Inside

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT delivers a strong performance profile in Inside, a game that proves to be remarkably scalable across both resolution and settings. The data shows a combination capable of high refresh rates, but the scaling behavior reveals distinct bottlenecks that shift depending on the workload. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS, the role of the CPU, and how this specific pairing ranks against other tested configurations.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is significant and clearly indicates a GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 192.7 FPS at 1920x1080 to 140.4 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 52.3 FPS. Moving to 3840x2160, the average drops further to 88.9 FPS, which is a 53.8% decrease from the 1080p figure. This steep decline is typical for a game that is heavily reliant on pixel throughput, and it confirms that the Radeon RX 7700 XT is the primary limiting factor as resolution increases.

The scaling pattern is consistent across all settings presets. At Low settings, the drop from 339.2 FPS at 1080p to 171.9 FPS at 4K represents a 49.3% performance loss. For Medium, the comparable figures are 309.6 FPS down to 138.6 FPS, a 55.2% reduction. The Ultra preset shows the most pronounced decline, falling from 182.9 FPS at 1080p to 82.6 FPS at 4K, a 54.8% drop. The uniformity of these percentages suggests that the rendering load scales linearly with pixel count, and the GPU's compute and memory bandwidth are the constraining resources.

At 1080p, the data hints at a different dynamic. The gap between Low and Medium settings is narrow (339.2 FPS versus 309.6 FPS), suggesting that the CPU might be approaching its limits in feeding the GPU at these high frame rates. However, the drop from Medium to High (309.6 to 192.7 FPS) is substantial, indicating that the GPU is still the dominant factor for most settings. The 4K results, where even Low settings only achieve 171.9 FPS, definitively point to the graphics card as the performance ceiling. The RX 7700 XT's 12 GB of memory and 432.0 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for the game's demands, but the raw shader throughput becomes the limiting factor at 4K.

FAQ

Q: How does the combo perform at 1080p with High settings?

A: The measured average frame rate is 192.7 FPS. This is well above the threshold for smooth gameplay on high-refresh-rate monitors, indicating that the CPU is capable of delivering high framerates without becoming a bottleneck.

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

A: At 2560x1440, Low settings yield an average of 279.1 FPS, while Ultra settings produce 129.6 FPS. This represents a 53.6% reduction in performance when moving to the highest quality preset.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming?

A: Yes, but with caveats. At 4K with Ultra settings, the average FPS is 82.6, which is playable. At High settings, it improves to 88.9 FPS. For higher refresh rates at 4K, dropping to Medium yields 138.6 FPS, and Low settings reach 171.9 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more stressed in this game?

A: The data indicates that the GPU is the primary bottleneck, especially at higher resolutions. The FPS drops significantly from 1080p to 4K, while the CPU's multi-threaded performance (Cinebench R23 multicore score of 20851) appears sufficient to maintain high framerates at lower resolutions.

Q: How does the RX 7700 XT compare to its closest GPU rivals?

A: The GPU's average benchmark score is 30097. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060, has an average score of 30109, a delta of 0%. The AMD Radeon RX 570 is 0.2% higher, and the NVIDIA Tesla M60 is 0.4% lower. This places the RX 7700 XT in a very tight performance cluster.

Q: What is the combo's ranking among all tested systems?

A: The combo is ranked 625th out of 1671 tested combinations for this game. This places it in the top 37.4% of all tested systems, indicating a solid mid-to-high-tier performance level.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture, built on a 4 nm process. Its base clock is 4.20 GHz, with a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. In the context of Inside, a puzzle platformer that is not heavily multi-threaded, the CPU's single-thread performance is crucial. The benchmark data shows a 3dmark single-thread score of 951 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2943, indicating strong per-core capability.

The CPU's performance percentile sits at 82, meaning it outperforms 82% of all tested CPUs. Its average benchmark score is 25064, which is nearly identical to its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 2700X, which scores 25057 (a 0% delta). This suggests that in general-purpose tasks, the 8400F is comparable to that older 8-core chip. However, for gaming, the newer architecture and higher boost clock of the 8400F likely provide an advantage in single-threaded workloads.

In this game, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics calculations. At 1080p with Low settings, the average FPS reaches 339.2, which is a high enough frame rate that the CPU's processing speed becomes a potential limiting factor. The fact that the FPS does not scale perfectly from Low to Medium at 1080p (309.6 FPS) suggests the CPU is nearing its limit in this specific scenario. However, at higher resolutions and settings, the GPU takes over as the clear bottleneck, and the CPU's 12 threads are more than adequate to maintain stable performance without causing stutters.

The CPU's 16 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR5 memory support with 83.2 GB/s bandwidth provide sufficient data throughput for the game. The benchmark results show a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 20851, which is strong for a 6-core part, but the game's performance is more dependent on the high clock speeds and the efficiency of the Zen 4 architecture.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured data provides a comprehensive view of the combo's capabilities across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the performance is exceptional across the board. Low settings achieve an average of 339.2 FPS, Medium reaches 309.6 FPS, High delivers 192.7 FPS, and Ultra still manages a very smooth 182.9 FPS. These numbers indicate that the combo is capable of driving high-refresh-rate 1080p displays with ease, even at maximum quality.

Moving to 2560x1440, the results remain highly playable. Low settings produce 279.1 FPS, Medium achieves 219.1 FPS, and High settles at 140.4 FPS. Ultra settings drop to 129.6 FPS, which is still well above the 60 FPS standard for smooth gameplay. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p shows a consistent performance hit, averaging around a 27% reduction across the settings presets.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is clearly stressed. Low settings deliver 171.9 FPS, Medium drops to 138.6 FPS, and High falls to 88.9 FPS. Ultra settings yield 82.6 FPS, which is the lowest measured figure in the dataset. While 4K gaming is possible, it requires a compromise on settings to achieve higher refresh rates. The step from Medium to High at 4K is particularly steep (a 49.7 FPS drop), suggesting that the High preset introduces rendering effects that heavily tax the GPU's 35.17 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power. The data shows a clear hierarchy: the combo is an excellent 1080p and 1440p performer, and a capable 4K solution for those willing to adjust quality settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo occupies the 625th position out of 1671 tested combinations for Inside. This ranking places it in the 62.6th percentile of all tested systems, meaning it outperforms a majority of the database entries. Given the game's release date in 2016, it is likely that many older or lower-end systems are included in the comparison, which helps contextualize the rank.

The GPU's individual performance is a key driver of this ranking. The Radeon RX 7700 XT has a percentile rank of 73 among all GPUs, and its average benchmark score of 30097 places it in a tight cluster with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 (30109, 0% delta). This indicates that the graphics card is a solid mid-to-high-range part, and its 12 GB of GDDR6 memory is a useful asset for modern games.

The CPU's rank of 82 among all processors further supports the overall system capability. The Ryzen 5 8400F's average benchmark score of 25064 is essentially tied with the AMD Ryzen 7 2700X (25057), showing that it holds its own against a previous-generation 8-core processor. The combination of a top-quartile CPU and a top-quartile GPU results in a system that is well-balanced for gaming.

While the 625th rank may not sound elite, it is important to consider that the database includes extreme high-end configurations with multiple flagship GPUs. In the context of a single GPU and mainstream CPU setup, the data suggests that this combo offers a performance level that is significantly above the median tested system. The measured FPS figures, particularly at 1080p and 1440p, confirm that this pairing is more than capable of delivering a premium gaming experience in Inside, with headroom for high refresh rates and maximum settings.