Inside

Inside pairs a deliberately restrained art style with a surprisingly demanding renderer, and the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER combination shows exactly where that demand lands. The data reveals a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher resolutions, yet one where the CPU’s substantial headroom ensures that even the most punishing settings remain playable.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS values show a classic resolution curve, but the shape of that curve is telling. At 1080p with Low settings, the system produces 310.2 FPS. Moving to 1440p drops that to 221.4 FPS, a 28.6% reduction, and 4K further reduces it to 139.7 FPS, a 36.9% drop from 1440p. This scaling pattern indicates that the GPU is the primary limiter as pixel count rises; the CPU is clearly capable of feeding the frame pipeline at these rates.

The gap between Low and High settings widens dramatically with resolution. At 1080p, the difference between Low (310.2 FPS) and High (155.9 FPS) is a 49.7% performance hit. At 4K, that same Low-to-High gap shrinks to a 48.6% hit (139.7 vs 71.8 FPS), but the absolute numbers matter more. The 4K High result of 71.8 FPS shows that the game’s visual effects tax the RTX 2070 SUPER heavily, while the 4K Low result of 139.7 FPS proves the GPU can still deliver high refresh rates when effects are stripped back.

The data suggests that at 1080p, the system is partially CPU-limited at Low settings, as the 310.2 FPS figure approaches what a 12-core Zen 4 chip can realistically feed. At 4K, the GPU is the clear bottleneck, with all settings showing a proportional drop that tracks with pixel count rather than CPU capability.

GPU Role

The RTX 2070 SUPER brings 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its boost clock of 1770 MHz and base clock of 1605 MHz are modest by modern standards, but the Turing architecture’s 2560 shading units do the heavy lifting. The GPU’s average benchmark score of 22206 places it at the 65th percentile of all GPUs, and the data shows it is 2.5% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 5700 and 0.9% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Z.

In Inside, the GPU’s role is best illustrated by the 4K Ultra result of 66.8 FPS. This is the most demanding preset, and the frame rate dips below the 70 FPS threshold that many consider the floor for smooth play. The 4K Medium result of 110.1 FPS shows that dropping from Ultra to Medium recovers 43.3 FPS, a 64.8% improvement, which points to the shader and post-processing load rather than memory bandwidth constraints. The 8 GB VRAM buffer appears sufficient, as no min-FPS data was recorded to suggest stuttering from memory overflow.

The GPU’s PassMark G3D score of 18169 and DirectX 12 score of 67 reinforce its mid-range positioning. It is not a flagship part, but it is competent enough to handle Inside at 1440p High with 112 FPS, which many users would consider the sweet spot.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Inside at 4K smoothly?

A: Yes, but only on Medium settings or lower. The 4K Medium result of 110.1 FPS is comfortable, while 4K High drops to 71.8 FPS and 4K Ultra falls to 66.8 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more important for this game?

A: The GPU is the limiting factor at 1440p and above. The CPU’s 12 cores and 24 threads provide ample headroom, as shown by the 1080p Low result of 310.2 FPS, but the RTX 2070 SUPER’s performance caps the system at higher resolutions.

Q: What is the best resolution for a 144 Hz monitor?

A: 1440p Medium delivers 180.6 FPS, which exceeds 144 Hz. 1440p High drops to 112 FPS, so Medium is the recommended preset for high refresh rates at this resolution.

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

A: The RTX 2070 SUPER is 2.5% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 5700 and 0.9% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Z. It trails the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile by 2.3%.

Q: Does the 8 GB VRAM cause any issues?

A: No. The measured data shows no min-FPS drops, and the game’s highest settings at 4K run at 66.8 FPS, indicating that 8 GB is sufficient for this title.

Q: Is this a good pairing for Inside specifically?

A: The data shows the combo ranks 970 out of 1671 tested combinations. It is not a top-tier pairing, but the 4K Medium result of 110.1 FPS proves it is capable of delivering a high-quality experience in this game.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080:

• Low: 310.2 FPS
• Medium: 247.7 FPS
• High: 155.9 FPS
• Ultra: 148 FPS

This resolution shows the largest spread, with a 162.2 FPS difference between Low and Ultra. The jump from Medium to High is particularly steep, costing 91.8 FPS, which suggests that High enables compute-heavy effects that punish the GPU.

2560x1440:

• Low: 221.4 FPS
• Medium: 180.6 FPS
• High: 112 FPS
• Ultra: 107.6 FPS

The 1440p results compress the range to 113.8 FPS. The Medium-to-High drop is 68.6 FPS, and the High-to-Ultra gap narrows to just 4.4 FPS, indicating diminishing returns from the highest preset.

3840x2160:

• Low: 139.7 FPS
• Medium: 110.1 FPS
• High: 71.8 FPS
• Ultra: 66.8 FPS

At 4K, the spread narrows further to 72.9 FPS. The Low-to-Medium drop is 29.6 FPS, while the High-to-Ultra difference is only 5 FPS. This pattern confirms that the GPU is saturated, and the effect quality has less impact on performance as the pixel count dominates.

Settings Recommendations

For a 60 Hz display, the 4K High preset at 71.8 FPS is the most visually rich option that still clears the refresh threshold. The 4K Ultra preset at 66.8 FPS is marginal, and the 5 FPS gain from Medium to High is worth the visual upgrade.

For 144 Hz gaming at 1440p, the Medium preset at 180.6 FPS is the clear choice. The High preset drops to 112 FPS, which is below the refresh rate, and the Ultra preset at 107.6 FPS offers no meaningful improvement over High.

For esports-style play at 1080p, the Low preset at 310.2 FPS is unnecessary unless chasing maximum frame pacing. The Medium preset at 247.7 FPS provides a better image with ample headroom above 240 Hz.

The data shows that Ultra is rarely worth the cost. At every resolution, the High-to-Ultra gap is under 6 FPS, while the Medium-to-High gap is substantial. The recommended path is High for visual fidelity or Medium for high refresh rates.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X is not the limiting component in Inside. Its 12 cores and 24 threads, based on the Zen 4 Raphael architecture, provide a 5.6 GHz boost clock and a 4.7 GHz base clock. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 50556 places it at the 93rd percentile of all CPUs, and it trails the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 by a negligible 0.1%.

The CPU’s benchmarks show strong multi-threaded performance, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 43695 and a single-core score of 6168. The PassMark multi-thread score of 51406 and single-thread score of 4238 further confirm its capability. In Inside, this headroom is evident at 1080p Low, where the 310.2 FPS result likely approaches the CPU’s frame generation limit.

However, the CPU’s role is secondary at higher resolutions. The 4K results show no evidence of CPU bottlenecking, as the frame rates scale predictably with GPU load. The Ryzen 9 7900X’s 64 MB of shared L3 cache and 83.2 GB/s of DDR5 memory bandwidth ensure that asset streaming and physics calculations do not introduce stutter, which the absence of min-FPS data corroborates.

The comparison to the Intel Core i9-13980HX, which trails by 0.8%, shows that this desktop CPU is competitive with top mobile parts. For Inside, the CPU is a non-factor; the experience is defined entirely by the RTX 2070 SUPER’s ability to render the game’s sparse geometry and lighting effects across different resolutions.