Inside

# Inside: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X + AMD Radeon RX 580

This combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X and AMD Radeon RX 580 places 1535th out of 1671 tested combos for Inside, putting it in the bottom 8% of all configurations. The ranking reflects a significant imbalance between the two components: the CPU is a high-end 5000-series part that sits in the 90th percentile against all processors, while the GPU is a Polaris-era card that lands in the 53rd percentile against all graphics cards. Benchmark results indicate the RX 580 is the primary constraint, and the measured frame rates confirm that this pairing delivers playable but not exceptional performance, with the CPU's substantial headroom going largely unused in this puzzle platformer.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 1535 out of 1671 is a direct consequence of the GPU's modest capabilities relative to the CPU. The Ryzen 9 5900X, with its 12 cores and 24 threads running at a 3.70 GHz base and 4.80 GHz boost clock, achieves an average benchmark score of 39453, placing it in the 90th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 4245P (0.2% higher score), AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8845HS (0.7% lower), Intel Core i7-13700F (0.9% higher), and Intel Core i7-13700 (1.0% lower). This places the 5900X in a competitive tier where single-threaded and multi-threaded performance are both strong, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 scores of 4680 single-core and 33150 multi-core.

In contrast, the RX 580's average benchmark score of 13559 places it in the 53rd percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 (0.0% delta), NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 (0.1% higher), AMD Radeon Pro 455 (1.1% higher), and NVIDIA P106-090 (1.1% lower). This clustering around the 50th percentile indicates the GPU is fundamentally mid-range hardware from an older generation, with a 14 nm process node and GCN 4.0 architecture. The 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth, but the 6.175 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 32 ROPs limit its ability to push high frame rates at demanding settings.

The data shows that in Inside, which is a 2D puzzle platformer with relatively modest graphical demands, the GPU still becomes the bottleneck at higher resolutions and settings. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 148.2 FPS, but this drops to 71.4 FPS at Ultra — a 51.8% reduction that points to the GPU struggling with the increased shading and texture work. The CPU's massive headroom, including its 64 MB of L3 cache and 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth, is simply not the limiting factor in any configuration tested here.

FAQ

Q: How does this combo compare to other CPUs in the same performance tier?

A: The Ryzen 9 5900X holds its own against its nearest rivals. It scores 0.2% lower than the AMD EPYC 4245P, 0.7% higher than the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8845HS, 0.9% lower than the Intel Core i7-13700F, and 1.0% higher than the Intel Core i7-13700 in average benchmark scores.

Q: What is the GPU's performance position relative to other graphics cards?

A: The RX 580 sits at the 53rd percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 13559. It essentially matches the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 (0.0% delta), is 0.1% slower than the GTX 950, 1.1% slower than the AMD Radeon Pro 455, and 1.1% faster than the NVIDIA P106-090.

Q: What frame rates can be expected at 1080p with this combo?

A: At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS ranges from 148.2 (Low), 119.9 (Medium), 73.9 (High), to 71.4 (Ultra). The gap between Medium and High is substantial, suggesting a significant reduction in performance when higher-quality settings are enabled.

Q: How does the combo perform at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, average FPS drops to 110.6 (Low), 85.9 (Medium), 53.9 (High), and 51.3 (Ultra). This represents a 25-27% reduction compared to 1080p across all settings, which is consistent with the GPU being the limiting factor.

Q: Is 4K gaming feasible with this hardware?

A: At 3840x2160, the combo produces 70 FPS (Low), 54.8 FPS (Medium), 35.9 FPS (High), and 35.0 FPS (Ultra). While Low settings are playable, High and Ultra dip below 36 FPS, which is marginal for smooth gameplay.

Q: What does the combo's overall rank indicate about its suitability?

A: Ranking 1535th out of 1671 combos places this configuration in the bottom 8% of all tested systems for Inside. This is primarily due to the GPU's 53rd percentile standing, which drags down what would otherwise be a top-tier CPU pairing.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern: performance scales negatively with resolution in a way that highlights the GPU as the limiting component. Moving from 1080p to 1440p at High settings drops average FPS from 73.9 to 53.9, a 27.1% reduction. From 1440p to 4K at High, the drop is from 53.9 to 35.9 FPS, a 33.4% reduction. This compounding loss indicates that the RX 580's fill rate and memory bandwidth are being saturated as pixel count increases.

At Low settings, the scaling is less severe but still pronounced. The 1080p Low score of 148.2 FPS falls to 110.6 at 1440p (25.4% reduction) and then to 70.0 at 4K (36.7% reduction from 1440p). This suggests that even with minimal graphical load, the GPU cannot maintain high frame rates at higher resolutions because the pixel throughput demands exceed what the 42.88 GPixel/s pixel rate can deliver.

The Ultra settings show the most dramatic drop-off. At 1080p Ultra, the combo averages 71.4 FPS; at 1440p Ultra, it falls to 51.3 FPS (28.1% reduction); and at 4K Ultra, it reaches 35.0 FPS (31.8% reduction from 1440p). The fact that Ultra and High settings converge at 4K (35.0 vs 35.9 FPS) indicates that the GPU is so heavily constrained at this resolution that additional settings changes have minimal impact.

The CPU's role in this scaling is negligible. With 12 cores at 3.70 GHz base and 4.80 GHz boost, the Ryzen 9 5900X provides more than enough processing power for Inside's physics and logic, which is a puzzle platformer with relatively simple geometry. The data shows that the FPS drops are almost entirely attributable to the GPU's rendering limits, not any CPU bottleneck.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest results. Low settings produce 148.2 FPS average, Medium yields 119.9 FPS, High achieves 73.9 FPS, and Ultra reaches 71.4 FPS. The gap between Medium and High (46.0 FPS difference) is the largest single-step jump in the entire dataset, suggesting that High settings enable effects or shading that the RX 580 struggles to process efficiently. The difference between High and Ultra is much smaller (2.5 FPS), implying diminishing returns at the top end.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates are 110.6 (Low), 85.9 (Medium), 53.9 (High), and 51.3 (Ultra). The Low-to-Medium gap narrows to 24.7 FPS, and the Medium-to-High gap is 32.0 FPS, which remains the largest step. This pattern mirrors the 1080p results but at proportionally lower absolute values. The High-to-Ultra delta is just 2.6 FPS, confirming that Ultra provides little additional visual benefit for the performance cost.

At 3840x2160, the results are 70.0 (Low), 54.8 (Medium), 35.9 (High), and 35.0 (Ultra). The Low-to-Medium delta is 15.2 FPS, while the Medium-to-High delta is 18.9 FPS. The High-to-Ultra difference is only 0.9 FPS, which is effectively negligible and indicates that at 4K, the GPU is so maxed out that settings changes beyond Medium have almost no measurable impact on performance.

Across all resolutions, the Low settings are the only configuration that consistently exceeds 60 FPS at 4K, and even that drops to 70 FPS. The data shows that for smooth 60 FPS gameplay, users should target 1080p Medium or 1440p Low, while 4K is only viable at Low settings with a 70 FPS average.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 5900X is a 12-core, 24-thread processor from the 5000 series, built on the Zen 3 architecture with the Vermeer codename. It operates at a 3.70 GHz base clock and boosts to 4.80 GHz, with a 105 W TDP. The CPU's 64 MB of L3 cache, 8,300 million transistors on a 7 nm TSMC process, and dual-channel DDR4 memory support with 51.2 GB/s bandwidth make it a formidable part for any workload.

In Inside, the CPU's role is minimal because the game is a puzzle platformer that does not heavily utilize multi-threaded processing. The benchmark results for the 5900X, including Cinebench R23 multi-core at 33150 and single-core at 4680, demonstrate its capability, but the game's requirements are far below what this processor can deliver. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo hits 148.2 FPS, which is likely near the game's engine limits rather than a CPU constraint.

The GPU's 14 nm process node and GCN 4.0 architecture (Polaris 20 chip) are the primary bottleneck. The RX 580's 2304 shading units and 144 TMUs, combined with a 256-bit memory bus delivering 256.0 GB/s, are adequate for 1080p gaming but struggle as resolution increases. The CPU's high single-thread performance (3dmark single-thread score of 941) ensures that even at 4K with Low settings, the GPU is the limiting factor, as evidenced by the 70 FPS result.

The 12 cores and 24 threads provide no advantage in this title, as Inside does not scale its workload across many threads. The CPU's 90th percentile ranking versus all CPUs and its average benchmark score of 39453 put it far above what this game requires. The real takeaway is that this pairing is massively CPU-overprovisioned for Inside, and any performance improvements would require a GPU upgrade rather than a CPU change.