Inside

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data for Inside with the AMD Ryzen 5 7600 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound scaling as resolution climbs. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 107.2 FPS, which drops to 79.4 FPS at 1440p Low (a 26% reduction), and further to 47.1 FPS at 4K Low (a 56% reduction from 1080p). This steep decline when moving from 1080p to 4K is the classic signature of a graphics card that is the primary bottleneck — the GTX 1050 Ti's pixel fillrate and memory bandwidth are being saturated as the number of rendered pixels quadruples.

Looking at Ultra settings, the scaling is even more punishing. At 1080p Ultra, the combo manages 52.3 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, that falls to 37.6 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it bottoms out at 23.4 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p at Ultra is 28%, while the drop from 1440p to 4K Ultra is 38%. Notably, the gap between 1440p High (41.8 FPS) and 4K Medium (36.7 FPS) is relatively small, suggesting that the GPU is already near its limit at 1440p, and further resolution increases yield diminishing returns rather than proportional performance losses.

The data indicates that the CPU is rarely the limiting factor here. The Ryzen 5 7600, with its 6 cores and 12 threads boosting to 5.10 GHz, has more than enough headroom for a 2016 puzzle platformer. The evidence is in the Low preset results: even at 4K Low, the FPS (47.1) is less than half of what the 1080p Low result (107.2) achieves. If the CPU were the constraint, the FPS would remain relatively flat across resolutions at the same settings. Instead, the FPS collapses with resolution, which points squarely at the GTX 1050 Ti's 4 GB GDDR5 memory and 112.1 GB/s bandwidth as the limiting resource.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 7600 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti ranks 1638 out of 1671 tested combos in Inside. This places it in the bottom 2% of all tested configurations, which is a striking result given the CPU's strength. The Ryzen 5 7600 alone sits in the 83rd percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 26617 — nearly identical to the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D (26574, deltaPct 0.2) and the Intel Core i9-12900HK (26672, deltaPct -0.2). The CPU is clearly not the problem.

The GPU tells a different story. The GTX 1050 Ti sits in the 30th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 5316. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce 930A (5317, deltaPct 0) and the NVIDIA GeForce 940M (5297, deltaPct 0.4), both of which are laptop-class parts. This positions the GTX 1050 Ti as a decidedly entry-level desktop GPU, and in Inside — a game that is not particularly demanding by modern standards — this pairing still lands near the bottom of the rankings.

The disconnect between the CPU's high percentile and the combo's low rank underscores that the GTX 1050 Ti is the overwhelming performance ceiling. The data suggests that swapping in a stronger GPU would yield massive FPS gains, while the CPU would remain largely idle. The 1638th rank out of 1671 is a direct reflection of this imbalance — the combo is effectively a high-end CPU shackled to a low-end GPU.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maintain 60+ FPS?

A: Only the 1080p Low preset (107.2 FPS) and 1080p Medium (87.6 FPS) achieve average FPS above 60. At 1440p, the Low preset reaches 79.4 FPS, but Medium drops to 62.1 FPS. At 4K, no preset reaches 60 FPS.

Q: How does the GTX 1050 Ti compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The GTX 1050 Ti's average benchmark score is 5316, essentially tied with the NVIDIA GeForce 930A (5317, deltaPct 0) and slightly ahead of the GeForce 940M (5297, deltaPct 0.4). It trails the AMD Radeon R7 M445 by 0.8%.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 7600 a good match for the GTX 1050 Ti in this game?

A: Benchmark results indicate no — the CPU ranks in the 83rd percentile among all CPUs, while the combo ranks 1638th out of 1671. The GPU holds the combo back dramatically, especially at higher resolutions.

Q: What happens to FPS when moving from High to Ultra at 1080p?

A: At 1080p, High produces 56 FPS and Ultra produces 52.3 FPS — a modest 6.6% drop. The settings scaling is mild at this resolution compared to the resolution scaling.

Q: Does the GTX 1050 Ti's 4 GB VRAM cause issues at 4K?

A: The data shows 4K performance is poor (23.4 FPS at Ultra, 26.4 FPS at High), but the 4 GB GDDR5 memory is likely not the sole culprit — the GPU's 112.1 GB/s bandwidth and 2.138 TFLOPS FP32 compute are also very low for 4K rendering.

Q: How much faster is 1080p Low compared to 4K Ultra?

A: 1080p Low achieves 107.2 FPS, while 4K Ultra achieves 23.4 FPS — a 4.6x difference. This massive gap confirms the GPU is the binding constraint across all tested settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its best results. Low settings produce 107.2 FPS, Medium hits 87.6 FPS, High reaches 56 FPS, and Ultra drops to 52.3 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 19.6 FPS, while the gap between High and Ultra is only 3.7 FPS — suggesting diminishing returns from High to Ultra at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, performance falls across the board. Low achieves 79.4 FPS, Medium 62.1 FPS, High 41.8 FPS, and Ultra 37.6 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is consistent: Low drops by 27.8 FPS, Medium by 25.5 FPS, High by 14.2 FPS, and Ultra by 14.7 FPS. The absolute FPS losses are larger at lower settings, but the percentage losses are similar.

At 3840x2160, the combo struggles to maintain playability. Low produces 47.1 FPS, Medium 36.7 FPS, High 26.4 FPS, and Ultra 23.4 FPS. Notably, the difference between High and Ultra at 4K is just 3 FPS, indicating that the GPU is so saturated that even small settings changes have minimal impact. The 4K results are all below the 30 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay except for Low, which barely clears it at 47.1 FPS.

Across all resolutions, the pattern is consistent: Low is always viable, Medium is playable at 1080p and 1440p, and High/Ultra are only acceptable at 1080p. The measured data shows no min or max FPS values, so only average FPS can be analyzed.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti is built on the Pascal architecture with a GP107 chip manufactured on a 14 nm process at Samsung. It contains 3,300 million transistors on a 132 mm² die. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1291 MHz and a boost clock of 1392 MHz, with memory clocked at 1752 MHz (7 Gbps effective). Its 4 GB of GDDR5 memory runs across a 128-bit bus, yielding 112.1 GB/s bandwidth.

The GPU's compute capabilities are modest: 768 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs produce a pixel rate of 44.54 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 66.82 GTexel/s. FP32 performance is 2.138 TFLOPS. These specifications place the GTX 1050 Ti firmly in entry-level territory, and the benchmark results reflect this — it sits in the 30th percentile among all GPUs.

In Inside, the GPU's role is decisive. At 1080p Low, the GPU can keep pace with the CPU, delivering 107.2 FPS. But as resolution increases, the GPU's limited pixel fillrate and memory bandwidth become the dominant constraint. The 4 GB VRAM is sufficient for this game's art style, but the 112.1 GB/s bandwidth is a bottleneck at 4K, where the data shows a dramatic FPS collapse. The GPU's 75 W TDP and lack of power connectors indicate it was designed for low-power systems, not high-resolution gaming.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal experience for this combo is 1080p Medium, which delivers 87.6 FPS — well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. This setting provides a comfortable margin over 60 FPS while offering better visual quality than Low. The jump from Medium to High at 1080p costs 31.6 FPS (from 87.6 to 56), which is a steep price for the visual improvement.

For players prioritizing visual fidelity, 1080p High at 56 FPS is the highest setting that remains playable, though it dips below 60 FPS. 1080p Ultra at 52.3 FPS is technically playable but offers only a 3.7 FPS improvement over High's 56 FPS in the other direction — the data shows Ultra provides marginal gains over High at a measurable FPS cost.

At 1440p, the recommended option is Low at 79.4 FPS, which is the only 1440p preset that comfortably exceeds 60 FPS. 1440p Medium at 62.1 FPS is borderline playable, but the 17.3 FPS drop from Low is significant. 1440p High (41.8 FPS) and Ultra (37.6 FPS) are not recommended for smooth gameplay.

At 4K, no preset provides a consistently smooth experience. Low at 47.1 FPS is the only option above 30 FPS, while Medium (36.7 FPS), High (26.4 FPS), and Ultra (23.4 FPS) all fall below acceptable thresholds. Players with 4K displays should either lower the resolution or accept reduced settings.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the 7000 series, built on the Zen 4 architecture (codenamed Raphael) using a 5 nm process at TSMC. It features 6,570 million transistors on a 71 mm² die. The CPU runs at a base clock of 3.80 GHz and boosts to 5.10 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. Its cache hierarchy includes 64 KB L1 per core, 1 MB L2 per core, and 32 MB shared L3. Memory support is DDR5 with dual-channel configuration, providing 83.2 GB/s bandwidth.

The CPU's benchmark results are strong: Cinebench R23 multicore scores 22992, while single-core scores 3246. PassMark multithread reaches 27058, and single-thread scores 3910. These numbers place the Ryzen 5 7600 in the 83rd percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 26617. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D (26574, deltaPct 0.2) and the Intel Core i9-12900HK (26672, deltaPct -0.2), confirming it is a high-performance part.

In Inside, however, the CPU's role is minimal. The game is a puzzle platformer that does not stress multi-core performance; the measured FPS data shows that resolution and GPU settings dominate performance. The Ryzen 5 7600's 6 cores and 12 threads are more than sufficient for this workload, and even its 3.80 GHz base clock would likely handle the game without issue. The CPU's 5.10 GHz boost clock and 32 MB L3 cache are effectively wasted in this context, as the GTX 1050 Ti becomes the bottleneck at every resolution above 1080p Low. The data implies that a much weaker CPU could achieve similar FPS in Inside when paired with this GPU.