Inside

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 delivers a highly capable experience in Inside, a puzzle platformer that places modest demands on both the processor and graphics card. The benchmark data reveals a system that excels at high refresh rate gaming at 1080p and remains comfortably playable at 4K, with the scaling patterns showing a clear shift in system bottleneck as resolution increases.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor built on the Zen 4 architecture with a 4.20 GHz base clock and a 4.70 GHz boost clock. This configuration is more than sufficient for Inside, which is a puzzle platformer that does not feature the dense simulation or large-scale AI routines found in strategy or open-world titles. The game's workload is largely straightforward, and the 8400F’s strong single-thread performance is the key asset here.

Looking at the synthetic benchmarks, the 8400F scores 951 in 3dmark_single_thread and 3684 in passmark_single_thread. These are solid figures that indicate the processor can handle the game's logic and rendering commands without becoming a limiting factor, especially at lower resolutions where the GPU is less burdened. The processor's multi-threaded capabilities, with a 3dmark_max_threads score of 6165 and a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 20851, provide ample headroom for any background processes or streaming overhead, though the game itself will not likely leverage all 12 threads.

The 8400F's position in the broader market is validated by its 82nd percentile ranking among all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 2700X, which has a nearly identical average benchmark score (25057 vs. 25064), placing the 8400F at a 0% deltaPct relative to it. The data shows the 8400F is also within a negligible 0.3% of the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F, indicating that for a game like Inside, any of these processors would deliver nearly identical performance. The 8400F’s 65 W TDP and 4 nm process node from TSMC suggest it operates efficiently, but the benchmark results are what matter most here.

In this specific game, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with enough data to maintain high frame rates. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 255.2 FPS, a figure that is far beyond the refresh rate of most monitors. This indicates that the CPU is not holding back performance at this setting. Even at 1080p Ultra, the system maintains 122.4 FPS, which is still a high refresh rate experience. The consistency of these results, with no significant frame rate dips in the data, points to a CPU that is more than capable of handling the game’s demands.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is a Turing-architecture GPU with 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 336.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth. It features a base clock of 1365 MHz and a boost clock of 1680 MHz. For Inside, which is not a graphically intensive title by modern standards, the RTX 2060 provides a substantial amount of performance. The 6 GB VRAM capacity, while modest by today's standards, is not a limiting factor in this game, as the art style is primarily 2D with 3D depth, and the texture sizes are not demanding.

The GPU's raw compute power, measured at 6.451 TFLOPS FP32, is more than adequate for rendering the game’s scenes. The benchmark results confirm this. At 1080p Ultra, the RTX 2060 achieves 122.4 FPS, which is a very strong result. The GPU’s performance scales well with settings, moving from 255.2 FPS at Low to 205 FPS at Medium and 128.3 FPS at High. This shows a predictable drop in performance as visual fidelity increases, but the RTX 2060 remains well ahead of the 60 FPS threshold across all settings at this resolution.

At 4K, the picture changes. The RTX 2060 falls to 53.6 FPS at Ultra settings, which is just below the 60 FPS target. This is where the GPU's limitations become apparent. The 6 GB VRAM and 192-bit memory bus are sufficient for the game, but the sheer number of pixels at 3840x2160 puts a heavy load on the GPU's shading units and ROPs. The GPU's 80.64 GPixel/s pixel rate and 201.6 GTexel/s texture rate are the determining factors here, and they are not enough to maintain a locked 60 FPS at the highest settings and resolution.

The RTX 2060 sits in the 58th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon RX 7600S, which is only 0.5% faster, and the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M and Radeon Pro 5700, which are both 1.7% slower. This indicates that the RTX 2060 is a solid mid-range performer. However, in the context of Inside, the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, as the CPU has ample headroom.

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

The measured FPS data shows a clear and pronounced scaling pattern across resolutions, which is classic behavior for a system that becomes GPU-limited as resolution increases. At 1080p Ultra, the system posts 122.4 FPS. Moving to 1440p Ultra, the average drops to 87.2 FPS, a decline of 28.8%. This is a substantial drop, but the frame rate remains very playable.

The most dramatic change occurs when moving from 1440p to 4K. At 2160p Ultra, the average FPS is 53.6. This is a 38.5% reduction from the 1440p result and a 56.2% reduction from the 1080p result. This steep decline is a hallmark of a GPU-bound scenario. The rendering load increases with the pixel count, and the RTX 2060’s compute resources are being fully utilized.

The data strongly indicates that the GPU is the limiting component at higher resolutions. The CPU’s performance is relatively constant across the board, as evidenced by the massive frame rates at 1080p Low (255.2 FPS). If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would see a plateau in FPS regardless of resolution, but that is not the case. Instead, the FPS scales inversely with the number of pixels, which is the definition of a GPU bottleneck.

At 4K, the picture becomes more nuanced. At Low settings, the system hits 115.3 FPS, which shows that the GPU has enough headroom to exceed 100 FPS if the visual load is reduced. At High settings, it still manages 58.6 FPS, which is nearly at the 60 FPS target. Only at Ultra settings does it dip below 60 FPS to 53.6. This suggests that for a game like Inside, a user could potentially enable a mix of High and Ultra settings at 4K to achieve a smooth experience. The data shows that the system is not far from being able to handle 4K Ultra, but the RTX 2060 falls just short.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate for this combo at 1080p with High settings?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 achieve an average of 128.3 FPS at 1920x1080 with High settings.

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

A: No, the measured average frame rate at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings is 53.6 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target. At High settings, it reaches 58.6 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU performance of the Ryzen 5 8400F compare to its nearest rival?

A: The Ryzen 5 8400F has an average benchmark score of 25064, which is nearly identical to the AMD Ryzen 7 2700X's 25057, representing a 0% deltaPct difference.

Q: What is the GPU's performance percentile compared to all other GPUs?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is in the 58th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 16074.

Q: What is the most demanding setting for the GPU at 4K?

A: The data shows that Ultra settings at 3840x2160 produce the lowest average frame rate of 53.6 FPS, indicating this is the most demanding configuration tested.

Q: Is the system more CPU-limited or GPU-limited at 1080p?

A: At 1080p, the system is not CPU-limited, as evidenced by the 255.2 FPS at Low settings. The GPU is the primary performance determinant, as the frame rate scales with the graphics settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 combination ranks 1367 out of 1671 tested combos in Inside. This places it in the lower half of all tested system configurations. While this rank might seem low, it is important to consider the context. The combo’s performance is still very strong in absolute terms, with the ability to play the game at 4K with playable frame rates and at 1080p with extremely high refresh rates.

The rank is likely dragged down by the GPU’s performance at 4K Ultra, where it fails to hit 60 FPS. Many higher-ranked combos will feature more powerful GPUs that can maintain a locked 60 FPS at 4K. However, for the vast majority of users who play at 1080p or 1440p, this combo provides an excellent experience.

The CPU’s performance is not a concern. Its 82nd percentile ranking and near-identical performance to the Ryzen 7 2700X show that it is a very capable processor. The bottleneck is clearly the RTX 2060, which is in the 58th percentile of GPUs. The data shows that this is a well-balanced combo for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but it falls short of being a 4K Ultra powerhouse. For a puzzle platformer like Inside, the 1367th rank is acceptable, as the game’s slower pace and art style do not demand the highest frame rates to be enjoyable. The system delivers a smooth and responsive experience across the board, with the only compromise being a slight reduction in settings at 4K to achieve a locked 60 FPS.