Inside

The AMD Ryzen 5 7600X and AMD Radeon RX 570 combination presents a fascinating study in bottleneck dynamics when running Inside, a 2016 puzzle platformer. The data reveals a system where the modern 6-core Zen 4 processor is largely untaxed in this title, while the Polaris-based GPU becomes the primary arbiter of performance across resolutions and presets. The measured FPS figures show a clear hierarchy of settings, with the most demanding preset at 4K producing a borderline unplayable experience, while lower resolutions and settings push frame rates well past display refresh thresholds. This analysis examines the measured data to interpret what these scores mean for the overall experience, the GPU’s specific role, and the scaling behavior that defines this pairing.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data indicates that the optimal experience depends heavily on the target resolution. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset delivers an average of 62.4 FPS, which is perfectly smooth for the game's side-scrolling gameplay, though it is the weakest 1080p result. The High preset at 1080p improves on this with an average of 71 FPS, offering a solid 13.8% performance uplift over Ultra. However, the most effective choice at 1080p is the Medium preset, which hits an average of 111.1 FPS. This represents a substantial 78.0% increase over Ultra and a 56.5% increase over High, making it the clear sweet spot for high-refresh-rate displays. The Low preset at 1080p reaches 135.9 FPS, but the visual compromises are typically unnecessary given that Medium is already well above the 100 FPS threshold.

At 2560x1440, the recommendation shifts. The Ultra preset drops to 46.7 FPS, which is below the ideal smoothness threshold for many users. Medium at 1440p produces 77.9 FPS, a 66.8% improvement over Ultra, and is the best balance of fidelity and performance. High at 1440p yields 50.3 FPS, while Low reaches 94.6 FPS. For 4K (3840x2160), the picture is more constrained. The High preset at 4K averages 32.4 FPS, while Medium averages 48 FPS. The Low preset is the only 4K option that approaches fluidity at 62.9 FPS. The data suggests that for a consistent 60+ FPS experience, users should target Medium at 1080p or Low at 1440p. For 4K, the Low preset is the only viable choice, and even then, the 62.9 FPS average may dip in more demanding scenes, though the min FPS is not recorded in the data.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 570, with its 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus providing 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth, is the primary performance limiter in this configuration. Its GCN 4.0 architecture, built on a 14 nm process, operates at a base clock of 1168 MHz and a boost clock of 1244 MHz. The GPU’s memory runs at 1750 MHz, or 7 Gbps effective. These specifications, while modest by modern standards, are sufficient for Inside's artistic style, which relies on monochromatic lighting and simple geometry rather than complex textures.

The data confirms the GPU's dominant role through the performance deltas between presets. At 1080p, the transition from Low to Ultra reduces the average FPS from 135.9 to 62.4, a drop of 54.1%. This scaling is consistent with a GPU-bound scenario, where the shading units (2048), texture mapping units (128), and render output units (32) are being saturated. The GPU's pixel rate of 39.81 GPixel/s and texture rate of 159.2 GTexel/s are the hard limits here. The 4 GB VRAM capacity is not likely exceeded at 1080p or 1440p for this title, but at 4K Ultra, the combination of higher memory pressure and shader load pushes the GPU to its absolute limit, resulting in a 29.7 FPS average.

The Ryzen 5 7600X, by contrast, is not the bottleneck. Its 6 cores and 12 threads, based on Zen 4 architecture, provide ample processing power for a puzzle platformer. The processor’s high single-thread performance, evidenced by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3406, ensures that the game’s logic and physics are handled without stutter. The CPU's 32 MB of shared L3 cache and 83.2 GB/s of DDR5 memory bandwidth are more than sufficient. The data indicates that the GPU is the sole determinant of frame rate in this title, as the CPU never appears to hold back the GPU, even at the lowest settings where the FPS is highest.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K clearly illustrates the GPU's workload increasing with pixel count. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 71 at 1080p to 50.3 at 1440p and finally to 32.4 at 4K. This represents a 29.2% reduction moving from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 35.6% reduction moving from 1440p to 4K. The cumulative drop from 1080p to 4K is 54.4%. This scaling pattern is typical of a GPU-bound scenario, where the render resolution directly impacts the fill rate and shader workload.

At Low settings, the scaling is even more pronounced in absolute terms. The FPS goes from 135.9 at 1080p to 94.6 at 1440p, a 30.4% drop, and then to 62.9 at 4K, a 33.5% drop from 1440p. The absolute FPS values are higher, but the percentage drops are similar, confirming that the GPU is still the limiting factor even when the visual load is reduced. At Medium settings, the pattern holds: 111.1 FPS at 1080p, 77.9 at 1440p (a 29.9% drop), and 48 at 4K (a 38.4% drop from 1440p). The Ultra preset shows the most severe scaling, falling from 62.4 at 1080p to 46.7 at 1440p (25.2% drop) and then to 29.7 at 4K (36.4% drop from 1440p).

The data suggests that the gap between 1440p and 4K is consistently larger than the gap between 1080p and 1440p, in percentage terms, for Medium and Ultra settings. This indicates that the RX 570's 224.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth and 5.095 TFLOPS of FP32 compute are increasingly strained as the pixel count approaches 4K. The 4K results, in particular, show that the GPU is fundamentally out of its element at that resolution, with only the Low preset achieving a playable frame rate.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete dataset provides a comprehensive view of this configuration's capabilities. At 1920x1080, the results are as follows: Low settings produce an average of 135.9 FPS, Medium produces 111.1 FPS, High produces 71 FPS, and Ultra produces 62.4 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra is 73.5 FPS, highlighting the significant impact of graphical fidelity. For a 60 Hz display, all presets at 1080p are playable, but Medium and above provide headroom for smoother motion on higher refresh rate panels.

At 2560x1440, the performance is more moderate. Low settings yield 94.6 FPS, Medium yields 77.9 FPS, High yields 50.3 FPS, and Ultra yields 46.7 FPS. The differential between Medium and High is substantial, with a 27.6 FPS gap, suggesting that the High preset introduces a significant rendering cost. The Ultra preset at 1440p is only marginally slower than High, indicating that the additional effects in Ultra are not as demanding as the jump from Medium to High.

At 3840x2160, the performance is heavily constrained. Low settings average 62.9 FPS, which is just at the edge of smoothness. Medium settings drop to 48 FPS, High falls to 32.4 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 29.7 FPS. The 4K results show that the RX 570 is only suitable for the Low preset at this resolution. The data also reveals that the gap between High and Ultra at 4K is only 2.7 FPS, suggesting that the Ultra preset's extra features are less impactful than the resolution increase itself. The combo rank of 1570 out of 1671 combinations indicates that this specific CPU-GPU pairing is in the lower tier of performance for this game, which aligns with the GPU's age and tier relative to the CPU.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combo for a smooth 60 FPS experience?

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 with Medium settings achieves an average of 111.1 FPS, while 2560x1440 with Low settings achieves 94.6 FPS. Both comfortably exceed 60 FPS. For a 60 Hz display, 1080p High (71 FPS) or 1440p Medium (77.9 FPS) are also viable options.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset averages 62.4 FPS, while High averages 71 FPS. This is a difference of 8.6 FPS, or approximately 13.8% lower performance for Ultra. The visual gains from Ultra are typically minimal in this art style, making High the more efficient choice.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this game?

A: The benchmark results indicate the GPU is the limiting component. The AMD Radeon RX 570 is a 14 nm Polaris part with a boost clock of 1244 MHz, while the Ryzen 5 7600X is a modern Zen 4 processor. The FPS scales significantly with resolution and settings, which is characteristic of GPU-bound workloads. The CPU has ample headroom, as evidenced by its high Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 24128.

*Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Inside?*

A: Yes, but only at the Low preset, which averages 62.9 FPS. At Medium, the average drops to 48 FPS, and at High it falls to 32.4 FPS. The Ultra preset is not playable at 4K, averaging only 29.7 FPS.

Q: How does the RX 570 perform relative to its nearest rivals in general benchmarks?

A: The GPU's average benchmark score is 30158, placing it in the 74th percentile. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060, scores 30109, which is a 0.2% delta. The AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT scores 30097, also a 0.2% delta. This indicates that the RX 570 is positioned very closely to these other cards in aggregate synthetic tests, despite being an older architecture.

Q: What is the performance difference between the Low and Ultra presets at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 94.6 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 46.7 FPS. This is a difference of 47.9 FPS, meaning the Low preset is over twice as fast as Ultra. The Ultra preset's additional rendering costs are substantial at this resolution.