Inside

The AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX paired with the AMD Radeon 880M delivers playable but not exceptional performance in Inside, with the data showing a clear pattern of the integrated GPU being the primary limiting factor across all tested resolutions and settings. The combination ranks near the bottom of the database at 2816 out of 2887 tested combos, indicating that while the CPU is exceptionally powerful, the system's overall gaming capability is constrained by the Radeon 880M's modest graphics throughput.

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates reveal a pronounced drop as resolution increases from 1080p to 4K, a pattern that clearly identifies the GPU as the bottleneck. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 131 FPS, but at 1440p this falls to 94 FPS, and at 4K it drops further to 59 FPS. This represents a 55% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, demonstrating that the rendering load scales heavily with pixel count.

The scaling becomes even more dramatic at higher quality presets. With High settings, the system delivers 66 FPS at 1080p, 47 FPS at 1440p, and 30 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 29%, and from 1440p to 4K is another 36%. At Ultra settings, the pattern continues with 62 FPS at 1080p, 45 FPS at 1440p, and 28 FPS at 4K, showing a 55% total reduction from the lowest to highest resolution.

Medium settings provide the most complete dataset with minimum and maximum frame times recorded, showing 105 FPS average at 1080p with a range of 89 to 121, 75 FPS at 1440p with a range of 64 to 87, and 47 FPS at 4K with a range of 40 to 55. The consistency of the scaling pattern across all presets—roughly a 30% drop from 1080p to 1440p and another 30-35% from 1440p to 4K—indicates that the Radeon 880M's shading units and texture mapping units are being saturated at higher resolutions.

The data suggests that resolution scaling is nearly linear with pixel count, which is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario. The Ryzen 9 8945HX with its 16 cores and 32 threads is not the limiting factor here; instead, the 768 shading units and 48 TMUs of the Radeon 880M determine the frame rates. Users targeting 4K should expect roughly half the performance of 1080p, regardless of quality preset, which strongly suggests that this combo is best suited for lower resolutions.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX is a 16-core, 32-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture, built on TSMC's 5 nm process node with a die size of 2x 71 mm². Its base clock of 2.50 GHz and boost clock of 5.40 GHz provide substantial single-thread and multi-thread capability, as evidenced by benchmark scores including 6030 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 42713 in multi-core. The processor ranks in the 95th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 76212, placing it within 0.6% of the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D and 0.1% of the Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX.

For Inside, a puzzle platformer, the CPU demands are relatively modest. The game's logic, physics, and rendering commands are unlikely to stress even a fraction of the 32 threads available. The 64 MB of L3 cache and dual-channel DDR5 memory support with 83.2 GB/s bandwidth provide ample data throughput for the game's assets. The PassMark single-thread score of 3907 and multi-thread score of 51405 indicate that the CPU is far more capable than what this title requires.

The data confirms that the CPU is not a performance limiter in this combination. Even at 4K Ultra where the frame rate drops to 28 FPS, the bottleneck is clearly the GPU's rendering throughput, not the CPU's ability to issue draw calls or process game logic. The processor's 16 cores remain largely idle during gameplay, with the workload primarily falling on the integrated graphics. This is a typical scenario for a game like Inside, which was released in 2016 and has modest system requirements relative to modern hardware.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance on optimal settings for this combo. At 1080p, the Low preset delivers 131 FPS, which far exceeds the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The Medium preset at 105 FPS also provides excellent smoothness while offering improved visual quality. High settings at 66 FPS remain playable and represent the best balance for most users, while Ultra at 62 FPS is only marginally lower and may be acceptable for those prioritizing visual fidelity.

At 1440p, the Low preset achieves 94 FPS, maintaining smooth gameplay, while Medium drops to 75 FPS, still comfortably above 60. High settings at 47 FPS and Ultra at 45 FPS fall below the ideal smoothness threshold, making them less recommended for action sequences. Users with 1440p displays should stick to Medium or Low for the best experience.

At 4K, the situation becomes more constrained. Low settings achieve 59 FPS, which is borderline playable, while Medium drops to 47 FPS and High falls to 30 FPS. Ultra at 28 FPS is essentially unplayable for a game that benefits from responsive controls, even if Inside is a slower-paced puzzle platformer. The data suggests that 4K gaming with this combo requires Low settings, and even then, the frame rate is not consistently above 60.

The best overall experience per the measured rows is 1080p Medium, which provides 105 FPS average with minimums of 89 FPS, ensuring no noticeable stuttering. This preset balances visual quality with performance headroom. For users willing to accept slightly lower visual fidelity, 1080p Low at 131 FPS provides the maximum smoothness. The Medium preset at 1440p with 75 FPS is also viable for those prioritizing resolution over detail.

How This Combo Ranks

This combination of AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX and AMD Radeon 880M ranks 2816 out of 2887 tested combos in Inside, placing it in the bottom 2.5% of all configurations. This low ranking is primarily attributable to the integrated GPU's limited performance, despite the CPU being one of the most powerful mobile processors available. The Radeon 880M's average benchmark score of 8436 places it in the 43rd percentile among all GPUs, with rivals including the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675MX at 8427 (0.1% faster), NVIDIA GeForce MX330 at 8458 (0.3% slower), and AMD Radeon HD 8870M at 8462 (0.3% slower).

The stark contrast between the CPU's high percentile ranking (95th) and the GPU's middling percentile (43rd) explains the combo's poor overall position. While the Ryzen 9 8945HX outperforms most CPUs in synthetic benchmarks, the Radeon 880M's 4.454 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 46.40 GPixel/s pixel rate are insufficient for demanding gaming workloads. The system's ranking of 2816 out of 2887 indicates that most tested combos, including those with older discrete GPUs, deliver better gaming performance.

The data shows that this combo's performance is comparable to systems with dedicated entry-level graphics cards from several generations ago. The Radeon 880M's benchmark scores are nearly identical to the GTX 675MX, a mobile GPU from 2012, and the MX330, a low-end offering from 2020. This places the combo in a performance tier that is adequate for esports titles and older games but struggles with modern AAA releases at high settings.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon 880M is an integrated graphics processor based on the RDNA 3.5 architecture, built on TSMC's 4 nm process node with a die size of 233 mm² and 34,000 million transistors. It features 768 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 16 ROPs, with 12 ray tracing cores. The GPU operates at a base clock of 400 MHz with a boost clock of 2900 MHz, delivering 4.454 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and a texture rate of 139.2 GTexel/s.

The GPU uses system shared memory, meaning its bandwidth is dependent on the host system's DDR5 configuration. With dual-channel memory providing 83.2 GB/s, the integrated GPU has access to this bandwidth, though it is shared with the CPU. The GPU's 16 ROPs are a significant constraint for high-resolution rendering, as they determine the pixel fill rate of 46.40 GPixel/s, which explains the substantial performance drops at 4K.

DirectX 12 Ultimate support and Vulkan 1.4 API compatibility ensure the GPU can handle modern graphics features, but the limited hardware resources cap its real-world performance. The Radeon 880M's benchmark scores include 535 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, 31285 in Geekbench OpenCL, and 40006 in Geekbench Vulkan. PassMark results show 7615 in G3D and 3719 in GPU compute, with the GPU ranking in the 43rd percentile overall.

For Inside, which is not a graphically demanding title, the GPU still struggles at high resolutions and quality settings. The data shows that the GPU's 16 ROPs become a bottleneck at 4K, where pixel fill rate requirements increase fourfold compared to 1080p. The 768 shading units are sufficient for the game's simple shader work, but the memory bandwidth and ROP throughput limit performance. The system shared memory configuration means that the GPU competes with the CPU for bandwidth, which can cause additional frame time variability in scenes with complex physics or particle effects.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its best performance. Low settings achieve an average of 131 FPS, providing a very smooth experience. Medium settings average 105 FPS with a minimum of 89 and maximum of 121, indicating stable frame pacing. High settings average 66 FPS, which is playable but shows a significant drop from Medium. Ultra settings average 62 FPS, nearly identical to High, suggesting that the GPU is hitting a similar performance ceiling at both presets.

At 2560x1440, performance decreases across all settings. Low averages 94 FPS, Medium averages 75 FPS with a range of 64 to 87, High averages 47 FPS, and Ultra averages 45 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 64 FPS indicates that even at this resolution, occasional frame dips occur but remain within acceptable bounds. The High and Ultra presets both fall below 60 FPS, making them less suitable for consistent smoothness.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's limitations become pronounced. Low settings average 59 FPS, barely reaching playable levels. Medium averages 47 FPS with a range of 40 to 55, showing significant frame time variance. High averages 30 FPS, and Ultra averages 28 FPS, both below the 30 FPS threshold that some users consider minimum playability. The data shows that 4K is only viable at Low settings, and even then, the frame rate hovers near 60 FPS without consistently exceeding it.

The complete dataset reveals that this combo scales predictably with resolution and settings, with the GPU being the dominant factor in all configurations. The Ryzen 9 8945HX's powerful 16-core architecture ensures that CPU-side frame generation is never the bottleneck, but the Radeon 880M's 768 shading units and 16 ROPs cannot sustain high frame rates at higher resolutions. Users should target 1080p Medium for the best balance of visual quality and performance, or 1080p Low for maximum smoothness, while 4K gaming should be reserved for Low settings at most.