Inside

The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 combination delivers a remarkably consistent gaming experience in Inside, a game whose 2D side-scrolling nature places modest demands on modern hardware. The benchmark data shows this pairing is capable of triple-digit frame rates at every tested resolution and settings combination, with the only sub-100 FPS results occurring at 4K with High and Ultra presets.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals that Inside is primarily GPU-limited at higher resolutions, though the CPU's headroom becomes apparent at lower settings. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 333.3 FPS, which drops to 242.1 FPS at 1440p Low and further to 151.4 FPS at 4K Low. This represents a 54.6% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, indicating that the GPU is the primary constraint as pixel count increases.

The scaling pattern shifts when moving to High settings. At 1080p High, the system achieves 168.3 FPS, dropping to 122.5 FPS at 1440p High and 77 FPS at 4K High. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K at High settings is 54.2%, nearly identical to the Low preset scaling. This consistency suggests that the rendering workload scales predictably with resolution regardless of quality settings, a characteristic of a game that does not heavily tax the GPU's shading units or memory subsystem.

At Medium settings, the scaling shows 264.4 FPS at 1080p, 189.7 FPS at 1440p, and 121.6 FPS at 4K. The 1080p to 4K reduction here is 54.0%. Ultra settings produce 158 FPS at 1080p, 113.6 FPS at 1440p, and 72.8 FPS at 4K, a 53.9% reduction. The remarkable similarity in percentage scaling across all four presets — hovering between 53.9% and 54.6% — indicates that resolution is the dominant factor in performance, with settings having a secondary effect on absolute frame rates rather than scaling behavior.

The data suggests that the 4K High and Ultra results, at 77 FPS and 72.8 FPS respectively, are approaching the point where the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth become limiting. The 128-bit memory bus and 272.0 GB/s bandwidth of the RTX 4060 are sufficient for lower resolutions but begin to show constraints as pixel throughput demands increase at 4K.

GPU Role

The RTX 4060's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 272.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which proves adequate for Inside at all tested configurations. The GPU's boost clock of 2460 MHz and base clock of 1830 MHz, combined with 3072 shading units, deliver the compute throughput needed to maintain high frame rates in this puzzle platformer. The 48 ROPs and 96 TMUs handle the game's 2D rendering workload efficiently, as evidenced by the fact that even 4K Medium achieves 121.6 FPS.

The GPU's PassMark G3D score of 19545 places it in the 66th percentile of all GPUs, with its average benchmark score of 23181 positioning it close to the AMD Radeon RX 6600M (23321, -0.6% delta) and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti (23338, -0.7% delta). The RTX 4060 also sits near the Intel Arc B580 (23021, +0.7% delta) and AMD Radeon 760M (22999, +0.8% delta). This competitive positioning in synthetic benchmarks translates to real-world performance that exceeds the requirements of Inside, a game released in 2016 that does not leverage modern rendering features like ray tracing or DLSS.

The 15.11 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 118.1 GPixel/s pixel rate provide ample headroom for the game's visual effects, which include dynamic lighting and physics-based interactions. The fact that 1080p Low reaches 333.3 FPS — likely approaching the CPU's frame delivery limit — suggests the GPU is not the bottleneck at lower resolutions, but rather the CPU's ability to feed draw calls to the graphics pipeline.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of AMD Ryzen 5 9600X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 ranks 854 out of 1671 tested combos in Inside. This places the pairing in the 51st percentile of all tested configurations, meaning roughly half of all tested combos perform better and half perform worse. Given that the RTX 4060 sits in the 66th percentile of all GPUs and the 9600X in the 85th percentile of all CPUs, the combo's mid-pack ranking suggests that Inside does not heavily reward the CPU's strength — the game's modest threading requirements mean the GPU's tier is the more significant factor in overall ranking.

The CPU's benchmark scores, including a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 25525 and single-core score of 3603, indicate a processor with substantial headroom for this game. The Geekbench multicore score of 15182 and single-core of 3363 further confirm that the 9600X can handle the game's logic and physics without becoming a limiting factor. However, the combo rank of 854 indicates that many combinations with higher-tier GPUs outperform this pairing in Inside, as the game's performance ceiling is determined more by GPU fill rate than CPU throughput.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates across all presets. Low settings produce 333.3 FPS, Medium achieves 264.4 FPS, High reaches 168.3 FPS, and Ultra tops out at 158 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra is relatively small at 10.3 FPS, suggesting diminishing returns from the highest quality preset at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance scales down proportionally. Low settings yield 242.1 FPS, Medium produces 189.7 FPS, High reaches 122.5 FPS, and Ultra delivers 113.6 FPS. The 1440p results show that even the most demanding preset maintains above 110 FPS, making this resolution comfortable for high-refresh-rate displays.

At 3840x2160, the system begins to show its limits. Low settings still achieve 151.4 FPS, and Medium maintains 121.6 FPS, but High drops to 77 FPS and Ultra falls to 72.8 FPS. These 4K results indicate that while the combo can handle 4K at lower presets, players seeking the highest visual quality at 4K would need to accept frame rates below 80 FPS.

FAQ

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

A: Yes, the Ultra preset at 3840x2160 produces an average of 72.8 FPS, which is playable. However, High settings at 4K achieve 77 FPS, so the difference between High and Ultra is minimal at this resolution.

*Q: What is the highest frame rate this system achieves in Inside?*

A: The maximum measured average is 333.3 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. Medium settings at 1080p still deliver 264.4 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 4060 compare to its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 4060's average benchmark score of 23181 is 0.6% lower than the AMD Radeon RX 6600M (23321) and 0.7% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti (23338). It outperforms the Intel Arc B580 (23021) by 0.7%.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 9600X a bottleneck in this game?

A: The data suggests the CPU is not a bottleneck at lower resolutions and settings, as evidenced by 333.3 FPS at 1080p Low. However, the 9600X's 6 cores and 12 threads with a boost clock of 5.40 GHz provide substantial single-thread performance that handles the game's logic without constraint.

Q: What kind of frame rate can I expect at 1440p with High settings?

A: The measured average is 122.5 FPS at 2560x1440 with High settings, which provides a smooth experience on displays with refresh rates up to 120 Hz.

Q: How does the combo's ranking compare to its component percentiles?

A: The combo ranks 854 out of 1671 in Inside, placing it in the 51st percentile of tested combinations. This is lower than the GPU's 66th percentile and CPU's 85th percentile, indicating that the game does not fully utilize the strengths of either component.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X, built on the Zen 5 architecture with a 4 nm process from TSMC, provides 6 cores and 12 threads with a base clock of 3.90 GHz and boost clock of 5.40 GHz. Its 32 MB of shared L3 cache and 1 MB L2 per core deliver the low-latency access needed for game logic, while the 89.6 GB/s memory bandwidth on dual-channel DDR5 supports rapid asset streaming. The CPU's PassMark single-thread score of 4570 and Geekbench single-core score of 3363 place it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs, with its average benchmark score of 28246 positioning it just 0.3% above the Intel Core i5-13490F (28173) and 0.3% above the AMD Ryzen 5 230 (28164).

In Inside, the CPU's role is primarily to manage the game's physics interactions and scripting events, which are modest compared to modern 3D titles. The 3DMark single-thread score of 1253 and 4-thread score of 4649 demonstrate strong per-core performance that ensures the game's logic thread remains responsive even at high frame rates. The Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3603 further confirms that the 9600X can deliver frames faster than the GPU can render them in most scenarios, which is why the 1080p Low result of 333.3 FPS approaches the practical limit for frame delivery.

The CPU's 65 W TDP and dual-channel DDR5 memory support with ECC capability make it an efficient choice for this workload, though the game does not leverage the processor's multi-threading capabilities extensively. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 7585 suggests that even fully utilizing all threads would not significantly impact Inside's performance, as the game's workload is primarily single-threaded in nature.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data shows that the Ultra preset provides marginal gains over High settings at every resolution. At 1080p, Ultra delivers 158 FPS compared to High's 168.3 FPS — a 6.1% reduction for what is likely a minimal visual improvement. At 1440p, the gap narrows to 7.3% (113.6 FPS vs 122.5 FPS), and at 4K, it shrinks to 5.5% (72.8 FPS vs 77 FPS). Given these small differences, High settings offer the best balance of visual quality and performance across all resolutions.

For players targeting 60 FPS at 4K, either High or Ultra settings will suffice, as both exceed the 60 FPS threshold. However, for high-refresh-rate displays at 1080p or 1440p, Medium settings provide substantial frame rate improvements — 264.4 FPS at 1080p and 189.7 FPS at 1440p — while still delivering a visually rich experience. Low settings are only necessary for extreme frame rate targets, such as 333.3 FPS at 1080p, which would benefit competitive players or those using very high refresh rate monitors.

The data indicates that the most sensible configuration for most users is High settings at 1440p, which delivers 122.5 FPS and comfortably supports 120 Hz displays. For 4K users, High settings at 77 FPS provide the best quality-to-performance ratio, while those prioritizing frame rate over visual fidelity can opt for Medium at 121.6 FPS. The Ultra preset is difficult to recommend given its minimal performance difference from High and the absence of data suggesting substantial visual improvements.