Inside

Inside is a 2016 puzzle platformer that is not graphically demanding by modern standards, yet the measured results for the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F and Intel Arc B570 combination reveal a distinct performance curve across resolutions and settings. The data shows a system that is overwhelmingly capable at 1080p, but one where the scaling to 4K exposes the limits of the graphics card, not the processor.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and clearly indicates where the bottleneck lies. At 1080p with High settings, the combo delivers a very smooth 120 FPS average. Moving to 1440p High drops that to 86 FPS, a 28% reduction. At 4K High, the average falls to 54 FPS, which is a 55% reduction from the 1080p figure. This steep decline is classic GPU-bound behavior; the resolution increase demands exponentially more pixel-pushing power, and the Arc B570's 10 GB of GDDR6 memory and 160-bit bus are working much harder.

The pattern holds across all settings. At Medium, the average FPS goes from 192 at 1080p, to 138 at 1440p, and then to 87 at 4K. The 4K Medium result of 87 FPS is still playable, but the gap between 1440p and 4K is substantial. Looking at the Low preset, the numbers are 240 FPS at 1080p, 172 FPS at 1440p, and 108 FPS at 4K. Even at the lowest settings, the 4K performance is less than half of the 1080p performance. This demonstrates that the CPU, with its 8 cores and 16 threads, is not the limiting factor at lower resolutions; it is feeding frames so quickly that the GPU becomes the sole constraint.

The most telling comparison is between the High and Ultra presets at each resolution. At 1080p, High nets 120 FPS while Ultra nets 114 FPS, a minor 5% penalty. At 4K, High nets 54 FPS and Ultra nets 52 FPS, a similarly small 4% penalty. This shows that the jump from High to Ultra is not what cripples performance. The massive FPS loss comes from the resolution jump itself. The data suggests that this pairing is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, where it can easily push past 80 FPS on High settings. At 4K, it falls into the 50-90 FPS range depending on the preset, which is playable for a puzzle platformer but not ideal for a high-refresh-rate display.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows provide a clear hierarchy for the best experience. For a 60 Hz 4K display, the Medium preset at 4K is the sweet spot, delivering an average of 87 FPS with a minimum of 74 FPS. This ensures no noticeable stutter and stays well above the 60 FPS threshold. The High preset at 4K drops to 54 FPS, which is below 60 and might be noticeable to some users. The Ultra preset at 52 FPS is even worse. Therefore, for 4K, Medium is the recommended choice to maintain fluidity.

For 1440p, the story changes. The High preset at 1440p provides an excellent 86 FPS average, which is great for a 75 Hz or 100 Hz monitor. The Ultra preset at 82 FPS is also very close, so for a minor visual gain, Ultra is viable for those who prefer maximum fidelity over a few extra frames. However, the Medium preset at 138 FPS is the clear winner for high-refresh-rate 1440p monitors (144 Hz), offering a significant jump in smoothness for a small visual trade-off. The Low preset at 172 FPS is unnecessary unless you are chasing every last frame for a 165 Hz or 240 Hz display.

At 1080p, the system is overkill for most scenarios. The High preset at 120 FPS is ideal for a 120 Hz monitor, while the Ultra preset at 114 FPS is nearly identical and offers better shadows and textures. The Medium preset at 192 FPS is the target for 144 Hz and 165 Hz monitors, and even the Low preset at 240 FPS is attainable for competitive play, if the visual downgrade is acceptable. For the best balance of visual quality and smoothness, the High preset is the safe recommendation for 1080p, as the difference to Ultra is minimal in performance.

Given the game's nature as a puzzle platformer, frame pacing and consistency are more important than raw FPS. The data shows that the only rows with reported minimum FPS are the Medium presets. At 1080p Medium, the minimum is 163 FPS, at 1440p Medium it is 117 FPS, and at 4K Medium it is 74 FPS. These minimums suggest that the Medium preset offers the most stable frame delivery, avoiding the potential hitches that can occur on other presets. Therefore, the practical advice is to use Medium on 4K, and High or Ultra on 1440p and 1080p, depending on your monitor's refresh rate.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B570 is the defining component in this pairing. Its 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus provides 380.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient for a game like Inside but explains the performance cliff at 4K. The GPU's base and boost clocks are both locked at 2500 MHz, indicating a fixed operating point. The chip, BMG-G21, is built on a 5 nm process from TSMC with 19,600 million transistors, and its 11.52 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is moderate by modern standards.

The GPU's benchmarks place it in the 65th percentile of all GPUs, which is a solid mid-range position. Its average benchmark score of 20556 is practically identical to its nearest rivals, with a delta of just 0.1% versus the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile and -0.1% versus the Intel Arc A750. This suggests that the Arc B570 is a well-balanced card that trades blows with other mid-range options from the previous generation. In this game, the GPU's performance is the primary driver of the resolution scaling seen in the data.

The 10 GB VRAM capacity is not likely to be a problem in Inside, as the game is not texture-heavy. However, the 160-bit bus width is a limiting factor at 4K, where the higher memory bandwidth demand exceeds what the card can efficiently provide. The pixel rate of 200.0 GPixel/s and texture rate of 360.0 GTexel/s are decent, but they are overwhelmed by the 8.3 million pixels at 3840x2160. The GPU's role here is clear: it is a capable 1080p and 1440p performer, but at 4K, it becomes the limiting component, holding back the otherwise strong CPU.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F and Intel Arc B570 combination ranks 2983 out of 3716 tested combos for this game. This places it in the bottom 20% of all pairings, which might seem surprising given the playable frame rates. This low rank is a reflection of the benchmark database's inclusion of all possible CPU and GPU pairings, including those with much higher-end graphics cards. The rank indicates that while this combo is playable, there are over 700 other combinations that deliver better performance in Inside.

The rank is heavily influenced by the GPU, not the CPU. The Ryzen 7 9700F is a top-tier processor with a 94th percentile ranking among all CPUs, but the Arc B570's 65th percentile ranking drags the combined score down. In a game that is not CPU-intensive, the GPU's mid-range standing becomes the determining factor for this combo's overall rank. The data shows that this combo is not a high-end pairing for this specific title, but it is far from the bottom, leaving significant headroom for other components to be upgraded.

For context, the CPU alone sits near the top of its class. Its average benchmark score of 69996 is within 0.7% of the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X and 0.2% of the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX, making it a performance peer of those flagship chips. The GPU, in contrast, is a mid-pack player. The combination of a top-6% CPU with a low-65th-percentile GPU results in a system that is unbalanced for demanding titles but, as the FPS data shows, perfectly adequate for a game like Inside. The rank of 2983 should be interpreted as a warning for future games, not a condemnation for this one.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F is a Zen 5 architecture processor from the Granite Ridge family, built on a 4 nm TSMC process. It features 8 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz. This is a high-end desktop CPU, and its performance in synthetic benchmarks reflects that. Its Passmark multithread score of 36470 and single-thread score of 4691 are both strong, placing it in the 94th percentile of all CPUs.

In Inside, the CPU's role is minimal. The game is a puzzle platformer with simple physics and AI, so it does not tax the 8 cores. The data supports this: the FPS at 1080p Low is 240, which is likely a cap or a limit of the game's engine rather than the CPU. Even at 1080p Ultra, the CPU is able to feed the GPU enough data to maintain 114 FPS, which reflects its single-thread performance. The CPU's 32 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR5 memory support (89.6 GB/s bandwidth) are more than enough to keep the game's assets streaming without any hitches.

The CPU's nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX and Intel Core i7-14700KF, with performance deltas of 0.2% and -0.2%, respectively. This means the 9700F is effectively on par with those chips, which are both high-end parts. For a game like Inside, any of these CPUs would provide identical results, as the bottleneck is purely on the GPU side. The CPU's high boost clock of 5.50 GHz is particularly useful for maintaining high minimum FPS, even if the average FPS is already high. In summary, the CPU is not a limiting factor in this game; it provides a massive amount of headroom and will not be the reason for any performance issues.

FAQ

Q: Is this combo good enough for 4K gaming in Inside?

A: Yes, but only with the right settings. The data shows a 4K Medium preset yields an average of 87 FPS, which is smooth. The 4K High preset drops to 54 FPS and Ultra to 52 FPS, which may be below a 60 FPS target.

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

A: For a 144 Hz monitor, the 1080p Medium preset delivers 192 FPS, and the 1440p Medium preset delivers 138 FPS. Both are close to or above the 144 Hz refresh rate, providing a very smooth experience.

Q: How does the CPU limit performance in this game?

A: The CPU does not limit performance in this game. The Ryzen 7 9700F has 8 cores and 16 threads with a 5.50 GHz boost clock, which is far more than needed. The FPS drops seen at 4K are entirely due to the GPU's rendering limits.

Q: Are the High and Ultra settings very different in performance?

A: No, the difference is small. At 1080p, High gets 120 FPS and Ultra gets 114 FPS. At 4K, High gets 54 FPS and Ultra gets 52 FPS. The performance gap is only around 5%, so it's safe to use Ultra if you prefer the visual upgrades.

Q: What is the GPU's relative performance compared to its rivals?

A: The Intel Arc B570's average benchmark score is 20556, which is nearly identical to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (20534) and Intel Arc A750 (20582). The performance delta is less than 0.5% in either direction.

Q: Why is the combo rank so low if the game runs well?

A: The combo rank of 2983 out of 3716 compares this pairing to all other CPU and GPU combinations, including those with much more powerful graphics cards. The CPU is in the 94th percentile, but the GPU is only in the 65th, so the combined rank is dragged down by the GPU's mid-range standing.