Inside

Inside is a puzzle platformer that places almost all of its visual burden on the GPU, and the measured data for the AMD Ryzen 7 7700 + AMD Radeon RX 6600 combination confirms this. The game’s simple geometry and lack of complex physics mean that the processor, while powerful, is rarely the bottleneck. Instead, the frame rate is dictated almost entirely by the Radeon RX 6600’s ability to push pixels across the four tested presets. The results show a predictable scaling pattern from 1080p to 4K, with the GPU’s memory bandwidth and compute resources becoming increasingly strained at higher resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is sharp and consistent, revealing that Inside is heavily GPU-bound on this system. At 1080p, the card delivers 257 FPS on Low settings, which is an incredibly high ceiling for a puzzle platformer. Moving to 1440p, that figure drops to 185 FPS, a 28% reduction. At 4K, the Low preset still manages 116 FPS, which is 55% lower than the 1080p result. This linear scaling pattern indicates that the GPU’s pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth are the primary constraints, not the CPU.

The High preset shows a similar trajectory. At 1080p, the average is 129 FPS. At 1440p, it falls to 92 FPS, a 29% decrease. At 4K, the average drops to 58 FPS, which is 55% lower than the 1080p figure. The consistency of these percentages across presets suggests that the game’s rendering workload scales directly with resolution, and the RX 6600’s 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory bus are not causing any unexpected cliff at any point. The 4K High result of 58 FPS is playable but borders on the edge of what is typically considered smooth.

The gap between Low and Ultra at each resolution is also telling. At 1080p, the difference is 135 FPS (257 vs 122). At 1440p, the gap narrows to 97 FPS (185 vs 88). At 4K, the spread is just 61 FPS (116 vs 55). This compression at higher resolutions shows that the GPU is becoming saturated with raw pixel work, leaving less headroom for the visual enhancements that differentiate the presets. The data suggests that the limiting component is the GPU’s shader throughput, not the CPU or memory subsystem.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 1080p on the Ultra preset?

A: The AMD Ryzen 7 7700 + AMD Radeon RX 6600 combination delivers an average of 122 FPS at 1920x1080 with the Ultra preset. This is the lowest result at that resolution, but it remains comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

Q: Can this system achieve 60 FPS at 4K?

A: Yes, at 4K with the High preset, the average frame rate is 58 FPS, which is just below 60. However, the Medium preset at 4K averages 93 FPS, and the Low preset averages 116 FPS, so there are multiple options for exceeding 60 FPS at that resolution.

Q: How does the RX 6600 compare to its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Radeon RX 6600 has an average benchmark score of 19036. Its closest rival, the NVIDIA Quadro K6000, scores 19030, which is a 0% delta. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Mobile scores 19049, a -0.1% difference, placing the RX 6600 effectively at parity with these cards.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Medium settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 185 FPS, while the Medium preset averages 148 FPS. This represents a 37 FPS drop, or roughly a 20% reduction in frame rate, for the visual upgrade that the Medium preset provides.

Q: Is the Ryzen 7 7700 a bottleneck in this game?

A: The data suggests it is not. The processor scores 18760 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 1930 in single-core, placing it in the 87th percentile of all CPUs. Given that the frame rates scale so consistently with resolution, the GPU is the clear limiting factor in Inside.

Q: What is the best preset for a 60 Hz display at 4K?

A: The Medium preset at 3840x2160 averages 93 FPS, with a minimum of 79 FPS. This provides a substantial safety margin above 60 FPS, making it the ideal choice for a 4K display with a 60 Hz refresh rate, as even the minimum frame rate stays well above the refresh cap.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 is the dominant component in this benchmark, and its specifications directly explain the measured results. The GPU is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with 1792 shading units, 112 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operation units. These are modest numbers for a modern card, but they are more than sufficient for a game like Inside, which does not feature heavy post-processing or complex particle effects. The boost clock of 2491 MHz and game clock of 2044 MHz are relatively high, which helps the card maintain strong performance at lower resolutions where shader clock speed matters more.

The 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This is a moderate figure, and the data shows it is adequate for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but it becomes a limiting factor at 4K. The 4K Ultra preset averages 55 FPS, which is the lowest result in the entire dataset. This is likely due to the card’s pixel rate of 159.4 GPixel/s and texture rate of 279.0 GTexel/s being taxed by the higher resolution. The GPU’s FP32 performance of 8.928 TFLOPS is respectable, but it is not enough to maintain high frame rates at 4K with the most demanding settings.

In synthetic benchmarks, the RX 6600 scores 15096 in Passmark G3D and 6554 in GPU compute. It sits in the 63rd percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 19036. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA Quadro K6000, scores 19030, showing a 0% delta. This places the card in a performance tier that is competitive with older professional-grade hardware, but it is clearly a mid-range consumer part. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1492 reflects its DirectX 12 Ultimate capabilities, which are fully supported by Inside’s rendering engine.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the RX 6600 delivers exceptional performance across all presets. The Low preset averages 257 FPS, which is the highest recorded figure in the dataset. The Medium preset averages 206 FPS, with a minimum of 175 FPS and a maximum of 237 FPS, showing excellent frame pacing. The High preset averages 129 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 122 FPS. The spread of 135 FPS between Low and Ultra demonstrates that the GPU has ample headroom at this resolution, making it ideal for high-refresh-rate gaming.

At 2560x1440, the performance remains strong but shows the expected decline. The Low preset averages 185 FPS, which is still well above the threshold for competitive play. The Medium preset averages 148 FPS, with a minimum of 126 FPS and a maximum of 170 FPS. The High preset averages 92 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 88 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra narrows to just 4 FPS, suggesting that the Ultra preset’s additional effects are not particularly demanding at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the card begins to struggle with the highest settings. The Low preset averages 116 FPS, which is still playable. The Medium preset averages 93 FPS, with a minimum of 79 FPS and a maximum of 107 FPS, providing a smooth experience. The High preset drops to 58 FPS, which is just below the 60 FPS standard. The Ultra preset averages 55 FPS, making it the only configuration that falls below playable thresholds for most users. The data shows a clear pattern: the Medium preset at 4K offers the best balance of visual quality and performance, as it stays well above 60 FPS on average.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700 is a high-end desktop processor with 8 cores and 16 threads, based on the Zen 4 architecture. Its base clock of 3.80 GHz and boost clock of 5.30 GHz provide substantial single-threaded performance, which is crucial for games that rely on a single main thread. The processor scores 1930 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 2525 in Geekbench single-core, indicating strong IPC that prevents any CPU-side bottlenecks. In the context of Inside, which is not a CPU-intensive game, the 7700 is effectively overkill.

The processor’s multi-threaded capabilities are equally impressive, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 18760 and a Passmark multithread score of 34470. This places the 7700 in the 87th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 40081. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen AI 9 365, scores 40048, a 0.1% delta, while the Intel Core 5 221E scores 40144, a -0.2% delta. This indicates that the 7700 is perfectly competitive with its peers, though none of this raw compute power is fully utilized by Inside.

The measured FPS data confirms that the CPU is not a limiting factor. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 135 FPS, which is a GPU-side scaling effect. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect the frame rates to plateau at a certain level regardless of resolution. Instead, the frame rates scale down consistently as resolution increases, proving that the GPU is the performance ceiling. The 7700’s 32 MB of shared L3 cache and DDR5 memory support provide ample bandwidth for feeding the GPU, but the game’s simple geometry means that this bandwidth is rarely stressed.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear hierarchy of presets for this hardware combination. For users with a 1080p display, the Ultra preset is the recommended choice. The average frame rate of 122 FPS is well above the 60 FPS standard, and the visual enhancements are worth the 7 FPS drop from the High preset. There is no reason to use a lower preset at this resolution, as even the most demanding settings leave significant headroom.

For 1440p displays, the Ultra preset remains viable, with an average of 88 FPS. However, the High preset at 92 FPS offers nearly identical performance with potentially better frame pacing. The data shows that the gap between High and Ultra is just 4 FPS, so the choice comes down to personal preference. Users who prioritize a higher frame rate on a 144 Hz display should consider the Medium preset, which averages 148 FPS and stays above 126 FPS even in the worst moments.

At 4K, the Medium preset is the clear winner. It averages 93 FPS, with a minimum of 79 FPS, which is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold. The High preset averages 58 FPS, which is just below the standard for smooth gameplay, while the Ultra preset averages 55 FPS, making it unsuitable for most users. The Low preset at 116 FPS is playable but sacrifices too much visual quality for the slight performance gain. The Medium preset offers the best balance of visual fidelity and performance at 4K, making it the recommended choice for this resolution.