Inside

The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT delivers a performance profile in Inside that is heavily dictated by the graphics settings selected. The measured data reveals that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher presets, while the CPU's strength becomes apparent only when the load is lightened. This combination ranks 1039 out of 1671 tested combos, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database, which is a direct consequence of the GPU's mid-range standing (72nd percentile) compared to the CPU's high-end placement (90th percentile). The disparity between component tiers shapes every result in this puzzle platformer.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows across all resolutions show a clear pattern: the "Ultra" preset is the only one that risks dropping below 60 FPS, and it only does so at 4K. At 3840x2160, Ultra produces 62 FPS, which is technically playable but leaves no headroom for demanding scenes. The High preset is the better choice for 4K, delivering 68.9 FPS, which is a modest 11% improvement over Ultra's 62 FPS. This is the only resolution where High offers a meaningful advantage over the lower presets.

At 1440p and 1080p, the situation changes entirely. High settings yield 105.5 FPS and 148.8 FPS respectively, both far above the 60 FPS threshold. The Medium preset at 1080p produces 237.1 FPS, which is excessive for a game like Inside that does not benefit from competitive refresh rates. The data indicates that High is the optimal preset for this combo—it maintains high frame rates at all resolutions while providing the visual uplift over Medium. The Low preset at 1080p reaches 291.7 FPS, but this is an unnecessary sacrifice in visual quality for a puzzle platformer. For the best balance of image quality and performance, High is the recommended setting across the board, with Ultra being viable only if the user accepts the 4K frame rate dip to 62 FPS.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT is the defining component in this pairing, and its specifications directly explain the performance ceiling. It features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 280.3 GB/s. This is sufficient for Inside's art style, which is not texture-heavy, but the 4K Ultra result of 62 FPS suggests the GPU's compute resources are the limiting factor. The card has 2048 shading units and 64 ROPs, with a boost clock of 2635 MHz and a game clock of 2410 MHz. These clocks are relatively high for the RDNA 2 architecture, yet the card still falls behind in raw throughput.

The GPU's benchmark scores contextualize its behavior. Its Passmark G3D score is 17166, and its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 1859. These numbers place it in the 72nd percentile of all GPUs, and its nearest rival is the AMD Radeon RX 6800M with a deltaPct of 0—meaning they are performance equals in synthetic tests. This parity is reflected in the measured FPS, where the card's rasterization capabilities are clearly the bottleneck at Ultra settings. The 8 GB VRAM is not a problem here, as the frame rate drop from High to Ultra at 4K (68.9 to 62 FPS) is a compute limitation, not a memory capacity issue. The card's FP32 throughput of 10.79 TFLOPS is the practical ceiling for this game's most demanding preset.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS progression from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic GPU-bound scaling pattern, but with notable nuances. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 148.8 at 1080p to 105.5 at 1440p, a 29% reduction, and then to 68.9 at 4K, a 35% reduction from 1440p. This is a steep decline that points to the RX 6650 XT struggling with pixel throughput at higher resolutions. The Ultra preset shows a similar trend: 138.8 FPS at 1080p, 102.5 at 1440p, and 62 at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is the only sub-60 FPS measurement in the entire dataset.

Crucially, the scaling suggests that the CPU is not a limiting factor until the resolution drops significantly. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 291.7 FPS, which is the highest measurement recorded. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect this number to be capped by the processor's capabilities. Since the Ryzen 7 9800X3D is a high-end part with a 90th percentile ranking, it is likely capable of even higher frame rates, but the GPU's pixel fill rate (168.6 GPixel/s) becomes the constraint. The gap between Low and High at 1080p (291.7 vs 148.8 FPS) is a 49% difference, which is far larger than the gap at 4K (130.7 vs 68.9 FPS, a 47% difference). This indicates that the GPU is the limiting component at every resolution, but the margin narrows as the resolution increases because the CPU's role diminishes.

How This Combo Ranks

This combination ranks 1039 out of 1671 tested combos, placing it in the 62nd percentile of all pairings tested for Inside. This ranking is lower than what the CPU alone would suggest, given that the Ryzen 7 9800X3D sits in the 90th percentile of all CPUs. The GPU's 72nd percentile ranking drags the overall combo down, as the RX 6650 XT is not a high-end card by modern standards. The data shows that this pairing is unbalanced—the CPU is overqualified for the GPU's capabilities.

In practical terms, this ranking means that a user would see better results by pairing the 9800X3D with a stronger GPU, but the current setup is far from unusable. The measured FPS at 1080p and 1440p are all above 100 FPS on High settings, which is more than adequate for a puzzle platformer. The 4K Ultra result of 62 FPS is the only weak point, and it is still above the 60 FPS threshold. The ranking is a reflection of the GPU's mid-range status, not a condemnation of the overall experience. For a game like Inside, which is not graphically demanding, this combo offers a smooth experience at most settings, with the caveat that 4K Ultra requires a small compromise.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D is a flagship processor with 8 cores and 16 threads, based on the Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge). Its base clock is 4.70 GHz with a boost clock of 5.20 GHz, and it features a substantial 96 MB of shared L3 cache. This cache configuration is designed to reduce memory latency, which is beneficial for gaming. The CPU's benchmark scores are impressive: a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 34004 and a single-core score of 4800. Its Passmark multithread score is 40009, and its 3DMark single-thread score is 1212.

However, in Inside, the CPU's role is minimal because the game is not computationally intensive. The evidence lies in the frame rate scaling. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 291.7 FPS, which is the highest measurement. If the CPU were a limiting factor, this number would be capped at a lower value. The fact that it reaches nearly 300 FPS indicates that the 9800X3D has ample headroom. The CPU's 16 threads are not fully utilized in this game, as puzzle platformers typically rely on single-thread performance. The 3Dmark single-thread score of 1212 and Geekbench single-core score of 3341 suggest strong per-core performance, which is sufficient for Inside's logic and physics. The CPU's role is to ensure that the GPU is never starved of data, and the data confirms this—the bottleneck is always the GPU, not the processor.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates. Low settings produce 291.7 FPS, Medium produces 237.1 FPS, High produces 148.8 FPS, and Ultra produces 138.8 FPS. The drop from Low to Medium is 19%, which is a significant step, but the drop from Medium to High is 37%, indicating a heavy graphical load increase. Ultra is only 7% slower than High, suggesting diminishing returns at the top end.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates are still high but show a clear scaling pattern. Low produces 210.4 FPS, Medium produces 167.5 FPS, High produces 105.5 FPS, and Ultra produces 102.5 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra is minimal (3%), which means that users can enable Ultra at 1440p without a significant penalty. The drop from Medium to High is 37%, which is a substantial cost for the visual upgrade.

At 3840x2160, the GPU begins to struggle. Low produces 130.7 FPS, which is still very playable, but Medium drops to 103.6 FPS, High to 68.9 FPS, and Ultra to 62 FPS. The gap between Medium and High is 34%, and the gap between High and Ultra is 10%. The 4K Ultra result of 62 FPS is the only measurement that dips close to the 60 FPS line, and it is the only scenario where a user might consider lowering settings. The overall data shows that this combo is best utilized at 1080p or 1440p, where it can easily exceed 100 FPS on High settings, while 4K requires a compromise on the preset to maintain smooth gameplay.