Inside

Inside is a 2016 puzzle platformer that places minimal demands on modern hardware, yet the measured results from the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F paired with the Intel Arc B370 reveal a surprisingly consistent performance pattern across resolutions. The data shows that this combination, while ranking near the bottom of the database, delivers playable frame rates at most settings, with the GPU acting as the primary bottleneck. The following analysis breaks down exactly what these numbers mean for a builder considering this specific pairing.

FAQ

Q: Is this CPU+GPU combo capable of running Inside at 1080p with high settings?

A: Yes. The measured average frame rate at 1920x1080 with High settings is 70 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The data shows that even at Ultra settings, the combo maintains a 67 FPS average, indicating that the game runs comfortably at this resolution regardless of the preset chosen.

Q: How does the Arc B370's performance compare to its closest rivals in the benchmark database?

A: The Intel Arc B370 scores 1184 in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, placing it at the 5th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (1186, a 0.2% difference), ATI Radeon HD 5770 (1190, 0.5% higher), AMD Radeon HD 7650M (1192, 0.7% higher), and AMD FirePro M2000 (1168, 1.4% lower). This puts it in the company of legacy discrete GPUs from over a decade ago.

Q: What is the CPU's standing relative to other processors in the database?

A: The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F sits at the 94th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 69996. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX (69875, 0.2% lower), Intel Core i7-14700KF (70163, 0.2% higher), AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (69515, 0.7% lower), and Intel Core i7-14700K (69355, 0.9% lower). This is a top-tier processor by compute standards.

Q: Does the frame rate drop significantly when moving from 1080p to 4K?

A: Yes, the reduction is substantial. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 70 at 1080p to 51 at 1440p and further to 32 at 2160p. This represents a 54% decrease from 1080p to 4K, which strongly indicates the GPU is the limiting factor, as the CPU's performance headroom is not being fully utilized at higher resolutions.

Q: What are the minimum frame rates recorded for this combo?

A: Minimum FPS data is only available for Medium settings. At 1080p Medium, the minimum is 96 FPS; at 1440p Medium, it is 69 FPS; and at 2160p Medium, it is 43 FPS. These minimums are all above 30 FPS, ensuring no severe stuttering, though the 4K figure approaches the edge of playability.

Q: Is this a balanced pairing for a modern gaming PC?

A: The data suggests a significant imbalance. The CPU ranks in the 94th percentile while the GPU ranks in the 5th percentile. In Inside, this means the GPU is consistently the bottleneck, as evidenced by the sharp FPS drops at higher resolutions. The CPU's compute power is largely wasted in this specific game, though it would excel in CPU-bound titles.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F is a desktop processor from the 9000 series, built on the Zen 5 architecture with the Granite Ridge codename. It features 8 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz. The CPU has a 65 W TDP, operates on the AMD Socket AM5, and is manufactured on a 4 nm process by TSMC, containing 8,315 million transistors on a 70.6 mm² die. Its cache layout includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1 MB of L2 per core, and 32 MB of shared L3 cache.

In the context of Inside, the CPU's role is minimal due to the game's age and low computational demands. The benchmark data shows the 9700F achieving a Passmark single-thread score of 4691 and a multithread score of 36470, which places it at the 94th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals in the database, such as the Intel Core i7-14700KF (70163 avg score, 0.2% higher) and AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (69515, 0.7% lower), are all high-end parts that would handle this game with ease.

The measured FPS in Inside does not vary based on CPU load in a way that suggests any bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 141 FPS, which is the highest recorded figure across all settings. If the CPU were limiting performance, we would expect to see frame rates plateau regardless of resolution. Instead, FPS scales inversely with resolution, confirming that the CPU has ample headroom. The 9700F's 5.50 GHz boost clock and 16 threads are far more than Inside requires, making this processor overkill for this title but ensuring zero CPU-related frame drops.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B370 is an integrated graphics solution based on the Xe3-LPG architecture, with the Panther Lake chip. It has a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2400 MHz, with system-shared memory (size, type, bus width, and bandwidth are all system-dependent). The GPU features 1280 shading units, 40 texture mapping units, and 20 raster operation units, along with 10 ray tracing cores. Its compute capabilities include 6.144 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 12.29 TFLOPS of FP16 performance, with a pixel rate of 48.00 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 96.00 GTexel/s. The TDP is 25 W, and it supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

The Arc B370's benchmark performance is extremely modest. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1184 places it at the 5th percentile of all GPUs, meaning it outperforms only a small fraction of the database. Its nearest rivals are all legacy parts: the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (1186, 0.2% higher), ATI Radeon HD 5770 (1190, 0.5% higher), AMD Radeon HD 7650M (1192, 0.7% higher), and AMD FirePro M2000 (1168, 1.4% lower). This positions the Arc B370 as comparable to GPUs from the early 2010s.

In Inside, the GPU's limitations become apparent at higher resolutions. The 2400 MHz boost clock is the key factor here, as it allows the GPU to perform adequately at 1080p but struggles to maintain frame rates when pixel count increases. The system-shared memory means that bandwidth is dependent on the CPU's DDR5 memory controller, which can become a bottleneck at 4K. The data shows that the GPU is the sole limiting component, as FPS drops by roughly half when moving from 1080p to 4K at each settings level, which is a classic sign of GPU-bound performance.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F and Intel Arc B370 ranks 2654 out of 2887 tested combos in Inside, placing it in the bottom 8% of the database. This low ranking is almost entirely attributable to the GPU, given that the CPU is in the top 6% of all processors. The disparity between the two components is stark: the CPU's Passmark average score of 69996 puts it on par with high-end desktop parts like the Intel Core i7-14700KF, while the GPU's 3DMark score of 1184 puts it on par with obsolete mobile graphics.

In practical terms, this combo ranks below the vast majority of systems in the database for Inside, but the game is so undemanding that the rank does not translate to a poor experience at lower resolutions. At 1080p, the combo outperforms many systems with older mid-range GPUs, as evidenced by the 141 FPS average at Low settings. However, at 4K, the rank is more reflective of actual performance, with only 30-32 FPS at High and Ultra settings, which would be considered borderline playable at best.

The data indicates that the combo's rank is not a measure of the CPU's capability but rather a direct reflection of the GPU's position in the 5th percentile. For a builder looking at this pairing, the rank should be interpreted as a warning that the GPU will limit performance in any graphically demanding scenario, regardless of the CPU's strength.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases, which is a textbook example of GPU-bound scaling. At High settings, the average FPS goes from 70 at 1080p to 51 at 1440p (a 27% drop) and then to 32 at 2160p (a 37% drop from 1440p). The same trend is visible at Low settings, with FPS dropping from 141 at 1080p to 101 at 1440p and 64 at 2160p, representing a 55% reduction from 1080p to 4K.

This scaling behavior tells us that the Arc B370's rendering throughput is the limiting factor. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect FPS to remain relatively flat across resolutions, as the CPU's workload does not change significantly with pixel count. Instead, the FPS nearly halves at each resolution step, which indicates that the GPU is saturated and cannot keep up with the increasing pixel workload.

The Medium settings data provides additional insight, as it includes minimum FPS values. At 1080p Medium, the average is 113 FPS with a minimum of 96; at 1440p Medium, the average drops to 81 with a minimum of 69; and at 2160p Medium, the average falls to 51 with a minimum of 43. The minimum FPS values scale proportionally with the averages, suggesting consistent frame pacing without sudden spikes or drops. This is a positive sign for playability, as even the 4K minimum of 43 FPS is above the console-standard 30 FPS threshold.

The resolution scaling analysis strongly suggests that a user should stick to 1080p or 1440p for a smooth experience, as the 4K results are only playable at Low settings (64 FPS) and drop below 30 FPS at Ultra settings (30 FPS average). The GPU's 25 W TDP and system-shared memory are clear indicators that it is not designed for high-resolution gaming, and the data confirms this limitation.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its best performance across all settings. Low settings yield an average of 141 FPS, which is the highest figure recorded in the entire dataset. Medium settings produce an average of 113 FPS with a minimum of 96 and a maximum of 130, while High settings achieve 70 FPS. Ultra settings bring the average down to 67 FPS, which is still above 60 FPS and perfectly playable for a puzzle platformer.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance drops noticeably but remains respectable. Low settings average 101 FPS, which is a 28% reduction from 1080p. Medium settings average 81 FPS with a minimum of 69 and a maximum of 93, while High settings average 51 FPS. Ultra settings fall to 48 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold but still smooth for a game like Inside that does not require fast reaction times.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's limitations become fully apparent. Low settings average 64 FPS, which is playable, but Medium settings drop to 51 FPS with a minimum of 43 and a maximum of 59. High settings average only 32 FPS, and Ultra settings average 30 FPS. The 4K results indicate that this combo is only suitable for Low or Medium settings at this resolution, with the minimum FPS at Medium (43) being the only data point that stays above the 30 FPS playability floor.

The full breakdown shows a consistent pattern: Low settings always provide the highest FPS, followed by Medium, then High, and finally Ultra, with the exception of High versus Ultra at 1080p, where the difference is only 3 FPS (70 vs 67). This suggests that the game's High and Ultra presets have similar GPU requirements at lower resolutions, but the gap widens at higher resolutions where the GPU's limited pixel throughput becomes the deciding factor.