Inside

The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT delivers a decisively GPU-bound experience in Inside, where even the most demanding Ultra preset at 4K remains comfortably playable. The data shows this combo is overkill for the game’s modest visual demands, with the CPU holding a vast performance headroom that is never fully utilized, even at 1080p with the lowest settings.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic GPU-limited scenario, but with an unusual twist: the ceiling is set by the game’s engine and CPU, not the graphics card. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 382.4 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low, that number drops to 274.1 FPS, a 28.3% reduction. At 4K Low, the average falls to 170.8 FPS, which is 55.3% below the 1080p result. This steep decline with resolution is the signature of the GPU becoming the primary constraint as pixel count rises.

However, the story changes when looking at the Ultra preset. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 185.7 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, it is 131 FPS, a 29.5% drop. At 4K Ultra, the average is 82.6 FPS, which is 55.5% lower than the 1080p figure. The percentage drops are nearly identical between Low and Ultra presets, indicating that the rendering workload scales linearly with resolution regardless of settings. This suggests the game is not heavily taxing the GPU’s compute units, but rather the memory bandwidth and pixel throughput are the limiting factors.

The key insight is that even at 4K Ultra, the average of 82.6 FPS is far above the 60 FPS threshold. The limiting component is never the CPU; it is the GPU’s fillrate and bandwidth. The Ryzen 5 9600X, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, is never the bottleneck here. The data confirms that resolution scaling has a predictable, linear impact on frame rate, with the GPU being the sole arbiter of performance at all tested settings.

FAQ

*Q: What is the highest average frame rate achievable with this combo in Inside?*

A: The highest measured average is 382.4 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low preset. This indicates a massive performance ceiling that far exceeds any display’s refresh rate.

Q: Can this system maintain 4K gaming at the highest settings?

A: Yes. At 3840x2160 with the Ultra preset, the measured average is 82.6 FPS. This is well above the standard 60 FPS target, providing a smooth experience at maximum settings.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K?

A: The performance drop is consistent across presets. For Low settings, the average falls from 382.4 FPS to 170.8 FPS, a 55.3% reduction. For Ultra settings, it falls from 185.7 FPS to 82.6 FPS, a 55.5% reduction.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1080p?

A: The data suggests the GPU is still the primary limiter, but the CPU is not far behind. At 1080p Low, the 382.4 FPS result is high, but the CPU’s single-thread score of 1253 in 3dmark and its percentile rank of 85 versus all CPUs indicate it has headroom. The GPU’s fillrate becomes the bottleneck as resolution increases.

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

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset produces 274.1 FPS, while the Ultra preset produces 131 FPS. This represents a 52.2% reduction in frame rate when moving from the lowest to the highest quality settings.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested configurations for this game?

A: This combo ranks 585th out of 1671 tested combinations. This places it in the upper third of all systems, which is consistent with its high frame rates across all resolution and settings combinations.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data points to the Ultra preset as the best experience, due to the sheer headroom available. At 1080p Ultra, the combo averages 185.7 FPS, which is 3.1 times the 60 FPS standard. Even at 4K Ultra, the 82.6 FPS average remains above the 60 FPS target. There is no scenario in the data where the Ultra preset fails to deliver a playable frame rate.

Choosing High settings offers no tangible benefit, as it only marginally reduces the visual load while providing a modest frame rate increase. At 4K, High produces 88.1 FPS versus 82.6 FPS for Ultra, a 6.7% difference. At 1080p, the difference is 190.9 FPS versus 185.7 FPS, a 2.8% difference. The data suggests that the visual fidelity gain from Ultra is essentially free, given the performance margin.

The Medium preset provides an intermediate step, but it is unnecessary. At 1440p, Medium delivers 219.2 FPS, which is already far beyond any high-refresh-rate display. The Low preset is only useful for benchmarking extremes, as it yields 382.4 FPS at 1080p. For a real-world experience, the Ultra preset is the clear recommendation, as it provides the best image quality without sacrificing the smoothness of the frame rate. The GPU’s 12 GB of VRAM and 432.0 GB/s bandwidth are more than sufficient for the game’s demands, making Ultra the optimal choice.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo demonstrates its peak performance. The Low preset averages 382.4 FPS, the Medium preset averages 309.5 FPS, and the High preset averages 190.9 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 185.7 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra shows a 51.4% reduction in frame rate, indicating a well-optimized engine where the settings have a linear impact.

At 2560x1440, the performance remains exceptionally high. The Low preset averages 274.1 FPS, Medium averages 219.2 FPS, and High averages 139.3 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 131 FPS. The transition from 1080p to 1440p at Ultra settings results in a 29.5% drop, consistent with the increase in pixel count.

At 3840x2160, the combo still delivers a smooth experience. The Low preset averages 170.8 FPS, Medium averages 138.6 FPS, and High averages 88.1 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 82.6 FPS. The data shows that even at the most demanding resolution and settings, the average frame rate never falls below 80 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra at 4K is only 5.5 FPS, suggesting that the Ultra preset is not significantly more demanding than High.

The overall pattern shows that the game is highly scalable. The differences between presets are consistent across resolutions, and the frame rates are always high enough for a responsive experience. The lowest measured average is 82.6 FPS at 4K Ultra, which is still well within the range of a fluid gameplay experience.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT is the primary driver of performance in Inside. Its 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus provides 432.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is ample for the game’s textures and geometry. The GPU’s boost clock of 2544 MHz and game clock of 2171 MHz allow it to maintain high throughput across all resolutions. The 96 ROPs handle pixel output efficiently, as evidenced by the consistent frame rates at 4K.

The GPU’s benchmark scores support its strong showing. Its Passmark G3D score of 22547 and a percentile rank of 73 versus all GPUs place it in the upper tier. In the game’s data, the scaling from Low to Ultra at 1080p shows a 51.4% frame rate drop, which is a direct result of the GPU’s shading units and texture units handling increased workload. The 35.17 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power is more than enough for this puzzle platformer.

The fact that the 4K Ultra average of 82.6 FPS is still high indicates that the GPU is not fully saturated. If it were, we would expect a more severe drop from 1440p to 4K. Instead, the 37% reduction in frame rate from 131 FPS to 82.6 FPS aligns closely with the 2.25x increase in pixel count, but is softened by the GPU’s raw power. The RX 7700 XT is clearly the component that determines the absolute frame rate ceiling, and it does so with significant headroom to spare.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X plays a secondary role in this game’s performance. Its 6 cores and 12 threads, based on the Zen 5 architecture, provide ample processing power for the game’s logic. The CPU’s boost clock of 5.40 GHz and base clock of 3.90 GHz are sufficient to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics data. The 32 MB of shared L3 cache helps reduce latency for frequently accessed data.

The CPU’s benchmark data shows it is not a bottleneck. Its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 25525 and single-core score of 3603 are strong, and its Passmark single-thread score of 4570 is high. The 3dmark single-thread score of 1253 indicates robust per-core performance. The CPU ranks in the 85th percentile versus all CPUs, which is higher than the GPU’s 73rd percentile rank. This means the CPU is relatively more capable than the GPU, further confirming that the GPU is the limiting factor.

The evidence is clear: at 1080p Low, the combo produces 382.4 FPS, which is likely near the engine’s limit. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would see a plateau in frame rates across different resolutions. Instead, the frame rates drop consistently with resolution, proving the CPU has no trouble keeping up. The Ryzen 5 9600X is never the reason for a frame rate drop in Inside; it provides a stable foundation for the GPU to operate at its fullest potential.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X and AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT combination ranks 585th out of 1671 tested combos for Inside. This places the system in the top 35% of all configurations. The rank confirms the GPU’s strength, as the CPU is overqualified for this title. The high rank is consistent with the measured frame rates, which are high across all settings and resolutions.

The combo’s position in the ranking is influenced by the fact that Inside is not a demanding game. Many lower-tier GPUs can produce high frame rates, which compresses the leaderboard. The RX 7700 XT, with its 73rd percentile rank, is clearly above average, but the game’s low requirements mean that even mid-range cards can achieve 60 FPS at 4K. The 585th rank reflects this reality: the combo is powerful, but not at the absolute top because the game does not scale to use all available resources.

In context, this system outperforms the vast majority of tested configurations. The data shows that the combo provides a flawless 4K Ultra experience, which is more than sufficient for the game’s genre. The rank of 585 out of 1671 is a strong result, indicating that users with this hardware will not face any performance-related issues in Inside. The combination is well-balanced for this title, with the GPU providing the necessary graphics power and the CPU ensuring no bottleneck.