Inside

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and Intel Arc B370 combination delivers a playable, if not always fluid, experience in Inside, a 2016 puzzle platformer that is far more forgiving on hardware than modern AAA titles. The measured data shows a clear performance hierarchy across the three tested resolutions, with the pairing's integrated graphics serving as the primary constraint. The Ryzen 9 9900X’s substantial processing power is largely untapped at lower settings, while the Arc B370’s system-shared memory and low power envelope define the system's limits at higher visual presets.

Settings Recommendations

For this specific configuration, the measured FPS data indicates that the Medium preset offers the optimal balance between visual fidelity and smooth gameplay across all resolutions. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset delivers an average of 113 FPS, with a minimum of 96 FPS and a maximum of 130 FPS. This ensures the action remains consistently smooth, eliminating the stutter that can plague puzzle platformers requiring precise timing. While the Low preset reaches 141 FPS on average at 1080p, the graphical downgrade is unnecessary given that Medium provides a substantial frame rate cushion above the 60 FPS threshold.

The case for Medium strengthens at higher resolutions. At 2560x1440, Medium produces an average of 81 FPS (min 69, max 93), which is well within the range for a responsive experience. The High preset at this resolution drops to 51 FPS, a significant 37% reduction in average frame rate, which may introduce perceptible judder during camera pans. At 3840x2160, the situation becomes more critical: Medium averages 51 FPS with a minimum of 43 FPS, dipping below the ideal 60 FPS target but remaining generally playable. In contrast, High at 4K falls to 32 FPS, and Ultra to 30 FPS, both of which are too low for comfortable play.

Therefore, Medium is the recommended preset for the best experience. It provides the highest frame rate that maintains a stable minimum above 43 FPS at all resolutions, ensuring that the game's atmospheric lighting and shadow effects are still rendered without the performance penalty of the High and Ultra presets. Users with 1080p displays can confidently use Medium for a high-refresh-rate experience, while 4K users should accept the 51 FPS average as the practical ceiling for this hardware combination.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B370 is an integrated graphics processor built on Intel's 3 nm process and Xe3-LPG architecture. Its performance profile is remarkably modest, as indicated by its 5th percentile ranking among all GPUs and an average benchmark score of 1184 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12. This score places it in the company of legacy discrete cards like the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (score 1186, deltaPct -0.2%) and the AMD Radeon HD 7650M (score 1192, deltaPct -0.7%), demonstrating that its raw compute is akin to a decade-old entry-level solution.

The GPU operates with a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2400 MHz. The boost clock is the key enabler for the frame rates seen in Inside, allowing the GPU to burst to higher frequencies when needed. It features 1280 shading units, 40 texture mapping units, and 20 raster output units, with a pixel rate of 48.00 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 96.00 GTexel/s. The FP32 performance is rated at 6.144 TFLOPS. Critically, the memory configuration is "System Shared," meaning the GPU borrows from the system's DDR5 memory, with bandwidth described as "System Dependent." This shared memory architecture is a significant bottleneck, especially at higher resolutions and settings where memory bandwidth demands increase.

The data shows a clear correlation between GPU load and frame rate. Moving from Low to Medium settings at 1080p reduces the average FPS from 141 to 113, a 20% drop. The jump from Medium to High is more severe, falling to 70 FPS, a 38% reduction. This indicates that the High and Ultra presets introduce effects (likely advanced lighting and post-processing) that disproportionately burden the Arc B370's limited execution resources. The GPU's 25 W TDP and IGP slot width underscore its design as a power-efficient, integrated solution, not a high-performance part. Its 3DMark score of 1184 in Steel Nomad, which is a modern DX12 test, suggests that the chip is optimized for recent APIs (DirectX 12 Ultimate, Vulkan 1.4) rather than raw rasterization grunt, yet Inside's older engine still stresses it heavily at max settings.

FAQ

*Q: Can this system run Inside at 4K resolution?*

A: Yes, but only at lower settings. The measured data shows an average of 64 FPS at 4K with Low settings and 51 FPS at Medium. High and Ultra settings at 4K are not recommended, as they produce averages of 32 FPS and 30 FPS, respectively.

Q: What is the best setting for a 60 FPS experience at 1440p?

A: The Medium preset is the only option that guarantees a 60+ FPS average at 2560x1440, delivering 81 FPS on average. Low settings yield 101 FPS, while High (51 FPS) and Ultra (48 FPS) fall short of the 60 FPS target.

Q: How does the Arc B370's performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Arc B370's 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 1184 is nearly identical to the ATI Radeon HD 5770's score of 1190, with a deltaPct of -0.5%. It is also 0.2% slower than the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 and 0.7% slower than the AMD Radeon HD 7650M. It is only 1.4% faster than the AMD FirePro M2000.

Q: Is the CPU or the GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The GPU is the clear bottleneck. The Ryzen 9 9900X has a multi-threaded Passmark score of 54643 and a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32172, which is far beyond the requirements of a 2016 puzzle platformer. The frame rates scale directly with GPU-affecting settings (resolution and preset), indicating the Arc B370 is the constraining component.

Q: What is the frame time consistency like at Medium settings?

A: The data shows consistent frame pacing at Medium settings. At 1080p, the minimum FPS is 96 against an average of 113, a tight 17 FPS spread. At 1440p, the minimum is 69 against an average of 81, and at 4K, the minimum is 43 against an average of 51. This suggests a stable experience without severe stutters.

Q: Does the system support modern graphics APIs for this game?

A: Yes, the Intel Arc B370 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. This ensures full compatibility with Inside's rendering requirements, which rely on older DirectX features, while also providing headroom for any API-level enhancements.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of the system's performance across nine distinct configurations. The results demonstrate a predictable pattern: frame rates decrease as resolution and settings increase.

1920x1080: The lowest tested resolution shows the highest performance. The Low preset achieves an average of 141 FPS. Medium settings produce an average of 113 FPS, with a minimum of 96 and a maximum of 130, reflecting a solid performance tier. High settings drop significantly to an average of 70 FPS. The Ultra preset yields the lowest result, with an average of 67 FPS, which is only marginally slower than High.

2560x1440: At this resolution, the performance curve steepens. Low settings maintain a high average of 101 FPS. Medium settings deliver an average of 81 FPS (min 69, max 93), remaining fluid. High settings fall to an average of 51 FPS, which is a substantial 37% decrease from Medium. Ultra settings yield an average of 48 FPS, showing that the gap between High and Ultra is small at this resolution.

3840x2160: 4K resolution proves challenging for the Arc B370. Low settings produce an average of 64 FPS, making it the only 4K preset above the 60 FPS threshold. Medium settings average 51 FPS (min 43, max 59), which is borderline playable. High and Ultra settings are not viable for a smooth experience, with averages of 32 FPS and 30 FPS, respectively. The data suggests that for 4K users, the choice is strictly between Low and Medium, as the higher presets halve the frame rate without providing a playable result.

The progression from 1080p to 4K at Medium settings shows a consistent loss: 113 → 81 → 51 FPS. This linear degradation highlights the memory bandwidth limits of the system-shared GPU. The lack of min/max data for Low, High, and Ultra presets indicates that only the Medium preset was subject to frame time variance logging, suggesting it is the developer's or tester's reference point for stability.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the benchmark database, this specific combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and Intel Arc B370 ranks 2654th out of 2887 tested combos for Inside. This places the system in the bottom 8% of all configurations, underscoring that the integrated GPU severely limits the overall gaming potential of this pairing. The ranking is not a reflection of the CPU's capability but rather the GPU's inability to push high frame rates in a 3D environment.

The combo's low rank is consistent with the Arc B370's individual GPU percentile of 5%. The CPU, in contrast, sits in the 92nd percentile among all CPUs, showing a massive imbalance in this pairing. When compared to other combos in the database, this system would be outpaced by any configuration featuring a discrete GPU from the last decade. The nearest CPU rivals—the AMD EPYC 9015 (deltaPct -0.1%), AMD EPYC 7313 (deltaPct 0.2%), and Intel Core i9-14900 (deltaPct -1.1%)—would not influence the gaming rank, as the GPU remains the controlling factor. The data indicates that this is a productivity-focused CPU paired with a minimal graphics solution, resulting in a gaming rank that reflects the weakest link in the chain.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X is a flagship desktop processor with 12 cores and 24 threads based on the Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge) on a 4 nm TSMC process. It has a base clock of 4.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, with a TDP of 120 W. Its cache layout includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1 MB of L2 per core, and a substantial 64 MB of shared L3 cache. These specifications make it a compute powerhouse, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32172 and single-core score of 2253, along with a Geekbench multi-core score of 22174.

In the context of Inside, the CPU's role is minimal. The game is a 2D side-scrolling puzzle platformer that does not require high core counts or complex physics simulations. The Ryzen 9 9900X's single-thread performance, indicated by a Passmark single-thread score of 4672, is more than sufficient to handle the game's logic and rendering commands. The data confirms this: at 1080p Low settings, the system achieves 141 FPS, which is likely near the engine's internal cap, showing the CPU is not holding back the GPU.

The CPU's 3DMark 16-thread score of 12552 and max-thread score of 13929 are irrelevant to the gaming outcome here. The bottleneck is purely on the GPU side. At 4K Ultra, the system drops to 30 FPS, a massive reduction from 141 FPS at 1080p Low, even though the CPU workload remains constant. This proves that the Arc B370's shading units and memory bandwidth are saturated, while the Ryzen 9 9900X is effectively idle, waiting for the GPU to finish each frame. The CPU's memory bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s and dual-channel DDR5 support are also not a limiting factor, as the GPU's system-shared memory is the constrained resource. In summary, the CPU provides enormous headroom that goes unused in this title, making it a non-factor in determining the final frame rate.