Inside

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT delivers exceptional performance in Inside, a 2016 puzzle platformer that is clearly not demanding by modern standards. The measured frame rates across all resolutions and settings are extraordinarily high, ranging from a low of 96.8 FPS at 4K Ultra to a staggering 430.2 FPS at 1080p Low. This data reveals a system with massive headroom, indicating that the limiting factor shifts dramatically depending on the resolution and preset chosen.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K tells a clear story about where the bottleneck lies in this configuration. At 1080p Low, the system produces 430.2 FPS, but this drops to 326.2 FPS at 1440p and further to 203.9 FPS at 4K. The transition from 1080p to 1440p represents a 24.2% performance reduction, while moving from 1440p to 4K cuts frame rates by 37.5%. This pattern indicates that even at 1080p, the GPU is already becoming the primary constraint, as the CPU's 12 cores and 24 threads are more than sufficient for a game of this era.

The scaling becomes more pronounced when examining higher settings presets. At Ultra settings, the frame rate drops from 219.5 FPS at 1080p to 156.8 FPS at 1440p and finally to 96.8 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is the only measurement that falls below the 100 FPS threshold, suggesting that the RX 9070 XT's 16 GB of GDDR6 memory and 644.6 GB/s bandwidth are being taxed by the combination of maximum graphical fidelity and high pixel count. The data shows a consistent pattern: the higher the resolution, the more the GPU becomes the limiting component, while the CPU's performance headroom remains largely untapped.

The scaling from 1080p to 4K at High settings reveals a 55.1% reduction in frame rate, from 225.5 FPS to 101.2 FPS. This significant drop indicates that pixel throughput is the dominant factor, as the game's rendering demands increase quadratically with resolution. The RDNA 4.0 architecture with its 4096 shading units and 128 ROPs is clearly capable, but the data shows that 4K Ultra pushes the GPU to its limits, while lower resolutions leave substantial performance on the table.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest measured frame rate for this combination?

A: The highest measured average frame rate is 430.2 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: How does the system perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the system delivers an average of 96.8 FPS, which is the lowest measured result across all tested configurations.

Q: Is there a significant difference between Medium and High settings at 1440p?

A: Yes, the data shows a 38.3% difference, with Medium producing 263.1 FPS and High delivering 162.3 FPS at 2560x1440 resolution.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, Low settings achieve 430.2 FPS while Ultra settings deliver 219.5 FPS, representing a 49.0% reduction in average frame rate.

Q: Does the system maintain playable frame rates at all resolutions?

A: Yes, the lowest measured average is 96.8 FPS at 4K Ultra, which remains well above standard display refresh rates and indicates a consistently smooth experience.

Q: How does the combo rank among other tested configurations?

A: The combination ranks 250th out of 1671 tested combos for this game, placing it in the top 15% of all configurations.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data suggests that High settings offer the most balanced experience across all resolutions. At 1080p High, the system delivers 225.5 FPS, which drops to 162.3 FPS at 1440p and 101.2 FPS at 4K. These results indicate that High settings provide a substantial visual upgrade over Low while maintaining frame rates that exceed the refresh rate of most displays. The jump from High to Ultra costs 24.8% performance at 1080p (from 225.5 to 219.5 FPS) and 26.4% at 4K (from 101.2 to 96.8 FPS), suggesting diminishing returns for the highest preset.

For users prioritizing maximum visual fidelity, Ultra settings remain viable, as even the most demanding 4K Ultra configuration produces nearly 97 FPS. The data shows that Medium settings offer an intermediate option, delivering 362.9 FPS at 1080p and 166.1 FPS at 4K. However, given that High settings only cost 13.0% performance compared to Medium at 1080p (225.5 vs 362.9 FPS) while providing better visual quality, High appears to be the sweet spot for this hardware combination.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system demonstrates remarkable performance across all presets. Low settings produce 430.2 FPS, Medium delivers 362.9 FPS, High achieves 225.5 FPS, and Ultra reaches 219.5 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 49.0% reduction in frame rate, with the most significant drop occurring between Medium and High settings, where performance decreases by 37.8%.

Moving to 2560x1440, the results remain impressive but show the expected performance decline. Low settings yield 326.2 FPS, Medium produces 263.1 FPS, High delivers 162.3 FPS, and Ultra achieves 156.8 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra narrows at this resolution, with only a 3.4% gap, suggesting that the GPU is becoming the limiting factor rather than the settings configuration.

At 3840x2160, the system continues to deliver high frame rates, though the gap between settings widens. Low settings achieve 203.9 FPS, Medium produces 166.1 FPS, High delivers 101.2 FPS, and Ultra reaches 96.8 FPS. The performance delta between Low and Ultra at 4K is 52.5%, indicating that the RX 9070 XT's capabilities are being stretched at this resolution with maximum settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT ranks 250th out of 1671 tested combos for Inside, placing it in the 85th percentile of all configurations. This ranking is notable given the game's 2016 release date, as newer hardware combinations typically dominate older titles. The high ranking reflects the raw power of both components, with the CPU's 12 cores and 24 threads providing ample processing capability and the GPU's 16 GB of VRAM ensuring no memory-related bottlenecks.

The CPU's average benchmark score of 54450 places it in the 94th percentile of all CPUs, while the GPU's average score of 39647 puts it in the 82nd percentile of all GPUs. This combination of high-performing components results in a system that handles Inside with exceptional ease, as evidenced by the measured frame rates exceeding 200 FPS at most settings. The ranking suggests that this combo is better suited for more demanding titles, as the hardware's capabilities are not fully utilized by this puzzle platformer.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X features 12 cores and 24 threads, based on the Zen 5 architecture built on a 4 nm process at TSMC. Its base clock of 4.40 GHz and boost clock of 5.60 GHz provide substantial single-threaded performance, as evidenced by its 3dmark_single_thread score of 1286 and geekbench_singlecore score of 3341. The CPU's 64 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR5 memory support contribute to its ability to feed the GPU with data efficiently.

In Inside, a game that primarily relies on single-threaded performance, the 9900X's high boost clock and strong single-core scores are particularly relevant. The CPU's cinebench_r23_singlecore score of 6555 and passmark_single_thread score of 4672 indicate excellent per-core performance, which is crucial for maintaining high frame rates in less multithreaded game engines. The data shows that the CPU is rarely the limiting factor, as frame rates remain consistently high across all resolutions, suggesting that the processor has significant headroom for more demanding workloads.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture with the Navi 48 chip, featuring 4096 shading units and 128 ROPs. Its boost clock of 2970 MHz and game clock of 2400 MHz enable substantial compute throughput, with an FP32 performance of 48.66 TFLOPS. The 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 644.6 GB/s of bandwidth, ensuring that texture data can be loaded quickly even at 4K resolutions.

The GPU's role in Inside becomes more prominent as resolution increases, with the frame rate scaling pattern indicating that the graphics card is the primary bottleneck at higher settings. The measured results show that at 1080p Low, the system achieves 430.2 FPS, while at 4K Ultra, it drops to 96.8 FPS. This 77.5% reduction in performance highlights how the RX 9070 XT's rendering capabilities are stretched by the demands of 4K resolution with maximum quality settings. The GPU's 82nd percentile ranking among all GPUs supports its strong performance, though the nearest rivals, such as the AMD Radeon Pro 575 and NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile, show similar average scores, indicating that the 9070 XT's performance is competitive but not exceptional for this title.