Inside

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700 and AMD Radeon RX 9070 combination delivers exceptionally high frame rates in Inside, a puzzle platformer that is far more forgiving on hardware than modern AAA titles. The benchmark data shows a system that is heavily GPU-limited at 4K, but transitions to a CPU-limited state at lower resolutions, revealing a distinct performance profile that favors high-refresh-rate displays.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and reveals a clear shift in the system's bottleneck. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces an average of 301.9 FPS. Moving to 1440p drops this to 269.1 FPS, a modest decline that indicates the CPU is still able to feed the GPU adequately. However, the jump to 4K tells a different story: the average FPS falls to 197.2, a substantial 27% reduction compared to 1440p. This steep drop at 4K confirms that the Radeon RX 9070 is the limiting component at this resolution, with the GPU's rendering workload outpacing its ability to maintain the high frame rates seen at lower resolutions.

The scaling pattern is consistent across all quality presets. At High settings, the frame rate drops from 218.6 FPS at 1080p to 158.9 FPS at 1440p, and finally to 97.9 FPS at 4K. This represents a 55% reduction from 1080p to 4K, highlighting the massive increase in pixel shading demand. The Ultra preset follows a similar trajectory: 208.9 FPS at 1080p, 150.2 FPS at 1440p, and 94 FPS at 4K. The gap between 1440p and 4K is consistently around 37-40% across all settings, reinforcing that the GPU's compute and memory bandwidth are the primary constraints at the highest resolution.

Interestingly, the delta between Low and Medium settings at 4K is substantial: 197.2 FPS versus 158.5 FPS, a 24% performance hit for what is likely a modest visual upgrade. This suggests that the game's medium preset introduces significant shader complexity or texture filtering that disproportionately impacts the GPU at 4K. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Medium is much smaller (301.9 vs 277.6 FPS, about 8%), indicating that the CPU is masking some of the GPU's workload at lower resolutions. The data points to a system that is exceptionally well-suited for 1440p high-refresh gaming, where it can maintain 150+ FPS on the highest presets, but 4K gamers will need to make peace with either High settings or frame rates that dip below the 100 FPS threshold.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700 is an 8-core, 16-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture, with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz. In Inside, a game that is not heavily multithreaded, the CPU's single-thread performance is the more critical factor. The 3DMark single-thread score of 901 and the Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2916 indicate solid, but not class-leading, single-thread capability. The processor's 16 MB of L3 cache and 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth are more than sufficient for a puzzle platformer's data demands.

The benchmark results show that the CPU's role becomes increasingly prominent as resolution drops. At 1080p, the system achieves 301.9 FPS on Low settings, but this is likely near the CPU's maximum frame generation ceiling. The fact that Ultra settings at 1080p (208.9 FPS) are only 31% lower than Low settings (301.9 FPS) suggests that the CPU is not the sole bottleneck even at 1080p; the GPU is still contributing to the performance delta between presets. However, the gap between 1080p and 1440p at Low settings (301.9 vs 269.1 FPS) is only 12%, which is much smaller than the 27% drop seen between 1440p and 4K. This indicates that the CPU is starting to limit performance at 1080p, preventing the GPU from fully stretching its legs.

The processor's multithreaded scores are strong for its class, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 20655 and a Passmark multithread score of 24303. But Inside is unlikely to utilize all 16 threads effectively, so these numbers are less relevant to gaming performance than the single-thread results. The CPU's 84th percentile ranking among all CPUs, and its near-parity with the Intel Core i9-9900K (0.7% faster in average score), confirms that it is a capable gaming processor, though the game's performance at 4K is overwhelmingly dictated by the GPU's capabilities.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance for optimizing the gaming experience. At 4K, the High preset delivers 97.9 FPS, which is very close to the 94 FPS of Ultra, but the Medium preset achieves 158.5 FPS — a 62% improvement over Ultra. Given that the visual difference between Medium and High in a 2D puzzle platformer is likely minimal, Medium at 4K is the sweet spot for players seeking smooth, responsive gameplay without sacrificing the resolution's clarity. The Low preset at 4K (197.2 FPS) is an option for those with 240Hz displays, but the drop from Medium to Low (a 24% increase) may not justify the visual downgrade.

At 1440p, the recommendation is more straightforward. The Ultra preset delivers 150.2 FPS, which is above the 144Hz refresh rate threshold and provides a fully fluid experience. High settings at 1440p (158.9 FPS) offer only a marginal gain over Ultra, so there is little reason to compromise visual fidelity. For gamers targeting 240Hz at 1440p, the Medium preset (248.8 FPS) is the best choice, as it clears the high-refresh bar with room to spare while remaining superior to Low (269.1 FPS) in visual quality.

At 1080p, the system is so fast that even Ultra settings (208.9 FPS) exceed the refresh rate of most monitors. The Medium preset (277.6 FPS) is the optimal balance for 280Hz+ displays, while Low (301.9 FPS) is only necessary for the most extreme high-refresh setups. The data suggests that players should prioritize High or Ultra at 1080p for the best visual experience, as the performance headroom is so large that dropping settings yields diminishing returns.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700 and AMD Radeon RX 9070 combination ranks 533rd out of 1671 tested combos in Inside, placing it in the 68th percentile of all system configurations. This is a respectable position, though not exceptional given the GPU's capabilities. The ranking suggests that many other CPU-GPU pairings achieve higher frame rates, likely due to the game's relative simplicity and the fact that higher-clocked CPUs or GPUs with better raw throughput can push even higher numbers.

The GPU's benchmark scores provide context for its performance. The Radeon RX 9070 has a Passmark G3D score of 25381 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 6290, placing it in the 79th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA A2, is slightly faster (0.2% higher average score), while the AMD Radeon HD 7970 is 0.7% slower. This indicates that the RX 9070 is a mid-to-high-tier GPU, but not a top-tier flagship. The CPU's ranking is similar: the Ryzen 7 5700 is in the 84th percentile, with the Intel Core i9-9900K being its closest competitor at 0.7% faster in average score.

The combo's rank of 533 suggests that while this pairing is solid, it is not optimized for absolute maximum frame rates in Inside. The 4K results (97.9 FPS on High) are good but not exceptional, and the 1080p results (218.6 FPS on High) are strong but not record-breaking. The system is clearly well-balanced, but the data implies that either a faster CPU (for 1080p) or a more powerful GPU (for 4K) would push the ranking higher. For a puzzle platformer, however, the performance is more than sufficient, and the combo's position in the middle-upper tier of tested systems reflects its ability to deliver smooth gameplay at all resolutions.

FAQ

*Q: What is the maximum average FPS this combo can achieve in Inside?*

A: The highest measured average FPS is 301.9, achieved at 1080p resolution with Low settings.

Q: Is the system capable of 4K gaming at high refresh rates?

A: At 4K with High settings, the combo delivers 97.9 FPS, which is below the 100 FPS threshold for high-refresh displays. For 4K at 144Hz or above, the Medium preset (158.5 FPS) is required.

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

A: The AMD Ryzen 7 5700's average benchmark score is 27220, which is 0.7% lower than the Intel Core i9-9900K's score of 27043, making them effectively equivalent in performance.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking among all tested graphics cards?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 9070 is in the 79th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 34780.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1440p to 4K at High settings?

A: The average FPS drops from 158.9 at 1440p to 97.9 at 4K, a reduction of approximately 38%.

Q: Does the system support PCIe 5.0 for the GPU?

A: Yes, the Radeon RX 9070 has a PCIe 5.0 x16 bus interface, though the CPU only supports PCIe Gen 3 with 20 lanes, which may limit bandwidth in some workloads.