Inside

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700X paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT delivers a highly capable experience in Inside, a puzzle platformer from 2016. The measured frame rates across all resolutions and settings are exceptionally high, indicating that this combination is far more powerful than the game’s requirements. The data reveals a system where the GPU becomes the primary scaling factor as resolution increases, while the CPU’s strong single-thread performance ensures no bottlenecks at lower settings. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS, scaling behavior, and the specific roles of the processor and graphics card in producing these results.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data shows a clear and expected trend: as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160, average frame rates drop significantly across all settings. This scaling pattern is a classic indicator of GPU-bound performance, where the rendering load on the Radeon RX 9070 XT increases with pixel count.

At the Low preset, the scaling is most dramatic. The average FPS goes from 383 at 1080p to 330 at 1440p, a drop of 53 FPS, and then to 207 at 4K, a further drop of 123 FPS. This steep decline of roughly 46% from 1080p to 4K highlights how even a lighter settings profile becomes increasingly demanding on the GPU at higher resolutions.

The Medium preset follows a similar but slightly less steep trajectory. Starting at 353 FPS at 1080p, it falls to 264 FPS at 1440p and then to 166 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1440p to 4K is 98 FPS, which is a substantial reduction, reinforcing that the GPU is the limiting component. The High preset shows the same pattern: 230 FPS at 1080p, 165 FPS at 1440p, and 104 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset yields 219 FPS at 1080p, 157 FPS at 1440p, and 99 FPS at 4K.

This data suggests that the CPU is not the limiting factor at any resolution. If the processor were the bottleneck, the FPS would plateau or show much smaller differences between resolutions, particularly at 1080p where CPU load is relatively higher. Instead, the consistent and large FPS drops with each resolution increase point directly to the GPU’s pixel throughput being the primary constraint. The RX 9070 XT, with its 16 GB of memory and high bandwidth, is clearly working harder as the pixel count grows, but it still maintains very playable, high frame rates even at 4K, never falling below 99 FPS on the Ultra preset.

FAQ

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

A: The measured average FPS at 2560x1440 on High settings is 165 FPS. This represents a smooth, high-refresh-rate experience, indicating the combo is not stressed at this resolution.

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

A: At 3840x2160 on Ultra, the average FPS is 99, while at 1920x1080 on Ultra, it is 219 FPS. This represents a drop of 120 FPS, or approximately 55%, when moving from 1080p to 4K, showing the significant GPU load increase at higher resolutions.

Q: Is the CPU a bottleneck in this game?

A: Based on the scaling data, no. The FPS drops consistently and significantly from 1080p to 4K across all settings. If the CPU were the limiting factor, the frame rate would be more consistent across resolutions, particularly at lower settings where the GPU has less work to do.

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

A: The Ultra preset at 3840x2160 produces an average of 99 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS target. Even the High preset at 4K, with 104 FPS, comfortably exceeds that threshold, so all presets are viable for a 60Hz display.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested hardware combinations?

A: The AMD Ryzen 7 7700X + AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT combo ranks 657th out of 3716 tested combinations in Inside. This places it in the top ~18% of all tested systems.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded in the data?

A: The lowest minimum FPS recorded is 141 FPS, which occurs at 3840x2160 on Medium settings. The next highest recorded minimum is 224 FPS at 2560x1440 on Medium, and 300 FPS at 1920x1080 on Medium. No minimum FPS data is available for other settings.

Settings Recommendations

Given the measured FPS data, the settings recommendation is straightforward: the player can prioritize visual quality without sacrificing performance. The data shows that even the most demanding preset, Ultra, delivers frame rates that are far above the refresh rates of typical displays.

At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset yields an average of 219 FPS. This is more than sufficient for any high-refresh-rate monitor, making Ultra the clear choice for competitive or smooth gameplay. The High preset at 230 FPS is nearly identical, but Ultra offers the best visual fidelity with no meaningful performance penalty.

At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset produces an average of 157 FPS. This still exceeds the 144Hz refresh rate of many modern monitors, so Ultra is recommended. The High preset at 165 FPS is also excellent, but again, Ultra provides the maximum visual quality while maintaining a high frame rate.

At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset drops to an average of 99 FPS. While this is still very playable and above 60 FPS, it is not quite enough for a 144Hz 4K display. For a 4K/120Hz or 144Hz panel, dropping to the High preset, which averages 104 FPS, offers a negligible performance gain of only 5 FPS. The data suggests that the difference between High and Ultra at 4K is minimal in terms of FPS, so the choice comes down to whether the visual enhancements of Ultra are worth the small frame rate cost. The Medium preset at 4K, with 166 FPS, would be the choice for maximizing frame rate on a high-refresh 4K display, but the visual compromise may not be necessary given how close High and Ultra are.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of the combo's performance across all settings and resolutions.

At 1920x1080, the results are as follows: Low settings produce the highest average FPS at 383. Medium settings follow closely with an average of 353 FPS, with a recorded minimum of 300 FPS and maximum of 406 FPS. High settings yield 230 FPS average, and Ultra settings produce 219 FPS average. The spread between Low and Ultra is 164 FPS, showing the performance headroom available at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the data shows: Low settings average 330 FPS. Medium settings average 264 FPS, with a minimum of 224 FPS and maximum of 304 FPS. High settings average 165 FPS, and Ultra settings average 157 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra is 173 FPS, indicating a wider performance gap at this resolution than at 1080p.

At 3840x2160, the results are: Low settings average 207 FPS. Medium settings average 166 FPS, with a minimum of 141 FPS and maximum of 191 FPS. High settings average 104 FPS, and Ultra settings average 99 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 108 FPS, which is the smallest absolute gap among the three resolutions, but the relative performance cost of Ultra is higher due to the lower baseline.

The data reveals that the Medium preset is the only one with recorded minimum and maximum FPS values, spanning all three resolutions. This allows for a more precise look at frame time consistency. At 1080p Medium, the range is 300-406 FPS. At 1440p Medium, it is 224-304 FPS. At 4K Medium, it is 141-191 FPS. This indicates a consistent scaling of not just average FPS but also the minimum and maximum bounds.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is clearly the dominant component in this pairing for Inside. Its specifications are more than adequate for a game of this era, and the measured FPS data reflects that. The GPU has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s. This memory configuration is far beyond what Inside requires, ensuring no texture or memory bandwidth limitations.

The GPU’s clock speeds are high, with a base clock of 1660 MHz and a boost clock of 2970 MHz. The game clock is listed at 2400 MHz. These high clocks, paired with 4096 shading units, contribute to the massive frame rates seen in the data. The GPU’s FP32 performance is listed at 48.66 TFLOPS, which is an immense amount of compute power for a puzzle platformer. The pixel rate of 380.2 GPixel/s and texture rate of 760.3 GTexel/s further illustrate the card’s capacity to handle high-resolution rendering with ease.

The data strongly indicates that the RX 9070 XT is the limiting factor in this system, but only in the sense that its performance dictates the FPS at each resolution. The scaling from 1080p to 4K shows a direct correlation with the GPU’s workload. For instance, the 4K Ultra result of 99 FPS is a direct consequence of the GPU’s rendering capabilities at that pixel count. The GPU’s 55th percentile ranking among all GPUs, based on its average benchmark score of 13543, suggests it is a mid-to-high tier card, but its performance in Inside is exceptional due to the game’s low requirements relative to this hardware.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700X plays a secondary but essential role in this combo. The CPU’s high single-thread performance is crucial for maintaining high frame rates in games that are not heavily multi-threaded. The 7700X has a base clock of 4.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, which are excellent for ensuring the game logic and draw calls are processed quickly.

The CPU has 8 cores and 16 threads, based on the Zen 4 architecture (Raphael). Its benchmark scores show strong single-thread capability: a 3DMark single-thread score of 1090, a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1987, and a Geekbench single-core score of 2289. These scores are critical because a puzzle platformer like Inside likely relies more on single-thread performance than on multi-core scaling.

The CPU’s role is evidenced by the fact that frame rates are not capped by the processor. At 1080p Low, the FPS reaches 383, which is a very high number that would require minimal CPU overhead per frame. If the CPU were weak, it would struggle to feed the GPU at these rates, causing a plateau. The data shows no such plateau. The CPU’s L3 cache is 32 MB shared, and it supports DDR5 memory with a bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s, which helps maintain a steady data flow to the GPU.

The CPU ranks 85th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 35909. Its nearest rivals, such as the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 and Intel Core 7 250H, have near-identical scores, but the 7700X’s high boost clock gives it an edge in single-threaded tasks. In Inside, this means the CPU is never the bottleneck, allowing the RX 9070 XT to operate at its full potential.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 7700X and AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT ranks 657th out of 3716 tested combos in Inside. This puts it in the 82nd percentile of all tested systems, meaning it performs better than 82% of the combinations in the database. This is a strong showing, especially considering the game’s age and low system requirements.

This high rank is not surprising given the measured FPS. The combo achieves over 200 FPS at 1080p on all settings, and even at 4K Ultra, it maintains nearly 100 FPS. This level of performance would place it well above the median system in the database. The rank of 657 suggests that while there are many faster combos (likely with more powerful GPUs or newer CPUs), this pairing is far from the bottom and is more than capable of delivering a flawless experience in Inside.

The rank is consistent with the component-level data. The CPU’s 85th percentile ranking and the GPU’s 55th percentile ranking combine to produce a system that is top-tier for this specific game. The GPU’s lower percentile is offset by the game’s low demands, meaning the combo’s overall rank is higher than the GPU’s individual percentile would suggest. This indicates that the pairing is well-balanced for Inside, with the CPU’s strength complementing the GPU’s raw power to avoid any bottlenecks. The result is a system that sits comfortably in the upper echelon of tested configurations, delivering a premium experience at all resolutions and settings.