Inside

The AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 delivers exceptional performance in Inside, a 2016 puzzle platformer that is far more demanding on the GPU than its minimalist aesthetic suggests. The measured frames per second (FPS) data reveals a system that can comfortably max out high-refresh-rate displays at 1080p and 1440p, while still providing a smooth, playable experience at 4K. This analysis breaks down the measured performance across resolutions and settings, interprets the data relative to the hardware's capabilities, and explains what the numbers mean for the overall experience.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark data provides a clear hierarchy of performance across four settings presets: Low, Medium, High, and Ultra. The choice of which preset to use should be dictated by the target resolution and refresh rate of the display, but the data suggests that the High preset is the optimal balance for most users. At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers an average of 241 FPS, which is a massive margin above the 144Hz and even 240Hz refresh rates found on many gaming monitors. While the Low preset pushes this to 357 FPS and Medium to 330 FPS, the visual fidelity gains from High are substantial in a game with such a distinct art style, and the performance drop is negligible.

Moving to 2560x1440, the High preset maintains an impressive average of 174 FPS, again providing a comfortable cushion for high-refresh-rate gaming. The Ultra preset at this resolution drops to 165 FPS, which is still very playable, but the difference between High and Ultra is not worth the slight performance cost when High already offers a superior frame rate. At the demanding 3840x2160 resolution, the High preset manages an average of 109 FPS, which is excellent for 4K and smooth enough for most displays. The Ultra preset at 4K yields 104 FPS, a marginal difference that does not justify the potential for lower frame times in more complex scenes.

The Medium preset is an interesting data point. At 4K, it produces 175 FPS, which is significantly higher than High's 109 FPS. This suggests that the Medium preset is hitting a performance sweet spot, likely by reducing certain GPU-intensive effects that have a disproportionate impact on frame rate. For users with a 4K 144Hz display, the Medium preset is arguably the best choice, as it unlocks frame rates that High and Ultra cannot achieve at that resolution. However, the data shows that High is the most balanced preset overall, offering a strong combination of visual quality and performance across all three tested resolutions.

The Ultra preset, while providing the highest visual fidelity, offers the smallest performance headroom. At 1080p, it achieves 230 FPS, at 1440p it achieves 165 FPS, and at 4K it falls to 104 FPS. While these numbers are all perfectly playable, the incremental visual improvement over High is minimal in a game with Inside's monochromatic and atmospheric presentation. Therefore, for the vast majority of use cases, the High preset is recommended as it provides the best experience per the measured data, balancing high frame rates with a significant visual upgrade over Medium.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is the undisputed performance driver in this configuration. The measured FPS data shows a clear scaling pattern that points to the GPU as the primary limiting factor, especially at higher resolutions. The GPU's specifications are formidable: it features 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, yielding a massive 1.79 TB/s of memory bandwidth. This is paired with 21,760 shading units and a boost clock of 2407 MHz.

In the context of Inside, the GPU's raw power is more than sufficient. The game is not particularly demanding by modern standards, but the data shows that even this top-tier GPU is not able to maintain a locked 240 FPS at 4K with Ultra settings. This indicates that the game's rendering pipeline, while not state-of-the-art, still scales with GPU load. The sheer amount of VRAM (32 GB) is far beyond what Inside requires, meaning there is no memory capacity bottleneck. The high memory bandwidth and fast clock speeds are what allow the card to process the game's frames at such high rates.

The GPU's performance percentile is 92, placing it in the top tier of all GPUs. Its average benchmark score is 79,842, which is within 1.4% of its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X, and 1.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT. These metrics confirm that the RTX 5090 is a halo product, and its role in this combo is to provide an almost unlimited frame rate ceiling. At 1080p, the CPU is likely able to feed the GPU enough data to keep it busy, but the scaling from 1440p to 4K shows the GPU's workload increasing dramatically, which is why frame rates drop as resolution increases.

Resolution Scaling

The relationship between resolution and frame rate is the most telling aspect of the measured data. The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is significant, but it follows a predictable pattern that highlights the GPU's dominance. At the High preset, the average FPS goes from 241 at 1920x1080, to 174 at 2560x1440, and finally to 109 at 3840x2160. This represents a 28% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a 37% drop from 1440p to 4K.

This scaling is a classic sign of a GPU-bound scenario. The number of pixels being rendered quadruples from 1080p to 4K, and the frame rate drops by more than half, from 241 FPS to 109 FPS. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rate would be more consistent across resolutions. The data suggests that the RTX 5090 is working progressively harder as the resolution increases, and its performance is scaling accordingly. The Low preset shows an even more dramatic drop: 357 FPS at 1080p, 320 FPS at 1440p, and 218 FPS at 4K. This steep decline at 4K Low indicates that even with minimal graphical settings, the sheer pixel count is a significant load for the GPU.

The Medium preset provides an interesting anomaly. It shows a 330 FPS average at 1080p, which drops to 278 FPS at 1440p, and then to 175 FPS at 4K. The 4K figure is notably higher than the High preset's 109 FPS, suggesting that Medium disables a specific effect that is disproportionately expensive at 4K resolution. This could be a form of anti-aliasing or a high-resolution shadow technique. The data implies that for 4K gaming, the Medium preset is a more efficient use of the GPU's resources, offering 175 FPS versus 109 FPS, a 60% improvement, for a likely modest visual compromise.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete dataset offers a comprehensive view of performance across all combinations. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 357 FPS, which is the highest frame rate recorded in the entire test. The Medium preset is not far behind at 330 FPS, with a minimum of 280 FPS and a maximum of 379 FPS. The High preset achieves 241 FPS, and the Ultra preset is the slowest at this resolution, with 230 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset still manages a very high 320 FPS. The Medium preset produces 278 FPS, with a minimum of 236 FPS and a maximum of 319 FPS. The High preset drops to 174 FPS, and the Ultra preset is again the slowest, with 165 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 155 FPS, which shows the significant impact of the higher-quality settings.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset is the only one that breaks the 200 FPS barrier, achieving 218 FPS. The Medium preset is the next fastest, with 175 FPS and a minimum of 148 FPS and a maximum of 201 FPS. The High preset drops to 109 FPS, and the Ultra preset is the slowest overall, with 104 FPS. This is the only resolution where the Medium preset significantly outperforms High, making it a crucial data point for 4K users. The Ultra preset at 4K is the only configuration that dips below 110 FPS, but it still maintains a playable average.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations for Inside, this specific pairing of the AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 holds a rank of 454 out of 2,887 total combos. This places it in the top 15.7% of all systems tested. While this is a strong ranking, it is not the absolute top, which is surprising given the top-tier nature of both components. The data suggests that there are other combinations that achieve higher frame rates in this specific title.

This ranking is a result of the GPU's performance, which is high but not the absolute fastest in every scenario. The RTX 5090's percentile is 92, and its average benchmark score is 79,842. It is only 0.3% ahead of the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB and 1.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT, but 1.4% behind the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X. This indicates that in synthetic benchmarks, the 5090 is competitive but not overwhelmingly dominant over some older or specialized workstation cards.

For Inside, the combo rank of 454 suggests that while this system is exceptionally fast, there are a few other configurations that edge it out. This could be due to differences in CPU performance, as the Ryzen 9 8945HX, while powerful, is not the absolute fastest in every workload. Its average benchmark score is 76,212, which is 0.6% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D but 0.4% behind the AMD EPYC Embedded 8224P. The combination of these two components, while excellent, does not result in the single fastest system for this particular game.

FAQ

*Q: Can this system run Inside at 4K with maximum settings?*

A: Yes, it can. The measured data shows an average of 104 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings. This is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, though it is the lowest average FPS recorded in the test set.

Q: What is the best setting preset for a 144Hz 4K monitor?

A: The Medium preset is the best option for a 4K 144Hz display. The data shows it achieves an average of 175 FPS at 3840x2160, which is higher than the High preset's 109 FPS and the Ultra preset's 104 FPS. This is the only preset that comes close to saturating a 144Hz refresh rate at this resolution.

Q: How does the frame rate at 1080p compare to 4K?

A: The frame rate drops significantly as resolution increases. For example, at High settings, the average FPS goes from 241 at 1920x1080 to 109 at 3840x2160. This is a drop of over 50%, indicating the GPU is the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions.

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

A: The benchmark data indicates that the GPU is the dominant component. This is evident from the consistent frame rate drops as resolution increases, which is a classic sign of a GPU bottleneck. The CPU's role is secondary, as it only needs to feed the GPU with enough data.

Q: What is the highest average frame rate recorded in the tests?

A: The highest average frame rate recorded is 357 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with the Low settings preset. The next highest is 330 FPS at the same resolution with Medium settings, and 320 FPS at 2560x1440 with Low settings.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems?

A: This combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 ranks 454th out of 2,887 tested combinations for Inside. This places it in the top 15.7% of all systems, indicating it is a very fast configuration, though not the absolute fastest.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX is a 16-core, 32-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture. It has a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. While this is a mobile processor, its specifications are extremely powerful, and its role in this combo is to ensure the GPU is never starved of data. The CPU's benchmark scores are impressive, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 42,713 and a single-core score of 6,030. Its Passmark multi-thread score is 51,405, and its single-thread score is 3,907. These numbers place it in the 95th percentile of all CPUs.

In the context of Inside, the CPU's high single-core performance is likely more relevant than its multi-core capabilities. The game's physics and game logic are often single-threaded, so a high boost clock is beneficial. The 5.40 GHz boost clock is exceptionally high for a mobile chip and should provide ample performance for the game's logic. The data shows that at 1080p, the frame rates are extremely high, which suggests the CPU is able to keep up with the GPU's output. The fact that frame rates drop significantly at 4K confirms that the CPU is not the limiting factor; if it were, the frame rates would remain relatively flat across resolutions.

The CPU's nearest rivals in terms of average benchmark score are the Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX, which is a mere 0.1% slower, and the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D, which is 0.6% slower. This shows that the 8945HX is at the top of the performance pyramid for mobile processors. Its 64 MB of L3 cache is also generous, helping to reduce memory latency and improve performance in games that rely on larger datasets. Ultimately, the CPU's role is to provide a solid foundation, and the data confirms that it does so without introducing any noticeable bottlenecks, allowing the RTX 5090 to deliver its full potential.