Inside

Inside is a 2016 puzzle platformer that places almost no sustained load on modern hardware, yet the measured frame rates for the AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 combo reveal a clear performance hierarchy across resolutions and presets. The data indicates that this pairing is capable of delivering extremely high frame rates at lower settings, but the GPU becomes a limiting factor at 4K Ultra. This analysis walks through the benchmark results step by step, interpreting what the scores mean for gameplay and component utilization.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 combination ranks 2290 out of 2887 tested combos in this game. This places the pairing in the lower half of all tested configurations for Inside, which is notable given the hardware's raw specifications. The relatively low rank suggests that for a game with simple 2D side-scrolling visuals, the CPU's immense multi-threaded power is largely irrelevant, and the GPU's mid-range standing defines the experience.

The CPU itself is far more impressive in general benchmarks, sitting at the 95th percentile among all processors. Its average benchmark score of 76212 puts it statistically even with the Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX, which scores 76155, a delta of just 0.1%. It also slightly edges out the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D (75779, +0.6%) and the AMD EPYC Embedded 8224P (76492, -0.4%). However, these scores reflect Cinebench and Passmark workloads, not gaming. In the context of Inside, that raw CPU power does not translate into a high combo rank because the game's physics and logic are trivial for any modern processor.

The GPU, conversely, ranks at the 66th percentile among all graphics cards, with an average benchmark score of 21035. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT (20713, +1.6%), the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL (21153, -0.6%), the AMD Radeon HD 8970M (21237, -1%), and the NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile (21379, -1.6%). This puts the RTX 5050 in a narrow performance band, and its standing in this specific game's combo ranking reflects that mid-pack position. The 2290th rank out of 2887 combos is not a condemnation of the hardware, but rather a consequence of the game's low requirements, where many weaker GPUs can still hit high frame rates, compressing the field.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture using TSMC's 5 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 2317 MHz and a boost clock of 2572 MHz, with memory running at 2500 MHz (20 Gbps effective). The 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 320.0 GB/s. These specifications are modest for a modern GPU, and the data shows they have a direct impact on Inside's performance at higher settings.

The GPU's memory capacity and bandwidth become relevant when examining the 4K results. At 3840x2160 with High settings, the average frame rate drops to 55 FPS, while at Ultra it falls to 53 FPS. This is a surprisingly narrow gap between High and Ultra, suggesting that the GPU is hitting a memory or compute wall. The 8 GB VRAM buffer is not necessarily exhausted by a game with simple textures, but the rendering pipeline at 4K demands significant pixel throughput. The RTX 5050 has 2560 shading units, 80 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, delivering a pixel rate of 82.30 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 205.8 GTexel/s. At 4K, those ROPs are tasked with filling over 8 million pixels per frame, and the data indicates that the card struggles to maintain fluidity beyond 60 FPS at the highest presets.

In contrast, dropping to Low settings at 4K yields 111 FPS, showing that the GPU's raw compute is not the bottleneck, but rather the shading workload associated with higher presets. The 13.17 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is sufficient for lighter loads, but the card's position in the 66th percentile of all GPUs underscores that it is not designed for high-end 4K gaming. For Inside, the GPU role is critical only at the extremes; at lower resolutions and settings, it has ample headroom.

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates demonstrate how the RTX 5050 scales with resolution, revealing where the bottleneck shifts. At 1920x1080 with Medium settings, the average FPS is 196, with a minimum of 166 and a maximum of 225. Moving to 2560x1440 at the same Medium preset, the average drops to 141 FPS (min 120, max 162), a reduction of 28%. At 3840x2160 Medium, the average falls further to 88 FPS (min 75, max 102), another 38% drop from 1440p. This scaling pattern is consistent with a GPU-bound scenario, where the frame rate decreases as pixel count increases.

The data also shows a clear pattern at High settings. From 1080p High (122 FPS) to 1440p High (88 FPS), the drop is 28%. From 1440p High to 4K High (55 FPS), the drop is 37.5%. These percentages are nearly identical to the Medium preset scaling, indicating that the GPU's workload scales predictably with resolution regardless of the preset. The limiting component is clearly the GPU at these higher resolutions, as the CPU has more than enough headroom.

However, the Low preset tells a different story. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 245 FPS. At 1440p Low, it hits 176 FPS, a 28% drop. At 4K Low, it reaches 111 FPS, a 37% drop from 1440p. The scaling is consistent, but the absolute numbers are much higher, suggesting that even at 4K Low, the GPU is not fully saturated. The fact that 4K Low (111 FPS) is higher than 1080p Ultra (117 FPS) and nearly equal to 1080p High (122 FPS) indicates that the CPU is not a limiting factor at any resolution. The bottleneck is exclusively the GPU's ability to process the visual fidelity of the preset, not the pixel count alone.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest performance. On Low settings, the average frame rate is 245 FPS, which is exceptionally fluid for any display. Medium settings reduce this to 196 FPS, with a recorded minimum of 166 FPS and maximum of 225 FPS. High settings yield 122 FPS average, and Ultra settings drop slightly to 117 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra is only 5 FPS, suggesting that the Ultra preset's additional effects are not heavily taxing the GPU at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show the expected decline. Low settings produce 176 FPS average. Medium settings drop to 141 FPS, with a minimum of 120 and maximum of 162. High settings average 88 FPS, and Ultra settings average 84 FPS. Again, the difference between High and Ultra is minimal (4 FPS), indicating that the GPU's shading units are handling the extra effects without significant penalty at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the performance becomes more constrained. Low settings still deliver a playable 111 FPS average. Medium settings average 88 FPS, with a minimum of 75 and maximum of 102. High settings drop to 55 FPS, and Ultra settings fall to 53 FPS. The drop from Medium to High is substantial (33 FPS), representing a 37.5% reduction. This is the largest single-preset penalty across all resolutions, suggesting that the High preset introduces a significant increase in pixel shading workload that the RTX 5050's 32 ROPs cannot sustain at 4K.

The data consistently shows that the Ultra preset offers almost no benefit over High in terms of frame rate cost at 1080p and 1440p, but the situation changes at 4K where both High and Ultra hover near 55 FPS. For a game like Inside, which relies on atmospheric lighting and silhouettes, the visual difference between High and Ultra may be subtle, but the performance cost at 4K is measurable.

FAQ

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested configurations for Inside?

A: The AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 ranks 2290 out of 2887 tested combos.

Q: How does the CPU's general performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The CPU's average benchmark score is 76212, which is 0.1% higher than the Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX (76155) and 0.6% higher than the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D (75779). It is 0.4% lower than the AMD EPYC Embedded 8224P (76492).

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achieved at 1080p?

A: The highest average frame rate at 1920x1080 is 245 FPS, achieved on Low settings.

Q: Does the GPU maintain 60 FPS at 4K on all presets?

A: No. At 3840x2160, the GPU achieves 111 FPS on Low, 88 FPS on Medium, but only 55 FPS on High and 53 FPS on Ultra.

Q: How much does the frame rate drop from 1440p to 4K on Medium settings?

A: The average frame rate drops from 141 FPS at 2560x1440 to 88 FPS at 3840x2160, a reduction of 53 FPS (approximately 38%).

Q: What is the GPU's memory bandwidth and how does it relate to performance?

A: The GPU has a memory bandwidth of 320.0 GB/s across a 128-bit bus. This bandwidth supports the frame rates seen at 1080p and 1440p, but the data shows that at 4K High and Ultra, the card's pixel processing limits performance to around 55 FPS.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX is a 16-core, 32-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture (codename Dragon Range), manufactured on TSMC's 5 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, with a TDP of 55 W. The 64 MB of L3 cache and dual-channel DDR5 memory support (83.2 GB/s bandwidth) are high-end specifications. In general benchmarks, this CPU scores 42713 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 6030 in single-core, with a Passmark multithread score of 51405.

For Inside, these specifications are massively overprovisioned. The game is a 2D puzzle platformer with simple physics and no complex AI, so the CPU is rarely under load. The measured frame rates confirm this: at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 245 FPS, which is likely near the engine's own limits rather than a CPU constraint. The fact that the frame rate drops only slightly from 1080p Ultra (117 FPS) to 4K Ultra (53 FPS) while the CPU's workload remains constant shows that the processor is not a bottleneck at any resolution.

The CPU's percentile ranking (95th) is far higher than the GPU's (66th), and its nearest rivals are all high-end desktop processors or workstation chips. Yet in this game, the combo rank is low because the CPU's power is irrelevant to the outcome. The data suggests that a significantly weaker CPU paired with the same GPU would produce nearly identical frame rates, as the bottleneck is entirely on the graphics side at higher settings, and at lower settings the GPU is still capable of exceeding 100 FPS without CPU assistance. The Ryzen 9 8945HX's role here is to ensure there is no frame pacing stutter from CPU delays, but it does not actively push performance higher.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and refresh rate. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset (117 FPS) is recommended for players with 120 Hz or 144 Hz displays, as it provides a smooth experience with the highest visual fidelity. The High preset (122 FPS) is nearly identical in performance and could be used to save power, but Ultra offers no meaningful penalty. For players with 240 Hz displays, the Medium preset (196 FPS) is the best balance, as it exceeds the refresh rate while maintaining better visuals than Low.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset (141 FPS) is the standout choice. It delivers a frame rate well above 120 FPS, which is suitable for high-refresh monitors, and the minimum of 120 FPS ensures consistency. The High preset (88 FPS) is acceptable for 90 Hz displays but falls short of 120 Hz. The Ultra preset (84 FPS) offers no advantage over High and is not recommended over Medium given the 57 FPS difference between them. The Low preset (176 FPS) is only useful for extreme refresh rates (175 Hz or higher) and sacrifices too much visual quality for the modest gain over Medium.

At 3840x2160, the situation is different. The Medium preset (88 FPS) is the clear recommendation, as it provides a smooth experience on 60 Hz displays and even allows for some headroom on 90 Hz monitors. The Low preset (111 FPS) is viable for 120 Hz displays but degrades the game's atmospheric visuals significantly. The High (55 FPS) and Ultra (53 FPS) presets are not recommended for 4K, as they fall below the 60 FPS threshold, which is noticeable in a game that relies on smooth motion for its puzzle mechanics. For the best experience at 4K, Medium settings are the sweet spot, delivering a stable 88 FPS with minimums of 75 FPS, which is well within the playable range.