Inside

# Inside — AMD Ryzen 9 5900X + Intel Arc B580

The AMD Ryzen 9 5900X paired with the Intel Arc B580 delivers a fascinating performance profile in Inside, a puzzle platformer from 2016. With 12 cores and 24 threads from the Zen 3 architecture, the CPU is a desktop-class powerhouse, while the Arc B580 brings 12 GB of GDDR6 memory and a 192-bit bus to the table. The measured frame rates reveal a system that scales impressively across resolutions, though the data suggests interesting bottlenecks emerge at the highest settings.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases, but the magnitude of that drop varies dramatically depending on the quality preset. At Low settings, the system produces 271.2 FPS at 1920x1080, dropping to 195.5 FPS at 2560x1440, and finally 125.1 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 53.9% reduction from 1080p to 4K, which is substantial but not unexpected for a game pushing this many frames.

The Medium preset tells a similar story with slightly lower absolute numbers: 217.7 FPS at 1080p, 152.4 FPS at 1440p, and 97.4 FPS at 4K. The High preset shows a more dramatic scaling curve, with 132.2 FPS at 1080p falling to 97.2 FPS at 1440p and then 60.4 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset exhibits the steepest cliff: 129.1 FPS at 1080p, 93.8 FPS at 1440p, and just 56.5 FPS at 4K.

What does this scaling imply about the limiting component? The gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 142.1 FPS, but at 4K that gap narrows to 68.6 FPS. This compression suggests that at higher resolutions, the GPU becomes the primary constraint, while at 1080p the CPU's 12 cores and high boost clock of 4.80 GHz have more headroom to push frame rates. The data indicates the Arc B580's 13.67 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 456.0 GB/s memory bandwidth are being taxed more heavily as pixel count increases.

CPU Role

The Ryzen 9 5900X is a 12-core, 24-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture, codenamed Vermeer, built on TSMC's 7 nm process. Its base clock of 3.70 GHz and boost clock of 4.80 GHz provide substantial single-threaded capability, as evidenced by its 3dmark single-thread score of 941 and geekbench singlecore score of 2202. In Inside, a game that doesn't heavily utilize multi-threading, the CPU's per-core strength is likely more relevant than its aggregate throughput.

The benchmark data supports this interpretation. The CPU's cinebench r23 multicore score of 33150 and passmark multithread score of 39002 demonstrate enormous parallel processing capability, but Inside's frame rates at 1080p Low (271.2 FPS) suggest the game is not saturating all 12 cores. The 3dmark 2-thread score of 1852 and 4-thread score of 3588 indicate that the CPU's performance in lightly-threaded workloads is strong, which aligns with the high frame rates observed at lower resolutions.

Interestingly, the CPU's nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-13700F, has an average benchmark score of 39095, just 0.9% behind the Ryzen 9 5900X's 39453 average. This proximity in synthetic benchmarks suggests that swapping CPUs would produce nearly identical results in Inside, assuming the GPU remains the same. The CPU's percentile ranking of 90 versus all CPUs places it in the top decile, reinforcing that it is not the bottleneck in most scenarios tested here.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achievable with this combo?

A: The maximum measured average FPS is 271.2, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 4K?

A: Yes, at High settings the average FPS is 60.4 at 3840x2160. At Ultra settings, it drops to 56.5, falling just below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the Arc B580 compare to its closest GPU rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Arc B580's average benchmark score is 23021, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 scores 23181, a delta of -0.7%. The AMD Radeon 760M is nearly identical at 22999, just 0.1% behind.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Low settings produce 195.5 FPS while Ultra produces 93.8 FPS, a difference of 101.7 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more likely to limit performance at 1080p?

A: The data suggests the CPU has headroom at 1080p, given the 271.2 FPS at Low settings. The GPU's 66th percentile ranking versus all GPUs indicates it is the more probable constraint, especially as settings increase.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested combinations?

A: This CPU-GPU pair ranks 1281 out of 1671 combos tested for Inside.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS values are 271.2 for Low, 217.7 for Medium, 132.2 for High, and 129.1 for Ultra. The step from Low to Medium costs 53.5 FPS, while the step from Medium to High costs 85.5 FPS, and High to Ultra only 3.1 FPS. This plateau between High and Ultra at 1080p suggests diminishing returns from the highest preset.

Moving to 2560x1440, the numbers shift downward: Low produces 195.5 FPS, Medium 152.4, High 97.2, and Ultra 93.8. The gap between Low and Medium is 43.1 FPS, Medium to High is 55.2 FPS, and High to Ultra is a mere 3.4 FPS. This pattern mirrors the 1080p results, with Ultra providing minimal gains over High.

At 3840x2160, the measured averages are 125.1 FPS for Low, 97.4 for Medium, 60.4 for High, and 56.5 for Ultra. The Low to Medium drop is 27.7 FPS, Medium to High is 37.0 FPS, and High to Ultra is 3.9 FPS. The consistent small delta between High and Ultra across all resolutions — 3.1, 3.4, and 3.9 FPS respectively — indicates that the Ultra preset adds graphical features that have marginal impact on frame rate, or that the GPU is hitting a similar ceiling regardless of resolution.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B580, built on the Xe2-HPG architecture with the BMG-G21 chip, is fabricated on TSMC's 5 nm process with 19,600 million transistors. Its base and boost clocks are both 2670 MHz, and it features 2560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 80 ROPs. The 12 GB of GDDR6 memory operates at 2375 MHz with a 192-bit bus width, yielding 456.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

In Inside, the GPU's role becomes more pronounced at higher resolutions. The 4K Ultra result of 56.5 FPS suggests the Arc B580 is approaching its practical limit for this game at maximum settings. The GPU's pixel rate of 213.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 427.2 GTexel/s provide theoretical ceilings, but the measured data shows real-world performance is influenced by the game's specific demands.

The GPU's passmark g3d score of 15748 and 3dmark steel nomad score of 3068 place it at the 66th percentile versus all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060, scores 23181 on average benchmark, a -0.7% delta, meaning the Arc B580 is essentially on par with that GPU in synthetic tests. However, in Inside, the measured frame rates indicate that at 4K High, the system achieves 60.4 FPS, which is a solid result for a game of this era, but the Ultra preset at 4K falls below 60 FPS, highlighting the GPU's limitations under the highest load.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the High preset at 1920x1080 delivers 132.2 FPS, which is more than sufficient for smooth gameplay while offering better visual fidelity than Medium (217.7 FPS) or Low (271.2 FPS). The Ultra preset at 1080p provides only 3.1 FPS more than High, making High the more efficient choice for most players.

At 2560x1440, High produces 97.2 FPS, comfortably above 60 FPS, while Ultra yields 93.8 FPS, a negligible improvement of 3.4 FPS. The Medium preset at 1440p achieves 152.4 FPS, which is excellent for high-refresh-rate displays, but the visual trade-off may not be worth it. For 4K gaming, High settings are the only preset that maintains an average above 60 FPS at 60.4 FPS; Ultra drops to 56.5 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for competitive play.

The data suggests that High is the optimal preset across all resolutions, as it provides the best balance between visual quality and frame rate. The consistent 3-4 FPS difference between High and Ultra indicates that the Ultra preset's additional graphical effects do not justify the performance cost, especially at higher resolutions where the GPU is already strained.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 9 5900X + Intel Arc B580 combination ranks 1281 out of 1671 tested combos in Inside, placing it in the lower-middle tier of all configurations. This ranking might seem surprising given the impressive absolute frame rates, but it reflects the fact that Inside is an older game that many high-end systems can run at extremely high frame rates. The combo's percentile placement suggests that while it performs well in absolute terms, there are 390 other tested combinations that achieve higher average FPS.

The CPU's 90th percentile ranking versus all CPUs and the GPU's 66th percentile ranking versus all GPUs provide context for this result. The CPU is clearly not the limiting factor, as its synthetic benchmark scores are near the top. The GPU, while competent, sits in the upper two-thirds of all GPUs, which means that combinations featuring higher-tier graphics cards will naturally outperform this setup in Inside. The data implies that for this particular game, the GPU is the more significant determinant of overall ranking, and users seeking higher rankings would need to pair a stronger GPU with this already capable CPU.