Inside

Inside is a puzzle platformer that rarely stresses high-end hardware, but the data for this specific pairing of an AMD Ryzen 5 7600X and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti shows a system that is decisively held back by its graphics card at lower resolutions, yet surprisingly capable at 4K. The benchmark results paint a clear picture of where the bottleneck lies, with the CPU’s substantial headroom going largely unused as the GPU reaches its limits.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Ryzen 5 7600X and the GTX 1660 Ti ranks at position 1441 out of 1671 tested combos for Inside. This places it in the lower 14th percentile of all tested systems, a position that might seem surprising given the CPU's strength, but it is a direct reflection of the GPU's age and tier. The data shows that the graphics card is the primary constraint, as the ranking is far lower than what the processor alone would suggest.

The CPU itself sits in the 83rd percentile when compared against all other processors, with an average benchmark score of 26272. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850U with a score of 26262 and a delta of 0%, and the AMD Ryzen 7 7735U with a score of 26305 and a delta of -0.1%. The Ryzen 7 5700X trails slightly with a score of 26214 and a delta of 0.2%. This indicates the 7600X is a top-tier performer, but the system's overall rank is dragged down by the GTX 1660 Ti, which only reaches the 55th percentile among all GPUs.

In a game as lightweight as Inside, the GPU’s low standing relative to the CPU creates a notable mismatch. The combo’s rank suggests that many other pairings—likely those with weaker CPUs but stronger GPUs—will deliver a smoother experience, particularly at 1080p where the CPU has less influence on the final frame rate.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti is the defining component in this analysis, and its specifications reveal why it limits performance. It features 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s. The card’s base clock is 1500 MHz with a boost clock of 1770 MHz, and it operates with a 120 W TDP. This Turing-architecture chip, built on a 12 nm process, delivers 5.437 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power.

In the context of Inside, the GPU’s role is clear when examining the frame rates. At 4K with High settings, the card averages 49.3 FPS, but dropping to Low settings nearly doubles that figure to 101 FPS. This scaling shows that the GTX 1660 Ti’s pixel throughput, rated at 84.96 GPixel/s, is sufficient for the game’s simple visuals, but the card must still work hard at higher resolutions. The 6 GB VRAM capacity is more than enough for a puzzle platformer, so memory pressure is not a concern; the limiting factor is raw shader and texture processing power.

The benchmark data indicates that the GTX 1660 Ti’s performance is roughly on par with an AMD Radeon RX 570X, which scores 13871 with a delta of 0.4%, and a NVIDIA Tesla K10, which scores 14029 with a delta of -0.7%. This places the card in a mid-range tier that is several generations old, making it the clear bottleneck in this pairing for a game that can run at high frame rates on modern integrated graphics.

FAQ

Q: Is this combination good enough for 4K gaming in Inside?

A: Yes, but with compromises. The data shows an average of 49.3 FPS at 4K High settings and 47.4 FPS at 4K Ultra. For a puzzle platformer, this is playable, but dropping to Medium settings raises the average to 78.4 FPS.

Q: How much of a performance difference does the CPU make?

A: The Ryzen 5 7600X is a top-tier processor, ranking in the 83rd percentile with an average score of 26272. However, the benchmark results show that the GPU is the limiting factor, so the CPU’s power is largely untapped in this game.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1080p?

A: The data shows that Ultra settings yield an average of 102.3 FPS, while High settings produce 110.3 FPS. Medium settings push the average to 175.7 FPS, and Low settings reach 222.1 FPS, so any preset is technically playable.

Q: How does the GTX 1660 Ti compare to its direct rivals?

A: The GPU’s average benchmark score is 13925, with the AMD Radeon RX 570X scoring 13871 (0.4% higher) and the NVIDIA Tesla K10 scoring 14029 (0.7% higher). The NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile and GeForce GTX 680 are also close, with scores of 13821 and 13812 respectively.

Q: Is there a large gap between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: Yes. The measured FPS at 2560x1440 ranges from 73 FPS on Ultra to 155.6 FPS on Low. Medium settings average 126.1 FPS, and High settings average 79 FPS.

Q: Does the GPU’s VRAM capacity affect performance in this game?

A: No. The 6 GB of GDDR6 memory is far more than needed for Inside’s simple textures and geometry. The bottleneck is the GPU’s compute performance, not its memory capacity.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for this combination reveals a consistent pattern where the GTX 1660 Ti scales predictably with resolution and settings, but never becomes a smooth 60 FPS experience at 4K with maxed-out visuals.

At 1920x1080, the system is exceptionally fast. With Low settings, it averages 222.1 FPS, which is more than enough for any display. Medium settings drop to 175.7 FPS, while High settings fall to 110.3 FPS. Even at Ultra, the average remains high at 102.3 FPS. This shows that at 1080p, the GPU is still able to push well beyond the 60 FPS threshold, but the CPU’s potential is wasted; the frame rates are limited by the graphics card’s raw throughput.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance drops. Low settings still deliver a high average of 155.6 FPS, and Medium settings are solid at 126.1 FPS. However, High settings fall to 79 FPS, and Ultra drops to 73 FPS. This indicates that at 1440p, the GTX 1660 Ti begins to struggle with the higher pixel count, and users will need to lower settings to maintain a high refresh rate.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is clearly overburdened. Low settings average 101 FPS, which is playable, but Medium settings drop to 78.4 FPS. High settings fall to 49.3 FPS, and Ultra dips to 47.4 FPS. These numbers show that 4K gaming is only viable with reduced settings on this hardware. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is substantial, at nearly 54 FPS, highlighting the card’s limitations at high resolutions.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7600X is a powerful six-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture, codenamed Raphael. It has a base clock of 4.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, with a 105 W TDP. This 5 nm chip, built by TSMC, is designed for the AMD Socket AM5 platform and supports DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration with a bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s.

In Inside, the CPU’s role is minimal due to the game’s low computational demands. The processor’s benchmarks show it is extremely capable, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 24128 and a single-core score of 3406. The PassMark single-thread score of 4135 confirms its strong single-core performance, which is what matters most for games that rely on a few threads. However, the data shows that the CPU is never the bottleneck. At 1080p Low settings, the system averages 222.1 FPS, which is likely near the GPU’s limit, not the CPU’s.

The processor’s 32 MB of shared L3 cache and 1 MB of L2 cache per core provide ample bandwidth for game logic. The fact that the system ranks low overall (1441 out of 1671) despite such a strong CPU proves that the GPU is the sole limiting factor. If this CPU were paired with a modern high-end graphics card, the frame rates would be far higher, but with the GTX 1660 Ti, the potential of the Ryzen 5 7600X remains largely unused in Inside.