Inside

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700X and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti combination delivers playable performance in Inside only when settings are carefully managed, with the GPU acting as the primary bottleneck across all resolutions. The data shows a clear performance hierarchy: dropping from Ultra to Low settings can nearly double frame rates, making preset selection more impactful than resolution changes for this pairing. This combo ranks 1659 out of 1671 tested combinations, placing it in the bottom 1% of tested systems, which reflects the GTX 1050 Ti's age rather than the CPU's capabilities.

FAQ

*Q: Can this system run Inside at 4K resolution?*

A: At 3840x2160, only the Low preset achieves a playable average of 48.6 FPS. The Medium preset drops to 36.9 FPS, while High and Ultra fall below 22.2 FPS, making them unsuitable for smooth gameplay.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1080p gameplay?

A: The Low preset at 1920x1080 delivers 105.9 FPS average, which is the highest measured result in the entire dataset. Medium still provides a solid 85.2 FPS, while High and Ultra drop to 55.2 and 53.5 FPS respectively.

Q: How does this combo compare to other tested systems?

A: The combination ranks 1659 out of 1671 total tested combos, placing it in the bottom 12 positions. This indicates that while the CPU is capable, the GPU severely limits overall gaming performance in this title.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The GTX 1050 Ti, with its 4 GB of GDDR5 memory and 112.1 GB/s bandwidth, is clearly the bottleneck. The Ryzen 7 9700X's 8 cores and 16 threads provide ample headroom for a game released in 2016, but the GPU's 30th percentile ranking among all GPUs caps performance.

Q: What frame rates can I expect at 1440p with Medium settings?

A: At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the system averages 63.5 FPS. This is a viable option for players wanting a balance between visual quality and smoothness, though the Low preset at 77.2 FPS offers a more comfortable margin.

Q: Are there any settings that make the game unplayable?

A: The Ultra preset at 3840x2160 produces an average of only 21.5 FPS, and High at the same resolution is barely better at 22.2 FPS. These configurations should be avoided entirely with this hardware.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700X provides substantial processing power with 8 cores and 16 threads, running at a base clock of 3.80 GHz and boosting up to 5.50 GHz. This Zen 5 architecture processor, built on a 4 nm process, represents a modern desktop CPU that sits well above the requirements for Inside, a puzzle platformer released in 2016. The CPU's 89th percentile ranking among all processors indicates it is far more capable than the GPU paired with it.

Benchmark results confirm the CPU's strength: the Cinebench R23 multicore score of 31588 and single-core score of 4459 demonstrate excellent performance. The 3DMark single-thread score of 1280 and 16-thread score of 9824 show strong scaling across cores. However, in Inside, the CPU's role is largely secondary because the game's 2D side-scrolling perspective and moderate physics demands do not stress eight cores. The PassMark physics score of 2241 and data compression score of 437140 indicate the CPU handles computation-heavy tasks easily.

The Ryzen 7 9700X's nearest rivals include the Intel Core i5-14500HX (0.2% faster average score) and Intel Core Ultra 9 185H (0.4% slower), showing the CPU performs at a level comparable to recent mobile flagship parts. This headroom means the CPU never becomes the limiting factor in Inside; instead, the GPU determines frame rates. The CPU's 65 W TDP and DDR5 memory support with 89.6 GB/s bandwidth further ensure no memory bandwidth constraints exist for this game.

Settings Recommendations

For the best experience, the data strongly favors the Low preset at any resolution. At 1920x1080, Low produces 105.9 FPS, which is nearly double the High preset's 55.2 FPS and more than 50 FPS higher than Ultra's 53.5 FPS. The performance gap between Low and Medium is also significant: 105.9 FPS versus 85.2 FPS, a difference of over 20 FPS. This suggests the Low preset removes GPU-intensive effects that the GTX 1050 Ti cannot handle efficiently.

At 1440p, the pattern continues with Low delivering 77.2 FPS compared to Medium's 63.5 FPS, High's 41.1 FPS, and Ultra's 36.9 FPS. The Low preset remains the only configuration exceeding 60 FPS at this resolution. For 4K, Low is the only playable option at 48.6 FPS, while Medium drops to 36.9 FPS and both High and Ultra fall below 23 FPS.

The optimal strategy is to prioritize frame rate over visual fidelity. Given that Inside is a puzzle platformer with a distinctive monochromatic art style, the visual difference between Low and Ultra may be less noticeable than in other genres. Players with 1080p displays should use Low for the smoothest experience, or Medium if they prefer slightly better visuals and can tolerate 85.2 FPS. At higher resolutions, Low is the only sensible choice.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 1659 out of 1671 tested combinations places this system in the bottom 0.7% of all tested hardware pairings. This ranking reflects the GTX 1050 Ti's severe limitations in modern gaming contexts, as the GPU sits at the 30th percentile among all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 5316. The GPU's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce 930A (0% delta), NVIDIA GeForce 940M (0.4% faster), AMD Radeon R7 240 (0.7% faster), and AMD Radeon R7 M445 (0.8% slower), all of which are entry-level or older mobile parts.

The CPU, by contrast, ranks at the 89th percentile among all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 36029. This massive disparity between CPU and GPU capability creates a system where the processor is essentially wasted in gaming scenarios like Inside. The 9700X's nearest rivals are all competitive with it, showing the CPU holds its own against modern parts, but the GPU drags the entire system down in gaming benchmarks.

This ranking suggests the system is poorly balanced for gaming, but the measured FPS data shows it can still handle older or less demanding titles at lower settings. For Inside specifically, the system's low rank does not prevent playable frame rates at appropriate settings, but it does limit the user to the Low preset for comfortable performance.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti is the definitive bottleneck in this system. Built on the Pascal architecture with a 14 nm process, this GPU features 768 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 32 raster operation units. Its base clock of 1291 MHz and boost clock of 1392 MHz are modest by modern standards, and the 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 112.1 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's FP32 performance of 2.138 TFLOPS and pixel rate of 44.54 GPixel/s are adequate for older titles but insufficient for demanding modern workloads.

The GPU's average benchmark score of 5316 places it at the 30th percentile among all GPUs, with its nearest rivals being other entry-level parts. The PassMark G3D score of 6340 and DirectX 11 score of 45 show the GPU struggles with even moderately demanding graphics tasks. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 305 is particularly low, indicating poor performance in modern API workloads.

In Inside, the GPU's limitations manifest clearly in the measured FPS data. The difference between Low and Ultra settings is dramatic: at 1080p, Low achieves 105.9 FPS while Ultra manages only 53.5 FPS. This performance scaling indicates the GPU cannot handle the increased shader complexity and fill rate demands of higher presets. The 4 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for this game's art style, but the GPU's raw compute power is insufficient for high-quality rendering.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its best performance with Low settings achieving 105.9 FPS average. Medium follows at 85.2 FPS, while High and Ultra produce 55.2 and 53.5 FPS respectively. The difference between High and Ultra is minimal, suggesting both presets hit a similar GPU limit.

At 2560x1440, performance drops across all presets. Low remains the strongest at 77.2 FPS, with Medium at 63.5 FPS. High falls to 41.1 FPS, and Ultra matches the 4K Medium result at 36.9 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p shows a 27% performance drop for Low, 25% for Medium, and 25% for High.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles significantly. Low produces 48.6 FPS, Medium drops to 36.9 FPS, and both High and Ultra fall below 22.2 FPS. The 4K results show that even the Low preset cannot maintain 60 FPS, making 4K gaming impractical for this combination. The data reveals that resolution scaling affects the GTX 1050 Ti more than settings changes do, emphasizing the GPU's memory bandwidth and fill rate limitations as the primary constraints.