Inside

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700X and Intel Arc B390 combination delivers a playable, though not consistently smooth, experience in Inside, with performance scaling that clearly exposes the integrated GPU as the primary constraint. Benchmark results indicate that this pairing ranks in the bottom 12% of tested combos, making it suitable for 1080p Medium and Low settings, but the data shows a steep performance cliff at higher resolutions and presets that limits its viability.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a classic GPU-bound scenario where performance degrades significantly as resolution increases. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves 156 FPS, but this drops to 112 FPS at 2560x1440 and further to 70 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 28% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and a 55% reduction from 1080p to 4K, indicating that the Intel Arc B390’s rendering throughput cannot keep pace with the pixel count increase.

The pattern becomes more pronounced at higher settings. With High settings, the transition from 1080p (78 FPS) to 1440p (56 FPS) costs 28% performance, while moving to 4K (35 FPS) results in a 55% drop. The Medium preset shows the same trajectory: 125 FPS at 1080p, 90 FPS at 1440p, and 56 FPS at 4K. These consistent scaling ratios across different presets confirm that resolution, rather than CPU or memory bandwidth, is the dominant factor limiting frame rates.

Notably, the gap between 1440p and 4K is proportionally larger than the gap between 1080p and 1440p in every settings tier. For instance, at Low settings, 1440p retains 72% of 1080p performance, but 4K only retains 63% of 1440p performance. This suggests the Arc B390’s fill rate and memory system (System Shared) become increasingly strained as the render target grows, with the 4K Ultra result of 34 FPS underscoring how quickly the GPU saturates.

The data shows that the 7700X’s ample single-thread and multi-thread capabilities are not the bottleneck here. If the CPU were limiting, frame rates would show less variation across resolutions. Instead, the near-halving of FPS from 1080p to 4K at every preset points squarely at the integrated graphics solution, which relies on system memory for both storage and bandwidth, creating a scenario where higher resolutions exponentially increase memory traffic.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific CPU-GPU pairing ranks 2547 out of 2887 tested combinations in Inside, placing it in the 88th percentile of all combos, meaning it outperforms only 12% of the tested configurations. This low ranking is almost entirely attributable to the Intel Arc B390, which sits in the 9th percentile among all GPUs, while the Ryzen 7 7700X ranks in the 85th percentile among all CPUs. The stark contrast between the processor’s relative strength and the graphics solution’s weakness defines this combo’s position.

The GPU’s nearest rivals in the benchmark database are all legacy NVIDIA parts: the GeForce GT 520MX (scoring 1463, a 1.3% delta), the GeForce 800M (1460, 1.5% delta), the GeForce GT 625 OEM (1446, 2.5% delta), and the GeForce GT 710 (1443, 2.7% delta). The Arc B390’s 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482 places it just 1.3% ahead of the GT 520MX, indicating its performance class is closer to a decade-old entry-level discrete GPU than to any modern integrated or dedicated solution.

In contrast, the CPU’s nearest rivals are substantially more modern and powerful. The AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 (avg score 35802, 0.3% delta), Intel Core 7 250H (35728, 0.5% delta), AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 350 (35719, 0.5% delta), and Intel Core Ultra 9 185H (35670, 0.7% delta) all cluster within 0.7% of the 7700X’s average benchmark score of 35909. This indicates the CPU is a high-performing part that would not limit most games, but its capabilities are wasted when paired with a GPU that constrains frame rates to the observed levels.

The combination’s rank of 2547 out of 2887 (with only 340 combos ranked lower) reflects a significant mismatch. Benchmark results indicate that other pairings with similarly weak GPUs but slower CPUs would likely achieve comparable frame rates, as the GPU becomes the limiting factor well before the CPU’s headroom is exhausted.

Settings Recommendations

For the best experience per the measured rows, the Medium preset at 1920x1080 offers the optimal balance, delivering 125 FPS average with a minimum of 106 FPS and a maximum of 144 FPS. This provides smooth, consistent gameplay that exceeds the 60 FPS threshold while maintaining enough visual fidelity for a puzzle platformer. The 106 FPS minimum indicates that even in demanding scenes, the frame rate stays comfortably above playable levels.

At 1080p, the Low preset achieves 156 FPS, which is 25% higher than Medium, but the visual quality reduction may not be worth the extra frames for a game like Inside that relies on atmospheric lighting and shadow work. The High preset at 78 FPS and Ultra at 74 FPS are both playable, but they introduce a 38% performance penalty compared to Medium with only marginal visual gains. Given that the gap between Medium and High is larger (125 to 78 FPS, a 38% drop) than the gap between High and Ultra (78 to 74 FPS, a 5% drop), Medium is the clear sweet spot where the GPU’s resources are used most efficiently.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset drops to 90 FPS (with 76 FPS minimum and 103 FPS maximum), which remains playable but shows the GPU struggling to maintain high refresh rates. The Low preset at 112 FPS is the better choice for 1440p if smoothness is prioritized, as the step to Medium costs 20% performance. For 3840x2160, only the Low preset (70 FPS) achieves a playable frame rate; Medium (56 FPS) and High (35 FPS) fall below the 60 FPS target, and Ultra (34 FPS) is effectively unplayable for a smooth experience.

The data suggests that users should prioritize resolution over settings when using this combo. At 1080p Medium, the experience is excellent. At 1440p, dropping to Low yields a better frame rate than staying at Medium. At 4K, only Low is viable, and even then, the 70 FPS average leaves little headroom for demanding scenes.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured rows show a clear hierarchy: Low settings produce 156 FPS average, Medium produces 125 FPS (with a 106 FPS minimum and 144 FPS maximum), High produces 78 FPS, and Ultra produces 74 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 82 FPS, and the largest single drop occurs between Medium and High, where performance falls by 47 FPS (a 38% reduction). The difference between High and Ultra is only 4 FPS, indicating that the Ultra preset’s additional effects are nearly free for the GPU to render at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the same settings order yields 112 FPS at Low, 90 FPS at Medium (76 FPS minimum, 103 FPS maximum), 56 FPS at High, and 53 FPS at Ultra. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is consistent: Low loses 44 FPS, Medium loses 35 FPS, High loses 22 FPS, and Ultra loses 21 FPS. The relative penalty increases with higher settings, with Low retaining 72% of its 1080p performance while Ultra retains only 72% as well, showing a uniform resolution impact.

At 3840x2160, the results are 70 FPS at Low, 56 FPS at Medium (48 FPS minimum, 65 FPS maximum), 35 FPS at High, and 34 FPS at Ultra. The 4K resolution exposes the GPU’s limitations most clearly: High and Ultra both fall below 40 FPS, and Medium dips to a 48 FPS minimum, which would cause noticeable stuttering in a game that relies on precise platforming. The Low preset at 70 FPS is the only 4K option that maintains a playable average, though its minimum frame rate is not recorded.

The Medium preset’s min/max values provide insight into frame time consistency. At 1080p, the 106-144 FPS range is tight, suggesting stable performance. At 1440p, 76-103 FPS shows slightly more variance. At 4K, 48-65 FPS indicates significant frame pacing issues, with the 48 FPS minimum representing a 14% drop below the average.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated graphics solution built on the Xe3-LPG architecture with a Panther Lake chip, fabricated on Intel’s 3 nm process. Its clocks are set at a 300 MHz base and 2500 MHz boost, which is a wide range that allows the GPU to idle efficiently but also reach high frequencies when needed. The GPU has 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 ROPs, along with 12 ray tracing cores, though the latter are unlikely to be utilized in Inside given its 2016 release and 2D side-scrolling perspective.

The most defining characteristic of this GPU is its memory configuration: "System Shared" size, type, bus width, and bandwidth that is "System Dependent." This means the GPU has no dedicated VRAM and instead borrows from the system’s DDR5 memory, which the Ryzen 7 7700X supports in dual-channel mode with 83.2 GB/s bandwidth. The lack of dedicated graphics memory explains the severe performance drop at 4K, as the GPU must compete with the CPU for memory bandwidth, and higher resolutions require exponentially more data to be fetched from system RAM.

The GPU’s FP32 throughput is 7.680 TFLOPS, with FP16 at 15.36 TFLOPS (2:1), and its pixel rate is 60.00 GPixel/s with a texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s. These figures are modest for modern standards, ranking the GPU in the 9th percentile among all GPUs. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482 is the sole benchmark recorded for this GPU, and its nearest rivals are all NVIDIA parts from the early 2010s, confirming its entry-level positioning.

The GPU’s TDP is 80 W, and it is classified as an IGP with a slot width of "IGP" and no power connectors, meaning it draws power from the motherboard rather than a dedicated PCIe connector. Its DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4 API support are current, but the hardware’s raw performance is the limiting factor. For Inside, which is a lightweight 2D title, the GPU manages to deliver playable frame rates at lower resolutions, but the data clearly shows it saturates quickly as resolution and settings increase.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700X provides a formidable foundation that the Arc B390 cannot fully utilize. This 8-core, 16-thread processor based on Zen 4 architecture (Raphael) runs at a 4.50 GHz base clock and 5.40 GHz boost clock, with a 105 W TDP. Its cache hierarchy includes 64 KB L1 per core, 1 MB L2 per core, and 32 MB shared L3, which provides ample fast memory for game logic and physics calculations. The CPU supports DDR5 memory with a dual-channel bus and 83.2 GB/s bandwidth, and it offers PCIe Gen 5 with 24 lanes.

Benchmark results indicate the CPU is a high performer: it scores 19088 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 1987 in single-core, 12451 in Geekbench multi-core and 2289 in single-core, and 8859 in 3DMark 16-thread tests. Its average benchmark score of 35909 places it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs, with nearest rivals like the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 (0.3% delta) and Intel Core Ultra 9 185H (0.7% delta) confirming its competitive standing. The CPU’s multi-threaded capabilities (PassMark multithread score of 35686) are more than sufficient for any game, including Inside, which is not CPU-intensive.

The data shows that the CPU is not the bottleneck in this combo. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 156 FPS, which is likely near the CPU’s maximum frame delivery for this game. However, as resolution increases, the frame rate drops proportionally, indicating that the GPU is the sole limiter. The CPU’s single-thread performance (PassMark single-thread score of 4190) ensures that even the most demanding physics or AI calculations in Inside are handled without delay, but this headroom goes unused because the GPU cannot render frames fast enough to keep up.

The CPU’s 5.40 GHz boost clock and 8 physical cores provide a stable platform for the game’s logic, but the measured FPS data suggests that even a much weaker CPU would achieve similar results in this specific title when paired with the Arc B390. The 7700X’s value in this combo is its ability to ensure zero CPU-induced frame drops, as evidenced by the relatively consistent minimum FPS values at Medium settings (106 FPS at 1080p, 76 FPS at 1440p, 48 FPS at 4K), which track closely with the average FPS and do not show signs of CPU stutter.