Inside

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F and AMD Radeon RX 580 combination delivers a remarkably consistent experience in Inside, a 2016 puzzle platformer. The measured data reveals that this pairing is capable of producing playable frame rates at high resolutions, with the primary bottleneck shifting characteristically between the CPU and GPU depending on the graphics settings. Benchmark results indicate that the 8-core, 16-thread Zen 5 processor provides ample headroom, allowing the Polaris-based GPU to define the performance ceiling in most scenarios.

Settings Recommendations

For this specific hardware pairing, the data suggests that the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience across all tested resolutions. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset delivers an average of 120 FPS, which is 45 FPS lower than the Low preset's 150 FPS but 45 FPS higher than the High preset's 75 FPS. The Medium preset also provides the only complete frame time data in the entire dataset, with a minimum of 102 FPS and a maximum of 138 FPS at 1080p, indicating a stable frame pacing that is absent in other settings. This stability is a crucial factor for a puzzle platformer where precise input timing matters.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset maintains an average of 86 FPS with a minimum of 73 FPS, which remains comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The drop from the Low preset's 108 FPS to Medium's 86 FPS represents a 20.4% performance cost, but the visual quality improvement is substantial given the game's atmospheric lighting and shadow work. At 3840x2160, the Medium preset yields an average of 54 FPS with a minimum of 46 FPS, which is borderline for a fluid experience but acceptable for a slower-paced puzzle title.

The Ultra preset, while offering the highest visual fidelity, pushes the RX 580 to its limits. At 1080p, Ultra averages 71 FPS, which is only 4 FPS lower than High but 49 FPS lower than Medium. At 4K, Ultra drops to a 32 FPS average, which is below the playable threshold for most users. The High preset sits between Medium and Ultra, but the data shows that the incremental visual gains from High to Ultra do not justify the performance penalty. For players prioritizing a consistent frame rate, Medium is the optimal choice, while those with 1080p displays can safely explore High settings if they accept a 75 FPS average.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 580, based on the Polaris 20 chip with GCN 4.0 architecture, is the primary performance limiter in this configuration. Its 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient for Inside's art style but becomes a constraint at higher resolutions. The GPU's 2304 shading units and 32 ROPs deliver a pixel rate of 42.88 GPixel/s, which directly impacts how many pixels can be processed per frame.

The clock speeds are modest by modern standards, with a base clock of 1257 MHz and a boost clock of 1340 MHz. The memory runs at 2000 MHz, translating to 8 Gbps effective, which is adequate for this game's texture-heavy environments. The RX 580's FP32 performance of 6.175 TFLOPS is the key metric for Inside, as the game primarily relies on conventional rasterization rather than ray tracing or tensor core acceleration, both of which are absent from this GPU.

Benchmark results show the RX 580 ranks in the 53rd percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 12928. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile, scores 12940, a delta of just -0.1%, indicating near-identical raw performance. The GTX 1660 SUPER is 0.4% ahead, while the AMD Radeon 740M is 0.5% behind. This positions the RX 580 as a mid-range performer that can handle Inside at playable frame rates but requires settings compromises at higher resolutions.

The GPU's 185 W TDP and dual-slot design are typical for its era, and its DirectX 12 (12_0) support aligns well with the game's API requirements. The Vulkan 1.3 support offers potential performance improvements in certain rendering paths, though the measured data does not differentiate between API implementations.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling across resolutions reveals a predictable pattern with some notable characteristics. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 at Low settings, the average FPS drops from 150 to 108, a 28.0% decrease. From 1440p to 4K at Low settings, the average drops further to 68 FPS, a 37.0% decrease from 1440p. This indicates that the RX 580's pixel throughput becomes increasingly stressed as resolution increases, with the GPU being the clear limiting factor.

At Medium settings, the scaling is more gradual. The 1080p average of 120 FPS drops to 86 FPS at 1440p (a 28.3% decrease) and then to 54 FPS at 4K (a 37.2% decrease from 1440p). The min FPS values follow a similar trajectory, going from 102 at 1080p to 73 at 1440p and 46 at 4K. This consistent scaling pattern suggests that the game's rendering workload scales linearly with pixel count, with no unexpected bottlenecks emerging.

High settings show a more pronounced drop at 4K. The 1080p average of 75 FPS falls to 54 FPS at 1440p (a 28.0% decrease) and then to 34 FPS at 4K (a 37.0% decrease from 1440p). The 4K result at High settings is particularly telling, as it falls below the 60 FPS threshold and approaches the 30 FPS minimum for playability. Ultra settings follow a similar pattern, with 71 FPS at 1080p, 51 FPS at 1440p, and 32 FPS at 4K.

The scaling data strongly indicates that the RX 580 is the limiting component across all resolutions. The CPU's high single-thread performance, evidenced by its Passmark single-thread score of 4691, ensures that it is not introducing frame rate variability. The consistent percentage drops between resolutions, regardless of settings, confirm that the GPU's pixel processing capabilities are the primary constraint.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full range of settings produces playable frame rates. The Low preset averages 150 FPS, providing a significant headroom for high refresh rate displays. The Medium preset averages 120 FPS with a minimum of 102 FPS and a maximum of 138 FPS, offering a smooth experience with minimal frame time variance. The High preset averages 75 FPS, which is adequate for standard 60 Hz displays but shows a 37.5% performance drop from Medium. The Ultra preset averages 71 FPS, nearly identical to High, suggesting diminishing returns at the highest settings.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset maintains an average of 108 FPS, still comfortably above 60 FPS. The Medium preset averages 86 FPS with a minimum of 73 FPS, ensuring consistent gameplay. The High preset averages 54 FPS, which dips below the 60 FPS threshold but remains playable for a puzzle platformer. The Ultra preset averages 51 FPS, a marginal difference from High, indicating that the render scale is not the primary cost driver at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset is the only option that maintains a playable average, at 68 FPS. The Medium preset averages 54 FPS with a minimum of 46 FPS, which may be acceptable for players who prioritize visual quality over frame rate. The High preset averages 34 FPS, approaching the boundary of playability. The Ultra preset averages 32 FPS, making it unsuitable for most users. The 4K results clearly demonstrate that the RX 580's 256-bit memory bus and 32 ROPs become the limiting factor, as the GPU cannot sustain adequate throughput at this pixel density.

How This Combo Ranks

In the benchmark database, this specific combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F and AMD Radeon RX 580 ranks 2631st out of 2887 tested combinations for Inside. This places it in the bottom 8.9% of all tested combos, which is a reflection of the GPU's age rather than the CPU's capability. The ranking is heavily weighted toward the GPU's performance, as the RX 580 was released in 2017 and has been superseded by multiple generations.

The CPU's contribution to this ranking is minimal, as the Ryzen 7 9700F is a current-generation processor. Its Passmark multithread score of 36470 and single-thread score of 4691 place it in the 94th percentile among all CPUs. The nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX, scores 69875 on average, a delta of just 0.2%, indicating that the 9700F is performing at the expected level. The Intel Core i7-14700KF is 0.2% behind, while the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X is 0.7% ahead. This shows that the CPU is not a limiting factor in this combo's ranking.

The low combo rank is almost entirely attributable to the GPU, which ranks in the 53rd percentile among all GPUs. The RX 580's average benchmark score of 12928 is nearly identical to its nearest rivals, with the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile being 0.1% ahead and the GTX 1660 SUPER being 0.4% ahead. This places the GPU in the middle of the pack, but the combination with a high-end CPU does not boost the overall ranking because the game's performance is GPU-bound.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F is a 9000 series processor based on the Zen 5 architecture, codenamed Granite Ridge. It features 8 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz. This configuration provides substantial processing power for Inside, a game that does not heavily utilize multi-threading. The CPU's Passmark single-thread score of 4691 is particularly relevant, as puzzle platformers often have a single dominant thread for game logic and physics.

The CPU's cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1 MB of L2 per core, and 32 MB of shared L3 cache. This large L3 cache helps reduce memory latency, which is beneficial for the game's asset streaming. The dual-channel DDR5 memory support with 89.6 GB/s of bandwidth ensures that the CPU can feed the GPU without creating a bottleneck. The 4 nm process node and 8,315 million transistors indicate a modern design that delivers high instructions per clock.

In Inside, the CPU's role is to maintain consistent frame times, particularly at lower resolutions where the GPU is less stressed. At 1080p Low settings, the 150 FPS average demonstrates that the CPU can drive the GPU to its maximum output without becoming a constraint. Even at 1080p Ultra, where the GPU is more heavily loaded, the CPU's performance headroom ensures that frame rate dips are attributable to the GPU, not the processor.

The CPU's nearest rivals in the benchmark database show that it is competitively positioned. The AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX has an average score of 69875, which is 0.2% higher than the 9700F's 69996 average. The Intel Core i7-14700KF scores 70163, 0.2% lower than the 9700F. These differences are within the margin of error, indicating that the 9700F is performing as expected for its class. The CPU's 65 W TDP and 24 PCIe Gen 5 lanes provide a solid foundation for the RX 580, even though the GPU uses PCIe 3.0 x16.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1080p gameplay with this combo?

A: The Medium preset is the recommended choice. It delivers an average of 120 FPS with a minimum of 102 FPS and a maximum of 138 FPS, providing a smooth and stable experience. The Low preset offers 150 FPS, but the Medium preset provides significantly better visual quality for only a 20% performance cost.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K resolution at playable frame rates?

A: At 4K, only the Low preset achieves a playable average of 68 FPS. The Medium preset averages 54 FPS with a minimum of 46 FPS, which is borderline. High and Ultra presets average 34 FPS and 32 FPS respectively, which are below the playable threshold for most users.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in terms of overall performance?

A: The Ryzen 7 9700F has an average benchmark score of 69996, which places it in the 94th percentile. Its nearest rival, the Ryzen 9 7940HX, scores 69875 (0.2% higher), while the Intel Core i7-14700KF scores 70163 (0.2% lower). The Ryzen 9 7950X scores 69515 (0.7% lower).

Q: What is the GPU's performance relative to its closest competitors?

A: The RX 580 has an average benchmark score of 12928, ranking in the 53rd percentile. The RTX 3050 Ti Mobile scores 12940 (0.1% higher), the GTX 1660 SUPER scores 12986 (0.4% higher), and the AMD Radeon 740M scores 12870 (0.5% lower).

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The GPU is the definitive limiting factor. The scaling data shows consistent frame rate drops as resolution increases, regardless of settings. The CPU's single-thread score of 4691 ensures it can maintain high frame rates, but the RX 580's pixel throughput becomes the bottleneck at higher resolutions.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested combinations in this game?

A: This combination ranks 2631st out of 2887 tested combos, placing it in the bottom 8.9%. This low ranking is primarily due to the RX 580's age and mid-range performance, not the CPU, which is a current-generation processor with top-tier benchmark scores.