Inside

Inside is a puzzle platformer that places minimal demands on modern hardware, yet the measured frame rates for the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X and AMD Radeon RX 9060 combination reveal a clear and consistent scaling pattern across resolutions and settings. The data shows a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher settings but transitions to a more balanced state at lower presets, with the 8-core, 16-thread processor providing a stable foundation that never appears to bottleneck the Radeon GPU’s output.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 4K produces a dramatic and predictable drop in average frame rates, with the magnitude of that drop heavily dependent on the graphics preset. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 155 at 1920x1080 to 111 at 2560x1440, a reduction of 44 FPS, and then further down to 70 at 3840x2160, representing a 54.8% decrease from the 1080p baseline. This scaling pattern strongly suggests that the GPU’s rendering pipeline is the limiting factor, as the pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K, and the frame rate decline nearly mirrors that increase in workload.

The Low settings preset shows an even more pronounced scaling curve, with average FPS dropping from 243 at 1080p to 218 at 1440p (a 25 FPS loss) and then sharply down to 140 at 4K (a 78 FPS loss from 1440p). The 4K Low result of 140 FPS is exactly double the 4K High result of 70 FPS, which is a telling indicator: at 4K, the GPU is so heavily loaded that halving the graphical workload precisely doubles the output frame rate, confirming that the RX 9060 is the sole bottleneck at this resolution. The 1080p Low result of 243 FPS versus the 1080p High result of 155 FPS shows a less linear relationship, implying that at lower resolutions and settings, other factors such as CPU overhead or memory latency begin to play a more significant role.

Medium settings provide the only preset with complete min/max FPS data, offering a more granular view of the scaling behavior. At 1080p Medium, the average is 224 FPS with a minimum of 191 and maximum of 258, while at 1440p Medium the average drops to 178 with min/max of 151/204. The 4K Medium result shows an average of 112 FPS with min/max of 95/128, and the spread between minimum and maximum frame rates narrows from 67 FPS at 1080p to 53 FPS at 1440p and then 33 FPS at 4K, indicating that higher resolutions smooth out frame pacing variability by making the GPU the consistent limiting factor.

Ultra settings follow the same downward trajectory, with 147 FPS at 1080p, 106 FPS at 1440p, and 66 FPS at 4K. The difference between High and Ultra at 4K is only 4 FPS (70 versus 66), suggesting that the Ultra preset adds graphical features that have diminishing returns at extreme resolutions, or that the GPU is already saturated and the extra load has minimal impact. Across all four presets, the 1080p to 1440p drop averages around 30-35% while the 1440p to 4K drop averages around 37-40%, showing that the scaling penalty actually increases slightly at higher resolutions, which is characteristic of a GPU that is running out of memory bandwidth or shading capacity.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 3700X brings 8 cores and 16 threads to the system, running at a base clock of 3.60 GHz with a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. This is a Zen 2 architecture processor built on a 7 nm process, and its benchmark results place it in the 84th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 34260. The nearest rival comparison shows it essentially tied with the AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 (deltaPct 0.1) and AMD EPYC 4244P (deltaPct 0.1), while slightly trailing the Intel Core i5-13450HX by 0.2% and leading the Intel Core Ultra 7 165H by 0.5%.

In the context of Inside, a puzzle platformer that does not typically stress multi-threaded workloads, the CPU’s substantial thread count appears to be more than sufficient. The PassMark single-thread score of 2656 and the Cinebench R15 single-core score of 204 indicate moderate per-core performance that is adequate for the game’s physics and AI calculations. The fact that the 1080p Low preset achieves 243 FPS average, which is the highest measured frame rate in the entire dataset, suggests that the CPU is not limiting even in the most favorable conditions for the GPU.

The CPU’s 32 MB of L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support with 51.2 GB/s bandwidth provide ample memory throughput for a game of this scale. The PassMark data compression score of 296379 and integer math score of 66399 show strong computational abilities, but these are unlikely to be fully utilized by Inside’s relatively simple gameplay mechanics. The data implies that the Ryzen 7 3700X is effectively a bystander in this benchmark, never becoming the constraining factor, as evidenced by the fact that FPS scales almost perfectly with GPU load across resolutions. The processor’s 65 W TDP and 3,800 million transistors on a 74 mm² die also indicate that it is a mature, efficient design that can sustain boost clocks without thermal throttling in a game that doesn’t push all 16 threads.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 is the clear performance driver in this combination, featuring 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus with 288.0 GB/s bandwidth. Its RDNA 4.0 architecture with 1792 shading units, 112 texture mapping units, and 64 render output units provides a baseline compute capability of 21.43 TFLOPS. The GPU’s boost clock of 2990 MHz and game clock of 2400 MHz represent a significant clock headroom that helps maintain performance across varying loads.

In the GPU benchmark hierarchy, the RX 9060 sits in the 59th percentile of all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 16014, placing it just below the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (deltaPct -0.7) and just above the AMD Radeon R9 370X (deltaPct 1) and AMD Radeon RX 7700 (deltaPct 1). The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3322 and the PassMark G3D score of 17631 reflect a mid-range GPU that is capable but not top-tier, which aligns perfectly with the measured FPS data showing playable but not extreme frame rates at 4K.

The GPU’s memory configuration is a potential concern at higher resolutions, with only 8 GB of VRAM and a relatively narrow 128-bit bus. However, the data shows that even at 4K Ultra, the average FPS remains at 66, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The fact that 4K High (70 FPS) and 4K Ultra (66 FPS) are so close suggests that the GPU is not running out of memory but rather hitting its compute limits, as the 8 GB capacity is sufficient for Inside’s modest texture requirements. The Geekbench OpenCL score of 88183 and Vulkan score of 39476 indicate good compute performance that scales well with the game’s rendering needs.

The GPU’s 132 W TDP and PCIe 5.0 x16 interface ensure that it can draw sufficient power and communicate efficiently with the CPU, and the data shows no signs of interface bottleneck. The pixel rate of 191.4 GPixel/s and texture rate of 334.9 GTexel/s are the raw throughput metrics that ultimately determine how many pixels can be shaded per second, and the scaling from 1080p to 4K demonstrates that these rates are the primary limiter at higher resolutions.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average FPS achievable with this combo?

A: The highest measured average frame rate is 243 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This indicates the system has significant headroom for high refresh rate monitors at 1080p when graphical fidelity is reduced.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck at 4K resolution?

A: The data shows the GPU is the clear bottleneck at 4K, as evidenced by the fact that 4K Low (140 FPS) is exactly double 4K High (70 FPS). This linear relationship indicates that the RX 9060’s rendering capacity is the sole limiting factor, with the Ryzen 7 3700X providing ample CPU headroom.

Q: How does the RX 9060 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The RX 9060’s average benchmark score of 16014 is 0.7% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, 1% higher than the AMD Radeon R9 370X, 1% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 7700, and 2.1% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro W5500. This places it in a competitive mid-range position.

Q: What is the frame rate variance at Medium settings across resolutions?

A: At 1080p Medium, the average FPS is 224 with a range of 191 to 258. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 178 with a range of 151 to 204. At 4K Medium, the average is 112 with a range of 95 to 128. The variance narrows as resolution increases.

Q: How many total combos does this system rank against?

A: The combo ranks 1784th out of 2887 total tested combinations in Inside, placing it in the bottom 38% of all tested systems. This suggests that while the combo is playable, many other CPU-GPU pairings achieve higher frame rates in this game.

Q: What is the difference between High and Ultra settings at each resolution?

A: At 1080p, High averages 155 FPS while Ultra averages 147 FPS, a difference of 8 FPS. At 1440p, High averages 111 FPS while Ultra averages 106 FPS, a difference of 5 FPS. At 4K, High averages 70 FPS while Ultra averages 66 FPS, a difference of only 4 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo of AMD Ryzen 7 3700X and AMD Radeon RX 9060 achieves a rank of 1784 out of 2887 tested combinations in Inside, placing it in the 61.8th percentile of all combos (meaning it outperforms 61.8% of tested systems). This rank is notably lower than the individual component percentiles, with the CPU sitting in the 84th percentile and the GPU in the 59th percentile. The discrepancy suggests that the GPU is the limiting factor in this pairing, dragging the overall combo rank below what the CPU alone might achieve.

The low rank relative to other combos is somewhat surprising given the high frame rates measured, but it must be considered that Inside is a lightweight game where even modest GPUs can produce high FPS, meaning the competition is fierce. The combo’s position in the bottom 38% of all tested systems indicates that many other pairings, likely with higher-end GPUs, achieve frame rates well above the 243 FPS maximum seen here. The data shows that the CPU’s 84th percentile ranking does not translate to a similarly high combo rank, reinforcing the conclusion that the RX 9060’s mid-range positioning (59th percentile) caps the overall performance.

The nearest rival comparisons for the GPU show that the RX 9060 is extremely close in average benchmark score to the RTX 3060 Ti (16129 versus 16014), yet the measured FPS in Inside may differ due to architectural advantages or driver optimizations. The combo rank of 1784 also suggests that there is a wide spread of performance among the 2887 tested combos, with the majority achieving higher FPS, likely due to more powerful GPUs. For a puzzle platformer that doesn’t require extreme hardware, this rank is acceptable, but it clearly indicates that the GPU is the component holding the combo back from a higher position.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend on the target resolution and desired frame rate. At 1920x1080, all settings presets deliver well above 60 FPS, with even the Ultra preset averaging 147 FPS, which is suitable for high refresh rate displays. The Medium preset at 1080p offers an average of 224 FPS with a minimum of 191 FPS, providing a balance of visual quality and performance that exceeds the requirements of most 144Hz monitors, making it the recommended choice for competitive or smooth gameplay.

For 2560x1440 resolution, the High preset averages 111 FPS, which is still above 60 FPS but below the 144 FPS threshold for high refresh rate displays. The Medium preset averages 178 FPS with a minimum of 151 FPS, making it the best option for maintaining high frame rates at 1440p, as it stays above 144 FPS throughout the measured range. The Ultra preset at 1440p averages 106 FPS, which is playable but offers diminishing returns over High given that the difference is only 5 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the Medium preset averages 112 FPS with a minimum of 95 FPS, which is the only preset that consistently maintains above 60 FPS at 4K. The High preset averages 70 FPS and Ultra averages 66 FPS, both of which are playable but closer to the edge of acceptable performance. The Low preset at 4K averages 140 FPS, which is surprisingly high and indicates that lowering settings can yield massive gains at this resolution. For the best experience at 4K, the Medium preset is recommended as it provides a solid frame rate with reasonable visual quality, while the Low preset is an option for those prioritizing frame rate over graphics.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS data for this combo, organized by resolution and settings, reveals a consistent hierarchy:

At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 243 FPS, the Medium preset achieves an average of 224 FPS with a minimum of 191 and maximum of 258, the High preset achieves an average of 155 FPS, and the Ultra preset achieves an average of 147 FPS. The 1080p results show the widest variance between presets, with a 96 FPS difference between Low and Ultra.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 218 FPS, the Medium preset averages 178 FPS with a minimum of 151 and maximum of 204, the High preset averages 111 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 106 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 112 FPS, showing that resolution scaling begins to compress the preset differences.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 140 FPS, the Medium preset averages 112 FPS with a minimum of 95 and maximum of 128, the High preset averages 70 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 66 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 74 FPS, which is less than at lower resolutions, confirming the GPU’s saturation point.

The Medium settings data provides the only complete min/max information, showing that at 1080p the frame rate fluctuates between 191 and 258 FPS, at 1440p between 151 and 204 FPS, and at 4K between 95 and 128 FPS. This data illustrates that higher resolutions produce more stable frame rates, as the variance decreases from 67 FPS at 1080p to 33 FPS at 4K, likely due to the GPU being consistently loaded at maximum capacity.