Inside

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700X and AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT combination delivers a robust experience in Inside, a puzzle platformer that scales dramatically across resolutions. This pairing demonstrates a clear shift in bottleneck behavior as pixel count increases, moving from a predominantly CPU-limited stance at 1080p to a balanced but GPU-leaning profile at 4K.

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates across the three tested resolutions reveal a steep performance curve that is characteristic of a game that is not particularly demanding on modern hardware. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces an average of 339.4 FPS. This figure is exceptionally high, indicating that the CPU is doing the heavy lifting to feed the GPU. Moving to Medium settings at the same resolution yields 271.5 FPS, while High and Ultra settings produce 168.5 FPS and 161.8 FPS, respectively. The relatively small gap between High and Ultra at 1080p suggests that the graphics card is beginning to engage more, but the CPU’s headroom is still the primary enabler of these triple-digit rates.

Stepping up to 1440p, the scaling pattern changes. Low settings drop to 244.5 FPS, a 28% reduction from the 1080p Low figure. Medium settings follow a similar trend, falling to 197.1 FPS. High settings at 1440p produce 121.5 FPS, which is a 28% drop from the 168.5 FPS seen at 1080p High. Ultra settings at 1440p yield 115.8 FPS, a 28% decline from the 161.8 FPS at 1080p Ultra. This consistent proportional decrease across all quality presets indicates that the GPU is now becoming a more significant factor, as the higher pixel count increases the workload on the Radeon RX 6700 XT’s rendering pipeline.

The transition to 4K introduces a more pronounced bottleneck. At 3840x2160, Low settings average 151.6 FPS, which is a 38% reduction from the 1440p Low result. Medium settings at 4K drop to 123 FPS, a 38% decrease from 1440p Medium. High settings at 4K produce 74.2 FPS, a 39% drop from 1440p High, and Ultra settings fall to 72.7 FPS, a 37% reduction from 1440p Ultra. The data clearly shows that the GPU is the limiting component at 4K, as the frame rate scales almost linearly with the increase in pixel count. The difference between High and Ultra at 4K is minimal (74.2 vs 72.7 FPS), which suggests that the GPU is saturated and the additional rendering features in the Ultra preset have a negligible impact on the final output.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT is based on the RDNA 2.0 architecture and features 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, delivering 384.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is ample for a game like Inside, which does not appear to be VRAM-intensive based on the consistent scaling behavior. The GPU’s boost clock of 2581 MHz and game clock of 2424 MHz are key to its performance. The benchmark results show that the card is far from idle even at 4K, where it is clearly the primary driver of the frame rate.

At 1080p, the GPU’s role is somewhat diminished, as the high frame rates (339.4 FPS at Low) are beyond what the rendering pipeline needs to maintain fluidity. The card’s 2560 shading units and 64 ROPs are sufficient to handle the pixel throughput at this resolution without becoming a bottleneck. However, as the resolution increases to 1440p and then 4K, the GPU’s workload expands significantly. The 165.2 GPixel/s pixel rate and 413.0 GTexel/s texture rate are put to the test, and the measured FPS at 4K (74.2 FPS at High) indicates that the card is operating near its limits for this title. The GPU’s percentile ranking against all GPUs is 77, placing it in the upper quartile, yet the 4K results show that it is not an overpowered solution for this game at the highest settings. The data suggests that the card’s 12 GB frame buffer is not the limiting factor; rather, it is the raw compute and fill rate that cap performance at higher resolutions.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700X is a Zen 5 architecture processor with 8 cores and 16 threads, running at a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz. This CPU is a strong performer, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 31588 and single-core score of 4459. In Inside, the CPU’s role is most apparent at 1080p, where the frame rates reach 339.4 FPS at Low settings. This figure reflects the processor’s single-thread capability, as the game’s logic and draw call processing are likely the limiting factors at this point.

The CPU’s 32 MB of shared L3 cache and 1 MB of L2 cache per core provide ample headroom for the game’s data requirements. The 89th percentile ranking against all CPUs indicates that this is a high-end part, and its performance in the 3DMark 2-thread test (2525) and single-thread test (1280) supports its strong showing in a game that may not scale well beyond a few cores. As the resolution increases, the CPU’s influence wanes. The frame rate drops from 339.4 FPS at 1080p Low to 151.6 FPS at 4K Low, a reduction that is not mirrored in the CPU’s compute capabilities. This indicates that the CPU is no longer the bottleneck at 4K, and the GPU is the primary constraint. The data shows a clear division of labor: the Ryzen 7 9700X provides the high ceiling for frame rates at lower resolutions, while the Radeon RX 6700 XT determines the floor at higher resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

In the combined benchmark database, this pairing of the Ryzen 7 9700X and Radeon RX 6700 XT ranks 820th out of 1671 tested combinations for Inside. This positions the combo in the middle of the pack, which is somewhat surprising given the high frame rates observed. The rank reflects the overall performance of the CPU-GPU pair relative to other tested systems, and it suggests that many other combinations are capable of equally high or higher frame rates in this title.

The CPU’s nearest rivals show that its performance is tightly clustered. The Intel Core i5-14500HX is just 0.2% faster in average benchmark score, while the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H is 0.4% slower. The AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 is 0.6% faster, and the Intel Core Ultra 5 225H is 0.8% slower. This indicates that the Ryzen 7 9700X is a well-balanced CPU with no significant performance outliers among its direct competitors. For the GPU, the nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 6800, which is 0.7% faster, and the NVIDIA RTX A5000, which is 1.3% faster. The AMD Radeon HD 7950 and RX 480 are both 1% slower. This tight grouping suggests that the RX 6700 XT is also a mid-pack performer in this game, with no dramatic swings in capability relative to its peers. The combo’s 820th rank out of 1671 is a direct result of these mid-tier standings for both components, indicating that while the system is capable of excellent frame rates, it is not exceptional when compared to the broader field of tested hardware.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 4K with High settings?

A: The combo produces an average of 74.2 FPS at 3840x2160 with High settings. This is a playable frame rate for the game, which is a puzzle platformer, and indicates that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at this resolution.

Q: How much faster is the combo at 1080p Low compared to 4K Low?

A: At 1080p Low, the average FPS is 339.4, while at 4K Low, it is 151.6. This represents a 55% reduction in frame rate when moving from 1080p to 4K at the lowest quality preset, highlighting the GPU’s increasing workload at higher resolutions.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more influential at 1440p?

A: The data shows a 28% drop in frame rates across all settings when moving from 1080p to 1440p. This consistent scaling indicates that the GPU is becoming a more significant factor at 1440p, but the CPU still provides substantial headroom, as evidenced by the 244.5 FPS result at Low settings.

Q: What is the CPU’s single-core performance in Cinebench R23?

A: The Ryzen 7 9700X scores 4459 points in the Cinebench R23 single-core test. This high score is a key reason why the combo can achieve 339.4 FPS at 1080p Low, where the CPU’s single-thread speed is the limiting factor.

Q: How does the GPU compare to the AMD Radeon RX 6800 in average benchmark score?

A: The Radeon RX 6700 XT has an average benchmark score that is 0.7% lower than the Radeon RX 6800. This indicates that the RX 6800 is a slightly faster GPU, but the performance difference is minimal in this context.

*Q: What is the combo’s rank among all tested combinations for Inside?*

A: The combination of the Ryzen 7 9700X and Radeon RX 6700 XT ranks 820th out of 1671 tested combos. This places it in the middle of the database, reflecting the balanced but not exceptional performance of both components in this game.