Inside

Inside is a light puzzle-platformer that, on this AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT + NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER combo, produces a wide spread of frame rates depending on how far you push the sliders. The data shows the pairing is capable of excellent performance at 1080p and 1440p, but 4K Ultra is the only setting that threatens the 60 FPS target. The benchmark results indicate the GTX 1660 SUPER becomes the primary constraint at higher resolutions, while the 5800XT's 8-core muscle keeps minimums high enough to avoid stutter even at lower settings.

Settings Recommendations

For a balanced experience, the Medium preset at 2560x1440 delivers the best combination of fluidity and visual fidelity, averaging 125 FPS with a minimum of 106 FPS. This is a significant step up from the 78 FPS average of High at the same resolution, while maintaining a frame rate well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The 106 FPS minimum is particularly notable, as it indicates the combo never dips below a very playable level even during more demanding scenes.

At 1920x1080, Medium is the clear sweet spot, producing an average of 173 FPS with a minimum of 147 FPS. This represents a 60% improvement over the High preset's 108 FPS average, and the 147 FPS floor ensures the experience remains exceptionally smooth on high-refresh-rate monitors. While Low pushes the average to 216 FPS, the visual compromise is generally unnecessary given that Medium already provides a substantial margin over display refresh rates.

For those with 4K displays, the situation changes. The High preset at 3840x2160 averages 49 FPS, which is below the ideal 60 FPS target but still playable for a puzzle-platformer where precise timing is less critical. The Medium preset at this resolution performs better, averaging 78 FPS, but the visual quality drop from High is noticeable. Given the game's slower pacing, High at 4K might be acceptable, but Medium offers a more consistent experience without the need to tolerate frame rates in the 40s.

The Ultra preset is difficult to recommend across all resolutions. At 1080p, it only manages 103 FPS, which is marginally lower than High's 108 FPS, and the visual uplift is minimal for such a significant performance cost. At 1440p, Ultra drops to 74 FPS, and at 4K, it falls to 47 FPS. The data suggests that High provides nearly all the visual benefits of Ultra while maintaining substantially higher frame rates, making Ultra a poor choice for this hardware combination.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific configuration sits at rank 3166 out of 3716 tested combos for Inside, placing it in the lower half of all possible pairings. This ranking reflects the GTX 1660 SUPER's position as a mid-range card—it holds the 53rd percentile among all GPUs—while the 5800XT is a much stronger component, ranking in the 81st percentile among CPUs. The imbalance is evident in the frame rate data, where the CPU's capabilities are rarely the limiting factor.

When comparing the GPU to its nearest rivals, the GTX 1660 SUPER's average benchmark score of 12986 is nearly identical to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile at 12940 (0.4% higher) and the AMD Radeon RX 580 at 12928 (0.4% higher). It also trails the NVIDIA Tesla M2090 by only 0.7% and leads the AMD Radeon 740M by 0.9%. This grouping suggests the 1660 SUPER is squarely in the middle of its performance class, and the combo's overall rank is likely dragged down by the GPU rather than elevated by the CPU.

The CPU side shows a similar story of tight competition. The 5800XT's average benchmark score of 29879 is essentially tied with the AMD Ryzen 7 7840H at 29868 (0% delta) and the AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS at 29955 (-0.3%). It also edges out the AMD Ryzen 5 9600X by 0.6%. These near-identical scores confirm that the 5800XT is a strong performer for its generation, but in the context of Inside, the game's modest CPU demands mean this strength does not translate into a higher combo ranking.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Inside at 4K with playable frame rates?

A: Yes, but only at Low or Medium settings. At 3840x2160, Low averages 98 FPS and Medium averages 78 FPS, while High and Ultra drop to 49 and 47 FPS respectively. For a consistently smooth experience, Medium is the highest preset that reliably stays above 60 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this game?

A: The GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 216 FPS, but at 4K Low it drops to 98 FPS, showing the GTX 1660 SUPER's limits. The Ryzen 7 5800XT, with its 8 cores and 16 threads, appears more than sufficient for Inside's demands, as frame rates scale primarily with resolution rather than CPU load.

Q: What is the best preset for 1080p gaming?

A: The Medium preset is recommended, providing 173 FPS average with a 147 FPS minimum. This is 65 FPS higher than the High preset's average and only 43 FPS lower than Low, making it the best balance of visual quality and performance for 1080p displays.

Q: How does the GTX 1660 SUPER compare to its closest rivals?

A: Its average benchmark score of 12986 is essentially identical to the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile (12940) and RX 580 (12928). It is slightly slower than the Tesla M2090 (13075) and slightly faster than the Radeon 740M (12870), placing it in the middle of its immediate performance class.

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

A: The performance cost is substantial. At 1080p, Ultra averages 103 FPS versus High's 108 FPS, a difference of only 5 FPS. At 1440p, the gap widens to 4 FPS (74 vs 78), and at 4K it is just 2 FPS (47 vs 49). The visual improvements are minimal for this cost, making Ultra a poor choice.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the frame rates are consistently high across all presets. Low leads with 216 FPS average, followed by Medium at 173 FPS (with a minimum of 147 and maximum of 199), High at 108 FPS, and Ultra at 103 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is substantial (43 FPS), but the gap between High and Ultra is negligible at just 5 FPS, indicating that Ultra offers little benefit over High.

At 2560x1440, the same pattern holds with lower absolute numbers. Low achieves 156 FPS, Medium drops to 125 FPS (minimum 106, maximum 143), High comes in at 78 FPS, and Ultra falls to 74 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 106 FPS is still well above the 60 FPS threshold, making it a solid choice for 1440p gaming. The High to Ultra delta remains small at 4 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the performance ceiling becomes apparent. Low produces 98 FPS, Medium drops to 78 FPS (minimum 66, maximum 90), High falls to 49 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 47 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 66 FPS is the only high-detail option that stays above 60 FPS, while both High and Ultra dip below the ideal threshold. The difference between High and Ultra is just 2 FPS, reinforcing the conclusion that Ultra is not worth the performance cost.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K reveals the GTX 1660 SUPER as the limiting component. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 216 at 1080p to 156 at 1440p (a 28% reduction) and then to 98 at 4K (a 55% reduction from 1080p). This scaling is consistent with a GPU-bound scenario, where the number of pixels directly impacts the rendering load.

At Medium settings, the scaling is similar: 173 FPS at 1080p drops to 125 FPS at 1440p (28% lower) and then to 78 FPS at 4K (55% lower). The High preset shows a steeper decline: 108 FPS at 1080p to 78 FPS at 1440p (28% lower) and then to 49 FPS at 4K (55% lower). The consistent ~28% and ~55% reductions across all presets indicate that resolution is the dominant factor, with the GPU's pixel throughput being the bottleneck.

The CPU's role in this scaling is minimal, as the Ryzen 7 5800XT's 8 cores and 16 threads are more than capable of feeding the GPU at all resolutions. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect to see smaller performance drops at higher resolutions, but the data shows a clear linear relationship between pixel count and frame rate. This confirms that the GTX 1660 SUPER's 6 GB of VRAM and 192-bit memory bus are the key constraints at 4K, particularly at high settings where the 49 FPS average suggests the GPU is fully saturated.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT is a Zen 3 (Vermeer) chip with 8 cores and 16 threads, running at a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 4.80 GHz. Its 32 MB of shared L3 cache and 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth provide ample headroom for a game like Inside, which is not known for heavy multi-threaded workloads. The CPU's benchmark scores reinforce this: it achieves 23794 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 3359 in single-core, placing it in the 81st percentile of all CPUs.

In the context of Inside, the CPU's performance is more than sufficient. The frame rate data shows no signs of CPU limitation, as the combo can reach 216 FPS at 1080p Low, which is far beyond the game's typical requirements. Even at 4K, where the GPU drops to 47 FPS on Ultra, the CPU is still not the bottleneck—the issue is the GTX 1660 SUPER's raw pixel throughput. The CPU's 8 cores are likely underutilized in this title, but their presence ensures consistent frame pacing and prevents any potential dips during complex physics or AI calculations.

Comparing the 5800XT to its nearest rivals, its average benchmark score of 29879 is essentially tied with the Ryzen 7 7840H (29868) and slightly behind the Ryzen 7 8845HS (29955). These differences are within 0.3%, meaning that for Inside, any of these CPUs would deliver virtually identical performance. The 5800XT's advantage lies in its high single-thread performance (3359 in Cinebench R23), which is typical for the Zen 3 architecture and beneficial for games that rely on a few fast cores rather than many slower ones.