Inside

Inside is a 2D puzzle-platformer from 2016, and the measured frame rates for the AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 show a title that is remarkably easy to drive at high refresh rates. The data indicates that this combination is rarely constrained by the hardware at standard settings, with performance scaling that reveals a clear shift from CPU-bound behavior at lower resolutions to a more balanced load as pixel count increases.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K follows a predictable pattern, but the magnitude of the drops is telling. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces an average of 323.3 FPS. Moving to 1440p drops that to 287.9 FPS, a reduction of roughly 11%. At 4K, the average falls to 199.6 FPS, which is a 38% drop from the 1080p figure. This relatively modest decline across an 8.5x increase in pixel count suggests that at lower resolutions, the system is not fully GPU-bound.

The High preset tells a similar story. At 1080p, the average is 218.9 FPS. At 1440p, it drops to 156.7 FPS, a 28% decrease. At 4K, the average is 97.8 FPS, which is a 55% drop from the 1080p result. The steeper percentage decline at High settings compared to Low indicates that the GPU begins to take on more responsibility as the preset increases visual complexity, but even the 4K High result remains well above 60 FPS.

Ultra settings show the largest absolute gap between resolutions. The 1080p average is 207.6 FPS, while 1440p yields 149.1 FPS and 4K produces 98 FPS. The difference between 1080p and 4K here is 109.6 FPS, a 53% reduction. This pattern suggests that the RTX 3080’s 10 GB of GDDR6X memory and 760.3 GB/s of bandwidth are sufficient to handle the game’s texture and shader demands at 4K without a catastrophic bottleneck, as the frame rates remain playable throughout.

The limiting component shifts with resolution. At 1080p, the delta between Low and Ultra is 115.7 FPS, indicating that the CPU’s single-thread performance is a factor, as the Ryzen 7 5800XT’s 3.80 GHz base clock and 4.80 GHz boost clock drive the game’s logic. At 4K, the delta between Low and Ultra narrows to 101.6 FPS, showing that the GPU’s fill rate and shader throughput are increasingly the deciding factors. Benchmark results indicate that this system is never truly strained by Inside, even at the highest resolution tested.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT is an 8-core, 16-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture, with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 4.80 GHz. For a game like Inside, which is a side-scrolling puzzle title rather than a large-scale simulation, the thread count is less relevant than the per-core speed. The CPU’s single-thread benchmark scores support this: it achieves 959 in 3dmark_single_thread and 3359 in cinebench_cinebench_r23_singlecore. These numbers place it in the 86th percentile of all CPUs, indicating strong performance for lightly threaded workloads.

The game’s frame rates at 1080p Low (323.3 FPS) versus 1080p Ultra (207.6 FPS) show a 115.7 FPS spread, which is substantial. This gap is likely not due to the GPU at 1080p, as the RTX 3080 has ample headroom at that resolution. Instead, the CPU’s ability to feed draw calls and physics updates becomes the limiting factor. The Ryzen 7 5800XT’s 32 MB of L3 cache and 51.2 GB/s of dual-channel DDR4 memory bandwidth provide sufficient data throughput for the game’s relatively simple scenes.

Compared to its nearest rivals, the Ryzen 7 5800XT is effectively tied in average benchmark score. It sits 0.1% above the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755GE and 0.3% above the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 360, while trailing the AMD Ryzen 7 6800HS and AMD Ryzen 7 7840H by 0.3%. This means the CPU is squarely in the middle of its performance class, and any differences in Inside’s frame rates would be minimal across these chips. The data shows that the processor is not the primary constraint at 1440p or 4K, where the GPU takes over, but it does set the ceiling at 1080p with lower presets.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 is a high-end Ampere architecture GPU with 8704 shading units, 272 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output units. Its 10 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 320-bit bus provides 760.3 GB/s of bandwidth, which is more than adequate for Inside’s art style. The GPU’s base clock is 1440 MHz with a boost clock of 1710 MHz, and it delivers 29.77 TFLOPS of FP32 compute. This hardware is overkill for a 2D game, and the measured results confirm that.

At 4K Ultra, the average frame rate is 98 FPS, which is only 5.7% lower than the 4K High result of 97.8 FPS—wait, that is not correct. The 4K Ultra average is 98 FPS, which is essentially identical to the 4K High average of 97.8 FPS. The difference is a mere 0.2 FPS, within measurement noise. This suggests that the Ultra preset does not add a significant load on the GPU’s pixel processing, and the RTX 3080’s 164.2 GPixel/s pixel rate is not being challenged.

The GPU’s memory configuration is also a non-issue. The 10 GB capacity is not a limiting factor for a game of this visual complexity, as the texture sizes are modest. The 760.3 GB/s bandwidth ensures that any memory transfers are handled without stutter. The GPU’s 80th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 35787, places it just below the AMD Radeon Pro Duo (by 0.2%) and above the AMD Radeon 880M (by 0.4%). The RTX 3080 is clearly a capable part for this title, but the data indicates it is rarely the bottleneck, even at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Ryzen 7 5800XT and RTX 3080 ranks 472nd out of 1671 tested combos for Inside. This places it in the top 28% of all systems tested, which is a strong showing for a game that is not particularly demanding. The rank reflects the system’s ability to maintain high frame rates across all resolutions, but it is not near the top because many newer or more exotic combinations can push even higher averages at 1080p.

The rank is more indicative of the 1080p performance, where the CPU’s 86th percentile score allows for frame rates above 300 FPS on Low settings. At 4K, the system falls to around 98 FPS on Ultra, which is still excellent but not record-breaking. The combo’s position in the middle of the pack suggests that while this hardware is well-matched for Inside, there are systems with faster single-threaded CPUs or newer GPUs that can achieve higher absolute scores. However, the delta between this combo and the top-ranked systems is likely small in practical terms, as the game is already running at multiples of typical display refresh rates.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear picture of which preset offers the best experience. At 1080p, the Low preset yields 323.3 FPS, Medium produces 301 FPS, High gives 218.9 FPS, and Ultra delivers 207.6 FPS. The difference between Medium and High is 82.1 FPS, which is significant, but the jump from High to Ultra is only 11.3 FPS. For players with a 144 Hz or 240 Hz monitor, the High preset at 1080p is the sweet spot, offering a 218.9 FPS average that exceeds all common refresh rates while providing better visual fidelity than Medium.

At 1440p, the High preset averages 156.7 FPS, which is still above 144 Hz. The Ultra preset drops to 149.1 FPS, which remains playable but offers no meaningful visual advantage over High, given the 7.6 FPS difference. The Medium preset at 253.3 FPS is unnecessary for most displays. For 4K, the High preset at 97.8 FPS is the recommended choice, as it is nearly identical to Ultra’s 98 FPS but with potentially lower GPU load. The Low preset at 4K (199.6 FPS) is only useful for extreme refresh rate displays, which are rare at that resolution.

The data shows that High settings across all resolutions provide the best balance of frame rate and visual quality. The Ultra preset is not worth the performance cost, as it offers no measurable benefit in this game. The Medium preset is a fallback for those seeking maximum frame rates, but High is the clear recommendation for a smooth experience.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 1080p with High settings?

A: The average frame rate is 218.9 FPS, which is well above any standard display refresh rate.

Q: How does the 4K Ultra performance compare to 4K High?

A: The 4K Ultra average is 98 FPS, while 4K High is 97.8 FPS. The difference is only 0.2 FPS, indicating Ultra offers no practical benefit.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1440p?

A: At 1440p, the GPU begins to assert itself, as the frame rate drops from 287.9 FPS on Low to 149.1 FPS on Ultra. The CPU’s 16 threads are not fully utilized, but its single-thread speed sets the upper bound.

Q: What is the combo’s rank among all tested systems for Inside?

A: It ranks 472nd out of 1671 combinations, placing it in the top 28% of tested hardware pairings.

Q: Is the RTX 3080’s 10 GB VRAM sufficient for this game?

A: Yes, the 10 GB of GDDR6X memory is not a limiting factor, as the game’s textures and effects do not consume that capacity, even at 4K.

Q: Which settings preset provides the best experience at 4K?

A: High settings, with an average of 97.8 FPS, is the best choice. It matches Ultra’s performance while potentially reducing GPU load.