Inside

Inside is a 2016 puzzle platformer that, on paper, should not stress modern hardware. Yet, the measured data for the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT reveals a fascinating performance curve that shifts dramatically based on resolution and graphical preset. This combination, ranked 1164th out of 1671 tested combos, demonstrates that even a modestly-tiered GPU can deliver exceptional frame rates, but the bottlenecks and scaling behavior tell a story about where the true limits lie.

How This Combo Ranks

The overall ranking of 1164 out of 1671 combos might seem low at first glance, but context is critical. This rank places the combo in the 30th percentile of all tested CPU-GPU pairings for Inside, which is heavily influenced by the GPU's position in the broader market. The Radeon RX 6600 XT sits at the 71st percentile among all GPUs, while the Ryzen 7 7800X3D is at the 87th percentile among all CPUs. This discrepancy is the first clue: the processor is far more capable than the graphics card, meaning the GPU is the primary constraint in most scenarios.

The benchmark scores reinforce this imbalance. The CPU's average benchmark score is 31580, placing it just 0.1% ahead of the Intel Core i7-12700F (31543) and 0.3% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 9 5980HX (31495). These are marginal victories, indicating the 7800X3D is performing exactly as expected for a high-end chip. Conversely, the GPU's average score of 27985 is virtually tied with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti (27956, 0.1% behind) and only 0.9% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 (28238). This shows the RX 6600 XT is a solid mid-range performer, but it is not in the same league as the CPU.

For a game as lightweight as Inside, this combination produces a paradox: the CPU is overkill, but the GPU's memory bandwidth and fill rate become the deciding factors as resolution increases. The data suggests that for competitive or high-refresh-rate play at 1080p, this combo is more than sufficient, but the ranking reflects that many other combinations with stronger GPUs will naturally outperform it in raw frame throughput.

GPU Role

The Radeon RX 6600 XT is built on the Navi 23 chip with RDNA 2.0 architecture, featuring 2048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 64 render output units. Its memory configuration is 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s. The boost clock reaches 2589 MHz, with a game clock of 2359 MHz and a base clock of 1968 MHz. These specifications are crucial for understanding Inside's performance because the game's art style relies on heavy use of shadowing and particle effects, which tax the ROPs and memory subsystem.

At 1080p, the GPU's pixel rate of 165.7 GPixel/s and texture rate of 331.4 GTexel/s are more than adequate. The measured 4K High preset average of 63.7 FPS is a strong indicator that the GPU is the limiting factor here, as the CPU could easily push higher frames. The FP32 performance of 10.60 TFLOPS is respectable, but the 128-bit memory bus is the bottleneck when pixel counts quadruple. The data shows that at 4K Ultra, the frame rate drops to 62.6 FPS, a negligible difference from High, suggesting that the GPU is already saturated and additional settings have diminishing returns. The 8 GB VRAM is sufficient for Inside, but the bandwidth constraints are visible in the scaling curves, where the GPU's compute units are waiting on memory access.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and highlights the GPU-bound nature of this combo. At Low settings, the average frame rate drops from 278.5 FPS at 1080p to 198.7 FPS at 1440p, then plummets to 128.1 FPS at 4K. That is a 54% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Low, which is a massive hit that cannot be attributed to CPU limitations. The Ryzen 7 7800X3D, with its 8 cores and 16 threads boosting to 5.00 GHz, is nowhere near the bottleneck at these frame rates.

The scaling becomes even more telling at Ultra settings. From 1080p Ultra at 130.7 FPS, the drop to 1440p Ultra is 97.9 FPS (a 25% loss), and then to 4K Ultra at 62.6 FPS (a further 36% loss). The pattern is consistent: the CPU is capable of delivering 278.5 FPS at 1080p Low, but the GPU cannot maintain that headroom as resolution increases. The implication is that for 4K gaming, this combo is strictly GPU-limited, and users should expect a near-halving of performance compared to 1080p. The CPU is essentially idle in this scenario, which means the 7800X3D's high cache and clock speeds provide no tangible benefit at higher resolutions for this particular title.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data offers a clear hierarchy of settings for this combo. At 1080p, all presets are playable, with Low delivering 278.5 FPS, Medium at 226.9 FPS, High at 141.5 FPS, and Ultra at 130.7 FPS. For competitive play or high-refresh-rate monitors, the Medium preset is the sweet spot: it sacrifices only 18.5% of the Low preset's frame rate while likely offering improved visual fidelity. High is still excellent, but Ultra provides only a marginal visual upgrade over High for a 7.6% performance cost.

At 1440p, the recommendation shifts. Medium hits 160.5 FPS, which is ideal for 144Hz displays, while High drops to 102.7 FPS. Ultra at 97.9 FPS is still smooth, but the gap between High and Ultra is negligible (4.7%), so High is the better choice for consistency. At 4K, the situation changes entirely. Low is the only preset that guarantees a high refresh rate experience at 128.1 FPS, while Medium (100.6 FPS) and High (63.7 FPS) are acceptable for 60Hz monitors. Ultra at 62.6 FPS is at the edge of playability, and the data suggests that the jump from High to Ultra is not worth the 1.1 FPS loss.

The best overall experience for this combo is 1440p Medium, which balances frame rate and visual quality without pushing the GPU to its limits. For 4K, users should stick to Low or Medium to avoid dipping below 100 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete dataset provides a comprehensive view of performance across all resolutions and settings.

1920x1080:

• Low: 278.5 FPS
• Medium: 226.9 FPS
• High: 141.5 FPS
• Ultra: 130.7 FPS

2560x1440:

• Low: 198.7 FPS
• Medium: 160.5 FPS
• High: 102.7 FPS
• Ultra: 97.9 FPS

3840x2160:

• Low: 128.1 FPS
• Medium: 100.6 FPS
• High: 63.7 FPS
• Ultra: 62.6 FPS

The pattern is consistent: Low settings always provide the highest frame rate, with Medium offering a significant step down, and High/Ultra being much closer to each other. The largest single drop occurs from 1080p Low to 1080p Medium, a 51.6 FPS reduction (18.5%), which suggests that the Medium preset introduces substantial graphical effects that heavily tax the GPU. The High to Ultra delta is consistently small across all resolutions, indicating that Ultra is not optimized well for this title or that the GPU hits a hard limit.

FAQ

Q: Is this combo capable of 4K gaming in Inside?

A: Yes, but only at Low (128.1 FPS) or Medium (100.6 FPS) presets. At High (63.7 FPS) and Ultra (62.6 FPS), it is still playable but dips below 70 FPS, which may not be ideal for all users.

Q: Why is the CPU ranked so high but the combo rank is mid-tier?

A: The Ryzen 7 7800X3D ranks at the 87th percentile among CPUs, but the Radeon RX 6600 XT only ranks at the 71st percentile among GPUs. In a GPU-bound game like Inside at higher resolutions, the weaker component drags down the overall combo ranking to 1164 out of 1671.

Q: What is the biggest FPS drop between settings?

A: The largest drop is from 1080p Low (278.5 FPS) to 1080p Medium (226.9 FPS), a loss of 51.6 FPS. This indicates the Medium preset adds significant rendering complexity.

Q: How does the GPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RX 6600 XT has an average benchmark score of 27985, which is 0.1% higher than the GTX 980 Ti (27956) and 0.4% higher than the R9 M395X (27883). It trails the RTX 3070 by 0.9%.

Q: Is the CPU the bottleneck at 1080p Low?

A: No. The CPU can push 278.5 FPS at 1080p Low, which is far beyond typical monitor refresh rates. The CPU's high single-thread score (4115 in Cinebench R23) ensures it is not the limiting factor here.

Q: What is the best preset for a 144Hz monitor?

A: At 1440p, the Medium preset (160.5 FPS) is the best choice. At 1080p, even the Ultra preset (130.7 FPS) falls short of 144Hz, so Medium (226.9 FPS) is recommended.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D is a Zen 4 architecture processor with a codename of Raphael, built on a 5 nm process. It has 8 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 4.20 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. The 96 MB of shared L3 cache is a defining feature, and the CPU's memory bandwidth is 83.2 GB/s over a dual-channel DDR5 interface. Its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 29149 and single-core score of 4115 place it firmly in high-end territory, but for Inside, these numbers are largely irrelevant.

The benchmark results show that the CPU's role is to provide a ceiling, not a constraint. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 278.5 FPS, which is likely near the game engine's engine limit. The CPU's PassMark single-thread score of 3759 and 3DMark single-thread score of 959 confirm that it can handle any frame rate the GPU can produce. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 7980 and max-thread score of 7967 show excellent multi-threading, but Inside is not a multi-threaded stressor.

The data reveals that the CPU is essentially overkill for this game. The 7800X3D's 120W TDP and 5.00 GHz boost clock provide headroom that goes unused. The nearest CPU rivals, such as the Intel Core i7-12700F (0.1% behind) and AMD Ryzen 9 5980HX (0.3% behind), would likely produce identical frame rates in Inside because the GPU is the sole bottleneck. The CPU's primary contribution is ensuring that frame times are perfectly consistent, avoiding any stutter, but the measured average FPS numbers are entirely dictated by the Radeon RX 6600 XT's capabilities. For a puzzle platformer like Inside, this CPU is more than sufficient, and the performance ceiling is defined by the GPU's memory bandwidth and shading power, not the processor's computational throughput.