Inside

# Inside — AMD Ryzen 7 9700F + AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT delivers a thoroughly playable experience in Inside, a puzzle platformer from 2016. The measured frame rates show that this combination handles the game with ease across all tested resolutions, though the scaling patterns reveal important insights about where the performance ceiling lies. With a combo rank of 2117 out of 2887 tested combinations, this pairing sits in the lower-middle portion of the database, but the absolute frame rates tell a more favorable story for this specific title. The following analysis breaks down the measured data to explain what these numbers mean for actual gameplay.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic GPU-bound scenario, though the magnitude of the drop varies significantly by settings preset. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 137 FPS at 1920x1080 to 99 FPS at 2560x1440, then to 62 FPS at 3840x2160. That represents a 28% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 37% reduction from 1440p to 4K. The total drop from 1080p to 4K is approximately 55%, which is a substantial decline but expected for a GPU in this class.

Low settings show a steeper relative decline: 275 FPS at 1080p drops to 198 FPS at 1440p (a 28% reduction) and then to 124 FPS at 4K (a 37% reduction from 1440p). The percentage drops are nearly identical to High settings, suggesting that the scaling behavior is consistent regardless of the absolute frame rate. This consistency indicates that the RX 5700 XT's rendering pipeline is being stressed proportionally across all settings levels.

Medium settings provide the most complete dataset, with minimum and maximum frame rates recorded alongside averages. At 1080p, the average is 220 FPS with a minimum of 187 FPS and maximum of 253 FPS. At 1440p, the average falls to 158 FPS with minimum 134 FPS and maximum 182 FPS. At 4K, the average drops to 99 FPS with minimum 84 FPS and maximum 114 FPS. The spread between minimum and maximum remains tight at each resolution — roughly 30% of the average — indicating stable frame pacing without severe spikes or stutters.

Ultra settings follow a similar pattern to High: 131 FPS at 1080p, 94 FPS at 1440p, and 59 FPS at 4K. The 1080p-to-1440p drop is 28%, and the 1440p-to-4K drop is 37%, again matching the other presets. This uniform scaling strongly suggests that pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth are the limiting factors, as the GPU's compute resources scale linearly with resolution while the CPU remains largely idle.

The fact that 4K Ultra still achieves 59 FPS average is notable, as it means the game remains playable even at the highest settings and resolution. However, the gap between 1080p and 4K at every preset — roughly 2.2x fewer frames — points to the RX 5700 XT's 256-bit memory bus and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth as the primary constraints, rather than the CPU or any software bottleneck.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination ranks 2117 out of 2887 tested combos in Inside, placing it in the 27th percentile of all configurations. This ranking might seem low given the high absolute frame rates, but it reflects the fact that Inside is a lightweight title where even mid-range hardware can achieve triple-digit FPS. The ranking is more indicative of relative performance within the database than of any deficiency in this pairing.

Looking at the GPU's position in the broader benchmark landscape, the RX 5700 XT holds a 59th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 16361. Its nearest rivals in the GPU benchmarks are the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M (scoring 16351, just 0.1% lower), the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell (scoring 16408, 0.3% higher), and the AMD Radeon PRO W7500 (scoring 16415, 0.3% higher). These tiny deltas — all within 1% — show that the RX 5700 XT sits in a tightly clustered performance tier where individual game optimizations can flip the order.

For the CPU, the Ryzen 7 9700F holds a 94th percentile ranking among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 69996. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX (69875, 0.2% lower), the Intel Core i7-14700KF (70163, 0.2% higher), the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (69515, 0.7% lower), and the Intel Core i7-14700K (69355, 0.9% lower). The CPU's high percentile ranking contrasts sharply with the combo's low in-game rank, which reinforces the interpretation that the GPU is the limiting factor in this pairing.

The discrepancy between the combo rank (27th percentile) and the GPU's own percentile (59th) suggests that many other tested combinations use faster GPUs that push Inside to even higher frame rates. Since the game is not demanding, the ceiling is high, and the RX 5700 XT's mid-tier position becomes more apparent when compared against the full field of tested configurations.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT is built on the RDNA 1.0 architecture with the Navi 10 chip, manufactured on a 7 nm process at TSMC. The GPU contains 10,300 million transistors on a 251 mm² die, with a transistor density of 41.0M per mm². It features 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 64 raster output pipelines. The pixel rate is 121.9 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 304.8 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance rated at 9.754 TFLOPS and FP16 at 19.51 TFLOPS (2:1).

The memory subsystem consists of 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The memory clock runs at 1750 MHz, which translates to 14 Gbps effective. This bandwidth figure is directly relevant to the 4K scaling observed in Inside, as higher resolutions demand more data movement per frame. The 8 GB capacity is ample for this title, which released in 2016 and does not require large texture pools.

Clock speeds are listed as a base of 1605 MHz, a game clock of 1755 MHz, and a boost clock of 1905 MHz. The game clock is the more meaningful figure for sustained gaming workloads, as it represents the expected frequency under typical load. The boost clock provides headroom for thermally favorable conditions, but the measured frame rates suggest the GPU is operating near its game clock during Inside sessions.

The RX 5700 XT supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, all of which are relevant for a game like Inside that can utilize modern graphics APIs. The GPU's TDP is 225 W, and it requires a 550 W suggested power supply with a 1x 6-pin plus 1x 8-pin power connector configuration. The card measures 272 mm in length, 111 mm in height, and 36 mm in width, occupying a dual-slot form factor.

Given that the GPU's nearest rivals all score within 0.9% of its average benchmark score, the RX 5700 XT is firmly established in a performance band where small architectural differences determine game-specific outcomes. For Inside, the measured frame rates indicate that the GPU is being utilized effectively, with no obvious driver or API bottleneck preventing it from reaching its potential.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 275 FPS, demonstrating that the game is easily handled at the lowest settings. Medium raises the average to 220 FPS, with a minimum of 187 FPS and a maximum of 253 FPS. High drops the average to 137 FPS, while Ultra yields 131 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra at 1080p is minimal — only 6 FPS — suggesting that the Ultra preset adds visual features that cost little performance at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, Low averages 198 FPS, Medium averages 158 FPS with a minimum of 134 FPS and maximum of 182 FPS, High averages 99 FPS, and Ultra averages 94 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra narrows further to 5 FPS, while the step from Low to Medium costs 40 FPS, and Medium to High costs 59 FPS. This pattern indicates that the Medium-to-High transition is the most performance-intensive setting change at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, Low averages 124 FPS, Medium averages 99 FPS with a minimum of 84 FPS and maximum of 114 FPS, High averages 62 FPS, and Ultra averages 59 FPS. The High-to-Ultra gap shrinks to just 3 FPS, while Medium-to-High costs 37 FPS. Notably, the minimum frame rate at 4K Medium (84 FPS) is still well above the 60 FPS threshold, meaning the game remains smooth even during demanding scenes.

Across all resolutions, the Medium preset is the only one with complete minimum and maximum data. At 1080p, the minimum of 187 FPS represents 85% of the average, while the maximum of 253 FPS is 115% of the average. At 1440p, the minimum of 134 FPS is 85% of the average, and the maximum of 182 FPS is 115%. At 4K, the minimum of 84 FPS is 85% of the average, and the maximum of 114 FPS is 115%. This consistent 85-115% band across all resolutions demonstrates excellent frame time consistency, with no outlier spikes or drops.

The Ultra preset's performance relative to High is remarkably consistent: at 1080p, Ultra is 95.6% of High's frame rate; at 1440p, it is 94.9%; and at 4K, it is 95.2%. This uniformity suggests that the Ultra preset adds a fixed percentage of additional rendering work, independent of resolution.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Inside at 4K 60 FPS?

A: Yes, at 4K Medium the average is 99 FPS with a minimum of 84 FPS, and at High the average is 62 FPS. Only the Ultra preset dips below 60 FPS, averaging 59 FPS.

Q: What is the best resolution for this pairing?

A: At 1440p, all presets exceed 94 FPS, with Low reaching 198 FPS and Medium at 158 FPS. This resolution offers a strong balance between visual fidelity and high frame rates.

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

A: The Ryzen 7 9700F scores 69996 on average, which is 0.2% higher than the Ryzen 9 7940HX (69875), 0.2% lower than the Core i7-14700KF (70163), 0.7% higher than the Ryzen 9 7950X (69515), and 0.9% higher than the Core i7-14700K (69355).

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

A: The RX 5700 XT scores 16361 on average, which is 0.1% higher than the Radeon Pro 5600M (16351), 0.3% lower than the RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell (16408), 0.3% lower than the Radeon PRO W7500 (16415), and 0.9% lower than the RTX 5090 D V2 (16504).

Q: Is the 8 GB VRAM sufficient for this game?

A: The measured data shows no VRAM-related issues at any resolution or setting, as the game's 2016 release date means its texture requirements are modest. The 8 GB GDDR6 with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth is more than adequate.

Q: What frame rates can I expect at 1080p Ultra?

A: The average is 131 FPS, which is only 6 FPS lower than High at 137 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1080p provides a high-refresh-rate experience without significant performance cost.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the Medium preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance across all resolutions. At 1080p, Medium delivers 220 FPS average with a tight 187-253 FPS range, which is more than sufficient for any display. At 1440p, Medium averages 158 FPS with a minimum of 134 FPS, keeping well above 120 FPS for smooth gameplay. Even at 4K, Medium achieves 99 FPS average with an 84 FPS minimum, which is comfortable for 60 Hz displays and provides headroom for variable refresh rate monitors.

The High preset is a viable alternative for users prioritizing visual fidelity, as it maintains 137 FPS at 1080p, 99 FPS at 1440p, and 62 FPS at 4K. The 4K High figure is right at the 60 FPS threshold, making it a borderline choice for users with 4K displays. Ultra provides only marginal gains over High — never more than 5 FPS difference — while costing additional GPU resources, so it is not recommended given the negligible visual return.

For maximum frame rates, the Low preset achieves 275 FPS at 1080p, 198 FPS at 1440p, and 124 FPS at 4K. This preset is suitable for competitive play or for users with very high refresh rate monitors, though the visual compromise may not be worth it for a puzzle platformer like Inside. The Medium preset's consistency across all resolutions — with minimum frame rates always above 84 FPS — makes it the safest recommendation for a smooth, stutter-free experience.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F is an 8-core, 16-thread processor from the 9000 series, built on the Zen 5 architecture with the Granite Ridge codename. It operates at a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU is manufactured on a 4 nm process at TSMC, containing 8,315 million transistors on a 70.6 mm² die. It supports DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration with 89.6 GB/s of bandwidth, and ECC memory is supported. The socket is AMD Socket AM5, and the CPU provides PCIe Gen 5 with 24 lanes.

The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1 MB of L2 per core, and 32 MB of shared L3 cache. The processor's benchmark results show strong multi-threaded performance, with a Passmark multithread score of 36470 and a single-thread score of 4691. Other notable Passmark scores include integer math at 120788, floating point math at 77955, extended instructions at 33688, and data compression at 421988. The average benchmark score is 69996, placing it in the 94th percentile of all CPUs.

In Inside, the CPU's role is minimal due to the game's low computational demands. The measured frame rates scale almost entirely with resolution, which is a hallmark of GPU-bound performance. The fact that 1080p Low achieves 275 FPS — a frame rate that would challenge even the fastest CPUs in more demanding titles — indicates that the Ryzen 7 9700F has ample headroom for this game. The CPU's high single-thread score of 4691 ensures that the main game thread is never a bottleneck, while the 8 cores and 16 threads provide far more parallelism than Inside requires.

The CPU's nearest rivals in benchmark scores are all within 0.9% of its average, confirming that this processor sits in a performance tier where differences are negligible for gaming. The Ryzen 7 9700F's 94th percentile ranking means it outperforms the vast majority of installed CPUs, but in Inside, this headroom goes largely unused. The game's 2016 release date means it was designed for hardware from that era, and modern CPUs like this one are simply not stressed by its workload. The combination of a high-percentile CPU with a mid-tier GPU results in a system where the GPU determines the final frame rates, and the measured data confirms this relationship across all presets and resolutions.