaches 320, which is likely near the practical limit for many displays. The single-thread performance, measured at 3494 in Passmark, combined with the multithread score of 25047, indicates strong per-core capability that can drive high frame rates without issue. The physics score of 2779 and floating-point math score of 43594 further confirm the CPU's ability to handle the game's simple physics and logic without creating any frame pacing problems.

The data shows that the CPU's role becomes more evident at lower resolutions where the GPU is less stressed. The difference between 1080p Low (320 FPS) and 1440p Low (287 FPS) is only 33 FPS, while the difference between 1440p Low and 4K Low is 79 FPS. This non-linear scaling implies that at 1080p, the system is partially CPU-limited, as the GPU could theoretically render more frames if the CPU could feed it faster. The 65W TDP and 5 nm process node (TSMC) help maintain consistent clock speeds without thermal throttling, which is crucial for sustained high frame rates in longer sessions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data covers three resolutions and four settings, providing a comprehensive view of performance. At 1920x1080, the average frame rates are 320 FPS on Low, 296 FPS on Medium, 230 FPS on High, and 219 FPS on Ultra. The Medium setting shows a minimum of 251 FPS and a maximum of 340 FPS, indicating good frame consistency within a 89 FPS range. The Ultra setting at 1080p drops to 219 FPS average, a significant 101 FPS reduction from Low, showing that even at this modest resolution, the higher graphical presets demand more from the GPU.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages are 287 FPS on Low, 264 FPS on Medium, 165 FPS on High, and 157 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset records a minimum of 225 FPS and maximum of 304 FPS, a 79 FPS spread that is tighter than the 1080p Medium range. The drop from Low to Ultra at 1440p is 130 FPS, which is more pronounced than at 1080p, further highlighting the GPU's growing influence as pixel count increases.

At 3840x2160, the averages fall to 208 FPS on Low, 166 FPS on Medium, 104 FPS on High, and 99 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset shows a minimum of 141 FPS and maximum of 191 FPS, a 50 FPS range that indicates the game maintains playable frame rates even at 4K. The difference between High and Ultra at 4K is only 5 FPS, suggesting that the Ultra preset introduces minimal additional cost over High at this resolution, likely due to diminishing returns in shadow or post-processing effects.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achievable with this combo?

A: The highest measured average is 320 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next highest is 296 FPS at 1080p Medium, followed by 287 FPS at 1440p Low.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS is 99, with no minimum or maximum reported. This is the lowest measured average across all configurations, but it still exceeds 60 FPS, ensuring smooth gameplay.

Q: Is there a big performance difference between High and Ultra settings?

A: The difference varies by resolution. At 1080p, Ultra is 11 FPS slower than High (219 vs 230). At 1440p, the gap is 8 FPS (157 vs 165). At 4K, the gap narrows to 5 FPS (99 vs 104), showing that Ultra has a smaller relative impact at higher resolutions.

Q: What is the frame consistency like at Medium settings?

A: The Medium preset is the only one with reported minimum and maximum FPS values. At 1080p, the range is 251-340 FPS, at 1440p it is 225-304 FPS, and at 4K it is 141-191 FPS. The spreads are 89, 79, and 50 FPS respectively, indicating tighter frame pacing as resolution increases.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to all other tested combinations?

A: The combo ranks 900th out of 3716 combinations, placing it in the 75.8th percentile. This means it outperforms roughly three-quarters of all tested combos in this game.

Q: Which resolution provides the best balance of visual quality and performance?

A: The data shows that 1440p Medium delivers 264 FPS average, which is well above display refresh rate limits for most monitors. This configuration offers a significant visual upgrade over 1080p while maintaining a very high frame rate, making it a sensible choice.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the Medium preset at 2560x1440 offers the most compelling experience, delivering an average of 264 FPS with a minimum of 225 FPS. This configuration provides a substantial visual improvement over 1080p while keeping frame rates far above the 144 Hz refresh rate common on modern displays. The 79 FPS range between minimum and maximum indicates good frame stability, which is important for a puzzle platformer where precise timing is required.

For users with 4K displays, the Medium preset at 3840x2160 is the recommended choice, with an average of 166 FPS and a minimum of 141 FPS. This ensures smooth gameplay even during complex scenes, and the 50 FPS range between minimum and maximum suggests consistent performance. The High preset at 4K drops to 104 FPS average, which is still playable but offers diminishing returns for the visual quality increase.

At 1080p, the High preset at 230 FPS average is a solid choice for high-refresh-rate monitors, but the Ultra preset at 219 FPS provides only a marginal improvement in visuals for an 11 FPS cost. The Low preset at 320 FPS is only recommended for competitive play where maximum frame rate is paramount, as the visual degradation is noticeable. The data suggests that the Medium or High presets are the sweet spots for this hardware, balancing visual fidelity with the headroom needed for consistent frame delivery.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is the dominant component in this pairing for Inside, especially at higher resolutions. With 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus and a bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s, the GPU has ample resources to handle the game's textures and effects without hitting memory bottlenecks. The boost clock of 2475 MHz and base clock of 1920 MHz, derived from the Ada Lovelace architecture on a 5 nm process, allow for high sustained performance across all measured scenarios.

The GPU's role becomes increasingly clear as resolution rises. At 4K, the frame rate at High settings (104 FPS) is less than half of the 1080p High result (230 FPS), a 126 FPS reduction. This indicates that the pixel throughput and shading capabilities of the RTX 4070 are the limiting factors, not the CPU. The 5888 shading units and 64 ROPs are responsible for this pixel-pushing capacity, while the 184 TMUs handle texture mapping efficiently.

The difference between Low and Ultra settings at 4K is 109 FPS (208 vs 99), while at 1080p it is 101 FPS (320 vs 219). This relatively consistent gap across resolutions suggests that the GPU's performance scaling with graphical settings is uniform, with each preset adding similar absolute costs regardless of pixel count. The 29.15 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 455.4 GTexel/s texture rate provide the raw processing power needed to maintain high frame rates even at the most demanding settings, though the game's age means it likely does not fully utilize these capabilities.