Inside

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 delivers a highly playable experience in Inside, though the data reveals a clear performance ceiling that shifts depending on resolution and settings. This is a puzzle platformer with modest demands, yet the combination of an 8-core Zen 3 processor and a Pascal-era GPU produces a wide spread of framerates—from a blistering 231.4 FPS at 1080p Low down to 50.4 FPS at 4K High. The benchmark results indicate that this pairing is well-balanced for high-refresh 1080p play, but 4K Ultra remains out of reach for smooth gameplay.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 4K shows a predictable and steep performance drop, but the magnitude varies dramatically by preset. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 231.4 at 1920x1080 to 105.7 at 3840x2160—a reduction of roughly 54%. This suggests that at Low settings, even at 4K, the GTX 1070 is still delivering over 100 FPS, indicating the GPU is not fully saturated until higher quality presets are applied.

Moving to Medium settings, the scaling tightens: 182.7 FPS at 1080p drops to 132.8 at 1440p, then to 81.5 at 4K. The drop from 1440p to 4K here is about 39%, which points to the GPU becoming the primary limiting factor as pixel count rises. High settings tell a similar story, with 115.6 FPS at 1080p, 80.6 at 1440p, and 50.4 at 4K—the latter being a 56% reduction from 1080p.

Ultra settings are the most demanding, yielding 106.7 FPS at 1080p, 77.6 at 1440p, and 51.3 at 4K. Interestingly, the gap between High and Ultra at 4K is minimal (50.4 vs 51.3 FPS), suggesting that the Ultra preset's additional effects are largely GPU-bound and do not scale with resolution as much as one might expect. Overall, the data shows that resolution scaling is steep but consistent, with the GTX 1070's 8 GB GDDR5 memory and 256-bit bus being the likely bottleneck at 4K, especially on higher presets.

CPU Role

The Ryzen 7 5700X is a formidable processor in this context, featuring 8 cores and 16 threads based on the Zen 3 architecture. With a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz, it provides ample single-threaded performance for a game like Inside, which is not heavily multithreaded. The CPU's benchmark scores reinforce this: it achieves a 3DMark single-thread score of 921 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3193, placing it in the 83rd percentile of all CPUs.

In this game, the CPU is rarely the limiting factor. Even at 1080p Low, where the GPU is producing 231.4 FPS, the Ryzen 7 5700X's 16 threads are more than sufficient to feed the frame pipeline. The processor's 32 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support (with 51.2 GB/s bandwidth) ensure that data delivery is never a bottleneck. The CPU's nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i9-11900KF (deltaPct 0.1) and AMD Ryzen 5 7600X (deltaPct -0.2), show nearly identical average benchmark scores, indicating that the 5700X is competitive with newer and more expensive parts in synthetic tests.

However, the data suggests that the CPU's high multi-threaded capability (Cinebench R23 multicore score of 22620) is largely wasted in Inside. The game's physics and logic are light, so the 5700X's 8 cores are likely idling while the GTX 1070 does the heavy lifting. This means that upgrading the CPU alone would yield no measurable FPS gains in this title; the GPU is the clear bottleneck at higher resolutions and settings.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 is the workhorse here, and its specifications explain the performance envelope. Built on the Pascal architecture with a 16 nm process, it features 1920 shading units, 120 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. Its base clock of 1506 MHz and boost clock of 1683 MHz, combined with 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus (256.3 GB/s bandwidth), provide a solid foundation for 1080p and 1440p gaming.

The GPU's benchmark results show it sits in the 51st percentile of all GPUs, with a PassMark G3D score of 13498 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1082. Its nearest rivals include the GTX 1650 SUPER (deltaPct -1.4) and the Tesla K20Xm (deltaPct -1.7), which are older or lower-tier parts. The GTX 1070's 6.463 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is the key metric for rasterization-heavy games like Inside.

In practice, the GTX 1070's VRAM capacity is sufficient for this game's textures, even at 4K. The measured FPS at 4K High (50.4) and 4K Ultra (51.3) are nearly identical, which suggests that the GPU is not running out of memory but rather hitting its raw shader throughput limit. The 1070's 64 ROPs and 107.7 GPixel/s pixel rate are the likely constraints at 4K, as the resolution demands more pixel fill than the card can deliver at Ultra settings. Conversely, at 1080p, the card has headroom, as evidenced by the 231.4 FPS at Low settings, indicating that the GPU's compute units are not fully utilized until higher presets are applied.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a clear picture across all resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the average FPS ranges from 106.7 (Ultra) to 231.4 (Low), with Medium at 182.7 and High at 115.6. This means that at 1080p, even the most demanding Ultra preset delivers a smooth experience on a 60 Hz or 144 Hz monitor, and Low settings are suitable for 240 Hz displays.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 77.6 (Ultra), 80.6 (High), 132.8 (Medium), and 163.3 (Low). The gap between High and Ultra is small (3 FPS), suggesting that the Ultra preset's extra effects are not worth the performance cost at this resolution. Medium settings at 1440p are a sweet spot, offering 132.8 FPS, which is comfortably above 120 FPS for high-refresh monitors.

At 3840x2160, the results are 51.3 (Ultra), 50.4 (High), 81.5 (Medium), and 105.7 (Low). The near-identical High and Ultra scores indicate that the GTX 1070 is fully saturated at 4K, and the only way to get above 60 FPS is to drop to Medium (81.5) or Low (105.7). For a 60 Hz 4K display, Medium settings are the highest preset that maintains a stable framerate, while Low provides a comfortable margin.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations, this pairing ranks 1417 out of 1671 combos for Inside. This places it in the bottom 15% of all tested systems, which is expected given the GTX 1070's age and the fact that many newer GPUs are significantly faster. However, this rank should be interpreted in context: Inside is not a demanding title, and the rank reflects the absolute performance ceiling of the combo, not its suitability for the game.

The combo's rank is dragged down by the GPU, which has a percentile rank of 51 among all GPUs, while the CPU ranks in the 83rd percentile. This imbalance means that the Ryzen 7 5700X is overqualified for the GTX 1070 in this specific title. The CPU's nearest rivals (Core i9-11900KF, Ryzen 5 7600X) all score within 0.2% of each other, showing that the 5700X is not the limiting factor. In contrast, the GPU's nearest rivals (Quadro K4200, GTX 880M) are all within 1.7% of its average score, confirming that the 1070 is the performance ceiling.

If the goal is to improve this combo's rank in Inside, the data suggests that upgrading the GPU would yield the largest gains. Swapping the GTX 1070 for a modern mid-range card could potentially double the FPS at 4K, while keeping the Ryzen 7 5700X would provide ample headroom for years to come.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and refresh rate. For 1080p, the High preset (115.6 FPS) is the best balance of visual quality and performance, as it stays above 100 FPS while looking noticeably better than Medium (182.7). The Ultra preset (106.7 FPS) is also viable, but the 9 FPS difference from High is likely imperceptible in a puzzle platformer.

At 1440p, Medium (132.8 FPS) is the clear winner, delivering a smooth experience on 120 Hz monitors. High (80.6 FPS) is acceptable for 60 Hz displays, but the jump from Medium to High costs 52 FPS, which is a steep price for marginal visual gains. Ultra (77.6 FPS) is not recommended, as it offers no meaningful improvement over High.

For 4K, Medium (81.5 FPS) is the highest preset that keeps the framerate above 60 FPS, making it the only sensible choice for a 60 Hz display. Low (105.7 FPS) provides extra headroom for VRR monitors, but the visual downgrade is noticeable. High (50.4 FPS) and Ultra (51.3 FPS) are both below 60 FPS and should be avoided unless the player is willing to tolerate stutter. In summary, the GTX 1070's sweet spot is 1080p High or 1440p Medium, with 4K Medium serving as the maximum playable setting.