Inside

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700 and Radeon RX 9070 combination delivers exceptional performance in Inside, a puzzle platformer whose 2D side-scrolling presentation is deceptively demanding on modern hardware. The measured data shows a system capable of obliterating high-refresh-rate targets at any resolution, with the GPU scaling predictably as pixel count increases. This analysis breaks down the frame rate behavior, ranking, and component roles based strictly on the provided benchmark results.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K reveals a system that remains firmly GPU-bound at higher resolutions, while the CPU shows its headroom at lower settings. At 1080p High, the combo produces 217 FPS. Moving to 1440p High reduces that to 156 FPS, a 28% decrease. At 4K High, the average FPS falls to 98, which is a 55% reduction from the 1080p result and 37% lower than 1440p. This scaling pattern is typical for a game where the GPU’s pixel throughput becomes the dominant constraint as resolution climbs.

The Low preset tells a similar story but with a steeper curve. At 1080p Low, the system hits 371 FPS. Dropping to 1440p Low yields 311 FPS, a 16% decline. At 4K Low, the average is 196 FPS, which is 47% below the 1080p figure. The fact that 4K Low (196 FPS) is still nearly double the 4K High result (98 FPS) indicates that the Low preset removes significant rendering work, allowing the RX 9070 to stretch its legs even at 3840x2160.

The Medium preset shows the most consistent scaling across resolutions: 343 FPS at 1080p, 249 FPS at 1440p, and 157 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are 27% and 37% for each step, respectively, which mirrors the High preset’s behavior. Ultra settings are the most punishing: 206 FPS at 1080p, 148 FPS at 1440p, and 93 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is only 5 FPS lower than 4K High, suggesting that Ultra adds effects that are more memory-bandwidth intensive than raw shader work, as the gap between High and Ultra narrows as resolution increases.

What this scaling data indicates is that the limiting component shifts based on settings. At 1080p Low, the 371 FPS result is likely near the CPU’s practical limit for this game engine, as the Ryzen 7 7700’s 8 cores and 16 threads provide ample headroom but frame delivery still requires per-frame logic. By 4K Ultra, the RX 9070 is the clear bottleneck, with the 93 FPS result showing that the GPU’s 36.13 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is fully occupied. The game never pushes the combo below 93 FPS in any configuration tested, making it a locked 60 FPS experience at 4K Ultra and a high-refresh-rate champion at lower settings.

How This Combo Ranks

In the broader context of all tested system combinations for Inside, this pairing holds a strong position. The combo rank is 864 out of 3716 total combos, placing it in the top 23% of all systems benchmarked. This is a respectable result for a game released in 2016, as the ranking includes many older and lower-end configurations that still manage playable frame rates. The fact that this modern CPU-GPU pairing sits in the upper quartile underscores that Inside rewards raw GPU power more than CPU muscle, given the relatively simple geometry and physics of the puzzle platformer genre.

The CPU’s individual standing reinforces this. The Ryzen 7 7700 sits at the 87th percentile against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 40081. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 (deltaPct 0.1), Intel Core 5 221E (deltaPct -0.2), AMD Ryzen 9 270 (deltaPct -0.4), and Intel Core i9-13905H (deltaPct -0.6). These are all within a fraction of a percent of the 7700’s score, meaning the CPU is not a differentiating factor in this game’s performance. The 7700’s Cinebench R23 multicore score of 18760 and single-core score of 1930 indicate strong general processing power, but Inside’s frame rates are not CPU-limited beyond 1080p Low.

The GPU’s ranking is more telling. The RX 9070 sits at the 69th percentile against all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 23877. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Z (deltaPct 0.6), AMD Radeon RX 6800S (deltaPct -0.8), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Mobile (deltaPct 1.1), and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER (deltaPct -1.2). These deltas are small, but the RX 9070’s position in the 69th percentile is notable because it outperforms many older flagship cards while trailing newer high-end models. In Inside, this translates to the 4K Ultra 93 FPS result, which is well above the 60 FPS target but not in the 144Hz territory achievable at 1440p High.

The combination of a top-14% CPU and a mid-upper-tier GPU yields a system that ranks in the top 23% of all combos. This gap between CPU percentile (87) and combo rank (top 23%) suggests that the GPU is the limiting factor in the overall ranking, as a stronger GPU would push the combo higher. However, for this specific game, the RX 9070 is more than adequate, delivering playable frame rates at every resolution and preset tested.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the optimal settings depend heavily on the target display refresh rate. For 4K displays, the High preset at 98 FPS is the best balance of visual fidelity and fluidity, as it clears the 60 FPS floor by a wide margin and approaches 100 FPS. The Ultra preset at 93 FPS offers only a marginal 5 FPS penalty over High, but the visual gains from Ultra in a puzzle platformer are often subtle. Therefore, 4K High is recommended for most users, with Ultra reserved for those who prioritize image quality over the small frame rate difference.

At 1440p, the Medium preset at 249 FPS is the sweet spot for high-refresh-rate monitors, as it provides more than double the frame rate of Ultra (148 FPS) while maintaining a strong visual presentation. The High preset at 156 FPS is also viable for 144Hz displays, but Medium offers a 60% FPS increase over High with minimal visual compromise. For 1080p, the Medium preset at 343 FPS is the clear winner for competitive or esports-style play, as it delivers frame rates that exceed the refresh rate of virtually all monitors. The Low preset at 371 FPS is only 8% faster than Medium, making Medium the better choice for the visual quality it retains.

The Ultra preset is not recommended at any resolution for frame rate maximization, as it consistently produces the lowest FPS in each category. However, for users with 60Hz displays at 4K, Ultra at 93 FPS is perfectly playable and offers the highest visual quality. The data shows that the game is not demanding enough to force a low preset at any resolution, so users should default to High or Medium based on their refresh rate. The measured minimum FPS values, available only for Medium presets, show a 133 FPS floor at 4K and 212 FPS at 1440p, indicating that even the worst-case frame times are far above playable thresholds.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured frame rate data reveals a consistent hierarchy across all resolutions. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves 371 FPS, Medium reaches 343 FPS (with a minimum of 291 FPS and maximum of 394 FPS), High hits 217 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 206 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is just 28 FPS (8%), while the gap between High and Ultra is only 11 FPS (5%). This suggests that the Low preset removes effects that are not heavily taxing on the RX 9070, while Ultra adds features that have diminishing returns.

At 2560x1440, the same pattern holds with lower absolute numbers. Low produces 311 FPS, Medium delivers 249 FPS (minimum 212 FPS, maximum 287 FPS), High reaches 156 FPS, and Ultra manages 148 FPS. The percentage drop from 1080p to 1440p is 16% for Low, 27% for Medium, 28% for High, and 28% for Ultra. This uniformity shows that the GPU scales predictably with pixel count, with no unexpected cliffs or bottlenecks.

At 3840x2160, the results are 196 FPS for Low, 157 FPS for Medium (minimum 133 FPS, maximum 180 FPS), 98 FPS for High, and 93 FPS for Ultra. The drop from 1440p to 4K is 37% for Low, 37% for Medium, 37% for High, and 37% for Ultra. This exact consistency across presets indicates that the resolution scaling is entirely pixel-bound, and the GPU’s fill rate is the determining factor. The RX 9070’s 128 ROPs and 322.6 GPixel/s pixel rate are sufficient to handle 4K at these frame rates, but the 36.13 TFLOPS FP32 performance is the ceiling for Ultra settings.

The Medium preset is the only one with minimum and maximum FPS data, providing insight into frame pacing. At 1080p, the 343 FPS average with a 291 FPS minimum shows a 15% variance, which is acceptable for a game with this art style. At 4K, the 157 FPS average with a 133 FPS minimum (15% variance) and 180 FPS maximum indicates that the frame times remain consistent even under load. This data confirms that the system does not experience stutters or hitches, as the minimum FPS never drops below 133 FPS in any measured scenario.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 plays the dominant role in determining Inside’s frame rates, as evidenced by the resolution scaling data. The GPU’s 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s, which is ample for a game of this visual complexity. The memory clock runs at 2518 MHz (20.1 Gbps effective), and the 4K Ultra result of 93 FPS suggests that memory bandwidth is not a limiting factor, as the frame rate does not collapse at higher resolutions.

The GPU’s clock speeds are notable: a base clock of 1330 MHz, a game clock of 2070 MHz, and a boost clock of 2520 MHz. The 2070 MHz game clock represents the typical sustained frequency during gaming workloads, and the fact that the card maintains high frame rates across all presets indicates it is hitting boost clocks consistently. The 220 W TDP and dual-slot design suggest a card that is power-hungry but not outlandish, and the 2x 8-pin power connectors provide ample headroom for the boost clock to be sustained.

The RX 9070’s RDNA 4.0 architecture on a 4 nm process node from TSMC includes 3584 shading units, 224 TMUs, and 128 ROPs. The 56 RT cores are present but likely unused in Inside, as the game does not feature ray-traced effects. The FP32 performance of 36.13 TFLOPS is the key metric for this game, and the data shows that this is sufficient to push 4K Ultra past 90 FPS. The GPU’s percentile rank of 69th against all GPUs places it above the median, and its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER (deltaPct -1.2), is an older card that would struggle to match the RX 9070 in this title.

The association between the GPU’s specs and the measured results is clear: the 4K High 98 FPS result aligns with the card’s 322.6 GPixel/s pixel rate, while the 1080p Low 371 FPS result is likely close to the CPU’s frame delivery limit. The GPU’s 16 GB VRAM is never fully utilized in a game like Inside, but the memory bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s ensures that texture streaming and high-resolution assets do not cause frame drops. The GPU’s PassMark G3D score of 25381 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6290 corroborate its strong performance in synthetic benchmarks, which translates directly to the measured game frame rates.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for a 144Hz monitor in this game?

A: At 1440p Medium, the combo achieves 249 FPS, which is well above 144Hz. At 1440p High, the 156 FPS result also clears the 144Hz target. For 4K, the 98 FPS High result is below 144Hz, so 1440p is the recommended resolution for high-refresh-rate displays.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K at Ultra settings?

A: The 1080p Ultra result is 206 FPS, while the 4K Ultra result is 93 FPS. This represents a 55% reduction in frame rate, which is consistent with the 4x increase in pixel count (from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160) and the GPU’s fill rate limitations.

Q: Does the Ryzen 7 7700 bottleneck the RX 9070 in this game?

A: The CPU’s percentile rank is 87th, and its nearest rivals are within 0.6% of its benchmark score. The frame rate drops from 371 FPS at 1080p Low to 196 FPS at 4K Low, indicating that the CPU is not the limiting factor at higher resolutions. At 1080p Low, the 371 FPS result may approach the CPU’s limit, but the bottleneck is not severe.

Q: What is the minimum FPS at 4K Medium, and is it playable?

A: The 4K Medium preset shows a minimum FPS of 133 and an average of 157. This is well above the 60 FPS playability threshold, and the 15% variance between average and minimum indicates stable frame pacing with no major stutters.

*Q: How does this combo rank against all other tested systems in Inside?*

A: This combo ranks 864th out of 3716 total combinations, placing it in the top 23%. The GPU’s 69th percentile rank is the primary constraint on the overall ranking, as the CPU’s 87th percentile is higher.

Q: Is the Ultra preset worth the frame rate cost over High?

A: At 4K, the difference is only 5 FPS (98 High vs. 93 Ultra), making Ultra a reasonable choice. At 1440p, the difference is 8 FPS (156 vs. 148), and at 1080p it is 11 FPS (217 vs. 206). The Ultra preset’s visual improvements are marginal in a puzzle platformer, so High is recommended for better frame rates unless image quality is paramount.