Inside

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700X and Intel Arc B580 combination delivers a remarkably consistent experience in Inside, a puzzle platformer from 2016 that scales efficiently across a wide range of hardware. The measured frame rates show a system that is never truly bottlenecked at any common resolution, but the pattern of performance drop-off from 1080p to 4K reveals a clear and predictable shift in workload distribution between the CPU and GPU.

Resolution Scaling

The most striking observation in the data is the sheer headroom available at lower resolutions. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo produces an average of 266.4 FPS. Moving to Medium drops that to 216.3 FPS, and High settles at 136.1 FPS. This indicates that at 1080p, the system is heavily CPU-limited; the Arc B580 is capable of rendering frames far faster than the game logic can feed it, which is typical for a lightweight puzzle platformer.

Scaling up to 2560x1440 shows a proportional and expected decline. The Low preset falls to 195.4 FPS, Medium to 153.8 FPS, and High to 97.5 FPS. This represents a roughly 27% reduction in performance across the board when moving from 1080p to 1440p, which is a textbook example of pixel count driving the load. The CPU is no longer the sole limiting factor, but it still provides enough throughput to keep the GPU well-fed.

The jump to 3840x2160 is where the GPU truly takes over. High settings produce 62.3 FPS, while Low yields 122.2 FPS. The gap between 1440p High (97.5 FPS) and 4K High (62.3 FPS) is a 36% drop, which is steeper than the 1440p-to-1080p delta. This suggests that at 4K, the Intel Arc B580's raw fill rate and memory bandwidth become the primary constraints. Interestingly, the gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is much smaller than at lower resolutions, with Ultra still managing 60.5 FPS. This indicates that even the most demanding settings do not overwhelm the GPU at 4K, but the resolution itself is the dominant variable.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B580 is built on the Xe2-HPG architecture and features 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, yielding 456.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its base and boost clocks are both 2670 MHz, and it offers 2560 shading units. For a game like Inside, which has a minimalist art style and limited draw distance, these specifications are more than sufficient. The data confirms this: even at 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 60.5, which is playable.

The GPU’s role becomes more apparent when examining the differences between settings presets. At 1080p, the delta between Low (266.4 FPS) and Ultra (131.1 FPS) is a massive 135 FPS, showing that the GPU is not the bottleneck—the CPU is. At 4K, the same delta is only 61.7 FPS (122.2 vs 60.5), meaning the GPU is now working hard enough that its performance ceiling is the limiting factor. The memory bandwidth of 456.0 GB/s is likely the reason why the card holds up well at 4K despite being a mid-range part, as Inside does not require complex texture streaming.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700X is an 8-core, 16-thread processor based on Zen 5 architecture, with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz. In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 31588 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 4459 in single-core. For a game from 2016, this processor is massively overqualified. The data supports this: at 1080p Low, the system hits 266.4 FPS, which is far beyond any display refresh rate and indicates that the CPU is the primary driver of frame generation in this scenario.

The CPU’s dominance is also visible in the 3DMark scores, where the 16-thread test yields 9824, while the single-thread test yields 1280. This suggests that Inside may not be heavily threaded, but the 9700X’s strong single-core performance (4459 in Cinebench R23 single-core) ensures no core is a weak link. The 32 MB of shared L3 cache is likely sufficient for the game’s small, repetitive data sets. The CPU’s 65W TDP and 4 nm process node mean it can sustain high clocks without thermal throttling, which is critical for maintaining those high frame rates in CPU-bound scenarios.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the data shows a clear hierarchy: Low (266.4 FPS), Medium (216.3 FPS), High (136.1 FPS), and Ultra (131.1 FPS). The gap between High and Ultra is minimal, suggesting that the Ultra preset adds little more than minor ambient effects that do not tax the GPU.

Moving to 2560x1440, the same pattern holds: Low (195.4 FPS), Medium (153.8 FPS), High (97.5 FPS), and Ultra (93.8 FPS). Again, High and Ultra are close, but the gap between Low and Medium (41.6 FPS) is significant, indicating that Medium introduces a substantial increase in rendering complexity.

At 3840x2160, the results are: Low (122.2 FPS), Medium (96.4 FPS), High (62.3 FPS), and Ultra (60.5 FPS). The gap between Low and Medium narrows to 25.8 FPS, and the gap between High and Ultra is just 1.8 FPS. This suggests that at 4K, the GPU is the bottleneck for the higher presets, while Low settings allow the CPU to push more frames.

How This Combo Ranks

In the global database of tested combinations, this pairing ranks 1273 out of 1671 combos for Inside. This places it in the 24th percentile of all tested systems, which seems low given the high FPS numbers. However, this rank is likely skewed by the fact that many of the top combos feature much more powerful GPUs that can achieve even higher frame rates at 1080p, where the CPU is less of a constraint.

The CPU itself ranks in the 89th percentile among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 36029. Its nearest rivals are the Intel Core i5-14500HX (0.2% faster), the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 (0.6% faster), and the Intel Core Ultra 5 225H (0.8% slower). The GPU ranks in the 66th percentile, with its closest competitor being the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060, which is 0.7% faster on average. In this game, the CPU is clearly above average, but the GPU is only moderately so, which explains the combo’s mid-pack ranking.

FAQ

Q: Why does the FPS drop so much from 1080p to 4K?

A: The data shows a 54% reduction in FPS from 1080p Low (266.4) to 4K Low (122.2). This is because the GPU’s fill rate and memory bandwidth become the limiting factor at higher pixel counts, whereas the CPU is the bottleneck at 1080p.

*Q: Is this combo better for 1080p or 4K gaming in Inside?*

A: The system is exceptionally strong at 1080p, achieving over 130 FPS on Ultra. At 4K, it still manages 60.5 FPS on Ultra, making it playable, but the performance headroom is much smaller.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rival in this game?

A: The Ryzen 7 9700X’s average benchmark score is 36029, which is 0.2% slower than the Intel Core i5-14500HX and 0.4% faster than the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H. This indicates that the CPU is not a limiting factor.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between High and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, High yields 97.5 FPS and Ultra yields 93.8 FPS, a difference of 3.7 FPS. This is negligible, suggesting that Ultra adds little visual benefit.

Q: Does the GPU’s 12 GB of VRAM matter for this game?

A: The data does not indicate any VRAM limitations. Inside is a 2D-style puzzle platformer, so its memory requirements are modest. The 12 GB capacity is more than sufficient.

Q: Is the 60 FPS target achievable at 4K with max settings?

A: Yes, the measured 4K Ultra average is 60.5 FPS, which just clears the 60 FPS threshold. This makes it a viable option for a 60 Hz 4K display.

Settings Recommendations

For 1080p displays, the High preset (136.1 FPS) is the sweet spot. It provides a significant jump from Medium (216.3 FPS) in visual quality while losing only 80 FPS, which is imperceptible on a 144 Hz monitor. The Ultra preset (131.1 FPS) offers no meaningful improvement over High (136.1 FPS) and is not recommended.

At 1440p, the Medium preset (153.8 FPS) is ideal for high refresh rate monitors. It offers a good balance between visual fidelity and speed. The High preset (97.5 FPS) is still excellent for 1440p and is the best choice if you prefer maximum quality without needing triple-digit frame rates. Ultra (93.8 FPS) is nearly identical to High and should be avoided.

For 4K, the Low preset (122.2 FPS) is surprisingly viable and provides a buttery-smooth experience. However, the Medium preset (96.4 FPS) adds substantial visual improvements while still exceeding 60 FPS. The High preset (62.3 FPS) is the highest quality option that maintains a solid 60 FPS, while Ultra (60.5 FPS) is borderline and only recommended if you have a variable refresh rate monitor. The data clearly shows that High at 4K is the best overall experience for this combo, as it delivers near-60 FPS with the most visual polish.