Inside

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700X paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT delivers a remarkably fluid experience in Inside, a 2D puzzle platformer that is far more dependent on frame pacing than raw geometry. The measured data shows this combination is capable of extreme frame rates, with the only potential bottleneck appearing at the highest fidelity settings in 4K. The system achieves a combo rank of 1142 out of 1671 tested configurations, placing it firmly in the upper tier for this title.

FAQ

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

A: The measured average is 142.9 FPS. This is a strong result, indicating that the system provides a smooth experience well above standard 60 Hz or 144 Hz display refresh rates.

Q: How much faster is 1080p Low compared to 1080p Ultra?

A: The jump is substantial. At Low settings, the average is 277.5 FPS, which is more than double the 135.4 FPS achieved at Ultra settings. This shows a significant performance scaling headroom when graphical fidelity is reduced.

Q: Can this system handle 4K resolution?

A: Yes, but with caveats. At 4K with High settings, the average FPS is 62.7, which is playable. However, the performance drops significantly at the Ultra preset, averaging 62.9 FPS, which is nearly identical to High, suggesting a different bottleneck.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 4K Ultra?

A: The data suggests the GPU becomes the primary constraint. At 4K, the difference between High (62.7 FPS) and Ultra (62.9 FPS) is negligible, implying the graphics card is saturated and cannot render the extra effects of the Ultra preset without a corresponding frame rate drop.

Q: What is the best settings preset for a high-refresh-rate 1440p monitor?

A: The High preset is the optimal choice. It delivers an average of 104 FPS, which is comfortably above the 100 FPS mark and provides a smooth experience. The Medium preset offers a higher 158.8 FPS, but the visual trade-off may not be worth it for the extra frames.

Q: How does the GPU's benchmark score compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RX 6600 XT has an average benchmark score of 27985. This places it 0.1% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti and 0.4% ahead of the AMD Radeon R9 M395X. It trails the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 by 0.9% and the AMD FirePro S7150 by 1.5%.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT, built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture, is the central component driving Inside's visuals. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s, which is ample for the game’s art style. The GPU operates with a base clock of 1968 MHz and a boost clock of 2589 MHz, with a game clock of 2359 MHz. These clock speeds, combined with 2048 shading units, are more than sufficient for the geometric and lighting demands of the title.

The benchmark data reveals the GPU's performance ceiling. At 1080p, the card is not the primary bottleneck, as even the Ultra preset yields 135.4 FPS. However, the scaling from 1080p to 4K shows the GPU's limits. The move from 1440p High (104 FPS) to 4K High (62.7 FPS) is a drop of 41.3 FPS, demonstrating the significant increase in pixel shading workload. The fact that the 4K Ultra preset (62.9 FPS) performs almost identically to 4K High (62.7 FPS) is a clear indicator that the GPU is fully saturated at this resolution, unable to process the additional draw calls and shader complexity of the Ultra preset without sacrificing frame rate. In this scenario, the GPU's raw throughput, measured at 10.60 TFLOPS FP32, becomes the decisive factor.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides a clear hierarchy for optimal settings. For users with standard 60 Hz displays, the 4K High preset is the maximum viable option, delivering an average of 62.7 FPS. Pushing to 4K Ultra provides no measurable benefit, as the average only increases by 0.2 FPS, indicating the GPU is already at its limit.

For 1440p, the High preset is the recommended choice for a balanced experience, providing an average of 104 FPS. This is sufficient for smooth gameplay on most monitors. The Medium preset, at 158.8 FPS, is better suited for high-refresh-rate (144 Hz+) displays where motion fluidity is prioritized. The Low preset at 199.8 FPS offers the highest frame rates but with a significant reduction in visual quality.

At 1080p, the system has enough headroom to run the Ultra preset, which averages 135.4 FPS. This is the best visual experience available and will be smooth on any 120 Hz or 144 Hz display. The High preset at 142.9 FPS is a tighter, more consistent alternative, while the Low and Medium presets (277.5 and 222.1 FPS) are only relevant for extreme refresh rate monitors, such as 240 Hz, where every frame counts.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The performance at 1080p is exceptionally high. The Low preset leads with an average of 277.5 FPS. This drops to 222.1 FPS at Medium, 142.9 FPS at High, and 135.4 FPS at Ultra. The largest single-preset performance hit is between Medium and High, a decrease of 79.2 FPS.

At 1440p, the results scale predictably. The Low preset averages 199.8 FPS, which drops to 158.8 FPS at Medium. The High preset delivers 104 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 98.4 FPS. The drop from Medium to High here is 54.8 FPS, showing the increased cost of the High preset's effects at this resolution.

The 4K results show a significant shift. The Low preset averages 129 FPS, and Medium averages 102.9 FPS, both still very playable. However, the High preset falls to 62.7 FPS, and Ultra is nearly identical at 62.9 FPS. This demonstrates a hard performance wall where the GPU cannot maintain higher frame rates regardless of the settings increase, as the pixel fill rate becomes the limiting factor.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals the nature of the system's bottleneck. At Low settings, the transition from 1080p (277.5 FPS) to 1440p (199.8 FPS) is a 28% reduction, and then to 4K (129 FPS) is a further 35% reduction. This scaling is significant and indicates the GPU is being tasked with an exponentially larger number of pixels.

The pattern changes at High settings. Moving from 1080p (142.9 FPS) to 1440p (104 FPS) is a 27.2% drop. However, moving from 1440p to 4K (62.7 FPS) results in a much larger 39.7% drop. This accelerated decline at 4K, combined with the near-identical performance between High and Ultra at that resolution, confirms that the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT is the limiting component. The CPU, an AMD Ryzen 7 7700X with 8 cores and 16 threads, is powerful enough to feed the GPU at lower resolutions, but the sheer pixel count at 4K overwhelms the graphics card's 256.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 165.7 GPixel/s pixel rate. The system is therefore GPU-bound at 4K, while at 1080p and 1440p, the balance between the CPU and GPU allows for very high performance.