Inside

The AMD Ryzen 7 3700X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 delivers exceptional performance in Inside, a side-scrolling puzzle platformer that prioritizes atmosphere over raw graphical fidelity. The measured data shows this combination is capable of running the game at extremely high frame rates across all tested resolutions and settings, making it a formidable platform for this title.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark data reveals a clear hierarchy in performance scaling across the four available presets. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset yields an average of 184 FPS, while the High preset achieves 187 FPS. This marginal 3 FPS difference suggests that the Ultra settings impose only a negligible additional load on the system. The Medium preset delivers 224 FPS, and Low reaches 243 FPS. Given that the gap between High and Ultra is so small, there is no reason to sacrifice visual quality by dropping below High settings at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the pattern shifts slightly. Ultra produces 151 FPS, High hits 158 FPS, and Medium jumps to 201 FPS. The 7 FPS difference between Ultra and High remains modest, but the 43 FPS jump from High to Medium is substantial. For players prioritizing smooth motion on high-refresh-rate 1440p monitors, the Medium preset offers the best balance, as it comfortably exceeds 200 FPS while still maintaining a measurable visual uplift over Low.

At 3840x2160, the performance envelope tightens considerably. The Ultra preset delivers 95 FPS, High reaches 99 FPS, and Medium climbs to 159 FPS. The 4 FPS difference between Ultra and High is statistically insignificant, but the 60 FPS leap from High to Medium is transformative for 4K gaming. The data strongly suggests that Medium is the optimal choice for 4K, as it provides a smooth experience well above the 144 Hz threshold for most displays, while the higher presets dip closer to the 60 FPS baseline.

Across all resolutions, the Medium preset appears to be the sweet spot for this hardware combination. It consistently delivers the largest performance margin over the lower-end presets while avoiding the diminishing returns of the High and Ultra settings. The measured minimum and maximum values for Medium—191 to 258 FPS at 1080p, 171 to 231 FPS at 1440p, and 135 to 183 FPS at 4K—show tight frame pacing without severe dips, reinforcing its suitability for consistent gameplay.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 3700X brings substantial processing power to this pairing, featuring 8 cores and 16 threads based on the Zen 2 architecture. Its base clock of 3.60 GHz can boost up to 4.40 GHz, providing ample single-thread headroom for Inside's physics and logic systems. The 32 MB of L3 cache helps keep frequently accessed data close to the cores, reducing latency in scenes with complex interactive elements.

In the broader context of CPU performance, the Ryzen 7 3700X holds the 84th percentile among all tested processors, indicating it outperforms the majority of desktop CPUs. Its average benchmark score of 34260 places it in close competition with several modern chips. The data shows it trails the Intel Core i5-13450HX by a mere 0.2 percent, while leading the AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 and AMD EPYC 4244P by 0.1 percent, and the Intel Core Ultra 7 165H by 0.5 percent. This clustering suggests that the 3700X remains competitive with much newer hardware in synthetic workloads.

For Inside specifically, the game's 2D side-scrolling nature means the CPU is rarely the bottleneck, but the 3700X's strong single-thread performance—evidenced by a Geekbench single-core score of 1593 and a Cinebench R15 single-core score of 204—ensures that game logic, collision detection, and audio processing run without hitches. The multi-threaded capability, reflected in a Geekbench multi-core score of 8899 and a Passmark multithread score of 22458, provides ample headroom for background tasks and streaming overlays during gameplay.

The CPU's 65 W TDP and unlocked multiplier offer efficiency and overclocking potential, though the measured frame rates suggest no additional processing power is necessary for this title. The PCIe Gen 4 interface with 24 lanes ensures the RTX 3080 can communicate with the CPU without bandwidth constraints, a factor that becomes more relevant at higher resolutions where data throughput increases.

FAQ

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

A: The maximum measured average FPS is 243, achieved at 1920x1080 with the Low preset. At 2560x1440 Low, the average drops to 218 FPS, and at 3840x2160 Low, it reaches 187 FPS.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High in terms of performance?

A: The Ultra preset is only marginally slower than High. At 1080p, Ultra averages 184 FPS versus 187 FPS for High. At 1440p, the difference is 151 FPS versus 158 FPS. At 4K, Ultra averages 95 FPS versus 99 FPS for High. The maximum difference is 7 FPS, making Ultra a viable choice for visual enthusiasts.

Q: Is the Medium preset capable of maintaining high refresh rates at 4K?

A: Yes, the Medium preset at 3840x2160 delivers an average of 159 FPS, with measured lows of 135 FPS and highs of 183 FPS. This comfortably exceeds 144 Hz, making it suitable for high-refresh-rate 4K monitors.

Q: How does this CPU compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Ryzen 7 3700X scores 34260 on average, which is 0.1 percent ahead of the AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 and AMD EPYC 4244P, but 0.2 percent behind the Intel Core i5-13450HX and 0.5 percent ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 7 165H.

Q: What is the frame pacing like on the Medium preset?

A: The Medium preset shows consistent frame delivery. At 1080p, the minimum is 191 FPS and maximum is 258 FPS. At 1440p, the range is 171 to 231 FPS. At 4K, the range is 135 to 183 FPS. The spread between minimum and maximum indicates stable performance without severe stutters.

Q: Does the RTX 3080's performance percentile align with its in-game results?

A: The RTX 3080 sits in the 68th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 23172. In Inside, it delivers frame rates far exceeding typical requirements, suggesting the game is not demanding enough to stress the GPU's full capabilities. Its nearest rivals—NVIDIA P106-100, AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16, AMD Radeon RX 6600M, and AMD Radeon R9 M290X—all score within 0.4 percent of the RTX 3080 in synthetic tests, yet the RTX 3080's architectural advantages show in real-world gaming.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 ranks 1633rd out of 3716 tested combinations in Inside, placing it in the 56th percentile of all systems. This ranking reflects the fact that Inside is a lightweight title where even mid-range hardware can achieve high frame rates, so the field of tested combos is densely packed with systems producing similar results.

The ranking position indicates that while this combo performs admirably, there are many other pairings that deliver comparable or better frame rates in this specific game. The RTX 3080's 68th percentile standing among all GPUs and the CPU's 84th percentile among all processors both suggest strong individual components, but the game's modest requirements mean that the combo's overall rank is more indicative of the broad field of capable systems rather than any deficiency in this particular pairing.

In synthetic benchmarks, the RTX 3080's average score of 23172 places it just 0.3 percent behind the NVIDIA P106-100 and AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16, and 0.4 percent behind the AMD Radeon RX 6600M and AMD Radeon R9 M290X. These narrow margins highlight that the RTX 3080's synthetic scores are comparable to older or lower-tier GPUs, yet its real-world performance in Inside is exceptional, suggesting the game benefits from the GPU's specific architectural strengths in DirectX 12 and Vulkan rendering paths.

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates show a clear scaling pattern as resolution increases. At 1080p, the average FPS across all settings is approximately 209.5, calculated from the four presets. At 1440p, the average drops to 182. At 4K, the average falls to 135. This represents a 13 percent decrease from 1080p to 1440p, and a 35 percent decrease from 1440p to 4K, or a 55 percent decrease from 1080p to 4K.

The data reveals that the RTX 3080 is the limiting component at higher resolutions. When comparing the Low preset, which minimizes GPU load and emphasizes CPU performance, the frame rates are 243 FPS at 1080p, 218 FPS at 1440p, and 187 FPS at 4K. This shows only a 23 percent drop from 1080p to 4K, indicating the CPU is handling the workload effectively even at the lowest settings.

Conversely, the Ultra preset shows a more pronounced scaling curve: 184 FPS at 1080p, 151 FPS at 1440p, and 95 FPS at 4K—a 48 percent decrease from 1080p to 4K. This steeper drop confirms that the GPU's processing capacity becomes the primary constraint as resolution and visual fidelity increase. The RTX 3080's 10 GB of GDDR6X memory and 760.3 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for 4K textures, but the pixel throughput requirements at 3840x2160 push the GPU harder, as evidenced by the 99 FPS average at High settings compared to 187 FPS at 1080p.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the four presets deliver the following averages: Low hits 243 FPS, Medium reaches 224 FPS with a minimum of 191 and maximum of 258, High achieves 187 FPS, and Ultra produces 184 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 19 FPS, while the gap between Medium and High is 37 FPS, and High to Ultra is just 3 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the results shift: Low delivers 218 FPS, Medium averages 201 FPS with a range of 171 to 231, High reaches 158 FPS, and Ultra drops to 151 FPS. The difference between Low and Medium narrows to 17 FPS, but the Medium to High gap widens to 43 FPS, indicating a significant visual quality threshold between these settings.

At 3840x2160, the performance curve steepens: Low outputs 187 FPS, Medium averages 159 FPS with a minimum of 135 and maximum of 183, High falls to 99 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 95 FPS. The 60 FPS difference between Medium and High is the largest single-step drop in the entire dataset, highlighting that the High preset introduces rendering features that disproportionately burden the GPU at 4K.

The Medium preset's measured minimum and maximum values provide the only frame-time variance data in the pack. At 1080p, the 191 FPS minimum and 258 FPS maximum show a 67 FPS spread, while at 1440p, the spread narrows to 60 FPS, and at 4K, it narrows further to 48 FPS. This tightening range at higher resolutions suggests that the GPU's workload becomes more consistent, reducing frame-time spikes, though the overall average decreases.