Inside

Inside is a puzzle platformer from 2016 that, on paper, should be trivial for modern hardware, yet the measured data for the AMD Ryzen 5 9600X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 reveals a fascinating performance curve that defies typical scaling expectations. The benchmark results indicate that this combination does not behave like a standard AAA title, showing unusually high frame rates that suggest the game's engine is heavily optimized for high refresh rates, but with some interesting bottlenecks appearing at the highest settings. This analysis will break down the measured FPS data to understand exactly where this combo excels and where it leaves performance on the table.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data suggests that the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience, particularly at higher resolutions, due to the availability of complete frame time data. At 1920x1080, Medium produces an average of 367 FPS with a minimum of 312 FPS and a maximum of 423 FPS, which is only a modest drop from the 419 FPS average seen at Low settings. The jump from Medium to High at 1080p is more significant, falling to an average of 230 FPS, which is a 37% reduction, indicating that High introduces a substantial graphical load that outweighs its visual benefits for a puzzle platformer where frame consistency matters more than absolute peak output.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset again stands out as the optimal choice, delivering an average of 264 FPS with a minimum of 225 FPS and a maximum of 304 FPS. This is the only 1440p setting with reported minimum and maximum values, and the 39 FPS spread between the minimum and maximum suggests a stable frame pacing that is preferable for the game's precise physics-based puzzles. The data shows that Low at 1440p achieves 330 FPS, but the lack of reported minimums for that setting makes it harder to recommend over Medium, which provides a documented floor that ensures no sudden dips below 225 FPS.

For 4K, the Medium setting is also the clear winner, as it is the only resolution and setting combination in the entire pack that provides a full FPS breakdown. At 3840x2160, Medium averages 166 FPS with a minimum of 141 FPS and a maximum of 191 FPS, which is comfortably above the 144 Hz refresh rate that many high-end monitors use. While the High setting at 4K averages 104 FPS and Ultra averages 99 FPS, they lack the frame time data to confirm consistency, and the 62 FPS gap between Medium and High at 4K suggests that Medium is the best trade-off between visual fidelity and the high frame rates that this game clearly supports.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the 9000 series, built on the Zen 5 architecture with a base clock of 3.90 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. For a puzzle platformer like Inside, which is not typically considered a CPU-intensive title, the processor's single-thread performance is likely the dominant factor, and the benchmark data supports this theory. The CPU's Cinebench R23 single-core score is 2183.5, which is notably strong, and its Passmark single-thread score of 4570 places it in the 81st percentile of all CPUs, suggesting that the 9600X has ample headroom for handling the game's physics and logic calculations without becoming a limiting factor.

The multi-threaded capabilities of the 9600X are less relevant for this game, as evidenced by the fact that the 3DMark max threads score of 7590 is only slightly higher than the 2-thread score of 2456 when scaled, indicating that the game likely does not utilize the full 12 threads effectively. However, the CPU's 32 MB of shared L3 cache and 4 nm process node contribute to low latency, which is crucial for maintaining the high average FPS numbers seen in the data. The measured FPS at 1080p Low (419 FPS) is so high that it suggests the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU far more frames than the graphical settings can render, meaning that in this specific game, the CPU is rarely the bottleneck.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is a 5 nm Ada Lovelace architecture GPU with 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU has a boost clock of 2475 MHz and 5888 shading units, which translates to 29.15 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. For Inside, a game with relatively simple 2D side-scrolling visuals, the RTX 4070's raw compute power is vastly overkill, yet the data shows that the GPU still has a significant impact on performance, particularly at higher settings and resolutions. The transition from Medium to High settings at 1080p drops the FPS from 367 to 230, a 37% reduction, which indicates that the High preset likely increases the pixel shading complexity or introduces effects that heavily tax the GPU's texture units.

The GPU's VRAM capacity of 12 GB is more than sufficient for this game, as even the highest settings at 4K do not appear to cause any memory-related stutters, evidenced by the consistent average FPS at Ultra (99 FPS). The RTX 4070's memory bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s is also crucial for maintaining the high frame rates at 4K, where the pixel fill rate of 158.4 GPixel/s is likely the limiting factor. The data suggests that the GPU's performance scaling is not linear with resolution; for instance, going from 1080p High (230 FPS) to 1440p High (165 FPS) is a 28% drop, but going from 1440p High to 4K High (104 FPS) is a 37% drop, indicating that the GPU is increasingly constrained by pixel throughput at higher resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 combination ranks 556th out of 3716 tested combos for Inside, placing it in the top 15% of all systems tested. This rank is surprisingly low for such high-end components, which suggests that the game is heavily optimized for older or lower-end hardware, and the RTX 4070's advanced features like ray tracing cores (46 RT cores) and tensor cores (184) are not being utilized by this title. The combo's percentile ranking of 81 for both the CPU and GPU indicates that they are both in the top fifth of their respective categories, yet their combined performance in this specific game does not break into the top 10% of all combos.

This disparity between component quality and game performance rank implies that Inside's engine has a performance ceiling that is reached well before the RTX 4070's capabilities are fully stressed. The nearest rival for the CPU, the AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT, has an average benchmark score that is only 0.6% lower, while the GPU's nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56, scores 0.4% lower, so the hardware is competitively matched. However, the fact that 556 combos outperform this setup suggests that many of those systems likely use CPUs with higher single-thread performance or GPUs with faster memory subsystems, which can be more critical for a game that relies on high frame rates rather than raw compute power.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data shows a clear pattern of diminishing returns as resolution increases, which reveals that the GPU becomes the limiting component at 4K. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 419 at 1080p to 330 at 1440p (a 21% decrease) and then to 208 at 4K (a 50% decrease from 1440p). This steep drop at 4K is indicative of the GPU's pixel fill rate becoming the bottleneck, as the number of pixels at 4K is 2.25 times that of 1440p, and the FPS drop of 37% (from 330 to 208) is less than the pixel increase, suggesting that the GPU's memory bandwidth is partially mitigating the load.

However, at Medium settings, the scaling is more linear: 367 FPS at 1080p, 264 FPS at 1440p (a 28% drop), and 166 FPS at 4K (a 37% drop from 1440p). This pattern suggests that at Medium settings, the game is more balanced between CPU and GPU loads, with neither component fully saturated. The High settings show a similar trend but with a more pronounced drop at 4K: 230 FPS at 1080p, 165 FPS at 1440p (a 28% drop), and 104 FPS at 4K (a 37% drop). The consistency of these percentage drops across Medium and High settings indicates that the game's rendering pipeline scales predictably with resolution, and the 4K performance being roughly half of the 1080p performance points to a GPU-bound scenario where the RTX 4070's 504.2 GB/s bandwidth is the primary constraint.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the data reveals a wide performance spread across settings. Low settings produce an average of 419 FPS, which is the highest measured value in the entire dataset, indicating that the game is almost entirely CPU-bound at this point. Medium settings reduce the average to 367 FPS with a minimum of 312 FPS and a maximum of 423 FPS, showing that the GPU is starting to engage but still has plenty of headroom. High settings drop the average to 230 FPS, a 37% reduction from Medium, while Ultra settings average 219 FPS, which is only a 5% drop from High, suggesting that the difference between High and Ultra is minimal in terms of GPU load.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance scales down proportionally. Low settings average 330 FPS, which is still exceptionally high and indicates that the CPU remains a strong partner. Medium settings average 264 FPS with a minimum of 225 FPS and a maximum of 304 FPS, providing a solid 144 Hz experience with a documented frame floor. High settings average 165 FPS, and Ultra settings average 157 FPS, with the gap between High and Ultra shrinking to just 5% again. The data shows that at 1440p, the RTX 4070 is more engaged, but the game's simple visuals mean that even Ultra settings do not push the GPU to its limits.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck. Low settings average 208 FPS, which is still very playable, but the drop from 1080p Low is a significant 50%. Medium settings average 166 FPS with a minimum of 141 FPS and a maximum of 191 FPS, which is the only 4K setting with full frame time data and demonstrates that the game can maintain a stable experience above 140 FPS even at 4K. High settings average 104 FPS, and Ultra settings average 99 FPS, both of which are close to the 100 FPS threshold but lack the frame time data to confirm consistency. The 4K results indicate that the game is heavily GPU-dependent at this resolution, and the RTX 4070's performance is adequate for a smooth experience but does not exhibit the same massive headroom seen at lower resolutions.

FAQ

Q: What is the best setting for a 144 Hz monitor at 1440p?

A: The Medium preset is the best choice, as it delivers an average of 264 FPS with a minimum of 225 FPS, ensuring that the frame rate never dips below the 144 Hz refresh rate and providing a stable frame pacing for the game's physics-based puzzles.

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

A: At 1080p Low, the average FPS is 419, which is the highest in the dataset and suggests the CPU is the primary driver, as the GPU is not being fully utilized. The Ryzen 5 9600X's strong single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2183.5) allows it to feed the GPU frames faster than it can render them.

Q: Why does the FPS drop so much from 1080p to 4K at Low settings?

A: At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 419 at 1080p to 208 at 4K, a 50% reduction. This is because the GPU's pixel fill rate of 158.4 GPixel/s becomes the limiting factor at 4K, as the number of pixels increases by 2.25 times, and the RTX 4070's memory bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s cannot fully compensate for the increased pixel load.

Q: Does the RTX 4070's 12 GB VRAM cause any issues in Inside?

A: No, the 12 GB of GDDR6X memory is more than sufficient for Inside, as even at 4K Ultra settings, the average FPS is 99, and there are no signs of memory-related stuttering or performance degradation in the measured data.

Q: How does this combo compare to other systems tested for Inside?

A: This combo ranks 556th out of 3716 tested combinations, placing it in the top 15% of all systems. While the CPU and GPU individually rank in the 81st percentile of their categories, the game's engine does not fully utilize the RTX 4070's advanced features like ray tracing, resulting in a rank that is lower than the hardware's raw potential might suggest.

Q: Is there a significant difference between High and Ultra settings?

A: The data shows that the difference is minimal. At 1080p, High averages 230 FPS while Ultra averages 219 FPS, a 5% drop. This pattern repeats at 1440p (165 vs 157 FPS) and 4K (104 vs 99 FPS), indicating that Ultra settings offer negligible visual improvements while slightly reducing performance.