Inside

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 combination delivers extreme performance in Inside, a 2016 Puzzle Platformer. The measured data shows this pairing is heavily overqualified for the title, producing frame rates that far exceed display refresh rates at every tested setting. The analysis below interprets the benchmark results, focusing on how the system scales across resolutions and what the numbers reveal about the balance between the CPU and GPU.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data reveals a classic pattern of scaling from 1080p to 4K, but with an unusual twist: the performance drop-off is much steeper than typical for modern titles, yet the absolute numbers remain staggeringly high. At 1080p High settings, the system produces 286 FPS. Moving to 1440p High reduces this to 211 FPS, a 26% decrease. Stepping up to 4K High yields 133 FPS, which is a 37% drop from 1440p and a 53% drop from 1080p. This scaling indicates that the GPU is becoming the limiting factor as resolution increases, which is expected for a game with relatively simple geometry.

Comparing Low settings shows an even more dramatic scaling curve. At 1080p Low, the system hits 371 FPS. At 1440p Low, it produces 333 FPS (a 10% decrease), and at 4K Low, it falls to 265 FPS (a 20% decrease from 1440p and a 29% decrease from 1080p). The smaller percentage drops at lower settings suggest that the CPU is more heavily involved at 1080p, but the sheer speed of the Ryzen 7 7700 keeps the frame rate extremely high. The data implies that even at 4K Low, the CPU is still feeding the GPU enough data to maintain over 250 FPS.

The Ultra settings tell a different story about the game's optimization. At 1080p Ultra, the system scores 280 FPS, which is only 2% lower than High settings. At 1440p Ultra, it drops to 201 FPS (a 5% decrease from High), and at 4K Ultra, it falls to 126 FPS (a 5% decrease from High). This relatively flat scaling between High and Ultra suggests that the Ultra preset adds visual effects that tax the GPU more than the CPU, but the impact is minimal because the game is not particularly demanding.

The most revealing data point is the Medium preset at 4K, which shows a minimum FPS of 181 and a maximum of 244, with an average of 212. This wide variance suggests that the game has moments of intense graphical complexity that cause frame time spikes, even on such a powerful GPU. The fact that the 4K High average is 133 FPS but the 4K Medium average is 212 FPS indicates that the High preset includes a specific effect that disproportionately impacts performance at higher resolutions.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 1440p with High settings?

A: The measured average FPS at 2560x1440 with High settings is 211 FPS.

Q: How does the 4K Ultra performance compare to 1080p Ultra?

A: At 4K Ultra, the system produces 126 FPS, whereas at 1080p Ultra, it achieves 280 FPS. This represents a 55% decrease in frame rate when moving from 1080p to 4K at the highest preset.

Q: Is the frame rate at 1080p Low limited by the CPU or GPU?

A: The 1080p Low result of 371 FPS is exceptionally high, but the data suggests the CPU is the limiting factor at this resolution and setting combination. The Ryzen 7 7700's single-thread performance of 1049 in 3dmark_single_thread and 1930 in cinebench_r23_singlecore likely caps the frame rate, as the GPU is nowhere near its maximum throughput at this low resolution.

Q: What is the difference between High and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: The High preset at 1440p yields 211 FPS, while the Ultra preset yields 201 FPS. The 10 FPS difference indicates that Ultra adds a modest amount of graphical load, but the performance penalty is relatively small compared to the gap between Medium and High.

Q: Does the game show consistent frame times at 4K Medium?

A: The data shows a minimum FPS of 181, a maximum of 244, and an average of 212 at 4K Medium. This 63 FPS spread between minimum and maximum indicates noticeable frame time variance, suggesting that some scenes are significantly more demanding than others.

*Q: How does this combo rank among all tested systems for Inside?*

A: The combo ranks 231 out of 3716 tested combinations, placing it in the top 6.2% of all systems tested for this game.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is a massive contributor to the frame rates observed in Inside. With 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, the GPU has a memory bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s, which is far more than this game requires. The 4K High result of 133 FPS demonstrates that the GPU is not running out of memory bandwidth or capacity, as the game's textures and effects are easily handled by the available VRAM.

The GPU's clock speeds are relevant here. The base clock of 2205 MHz and boost clock of 2505 MHz allow the RTX 4080 to maintain high utilization even at lower resolutions where the CPU might be the bottleneck. The Ada Lovelace architecture, built on a 5 nm process, provides substantial raw compute power, as evidenced by the 48.74 TFLOPS FP32 performance and the 3dmark_steel_nomad_dx12 score of 6567. This compute headroom is why the GPU can push 371 FPS at 1080p Low without breaking a sweat.

The data suggests that the RTX 4080 is being held back by the CPU in Inside at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the GPU is likely idle for significant portions of each frame, waiting for the CPU to submit draw calls. The Ryzen 7 7700's 8 cores and 16 threads are more than sufficient for this game, but the single-thread performance of 1049 in 3dmark_single_thread becomes the constraint when targeting extreme frame rates. The GPU's passmark_g3d score of 34457 and passmark_directx_12 score of 132 indicate that it is capable of much higher throughput than the game demands.

The RTX 4080's 76 RT cores and 304 tensor cores are largely irrelevant for Inside, as the game does not utilize ray tracing or DLSS. The 112 ROPs and 304 TMUs, however, are likely well-utilized for the pixel and texture processing required by the game's art style. The GPU's pixel rate of 280.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 761.5 GTexel/s are far above what is needed for this title, confirming that the GPU is not the bottleneck in most scenarios.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 231 out of 3716 tested systems places this configuration in the top 6.2% of all combinations tested for Inside. This is a strong showing, but it is not the absolute top tier, which suggests that there are systems with even more extreme performance. The fact that this combo is not ranked higher is likely due to the CPU's relative position among all processors. The Ryzen 7 7700 has a percentile rank of 87 among all CPUs, meaning it is faster than 87% of tested processors, but there are still 13% of CPUs that are faster.

The GPU's percentile rank of 86 among all GPUs is similar, placing it above 86% of tested graphics cards. When combined, these two components create a system that is faster than roughly 94% of all tested combos for this game. The gap between the GPU's percentile and the combo's percentile indicates that the CPU is slightly more of a limiting factor than the GPU in this specific title. If the CPU were faster, the combo rank would likely be higher, especially at 1080p where the CPU is more involved.

The nearest rivals for the CPU include the AMD Ryzen AI 9 365, which has an average score of 40048 (0.1% higher than the 7700), and the Intel Core 5 221E, which scores 40144 (0.2% higher). These small deltas suggest that the 7700 is positioned in a tightly contested segment of the CPU market. The GPU's nearest rival is the RTX 4080 SUPER, which scores 54209 (0.1% higher), indicating that the 4080 is extremely close in performance to its SUPER variant. The data implies that this combo is at the edge of a performance tier, and a modest CPU upgrade could push it into a higher rank bracket.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance on which settings preset offers the best experience for this hardware. At 4K, the Medium preset delivers an average of 212 FPS with a minimum of 181 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The High preset at 4K drops to 133 FPS, which is still excellent, but the 79 FPS difference between Medium and High is substantial. The Ultra preset at 4K yields 126 FPS, which is only 7 FPS lower than High, suggesting that the Ultra preset is not worth the extra load over High.

For players with 1440p displays, the Medium preset at 307 FPS is the sweet spot, as it provides a massive headroom above 144 Hz refresh rates. The High preset at 211 FPS is also excellent, and the difference between Medium and High is 96 FPS, which is noticeable on high-refresh monitors. The Ultra preset at 201 FPS is only 10 FPS lower than High, making it a viable choice for those who want maximum visual quality without sacrificing much performance.

At 1080p, the Medium preset at 343 FPS is the recommended choice for competitive play or use with extremely high refresh rate monitors (360 Hz or above). The Low preset at 371 FPS is only 28 FPS higher, so the visual quality improvement from Low to Medium is worth the minor performance cost. The High preset at 286 FPS is also excellent, but the Ultra preset at 280 FPS is only 6 FPS lower, meaning that players can enable Ultra without any practical downside at 1080p.

The best overall recommendation based on the data is to use the Medium preset at any resolution. The Medium settings provide the highest minimum FPS (181 at 4K) and a balanced average that leaves substantial headroom. The game's art style benefits from the Medium preset's effects, and the performance cost of moving to High is disproportionately high compared to the visual improvement.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system produces the following average frame rates: 371 FPS on Low, 343 FPS on Medium (with a minimum of 291 and a maximum of 394), 286 FPS on High, and 280 FPS on Ultra. The 91 FPS difference between Low and Ultra demonstrates that the graphical settings have a measurable impact, but even the lowest setting is far beyond what most displays can show.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages are: 333 FPS on Low, 307 FPS on Medium (minimum 261, maximum 353), 211 FPS on High, and 201 FPS on Ultra. The gap between Medium and High at 1440p is 96 FPS, which is the largest single-step drop in the entire data set. This suggests that the High preset enables a specific effect that is particularly taxing at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the averages are: 265 FPS on Low, 212 FPS on Medium (minimum 181, maximum 244), 133 FPS on High, and 126 FPS on Ultra. The 4K Medium to High drop of 79 FPS is the second-largest step, further confirming that the High preset is the most demanding setting tier. The 4K Ultra to High difference of only 7 FPS indicates that the Ultra preset adds minimal extra load over High.

The scaling from 1080p to 4K at each setting is consistent: Low drops by 106 FPS (371 to 265), Medium drops by 131 FPS (343 to 212), High drops by 153 FPS (286 to 133), and Ultra drops by 154 FPS (280 to 126). The increasing absolute drop at higher settings indicates that the GPU is being progressively more stressed as resolution increases, but the game remains playable at all settings and resolutions.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700 is a Zen 4 architecture processor with 8 cores and 16 threads, based on the Raphael codename. Its base clock of 3.80 GHz and boost clock of 5.30 GHz provide substantial single-thread performance, as evidenced by the 1049 score in 3dmark_single_thread and the 1930 score in cinebench_r23_singlecore. These scores are crucial for Inside, which is a game that relies heavily on a single main thread for game logic and physics.

The CPU's multi-threaded performance is also strong, with a cinebench_r23_multicore score of 18760 and a geekbench_multicore score of 15371. However, the data suggests that Inside does not utilize more than a few threads effectively. The 3dmark_16_threads score of 8484 is nearly identical to the 3dmark_max_threads score of 8479, indicating that the CPU's performance scales well with thread count, but the game likely does not push beyond 4-8 threads.

The CPU's 32 MB of shared L3 cache and 1 MB per-core L2 cache are more than sufficient for this game's data footprint. The 65 W TDP and 5 nm process node allow the CPU to maintain high boost clocks without thermal throttling, which is important for sustaining high frame rates over long gaming sessions. The memory bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s on the DDR5 dual-channel interface is also not a bottleneck, as the game's data requirements are minimal.

The benchmark results show that the Ryzen 7 7700 is well above the 50th percentile of all CPUs, ranking at the 87th percentile. This places it in the top 13% of all processors tested, which is more than enough for Inside. The CPU's nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen AI 9 365, has an average score that is only 0.1% higher, meaning that the 7700 is essentially at parity with the next tier of CPUs. The data implies that the CPU is not the limiting factor at 4K, but at 1080p Low, the 371 FPS result is likely constrained by the CPU's single-thread performance, as the GPU has ample headroom to render more frames if the CPU could deliver them.