Inside

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT delivers a performance profile in Inside that is heavily dictated by resolution, with the system showing remarkable headroom at 1080p but becoming increasingly GPU-bound as pixel count rises. The data indicates a versatile setup capable of high refresh rates at standard resolutions, while still maintaining playable frame rates at 4K, though with significant concessions in visual quality.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear and predictable pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases, but the magnitude of the drop varies substantially depending on the quality preset. At Low settings, the transition from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 sees average FPS fall from 275 to 198, a reduction of 77 FPS or roughly 28%. Moving further to 3840x2160, the average drops to 124 FPS, which represents a 55% decrease from the 1080p baseline. This scaling suggests that even at Low settings, the rendering load increases significantly with pixel count, though the absolute performance remains high.

The Medium preset shows a similar proportional decline. At 1080p, the average is 220 FPS, which falls to 158 FPS at 1440p (a 28% drop) and then to 99 FPS at 4K (a 55% drop from 1080p). This consistency across Low and Medium settings indicates that the GPU is the primary scaling factor, with the CPU maintaining sufficient headroom to avoid becoming a bottleneck at these lower graphical loads.

High and Ultra settings present a steeper performance cliff as resolution increases. For High, the average FPS at 1080p is 137, dropping to 99 FPS at 1440p (a 28% reduction) and then to 62 FPS at 4K (a 55% reduction). Ultra follows the same proportional pattern: 131 FPS at 1080p, 94 FPS at 1440p, and 59 FPS at 4K. The near-identical percentage drops across all four presets strongly indicate that the limiting component is the GPU's pixel throughput, not the CPU or memory subsystem. The fact that doubling the pixel count from 1080p to 4K roughly halves the frame rate across every preset confirms that the RX 5700 XT is the performance ceiling here.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT, built on the RDNA 1.0 architecture with the Navi 10 chip, is the decisive factor in this game's performance envelope. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which appears sufficient for Inside's visual demands, as evidenced by the smooth scaling patterns observed. The GPU's clock behavior shows a base clock of 1605 MHz, a game clock of 1755 MHz, and a boost clock of 1905 MHz, with the memory operating at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). These figures suggest a well-binned part capable of sustained performance under load.

The GPU's compute resources include 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs, yielding a pixel rate of 121.9 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 304.8 GTexel/s. The FP32 performance of 9.754 TFLOPS places this card in a specific performance tier, and the benchmark results reflect this positioning. The GPU's percentile ranking versus all GPUs is 59, indicating it sits slightly above the median in the overall distribution of tested graphics cards. Its average benchmark score of 16361 is remarkably close to its nearest rivals: the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M scores 16351 (a delta of 0.1%), while the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell and AMD Radeon PRO W7500 both score marginally higher at 16408 and 16415 respectively (deltas of -0.3%). This tight clustering shows the RX 5700 XT is competitively positioned within its performance class.

The 8 GB VRAM capacity is a crucial detail. While Inside is not a VRAM-intensive title by modern standards, the data shows that at 4K Ultra, the average FPS falls to 59, which is the lowest measured result. This suggests that at the highest resolution and quality settings, the GPU is being pushed to its limits, likely due to both memory bandwidth and raw compute constraints rather than a hard VRAM capacity limit.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations, this specific pairing of the AMD Ryzen 5 8400F and AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT achieves a combo rank of 2725 out of 3716 total combinations. This places the system in the lower third of all tested configurations, which is a notable observation given the CPU's strong individual performance metrics. The rank indicates that while this combination is fully capable of running Inside smoothly, there are many other pairings that achieve higher average frame rates.

The CPU's individual benchmark performance is quite strong, with an average benchmark score of 25005. This places it at the 77th percentile of all CPUs, meaning it outperforms 77% of tested processors. Its nearest rivals in the CPU benchmark rankings are the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F with an average score of 24964 (a delta of 0.2%), the Intel Core i7-11850H at 24935 (a delta of 0.3%), and the Intel Core i7-13620H at 24911 (a delta of 0.4%). Interestingly, the AMD EPYC 9474F scores slightly higher at 25103, representing a -0.4% delta. This tight grouping suggests the 8400F is well-matched to its direct competitors in raw processing power.

The discrepancy between the CPU's high percentile ranking and the combo's lower overall rank suggests that the GPU is the limiting factor in this pairing. The RX 5700 XT, while competent, holds the system back from achieving higher frame rates in Inside compared to combinations using more powerful graphics cards. This is consistent with the resolution scaling analysis, which clearly identifies the GPU as the primary performance constraint.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across three resolutions and four quality settings. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 275 FPS, which is the highest measured result in the entire dataset. Medium at 1080p averages 220 FPS with a minimum of 187 FPS and a maximum of 253 FPS, showing excellent frame pacing consistency. High at 1080p averages 137 FPS, while Ultra averages 131 FPS. The relatively small gap between High and Ultra at 1080p (only 6 FPS) suggests that the Ultra preset's additional effects have a modest impact at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 198 FPS, Medium averages 158 FPS with a minimum of 134 FPS and maximum of 182 FPS, High averages 99 FPS, and Ultra averages 94 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is consistent across all presets, with each losing approximately 28% of its average frame rate. This proportional scaling reinforces the GPU-bound nature of the system at these settings.

The 3840x2160 results show the system's limits. Low averages 124 FPS, Medium averages 99 FPS with a minimum of 84 FPS and maximum of 114 FPS, High averages 62 FPS, and Ultra averages 59 FPS. At this resolution, the High and Ultra presets both fall below the 60 FPS threshold, which may be noticeable for some users. The Medium preset at 4K, with its average of 99 FPS, appears to be the sweet spot for maintaining high frame rates at this resolution, offering nearly double the performance of High while presumably still looking substantially better than Low.

The minimum FPS values recorded only for the Medium preset across all resolutions provide insight into frame consistency. At 1080p, the minimum of 187 FPS against an average of 220 FPS shows an 85% consistency ratio. At 1440p, the minimum of 134 FPS versus an average of 158 FPS shows a similar 85% ratio. At 4K, the minimum of 84 FPS versus an average of 99 FPS shows an 85% ratio as well. This consistent ratio across resolutions indicates stable performance without unexpected spikes or drops.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F, based on the Zen 4 architecture with the Phoenix codename, provides substantial processing headroom that is not fully utilized in this game. With 6 cores and 12 threads, a base clock of 4.20 GHz, and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz, this CPU is well-equipped for modern gaming workloads. Its 16 MB of shared L3 cache, along with 64 KB of L1 and 1 MB of L2 per core, provides ample on-die storage for game data.

The CPU's benchmark results are particularly strong in multi-threaded workloads. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 20851 and the PassMark multithread score of 24389 demonstrate significant parallel processing capability. The single-thread performance is also respectable, with a 3DMark single-thread score of 951 and a PassMark single-thread score of 3685. These scores place the CPU at the 77th percentile overall, which is notably higher than the combo's overall rank.

Despite this CPU strength, the game's performance is not CPU-limited at any tested resolution. The fact that frame rates scale almost perfectly with pixel count, regardless of quality preset, indicates that the CPU is never the bottleneck. Even at 1080p Low with 275 FPS average, the CPU is able to feed the GPU without constraint. The 12 threads provide ample capacity for the game's physics and logic, and the 4.70 GHz boost clock ensures responsive single-threaded performance when needed.

The CPU's memory bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s via dual-channel DDR5 is more than sufficient for this title. The PCIe Gen 4 interface with 20 lanes provides adequate bandwidth for the GPU, although the RX 5700 XT's PCIe 4.0 x16 connection is unlikely to be a limiting factor given the game's modest data requirements.

FAQ

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

A: The highest measured average FPS is 275, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next highest is 220 FPS at 1080p Medium, showing that even with increased quality, frame rates remain exceptionally high.

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 4K?

A: Yes, at 4K with Low settings the average is 124 FPS, and with Medium settings it is 99 FPS. However, at High settings the average drops to 62 FPS, and at Ultra it falls to 59 FPS, which is just below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Ryzen 5 8400F scores 25005 in average benchmark, which is 0.2% higher than the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F (24964), 0.3% higher than the Intel Core i7-11850H (24935), and 0.4% higher than the Intel Core i7-13620H (24911). It trails the AMD EPYC 9474F by 0.4%, which scores 25103.

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

A: The Medium preset shows highly consistent frame pacing across all resolutions. At 1080p, the minimum is 187 FPS against a 220 FPS average; at 1440p, the minimum is 134 FPS against a 158 FPS average; and at 4K, the minimum is 84 FPS against a 99 FPS average. This represents an 85% consistency ratio at each resolution.

Q: Is the GPU or CPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The GPU is clearly the limiting factor. The RX 5700 XT is positioned at the 59th percentile of all GPUs, while the CPU is at the 77th percentile. The resolution scaling data shows consistent percentage drops across all presets, confirming that pixel throughput is the bottleneck.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested combinations?

A: This pairing ranks 2725 out of 3716 total tested combos, placing it in the lower third of all configurations. This rank reflects the GPU's mid-tier performance rather than any CPU limitation.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend heavily on the target resolution and desired frame rate. At 1920x1080, all presets deliver excellent performance, with even Ultra averaging 131 FPS. For users with high refresh rate monitors, the Low preset at 275 FPS or Medium at 220 FPS will fully utilize displays up to 240 Hz. The High preset at 137 FPS is a balanced choice, offering improved visuals with minimal performance sacrifice.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset at 158 FPS provides the best combination of visual quality and performance, with a minimum of 134 FPS ensuring smooth gameplay. The High preset at 99 FPS is also viable for 60 Hz or 100 Hz displays, while Ultra at 94 FPS offers nearly the same experience. The Low preset at 198 FPS is recommended for competitive play or very high refresh rate displays.

At 3840x2160, the Medium preset at 99 FPS is the clear recommendation for the best experience. It delivers nearly double the frame rate of High (62 FPS) and Ultra (59 FPS), while presumably offering significantly better visuals than Low (124 FPS). The minimum of 84 FPS at Medium 4K ensures that frame rates never drop below the 60 FPS threshold, providing a consistently smooth experience. Users prioritizing maximum visual fidelity at 4K can use High, but the 62 FPS average is borderline, and Ultra at 59 FPS falls just below the common 60 FPS target. For the overwhelming majority of users, the Medium preset at 4K offers the best trade-off between image quality and performance.