Inside

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER combination delivers exceptional performance in Inside, a game that is clearly not demanding on modern hardware. The data shows a system that obliterates this title at every resolution and settings level, with the only potential bottleneck being the CPU at lower resolutions where frame rates become extraordinarily high.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 4K reveals a system that remains fluid throughout, but the scaling pattern highlights where the workload shifts. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces 423.3 FPS, which drops to 369.7 FPS at 1440p and further to 231 FPS at 4K. This represents a 45% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, indicating that even at 4K, the GPU is not being pushed to its limits. The scaling becomes more pronounced at higher settings. With Ultra settings, the system delivers 246 FPS at 1080p, 175 FPS at 1440p, and 110.7 FPS at 4K. This is a 55% drop from 1080p to 4K, showing that the RTX 4070 SUPER begins to feel the resolution increase when the visual fidelity is maxed out.

The pattern suggests that at 1080p and 1440p, the CPU is the primary limiting factor, especially on Low and Medium presets where frame rates exceed 294 FPS. The Ryzen 7 9700X’s strong single-thread performance keeps these numbers high, but the sheer volume of frames means the CPU must work harder to feed the GPU. At 4K, the GPU takes on a more significant role, though the frame rates remain so high that the game is never in danger of becoming unplayable. The data indicates that this combo is overkill for Inside, with even the most demanding 4K Ultra configuration producing over 110 FPS. The scaling from High to Ultra at each resolution shows a consistent penalty, with 4K High at 117 FPS versus 4K Ultra at 110.7 FPS, a modest 5% difference that suggests diminishing returns from the highest preset.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a boost clock of 2475 MHz. Its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus provides 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth, which is ample for a game like Inside that does not feature complex textures or large open worlds. The GPU’s 7168 shading units and 224 texture mapping units are more than sufficient for this title’s 2D side-scrolling visuals. The benchmark results show the GPU operating well within its capabilities, with the PassMark G3D score of 29995 placing it in the 84th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA RTX A6000, scores 42653 on average, a negligible 0.2% difference, while the AMD Radeon RX 7650 GRE is 0.3% behind. This indicates the 4070 SUPER is a high-end card, though its performance in Inside is not a true test of its capabilities.

The GPU's clock speeds and memory bandwidth are largely irrelevant in this context because the game is so lightweight. At 4K Ultra, the card produces 110.7 FPS, which is far below its theoretical maximum but still more than enough for smooth gameplay. The 21 Gbps effective memory speed and 198.0 GPixel/s pixel rate are never stressed. The data suggests that the RTX 4070 SUPER is not the limiting factor at any resolution in this game; instead, the CPU’s ability to issue draw calls and physics calculations becomes the ceiling at lower resolutions. The GPU’s 35.48 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is wasted on a game that likely uses only a fraction of that compute power. In essence, this GPU is a luxury component for Inside, providing headroom that is never utilized.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Ryzen 7 9700X and RTX 4070 SUPER ranks 105th out of 1671 tested combos for Inside. This places it in the top 6.3% of all configurations, which is a strong showing but not at the very top. The ranking reflects that while this is a high-end system, there are other combinations that achieve even higher frame rates, likely due to more powerful CPUs or GPUs. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 36029 puts it at the 89th percentile of all CPUs, and its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i5-14500HX with a 0.2% higher score, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 with a 0.6% higher score, and the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H with a 0.4% lower score. The GPU’s average benchmark score of 42576 is at the 84th percentile, with its closest rival, the NVIDIA RTX A6000, being 0.2% higher.

The combo rank of 105 suggests that there are 104 other configurations that outperform this one in Inside, likely due to CPUs with higher single-thread performance or GPUs with more raw power. However, the rank also means that this combo outperforms the vast majority of systems, making it a formidable choice for this game. The data shows that the Ryzen 7 9700X’s single-thread score of 1280 in 3DMark is a key contributor to the high frame rates, as Inside appears to be heavily dependent on single-thread performance. The 105th rank out of 1671 reflects the balance of this pairing, even if it is not the absolute best.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p, the system delivers exceptional results across all settings. Low produces 423.3 FPS, Medium drops to 392.8 FPS, High falls to 255.2 FPS, and Ultra yields 246 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is just 7%, while the jump from Medium to High is a more substantial 35%, indicating a significant increase in rendering complexity at the High preset. The difference between High and Ultra is minimal at 3.6%, suggesting that Ultra is not much more demanding than High at this resolution.

Moving to 1440p, the frame rates remain high but show expected scaling. Low produces 369.7 FPS, Medium delivers 294.5 FPS, High achieves 183.6 FPS, and Ultra manages 175 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 12.7% at Low, 25% at Medium, 28% at High, and 28.9% at Ultra. This shows that higher settings amplify the resolution penalty, though the absolute numbers remain far above playable thresholds. The 1440p Ultra result of 175 FPS is still more than enough for any high-refresh-rate monitor.

At 4K, the system continues to impress. Low delivers 231 FPS, Medium produces 185.8 FPS, High achieves 117 FPS, and Ultra yields 110.7 FPS. The scaling from 1440p to 4K is more severe, with a 37.5% drop at Low, 36.9% at Medium, 36.3% at High, and 36.7% at Ultra. This consistent reduction across settings indicates that the GPU is becoming the limiting factor at this resolution, though it still maintains high performance. The 4K Ultra result of 110.7 FPS is particularly noteworthy, as it shows that even the most demanding configuration is playable on a 4K display with a high refresh rate.

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. Its 32 MB of shared L3 cache and 89.6 GB/s of memory bandwidth are more than sufficient for a game like Inside. The CPU’s benchmark results show strong performance, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 31588 and a single-core score of 4459. The Geekbench results are equally impressive, with 17002 multi-core and 3353 single-core. In 3DMark, the single-thread score of 1280 and the 2-thread score of 2525 highlight the processor’s excellent per-core performance, which is crucial for this game.

The CPU's role in Inside becomes apparent when comparing the 1080p Low result of 423.3 FPS to the 4K Low result of 231 FPS. The fact that the frame rate drops by 45% when moving to 4K while the GPU is not stressed suggests that the CPU is the bottleneck at 1080p. The Ryzen 7 9700X’s boost clock of 5.50 GHz allows it to process the game’s logic and draw calls quickly, but at 423 FPS, even the fastest CPUs begin to show limits. The 65W TDP and 4 nm process node contribute to efficiency, but the performance is what matters here. The CPU’s nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-14500HX, scores nearly identically on average, confirming that this AMD chip is in the top tier of processors. For Inside, the CPU is the primary driver of frame rates at lower resolutions, and the 9700X handles this role admirably.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data suggests that the Ultra preset is the best choice for most users, as it provides the highest visual fidelity with only a marginal performance cost. At 1080p, Ultra delivers 246 FPS compared to High’s 255.2 FPS, a negligible 3.6% difference. At 1440p, Ultra produces 175 FPS versus High’s 183.6 FPS, a 4.7% gap. Even at 4K, the difference is only 5.4%, with Ultra at 110.7 FPS and High at 117 FPS. The Ultra preset offers the best experience for users with high-refresh-rate monitors, as the performance penalty is minimal relative to the visual improvements.

For users with 4K displays, the Ultra preset is still viable, as the 110.7 FPS result is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. However, if a player prefers to maximize frame rates for competitive play or use a 240Hz monitor, the Medium preset at 4K provides 185.8 FPS, which is a 68% improvement over Ultra. The Low preset at 4K delivers 231 FPS, which is more than double the Ultra result and would be ideal for extreme refresh rates. The data indicates that Medium is a sweet spot at 4K, offering a balance of visual quality and performance. At 1080p and 1440p, the High preset is a reasonable choice for those who want to ensure maximum frame rates without sacrificing too much visual quality, but the Ultra preset is recommended for the best overall experience given the system’s capabilities. The measured results show that this combo can handle any setting without dropping below 110 FPS, so the choice comes down to personal preference for visual fidelity versus raw frame rate.