Inside

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti delivers a performance profile in Inside that is defined by massive headroom at lower resolutions and a predictable, GPU-bound curve as pixel count rises. The benchmark data shows a system capable of extreme frame rates, with the limiting factor shifting decisively from the processor to the graphics card only at 4K with higher presets. This analysis walks through the measured FPS rows to interpret what they reveal about the combination's behavior, its optimal settings, and its standing relative to other tested configurations.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 produces a dramatic reduction in average frame rates across all settings, but the shape of that decline tells a clear story about component bottlenecks. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 397 at 1080p to 285 at 1440p, a reduction of 112 frames, and then further to 179 at 4K, another 106-frame drop. This steep, near-linear scaling indicates that even at Low settings, the GPU is the primary driver of performance; the CPU is not holding the system back at any resolution.

For Medium settings, the pattern continues with averages of 317 at 1080p, 228 at 1440p, and 143 at 4K. The percentage decline from 1080p to 4K is roughly 55%, which aligns with the increase in pixel count (from roughly 2 million to 8.3 million pixels). This consistency suggests that the game's rendering load scales almost directly with resolution, and the RTX 3070 Ti's compute and memory bandwidth are the sole limiting factors.

The High and Ultra presets show the most pronounced scaling effects. High averages go from 198 at 1080p to 143 at 1440p (a 28% drop) and then to 90 at 4K (a 37% drop from 1440p). Ultra averages start at 189 at 1080p, drop to 136 at 1440p, and finally to 85 at 4K. At these higher settings, the 4K figures cluster tightly (90 FPS for High, 85 FPS for Ultra), indicating that the GPU is saturated. The data suggests that at 1080p and 1440p, the CPU (with its 8 cores and 16 threads) provides ample headroom, as the FPS differences between presets are modest compared to the massive jumps seen when resolution changes.

Notably, the gap between Low and Ultra narrows as resolution increases. At 1080p, the difference between Low (397 FPS) and Ultra (189 FPS) is 208 frames. At 4K, that gap shrinks to 94 frames (179 vs 85). This compression is a classic sign of a GPU bottleneck at higher resolutions; the extra work from Ultra settings becomes relatively less impactful when the pixel throughput is already maxing out the graphics hardware.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the optimal settings depend heavily on the target resolution and refresh rate. For 1920x1080, the data shows that even Ultra settings deliver an average of 189 FPS, which is above the refresh rate of most standard monitors. However, the Medium preset offers a substantial improvement at 317 FPS, with minimums of 270 FPS, ensuring consistent frame pacing for high-refresh-rate displays. The High preset at 198 FPS is a balanced middle ground, but the data suggests that Medium provides the best experience per the measured rows, as it nearly doubles the Ultra average while maintaining a high minimum.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset again stands out with an average of 228 FPS and minimums of 194 FPS. This is comfortably above the 144 Hz threshold for most gaming monitors, making it the recommended choice for smooth gameplay. The High preset at 143 FPS is also viable for 144 Hz displays, but it sits right at the edge, and any demanding scene could cause drops below that mark. The Ultra preset at 136 FPS is playable but offers no advantage over High given the minimal visual uplift in a puzzle platformer, and the Low preset's 285 FPS is overkill for most displays.

For 3840x2160, the situation is different. The High preset yields an average of 90 FPS, which is smooth for most players, but the Medium preset (143 FPS) provides a significantly better experience if the display supports it. The Ultra preset at 85 FPS is the only option that dips below 90, and the Low preset (179 FPS) is unnecessarily high for 4K. The data indicates that Medium at 4K is the sweet spot, offering nearly double the frame rate of Ultra while likely maintaining similar visual fidelity in a game with this art style. The minimum FPS data for Medium (122 at 4K) confirms that frame dips are well-controlled, making it the most reliable choice.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti is the dominant component in this pairing for Inside, as evidenced by the resolution scaling analysis. Its 8 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 608.3 GB/s, which is sufficient for the game's texture and geometry loads at 4K, as the 4K Medium result (143 FPS) shows no signs of memory capacity throttling. The GPU's boost clock of 1770 MHz and base clock of 1575 MHz are modest, but the architecture's 6144 shading units and 192 texture mapping units deliver the raw throughput needed for the high frame rates observed.

The benchmark scores for the GPU place it in the 75th percentile of all GPUs, with an average score of 29945. Its nearest rivals in the data include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile (29928, +0.1% delta) and the AMD Radeon RX 6800 (30095, -0.5% delta), showing that this desktop card is performance-class equivalent to those parts. In Inside, the GPU's role is to render the game's atmospheric lighting and shadow effects, and the data shows that it handles this efficiently, as even the 4K Ultra preset maintains an average above 85 FPS.

The GPU's FP32 performance of 21.75 TFLOPS and pixel rate of 169.9 GPixel/s are key indicators of its capability. The measured FPS at 1080p Low (397) suggests that the card is not fully utilized at that resolution, as the CPU could likely push higher, but the frame rate is already so high that it becomes irrelevant. The 4K results, particularly the jump from 143 FPS at Medium to 90 FPS at High, indicate that the GPU's shading units are the limiting factor when more complex pixel shaders are enabled.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the data shows the following average frame rates: Low settings produce 397 FPS, Medium produces 317 FPS (with a minimum of 270 and maximum of 365), High produces 198 FPS, and Ultra produces 189 FPS. The gap between Medium and High is substantial (119 FPS), while the gap between High and Ultra is minimal (9 FPS), suggesting that the High preset includes a significant increase in rendering complexity that Ultra does not build upon much further.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 285 FPS for Low, 228 FPS for Medium (minimum 194, maximum 263), 143 FPS for High, and 136 FPS for Ultra. The pattern is identical to 1080p, with Medium providing a 60% boost over High, and High and Ultra being nearly identical. The minimum FPS for Medium (194) is higher than the average for High (143), which highlights the consistency of the Medium preset.

At 3840x2160, the averages drop to 179 FPS for Low, 143 FPS for Medium (minimum 122, maximum 165), 90 FPS for High, and 85 FPS for Ultra. The 4K Medium preset is the only one at this resolution that maintains a minimum above 120 FPS, making it the clear choice for high-refresh-rate 4K displays. The High and Ultra results are close, but the 5-FPS difference (90 vs 85) suggests that Ultra adds minimal visual benefit for a slight performance cost.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maintain a 144 Hz experience?

A: The data shows that at 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the average FPS is 228 with a minimum of 194, which comfortably exceeds 144 Hz. At 3840x2160, the Medium preset achieves 143 FPS, which is just below 144 Hz but still very smooth, making 1440p the safer choice for strict 144 Hz targets.

Q: How does the RTX 3070 Ti compare to its nearest rivals in terms of average benchmark scores?

A: The RTX 3070 Ti has an average benchmark score of 29945. Its nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile with a score of 29928, a delta of +0.1%. The AMD Radeon RX 6800 scores 30095, which is -0.5% relative to the RTX 3070 Ti, showing they are statistically tied.

Q: Does the 8 GB VRAM cause any issues at 4K in this game?

A: No, the measured data shows that the 4K Medium preset achieves an average of 143 FPS with a minimum of 122 FPS. The 8 GB GDDR6X memory with 608.3 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient for Inside at 4K, as there are no signs of stuttering or frame drops that would indicate memory capacity limitations.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck at 1080p Ultra?

A: At 1080p Ultra, the average FPS is 189, while at 1080p Low it is 397. The large difference between presets indicates that the GPU is still the primary limiter, as a CPU bottleneck would show similar frame rates regardless of settings. The CPU's single-thread score of 4691 supports its capability to feed the GPU at these rates.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 799th out of 2887 total combinations tested for Inside, placing it in the top 28% of all systems. This rank reflects the strong performance of both the CPU and GPU in this game.

Q: Should I use Low or Medium settings for maximum frame rates?

A: The data shows that Low settings only provide a modest gain over Medium. At 1080p, Low averages 397 FPS versus 317 for Medium, but Medium offers a more stable experience with a minimum of 270 FPS. Given the small visual difference in a puzzle platformer, Medium is the recommended preset for maxing out frame rates without sacrificing quality.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F, with 8 cores and 16 threads, plays a supporting role in Inside but is not the limiting factor in any measured scenario. Its base clock of 3.80 GHz and boost clock of 5.50 GHz are high, and its Zen 5 architecture on a 4 nm process provides excellent single-thread performance, as evidenced by its PassMark single-thread score of 4691. The CPU's L3 cache of 32 MB shared across the cores helps with game logic and physics, but the data shows that frame rates are almost entirely dependent on the GPU.

The CPU's average benchmark score is 69996, placing it in the 94th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals are the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX (69875, +0.2% delta), Intel Core i7-14700KF (70163, -0.2% delta), and AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (69515, +0.7% delta), all of which perform within 1% of each other. In Inside, the CPU's 16 threads are more than sufficient for the game's single-threaded physics and logic, and the 1080p Low result of 397 FPS shows that the CPU can push frames well beyond what most displays can show.

The CPU's memory bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s over dual-channel DDR5 is adequate for streaming game data, and its 24 PCIe Gen 5 lanes provide ample bandwidth for the GPU. The fact that the 4K Ultra preset still achieves 85 FPS indicates that the CPU is never starving the GPU, even at the highest settings. The data suggests that this CPU would not bottleneck even a faster GPU, as the frame rates scale purely with resolution and settings, not with CPU load.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti ranks 799th out of 2887 tested combos for Inside, placing it in the 72nd percentile of all systems. This ranking is impressive given that the GPU is from the previous generation, and it reflects the game's relatively low system requirements. The rank is driven by the GPU's strong performance, as the CPU's 94th percentile standing ensures that it is not holding the system back.

Compared to other combos, this pairing benefits from the CPU's high single-thread performance, which is crucial for games like Inside that rely on deterministic physics and puzzle logic. The GPU's benchmark scores, which are within 1% of the RTX 5070 Mobile and RX 6800, suggest that this combo would perform similarly to systems with those cards. The rank of 799 indicates that roughly 28% of tested systems are faster, but those likely feature higher-end GPUs such as the RTX 4080 or RX 7900 XTX, which are not in the data for direct comparison.

The combo's position in the rankings is also notable because the CPU and GPU are well-matched in terms of generation. The 9700F's release in 2025 (with a launch MSRP of $289) pairs with the 2021 RTX 3070 Ti (launch MSRP of 599 USD), and the data shows no obvious imbalance. The 4K results, which are above 85 FPS at Ultra, put this combo in the upper tier of systems capable of 4K gaming, even if it is not at the very top. For a puzzle platformer, this level of performance is far beyond what is necessary, but the rank confirms that it is a capable configuration.