Inside

The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X and AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT combination delivers a fascinating performance profile in Inside, a puzzle platformer from 2016. The data reveals a system that is overwhelmingly capable at standard resolutions, yet begins to show its limits when pushed to 4K with maximum settings. This pairing, ranking 1038th out of 1671 tested combos, demonstrates that even older, less demanding titles can expose the balance between CPU and GPU capabilities.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a predictable, yet steep, decline as resolution increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 292.7 FPS. Moving to 1440p drops performance to 211.6 FPS, a reduction of 81.1 FPS. The jump to 4K sees a further decline to 135.1 FPS. This pattern is consistent across all settings presets.

The scaling from 1440p to 4K is particularly telling. At High settings, performance falls from 106.5 FPS to 67.1 FPS, a 39.4 FPS drop. For Medium settings, the drop is from 166.1 FPS to 106.6 FPS, a 59.5 FPS loss. The largest absolute decline occurs at Low settings, where the 4K figure of 135.1 FPS is 76.5 FPS lower than the 1440p result. This scaling behavior indicates that the GPU is becoming the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions, as the pixel throughput demands increase significantly.

The difference between 1080p and 1440p is less severe but still notable. At Ultra settings, the combo delivers 140.1 FPS at 1080p and 97.6 FPS at 1440p. This suggests that while the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU at 1080p, the transition to 1440p begins to stress the graphics card's fill rate and memory bandwidth. The RX 6650 XT has a pixel rate of 168.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 337.3 GTexel/s, which are sufficient for 1080p but become more strained as resolution climbs.

Interestingly, the scaling from Low to Ultra at any given resolution is not linear. At 1080p, Low yields 292.7 FPS, but Ultra drops to 140.1 FPS. This indicates that the GPU's compute resources, particularly its 2048 shading units and 64 ROPs, are heavily utilized when higher quality settings are enabled. The 4K Ultra result of 65.8 FPS, while playable, shows the combo operating near its practical limit for this title.

Settings Recommendations

For players targeting 60 FPS or higher, the data suggests that High settings at 4K are the most demanding viable option, producing 67.1 FPS. However, the performance headroom at lower resolutions is substantial. At 1440p, all settings presets exceed 97 FPS, with Ultra delivering 97.6 FPS and Medium hitting 166.1 FPS. This makes 1440p the sweet spot for this combo, offering a balance between visual fidelity and high frame rates.

At 1080p, every preset delivers well over 140 FPS, meaning the user can enable Ultra settings without worrying about frame rate drops. The 140.1 FPS at 1080p Ultra is more than sufficient for smooth gameplay. For those with high refresh rate monitors, the Low preset at 1080p produces 292.7 FPS, which would maximize the potential of a 240Hz display. The Medium preset at 234.9 FPS also provides an excellent experience for competitive play.

The performance delta between Medium and High settings is modest compared to the jump from High to Ultra. At 1440p, Medium produces 166.1 FPS, while High drops to 106.5 FPS. This 59.6 FPS difference suggests that High settings introduce significant graphical effects that burden the GPU. Conversely, the gap between High and Ultra at 1440p is only 8.9 FPS, indicating that Ultra adds relatively minor additional load. For the best experience per the measured rows, 1440p Medium offers the highest frame rate while still maintaining a solid visual presentation. Alternatively, 1080p Ultra provides the highest quality with a frame rate that is still far above typical display refresh rates.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the 9000 series, based on the Zen 5 architecture. Its base clock of 3.90 GHz and boost clock of 5.40 GHz provide substantial single-thread performance, which is critical for a game like Inside that likely relies on a primary game thread. The CPU's benchmark scores reflect this strength, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3603 and a Geekbench single-core score of 3363.

In this game, the CPU's role appears to be secondary at higher resolutions, as the GPU becomes the bottleneck. However, at 1080p Low settings, the 292.7 FPS result suggests that the CPU is still capable of pushing very high frame rates. The 3DMark single-thread score of 1253 and the Passmark single-thread score of 4570 indicate strong per-core performance. The CPU's 32 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR5 memory support with 89.6 GB/s bandwidth further contribute to its ability to feed the GPU.

The processor's multicore capabilities are also robust, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 25525 and a Passmark multithread score of 30027. While Inside may not utilize all 12 threads heavily, this headroom ensures there are no unexpected CPU-related stutters. The CPU ranks in the 85th percentile among all tested processors, placing it ahead of the Intel Core i5-13490F by 0.3% and the AMD Ryzen 5 230 by 0.3% in average benchmark scores. This performance margin is small but consistent, showing the 9600X is a well-balanced part.

How This Combo Ranks

The overall combination of the Ryzen 5 9600X and RX 6650 XT ranks 1038th out of 1671 tested combos for Inside. This places the pairing in the lower-middle portion of the rankings, which is somewhat surprising given the game's age and the hardware's capabilities. The rank suggests that many other configurations, likely with more powerful GPUs, achieve higher average frame rates, particularly at 4K.

The GPU's percentile ranking of 72 places it above the AMD Radeon RX 6800M by 0% and the AMD Radeon RX 470 by 0.1%. This indicates that the RX 6650 XT is a mid-range performer relative to all GPUs. The CPU's 85th percentile ranking is stronger, but the combo's overall rank of 1038/1671 suggests that the GPU is the limiting factor in most scenarios. The measured FPS data confirms this, as the 4K Ultra result of 65.8 FPS is the lowest of the tested configurations.

Given that the combo ranks in the 62nd percentile (1038/1671), it performs slightly below the median of all tested systems. This is likely due to the GPU's 8 GB VRAM capacity and 128-bit memory bus, which limit performance at high resolutions. The 280.3 GB/s memory bandwidth is adequate for 1080p and 1440p but becomes a constraint at 4K with demanding settings.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with the Navi 23 chip. Its base clock of 2055 MHz and boost clock of 2635 MHz provide strong raw compute performance. The GPU's 10.79 TFLOPS FP32 performance is well-suited for a title like Inside, which has relatively simple geometry but may use complex post-processing effects. The 8 GB of GDDR6 memory is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K Ultra setting likely approaches the VRAM limit.

The GPU's memory clock of 2190 MHz (17.5 Gbps effective) and 128-bit bus width deliver 280.3 GB/s of bandwidth. This is a modest figure by modern standards, and the scaling data suggests it becomes a bottleneck at 4K. The 64 ROPs and 128 TMUs help with pixel and texture throughput, but the 4K High result of 67.1 FPS indicates the GPU is working near its maximum capacity.

The GPU's benchmark scores show a Passmark G3D score of 17166 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1859. These scores place it in the 72nd percentile among all GPUs. The nearest rivals, the RX 6800M and RX 470, have nearly identical average scores, with delta percentages of 0% and 0.1%, respectively. This shows that the RX 6650 XT is competitively positioned within its performance class, but it lacks the raw power to push 4K Ultra settings to high frame rates.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers exceptional performance across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 292.7 FPS, while Medium hits 234.9 FPS. High settings yield 143.8 FPS, and Ultra drops to 140.1 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra is minimal at only 3.7 FPS, suggesting that Ultra adds negligible overhead at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, performance remains strong. Low settings achieve 211.6 FPS, Medium produces 166.1 FPS, High delivers 106.5 FPS, and Ultra reaches 97.6 FPS. The scaling from Low to Medium is a 45.5 FPS drop, while the transition from Medium to High is a 59.6 FPS decline. The High to Ultra step is only 8.9 FPS, again showing diminishing returns beyond High.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's limits become apparent. Low settings still deliver a playable 135.1 FPS, but Medium drops to 106.6 FPS. High settings fall to 67.1 FPS, and Ultra produces 65.8 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra is just 1.3 FPS, indicating that the GPU is fully saturated at this resolution. The 4K Low result of 135.1 FPS is notable, showing that even at the lowest settings, the GPU is not able to maintain the frame rates seen at lower resolutions.

FAQ

*Q: Can this combo run Inside at 4K with maximum settings?*

A: Yes, but just barely. The 4K Ultra setting produces an average of 65.8 FPS, which is playable but close to the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: What is the best resolution for high refresh rate gaming?

A: At 1080p, the Low preset delivers 292.7 FPS, and Medium produces 234.9 FPS. Both are well-suited for 144Hz or higher monitors.

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

A: The Ryzen 5 9600X has an average benchmark score of 28246, which is 0.3% higher than the Intel Core i5-13490F and 0.3% higher than the AMD Ryzen 5 230.

Q: Is the GPU the bottleneck at 4K?

A: Yes, the data suggests this. The frame rate drops significantly from 1440p to 4K across all settings, and the 4K Ultra result of 65.8 FPS is the lowest measured.

Q: What settings provide the best balance of quality and performance at 1440p?

A: Medium settings at 1440p yield 166.1 FPS, offering a high frame rate with moderate visual enhancements. High settings drop to 106.5 FPS, still smooth but with a larger performance cost.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested systems?

A: It ranks 1038th out of 1671 combos, placing it slightly below the median of all tested configurations for this game.