Inside

Inside is a 2016 puzzle platformer with modest visual demands, but the measured results for the AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT show that this combination obliterates the game’s requirements at every preset. The data set covers four settings levels across three resolutions, and the performance headroom is so large that the choice of preset is less about hitting playable frame rates and more about matching your display’s refresh rate while keeping the experience smooth. This combo ranks 386th out of 2,887 tested combinations for this game, placing it comfortably in the top tier of systems, which is exactly what you would expect from a current-generation flagship CPU and a high-end RDNA 4 GPU.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data makes the optimal settings choice straightforward. At 1080p, even the Ultra preset delivers an average of 219 FPS, while High sits at 230 FPS, Medium at 367 FPS, and Low at 433 FPS. The jump from High to Ultra costs only 11 FPS on average at 1080p, which is negligible given that both are far beyond the refresh rate of any standard monitor. At 1440p, the Ultra preset averages 157 FPS, and High averages 165 FPS, a difference of just 8 FPS. The story changes slightly at 4K, where Ultra drops to 99 FPS and High to 104 FPS, while Medium holds at 166 FPS and Low at 207 FPS.

For most users with a 144Hz or 165Hz display, the Ultra preset is the clear recommendation at 1080p and 1440p. The average frame rates of 219 and 157 respectively are high enough to saturate those refresh rates, and the visual quality improvements from Ultra are the only reason to consider it over High. However, the data shows that Medium at 1440p delivers 264 FPS, which is significantly higher than both High and Ultra, suggesting that the game’s Ultra settings introduce a measurable load increase without a proportional visual return. At 4K, the decision is more nuanced. If you have a 120Hz or 144Hz display, the High preset’s 104 FPS average is playable but leaves headroom on the table, while Medium’s 166 FPS is the better match for high-refresh 4K panels. The Low preset at 4K, with 207 FPS, is only relevant for competitive play or if you are chasing maximum frame pacing.

The practical advice is to use Ultra at 1080p and 1440p if you prioritize image quality, but switch to Medium at 4K to maintain frame rates above 160 FPS. The measured minimum FPS values, which are only provided for Medium settings, show that at 4K Medium the minimum is 141 FPS and at 1440p Medium it is 224 FPS, with the 1080p Medium minimum at 312 FPS. These minimums are all well above 60 FPS, indicating no stutter or frame time spikes even at the heavier Medium preset. Since the game is a puzzle platformer with no fast-paced competitive elements, the visual fidelity of Ultra is worth the slight FPS reduction, but the data suggests that Medium provides the best balance of smoothness and quality for most setups.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is the primary driver of the frame rate differences across settings, and its specifications explain the measured performance. The GPU features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus with 644.6 GB/s of bandwidth, which is more than sufficient for a game like Inside that was released in 2016. The memory configuration is not a bottleneck at any resolution in the measured data, as even at 4K Ultra the average FPS stays at 99, which is well above playable thresholds. The GPU’s clock speeds are listed with a base of 1660 MHz, a game clock of 2400 MHz, and a boost clock of 2970 MHz, and the performance scaling across settings reflects this headroom.

Looking at the 4K results, the GPU’s load scales predictably with settings. At 4K Low, the average FPS is 207, which drops to 166 at Medium, 104 at High, and 99 at Ultra. This pattern shows that the GPU is the limiting factor at 4K, as the CPU’s role diminishes at higher resolutions. The difference between High and Ultra at 4K is only 5 FPS (104 to 99), indicating that the Ultra preset adds effects that tax the GPU heavily without a proportional frame rate cost. The RX 9070 XT’s 64 ray accelerators and 4096 shading units are overkill for this title, but the data shows that the GPU still scales its performance with settings, meaning the game engine is properly utilizing the hardware.

The GPU’s benchmark scores further contextualize its performance. It scores 26,795 in Passmark G3D and 72,60 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, with a percentile rank of 55 against all GPUs. This percentile is misleading for a modern game like Inside because the benchmark suite includes older GPUs, but the measured FPS numbers are what matter. The nearest rivals in the GPU benchmark list include the AMD Radeon HD 7770M and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570, which have nearly identical average scores but are generations old, highlighting that the RX 9070 XT’s strength is in its modern architecture rather than raw benchmark numbers. In practice, the GPU never drops below 99 FPS at 4K Ultra, which reflects its capability even in a game that does not push modern hardware.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D has 8 cores and 16 threads based on the Zen 5 architecture, with a base clock of 4.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. Its 96 MB of shared L3 cache is a defining feature of the X3D series, and for a game like Inside, which is not heavily multi-threaded, the single-core performance is what matters most. The CPU scores 2,228 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 343 in Cinebench R15 single-core, with a Passmark single-thread score of 4,704. These scores are strong, and the data shows that the CPU is not a bottleneck at any resolution or setting in this game.

The evidence for this is in the frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K. At 1080p Low, the average FPS is 433, which is extremely high and indicates the CPU is pushing frames as fast as the GPU can render them. At 4K Low, the average drops to 207, which is less than half, showing that the GPU becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions. This pattern is consistent across all settings: the CPU’s performance ceiling is high enough that it never constrains the frame rate, even at 1080p where CPU load is typically highest. The CPU’s 8 cores and 16 threads are more than enough for Inside’s single-threaded gameplay logic, and the large L3 cache helps with any data-heavy scenes.

The CPU’s benchmark rivals include the Intel Core i9-14900, which has an average score of 58,115 versus the 9850X3D’s 58,386, a delta of 0.5%, and the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 470, which scores 58,826, a delta of -0.7%. These differences are within noise, confirming that the 9850X3D is competitive with the best desktop CPUs. For this game, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU without stalling, and the measured FPS numbers show it does this flawlessly. Even at 1080p Ultra, where the CPU has to handle higher draw calls, the average FPS of 219 is well above the 144Hz threshold, proving that the CPU is not the limiting component in this combination.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D and the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT ranks 386th out of 2,887 tested combos for Inside, placing it in the top 13.4% of all systems tested for this game. This rank is respectable but not top-tier, which might seem surprising given the hardware’s specifications. The reason is that Inside is an older game with a low performance ceiling, meaning many lower-end CPUs and GPUs can achieve high frame rates, narrowing the gap between top and mid-tier systems. The combo’s rank is more a reflection of the game’s low requirements than a limitation of the hardware itself.

Looking at the measured FPS across all resolutions and settings, the lowest average is 99 FPS at 4K Ultra, which is still far above the 60 FPS target. The highest average is 433 FPS at 1080p Low, which is overkill for any display. The combo’s rank of 386 suggests that there are 385 other combinations that achieve similar or higher frame rates, likely because they pair high-end CPUs with faster GPUs or use overclocked components. However, the data shows that this combo delivers consistent performance without any dips below 99 FPS, which is more important than raw rank for a smooth gaming experience.

The percentile data for the individual components puts the CPU at 92nd percentile against all CPUs and the GPU at 55th percentile against all GPUs. The GPU’s lower percentile is due to the inclusion of older, less powerful GPUs in the benchmark database, but in practice, the RX 9070 XT is a modern high-end card. The combo’s rank of 386 out of 2,887 is a solid result, and the measured FPS numbers confirm that this system will handle Inside with ease at any settings, making the rank a secondary consideration to the actual performance.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear pattern of scaling from 1080p to 4K, which reveals the limiting component at each resolution. At 1080p, the average FPS across settings ranges from 219 at Ultra to 433 at Low, indicating that the CPU is the primary limiter at this resolution. The GPU has enough headroom to render frames faster than the CPU can issue draw calls, which is why the FPS is so high. At 1440p, the range is 157 at Ultra to 330 at Low, showing a moderate drop that suggests the GPU is starting to become more involved. At 4K, the range is 99 at Ultra to 207 at Low, with the GPU clearly being the bottleneck.

The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K is significant. At High settings, the FPS drops from 230 at 1080p to 165 at 1440p, a 28.3% reduction, and then to 104 at 4K, a 54.8% reduction from the 1080p baseline. At Medium settings, the drop is from 367 at 1080p to 264 at 1440p, a 28.1% reduction, and then to 166 at 4K, a 54.8% reduction. At Low settings, the drop is from 433 at 1080p to 330 at 1440p, a 23.8% reduction, and then to 207 at 4K, a 52.2% reduction. At Ultra settings, the drop is from 219 at 1080p to 157 at 1440p, a 28.3% reduction, and then to 99 at 4K, a 54.8% reduction.

These consistent drops of roughly 28% from 1080p to 1440p and 55% from 1080p to 4K indicate that the GPU is the limiting factor at higher resolutions. The CPU’s performance does not scale with resolution, so the frame rate drop is directly proportional to the increase in pixel count. This means that if you are playing at 4K, the GPU is doing the heavy lifting, and the CPU’s high single-core performance is not being fully utilized. At 1080p, the CPU is the bottleneck, but since it is so powerful, the frame rates are still extremely high. The practical takeaway is that this combo is balanced for 1440p gaming, where both components are utilized effectively, but at 4K, the GPU is the primary constraint.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of performance across all combinations of resolution and settings. At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 433 FPS, which is the highest recorded in the data set. The Medium preset at 1080p averages 367 FPS with a minimum of 312 FPS and a maximum of 422 FPS, showing excellent frame pacing. The High preset averages 230 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 219 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra at 1080p is minimal, suggesting that the Ultra preset offers diminishing returns in visual quality for a small FPS cost.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 330 FPS, which is still exceptionally high. The Medium preset averages 264 FPS with a minimum of 224 FPS and a maximum of 304 FPS, maintaining a smooth experience. The High preset averages 165 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 157 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra at 1440p is 8 FPS, which is slightly larger than at 1080p, indicating that the Ultra settings add more load at higher resolutions. At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 207 FPS, the Medium preset averages 166 FPS with a minimum of 141 FPS and a maximum of 191 FPS, the High preset averages 104 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 99 FPS.

The minimum FPS values, which are only recorded for the Medium preset, are 312 at 1080p, 224 at 1440p, and 141 at 4K. These minimums are all well above 60 FPS, indicating no stutter or frame time spikes. The maximum FPS values for Medium are 422 at 1080p, 304 at 1440p, and 191 at 4K, showing that the GPU has headroom to push higher frame rates in less demanding scenes. Overall, the data shows that this combo can handle Inside at any resolution and setting with average FPS above 99, which is more than sufficient for a smooth gaming experience. The only scenario where the frame rate dips below 100 FPS is at 4K Ultra, but even then, 99 FPS is still highly playable for a puzzle platformer.