Inside

The AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT delivers an exceptionally smooth experience in Inside, a puzzle platformer from 2016. Measured frame rates are consistently high across all tested resolutions, with the lowest average being 89 FPS at 4K Ultra. This combination of an 8-core Zen 4 processor with 3D V-Cache and a 16 GB RDNA 3.0 graphics card proves to be far more than adequate for this title, leaving substantial headroom for high refresh rate displays at 1440p and 1080p. The data shows a system that never struggles to maintain playable performance, even under the most demanding settings at the highest resolution.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows provide clear guidance on how to balance visual fidelity against frame rate. For a game like Inside, where atmospheric lighting and subtle environmental details matter, the choice of preset significantly impacts the experience.

At 1080p, every settings level produces an average frame rate above 198 FPS. The Ultra preset delivers 198 FPS average, while High achieves 208 FPS, Medium reaches 318 FPS, and Low tops out at 344 FPS. Given that the difference between High and Ultra is only 10 FPS – 208 versus 198 – and both are well beyond the refresh rate of most monitors, the Ultra preset is the clear choice at this resolution. There is no practical reason to sacrifice visual quality when the performance cost is so minimal. The Medium preset at 318 FPS is only relevant for a 360 Hz display, but even then, the jump from Ultra to Medium (198 to 318 FPS) is substantial, representing a 60% increase.

At 1440p, the situation is similar but with more pronounced differences. The Ultra preset yields 142 FPS average, High provides 149 FPS, Medium reaches 239 FPS, and Low hits 299 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra remains modest at 7 FPS, again making Ultra the sensible default for most users. For those with a 240 Hz monitor, the Medium preset at 239 FPS is the only way to fully utilize the display’s capability. However, the visual downgrade from High to Medium is noticeable in a game with such a distinct art style. The data suggests that High or Ultra at 1440p offers the best balance for 144 Hz displays, with 149 or 142 FPS respectively, both comfortably exceeding that threshold.

At 4K, the performance picture changes. The Ultra preset drops to 89 FPS average, which is still smooth but no longer in high refresh rate territory. High settings provide 94 FPS, Medium reaches 150 FPS, and Low jumps to 188 FPS. For a 60 Hz display, Ultra at 89 FPS is perfectly playable and offers the best visual experience. For a 120 Hz or 144 Hz display, the Medium preset at 150 FPS is the recommended choice, as it provides a 60% performance increase over High (94 to 150 FPS) while still maintaining a higher level of detail than Low. The Low preset at 188 FPS is technically the only option that can drive a 144 Hz display at 4K, but the visual compromise is significant. Given the genre, prioritizing the atmospheric visuals at Medium or High settings is more appropriate than chasing maximum refresh rates. The sweet spot for 4K is Medium, offering 150 FPS with a minimum of 128 FPS, ensuring no perceptible stutter even in demanding scenes.

FAQ

*Q: Can this system run Inside at 4K with maximum settings?*

A: Yes. The measured data shows an average of 89 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings. While this is below the 100 FPS threshold that some consider ideal for high refresh rate gaming, it is perfectly smooth for a puzzle platformer. The minimum frame rate was not recorded for this setting, but the average indicates consistent performance.

Q: What is the best preset for a 144 Hz monitor at 1440p?

A: The High preset at 2560x1440 delivers 149 FPS average, which is above the 144 Hz refresh rate. The Ultra preset is close at 142 FPS, just slightly below the target. Both are viable, but High provides a small safety margin. The Medium preset at 239 FPS is only necessary for 240 Hz displays.

Q: How much performance difference is there between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: The measured data shows a 344 FPS average on Low and 198 FPS on Ultra at 1920x1080. This represents a 74% increase in frame rate when dropping from Ultra to Low. However, both values are so high that the visual quality difference is the only practical consideration.

Q: Is the RX 7800 XT the limiting factor at 4K resolution?

A: The data suggests the GPU is the primary constraint at 3840x2160. The 89 FPS at Ultra and 94 FPS at High show that increasing resolution significantly impacts performance, while the CPU’s capabilities are less stressed. At lower resolutions, the frame rates are high enough that the CPU’s role becomes more relevant, but the GPU still handles the rendering load.

Q: Does the game benefit from the Ryzen 7 7800X3D’s 3D V-Cache?

A: The benchmark data for this specific game does not include a comparison with other CPUs. However, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D has 96 MB of shared L3 cache, which is substantial. The measured frame rates are exceptionally high, indicating that the CPU is not a bottleneck in this title at any tested resolution or settings level.

Q: What is the minimum frame rate recorded for this combo?

A: The only rows with minimum frame rate data are the Medium settings at each resolution. At 1080p Medium, the minimum is 270 FPS; at 1440p Medium, it is 203 FPS; and at 4K Medium, it is 128 FPS. These minimums are all well above playable thresholds, indicating stable performance without major dips.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 624.1 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The GPU’s boost clock is 2430 MHz, with a game clock of 2124 MHz and a base clock of 1295 MHz. These specifications are more than sufficient for Inside, a game with relatively simple geometry and textures compared to modern AAA titles.

The measured frame rates show that the GPU is capable of handling the game at very high speeds. At 1080p Low, the average FPS reaches 344, which is likely near the engine’s frame rate cap or the CPU’s ability to feed the GPU. At 1080p Ultra, the average drops to 198 FPS, indicating that the GPU is doing more work, but still far from being stressed. At 4K Ultra, the average is 89 FPS, showing that the GPU is the component responsible for the performance reduction as resolution increases.

The 16 GB VRAM is generous for this title, which was released in 2016. The game likely does not use more than a few gigabytes, so there is no risk of VRAM limitations. The RDNA 3.0 architecture with 60 ray accelerators is also irrelevant here, as Inside does not use ray tracing. The GPU’s raw rasterization performance is the key factor, and the benchmarks show it is ample. The passmark G3D score of 24176 and the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 4157 provide context for its overall capabilities, but in this specific game, the GPU is never the bottleneck until 4K Ultra, where it still manages a smooth 89 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D and AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT ranks 1045 out of 3716 tested combos in Inside. This places it in the upper third of all systems tested, which is a strong result considering the game’s age and the hardware’s modern capabilities. The percentile ranking for the CPU is 83, meaning it outperforms 83% of all CPUs in the benchmark database. The GPU’s percentile is 51, placing it just above the median for all GPUs.

The CPU’s nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 8700G, Intel Core i7-13650HX, and AMD Ryzen 7 7745HX, all with an average benchmark score around 33089 to 33091, showing a deltaPct of 0. The AMD Ryzen 9 PRO 6950H is slightly higher with a score of 33201 and a deltaPct of -0.4, indicating the 7800X3D is marginally slower in average benchmark scores. Despite this, the 7800X3D’s 96 MB L3 cache is a unique feature that can benefit certain workloads, though it does not appear to be a differentiator in Inside based on the frame rate data.

The GPU’s nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 with an average score of 11680 and a deltaPct of -0.5, meaning the RX 7800 XT is slightly slower in average benchmarks. The AMD Radeon Pro 5500M has a score of 11528 with a deltaPct of 0.9, showing the RX 7800 XT is faster. The NVIDIA Tesla K20c has a score of 11479 with a deltaPct of 1.3, and the AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT has a score of 11842 with a deltaPct of -1.8. The RX 7800 XT sits in the middle of these figures, but its real-world performance in Inside is far superior to any of these older or lower-tier cards, as evidenced by the high FPS numbers.

The combo rank of 1045 out of 3716 suggests that while there are many faster combinations, this system is well above average. For a game like Inside, which is not demanding, the rank is more indicative of the CPU and GPU’s raw speed rather than any specific optimization. The fact that it sits in the 28th percentile of all combos (1045/3716) means that roughly 72% of tested systems are slower, which is a solid outcome for a mid-to-high-end pairing.

Resolution Scaling

The measured data shows a clear pattern of performance scaling as resolution increases. At 1080p, the average FPS across all settings is well above 200, with Low at 344, Medium at 318, High at 208, and Ultra at 198. Moving to 1440p, the averages drop: Low is 299 (a 13% decrease), Medium is 239 (a 25% decrease), High is 149 (a 28% decrease), and Ultra is 142 (a 28% decrease). At 4K, the drop is more pronounced: Low is 188 (a 37% decrease from 1440p), Medium is 150 (a 37% decrease), High is 94 (a 37% decrease), and Ultra is 89 (a 37% decrease).

The consistency of the percentage drops from 1440p to 4K – all around 37% – indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions. The CPU’s performance is sufficient to feed the GPU at all settings, as the frame rate is determined by the rendering resolution. At 1080p, the gap between Low and Ultra is 146 FPS (344 vs 198), which is a 74% difference. At 4K, the gap narrows to 99 FPS (188 vs 89), a 111% difference, showing that the GPU’s workload increases disproportionately at higher resolutions.

The drop from 1080p to 1440p is less uniform, with Low seeing only a 13% decrease while High and Ultra see a 28% decrease. This suggests that at Low settings, the CPU may be playing a larger role, as the GPU is less burdened. The Ryzen 7 7800X3D’s strong single-thread performance, evidenced by its Geekbench single-core score of 2426 and Cinebench R23 single-core of 1713, helps maintain high frame rates at lower resolutions. At 4K, the GPU’s raw pixel throughput becomes the bottleneck, as indicated by the 37% drop across all settings.

This scaling behavior is typical for a well-balanced system. The RX 7800 XT with 16 GB of VRAM and 624.1 GB/s bandwidth is powerful enough for 1440p gaming, but 4K pushes it to its limits, especially with Ultra settings. The fact that the frame rate still averages 89 FPS at 4K Ultra confirms the GPU’s capability, and the Medium preset at 150 FPS shows that there is headroom for high refresh rate 4K if visual settings are reduced.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates. The Low preset averages 344 FPS, with no minimum or maximum recorded. The Medium preset averages 318 FPS, with a minimum of 270 FPS and a maximum of 366 FPS. The High preset averages 208 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 198 FPS. These numbers indicate that the CPU is capable of pushing extremely high frame rates, likely limited by the game engine’s physics or draw call processing. The difference between Medium and Low is only 26 FPS, while the jump from Medium to High is 110 FPS, showing a significant performance cost for the higher quality settings. The Ultra preset is only 10 FPS slower than High, suggesting that the additional visual effects at Ultra are relatively inexpensive.

At 2560x1440, the performance remains excellent. The Low preset averages 299 FPS, Medium averages 239 FPS with a minimum of 203 and a maximum of 275, High averages 149 FPS, and Ultra averages 142 FPS. The drop from Low to Medium is 60 FPS, and from Medium to High is 90 FPS, indicating that the GPU is starting to become more involved. The High and Ultra presets are close, with only a 7 FPS difference, similar to the 1080p results. For a 144 Hz monitor, the High preset at 149 FPS is ideal, while the Ultra preset at 142 FPS is just below the refresh rate but still smooth.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates are lower but still playable. The Low preset averages 188 FPS, Medium averages 150 FPS with a minimum of 128 and a maximum of 173, High averages 94 FPS, and Ultra averages 89 FPS. The drop from Low to Medium is 38 FPS, and from Medium to High is 56 FPS. The High and Ultra presets are within 5 FPS of each other, showing that the Ultra settings do not add a significant burden over High. The minimum frame rate of 128 FPS at Medium is noteworthy, as it ensures no drops below 120 FPS, making this the best choice for high refresh rate 4K displays. The 4K results show that the GPU is the bottleneck, as the frame rates are roughly half of what they are at 1080p for the same settings, which aligns with the four-fold increase in pixel count.